The Christian missionaries knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Going to China at the time was a one way trip to an unknown land. The task of converting China to Christianity was rife with challenges due to continued resistance to any sort of outside influence that was a tradition of China for many years. Never-the-less the missionaries still went to China and by leveraging what advantages they could find, they were able to find some measure of success over the years.
One of the men who made so much headway in China was a Jesuit named Ricci. Ricci was gifted, and knew the value of the gifts he possessed. As a linguist, Ricci used his western mnemonic techniques that were unfamiliar to the Chinese to impress the literati. The Chinese literati were considered higher members of society, and to be a high member of society it required a person passing a series of examinations. Examinations were the basis of almost all official positions as well. Such a practical tool was valued greatly, and it served Ricci well to gain the good favor of the Chinese when he showed them the technique. Ricci had more to offer though, using European cartography he produced a world map with names in Chinese and China at the center of the map. Accommodating for China as he did by placing it at the center of the map, he secured permission for a missionary residence in the capital of Beijing.
When the Jesuits first came to south China they quickly learned that the best way to fit in and make a connection with the Chinese was to engage with people of Confucianism. The Jesuits came from prominent families in Europe and were highly educated and in the upper levels of society. They found the literati were also the prestigious class in China and were high in...
... middle of paper ...
...o be retained in Beijing court and there they stayed close the Manchu Emperors. With a close proximity came close relationships. The first Manchu ruler developed a close personal relationship with Schall, a missionary. Schall consulted him in many of the affairs of the young emperor and became a grandfather figure to him. Close ties to the top of the power structure kept the hopes of Christianity spreading alive and legitimate.
The history of Christianity in china is not one of storied successes. It was a struggle to for the missionaries to balance their need to stay true to the tenants of the Christian faith while accommodating the Chinese ideals. Christianity may not have been widely adopted, but the missionaries still could point toward the upper members of society as examples of how the techniques they used were able to convert some people to Christianity.
One way to approach their goals was translating the thoughts and books in European to Chinese and made the people have access to understand knowledge...
Chinese state and that was the major sticking point for the religion in China. For
In China, the citizens' inclination of Buddhism varied from that of other states. There was a plethora of mental outlooks on how Buddhism was changing the Chinese society as it expanded from India, where it was founded in the sixth century BCE. The responses are organized depending on their acceptance, rejection, or encouragement of a combination of Buddhism with other religions. These categories are illustrated by the following documents; the acceptance by documents two and five, the rejection by documents four, six, and three, and last, the encouragement by documents two, five, and three. Additional documentations that would be helpful in classifying the reactions of the Chinese people would be a testimony or statement of a Chinese woman, or group of women, and of peasants. These would be helpful as we'd be able to examine exactly how the Chinese were affected by Buddhism's grasp. We would be able to see how Buddhism affected their daily lives and what they thought about the sudden religion.
Buddhist popularity towards the Chinese grew following the collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220 C.E. It’s influence continued to expand for several centuries. Between 220 C.E. and 570 C.E., China experienced a period of political instability and disunity. During this time, many of the Chinese, specifically scholars, sought for peace in Buddhism and approved of Buddhism. On the other hand, the strict confucianists and the government fought to end Buddhism and make people go against it.
Chinese people might find naming their religion challenging as it is a mixture of “traditional religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism” (Corduan, 2012, p.388). The Chinese Popular Religion continues to evolve and change as the world around it changes and outside influences enter the Chinese culture (Corduan, 2012). Investigation of the Chinese Popular Religion includes its key features, practices, and influences, along with tis role in contemporary China, and how Christians can enhance their interactions.
The spread or encouragement of religions to other countries has been a threat to history just as much as they have been in the present. The Qing dynasty is a great example because of Jesuits spreading Christianity from Europe to Asia. However, Christianity wasn’t a threat in the beginning, is was amazingly welcomed until the pope in Europe sided with critics, Franciscans and Dominicans, and ordered the Jesuit missionaries to stop promoting ancestor veneration and services in Chinese (Bently 585). Honestly, if a person wishes to spread a religion to new areas in the world, they most definitely shouldn’t take away the values of the new society to win converts. In response, ruler Kangxi banned the preaching of Christianity in China because this would change and challenge the cultural values within the government and society. In summary, it wasn’t necessarily the religion itself at first, it was the change of values and teachings that made Christianity a threat to the Qing dynasty and Kangxi himself later in time. In addition, most people were hesitant to covert anyway, in fear that their established powers, in this case religions such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddh...
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
...to convert people to Christianity. While some of the methods were different, most of the underlying factors of Proselytism such as language and knowledge were emphasized which made Christianity more appealing and accessible to the culturally and ethnically diverse population of Asia.
Regarding religion, Chinese culture saw the emergence of Confucianism and Buddhism as the major influence. Confucianism stressed filial piety which meant respecting elders and superiors, ruling righteously, and obeying commands and orders. Confucianism was introduced by the Chinese thinker Confucius. Buddhism was brought to China, but originated in India and was founded by Siddhartha Gautama. Followers of Buddhism worshipped Buddh...
“The spread of Confucianism across East Asia was accomplished largely through voluntary and consensual means, rather than by conquest o...
In Japan, they were really pleased with Buddhism, but with China, they liked Confucianism. There were those people throughout both of them who were Christian. Confucianism was big in Ming China. Wang Yang-Ming got a lot of followers for his new teachings, but he got heavily criticized for basically changing th...
After receiving a job in a minor administrative position for the Mongol ruler, Marco Polo stayed in China for another seventeen years. Throughout this time he wildly traveled across the Chinese land and collected stories about his experiences in the foreign country. His book, The Travels of Marco Polo helped to shape Western European culture, though scholars question the legitimacy behind his stories since he left out many prominent features of the Chinese life.
Chinese Buddhism entered China a few centuries after the passing away of the Buddha, at a time when Confucianism and Taoism were the predominant religions in a country that was as a big as a continent and rivaled India in historical antiquity and cultural pluralism. In the early phases of its entry, Buddhism did not find many adherents in China.
During the Warring States era, the Chinese population was in need of social and political change. Accordingly, three schools of thought were formed and became a tradition in China: Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism. These systems focused on virtues and law-based tactics. Sanders et al (2008) points out that “these three systems of thought were written by three distinct prominent writers whose main focus for the Chinese population were philosophy, political and religion development” (p 89,93,97)
Hong, Andrew. "Confucianism and Filial Piety." Andrew Hong, Reformed Second Generation Chinese Ministry. N.p., 5 May 2008. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. .