An Adventure in Cooperation: the Church of Christ in China and Church-State Relations in Nationalist China

An Adventure In Cooperation: The Church of Christ in China and Church-State Relations in Nationalist China By Yan Xiong B.A. in News Interviewing, July 1995, Communication University of China M.A. in Political Communication, May 2005, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 31, 2011 Dissertation directed by Edward McCord Associate Professor of History and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Yan Xiong has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of July 27, 2011. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Yan Xiong An Adventure In Cooperation: The Church of Christ in China and Church-State Relations in Nationalist China Dissertation Research Committee: Edward A. McCord, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Dissertation Director Shawn F. McHale, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Committee Member Gregg A. Brazinsky, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2011 by Yan Xiong All rights reserved iii To my parents iv Acknowledgments It is a great pleasure to acknowledge some of the colleagues and friends who have contributed to this dissertation. I am thankful to all the institutions and individuals for their support and assistance during the process of writing the dissertation. The George Washington University provided me with generous fellowships during my Ph.D. study and research. The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the History Department funded my trips to libraries and archives in the United States and mainland China. In the process of doing research, I have received professional assistance from the staff at the Gelman library, the Library of Congress (Asian Division), the Divinity School Library of Yale University, the Sichuan Provincial Archives, the Shanghai Municipal Archives, Second Historical Archives of China, the Guizhou Provincial Archives, the Guiyang Municipal Archives, the Sichuan University library, the Nanjing Municipal Library, the Gongqing Municipal Library, and other libraries and archives. The faculty members at the George Washington University that served on my dissertation committee are world class. They not only have exemplary academic credentials, but also are so willing to offer support and assistance to their students. I want to particularly thank my main dissertation advisor Edward McCord, who challenged me and at the same time encouraged me to write an excellent dissertation. I could not have completed the dissertation without his help. Shawn McHale has been encouraging me in the writing of this dissertation as well as my broader academic pursuits. Benjamin Hopkins has not only given me good advice on the dissertation, but also been a role model for me in history teaching. Gregg Brazinsky and Bruce Dickson’s insightful comments on the dissertation are valuable for my future academic career. v I thank other GW professors, Katrin Schultheiss, Ronald Spector, William Becker, Daqing Yang, Kirk Larsen, Dina Khoury, Andrew Zimmerman, Hugh Agnew, Dewey Wallace, and Jenna Weissman Joselit for being intellectually stimulating. Thanks are due to Michael Weeks, Evelyn Williams, Bob Lintott, Iva Beatty, and Ikuko Turner for their administrative assistance. I thank my fellow teaching assistants Natalie, Mary, Patrick, James, Nicholas, Holly, Charles, Eric, Tamar, Casey and Jason. Together, we learned how to manage life – while doing coursework, teaching classes, and writing dissertation, we did not lose smile. Outside the George Washington University, my dissertation has benefited from discussions with Martha Smalley of the Divinity School Library of Yale University, Joseph Lee of Pace University, Daniel Bays of Calvin College, Yang Tianhong of Sichuan University and Deng Jie of Dazhou Normal University. Particularly, Professor Yang Tianhong and I exchanged the materials on the Border Service Department of the Church of Christ in China, on which this dissertation concentrates. Some of the materials from the Liangshan Prefecture Archives and the Aba Prefecture Archives that Yang gave to me might have been destroyed during the tremendous earthquake in Sichuan in 2008. I am grateful to Yang for those precious BSD documents. Finally, I want to thank my family and friends for their support. I thank my family for always trusting in me and loving me. I thank my church friends for praying for me. Above all, I thank God for bringing joy, peace and inspiration to my life. vi Abstract An Adventure In Cooperation: The Church of Christ in China and Church-State Relations in Nationalist China Beginning in the mid-1920s, the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang/GMD), and the central government it established in 1927, were actively involved in anti- Christian activities in many parts of China. In the 1930s, though, the Church of Christ in China (CCC) joined other Chinese Christian organizations in organizing relief programs. Coming to appreciate the efforts of these Christian groups, when the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the GMD solicited their help more directly, initiating a change toward a more cooperative relationship with the Chinese Christian community. A main example of this new cooperation was the joint CCC-GMD effort, in December 1939, to establish the Border Service Department (BSD) to carry out medical and educational work in the Sichuan-Tibet-Xikang border areas. Funded by the central government but under the direct leadership of the CCC’s General Assembly, the greater purpose of the BSD was to construct a solid anti-Japanese rear area in the Southwest, to improve the border peoples’ livelihood, and to integrate these border peoples into the nation of China. While the BSD was successful in bringing many benefits to the border peoples, as a cooperative venture it also helped the government to achieve its broader goals for “border construction” ( bianjiang jianshe ) even as it provided opportunities for the CCC to evangelize among the border peoples. The successful cooperation between the CCC and the GMD in the BSD thus challenges the conventional understanding of the historic relationship between the Chinese state and religion as one of consistent hegemonic state dominance and manipulation. vii Table of Contents Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Abstract of Dissertation vii List of Tables ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Church of Christ in China and its Early Relations 27 With the GMD Government Chapter 2: From Petition to Cooperation 61 Chapter 3: The Establishment of the Border Service Department 113 and its Historical Significance Chapter 4: BSD Medical Work in the Chuanxi and Xikang 143 Service Fields Chapter 5: BSD Educational Work in the Chuanxi and Xikang 178 Service Fields Chapter 6: BSD University Students Summer Service Corps 217 Chapter 7: BSD Livelihood Work in the Chuanxi and Xikang 240 Service Fields Chapter 8: BSD Evangelical Work in the Chuanxi and Xikang 267 Service Fields Conclusion 310 Bibliography 326 viii List of Tables Table 1 The BSD’s Regular Primary Schools in Chuanxi 184 Table 2 The BSD’s Regular Primary Schools in Xikang 192 Table 3 Chuanxi Service Field Religious Workers 282 Table 4 Xikang Service Field Religious Workers 284 Table 5 The BSD’s Facilities and Their End or Transference to the Government 323 ix Introduction In summer 1939, Chongqing, the provisional capital city of the Nationalist, or Guomindang (GMD), government, was surrounded by an atmosphere of heaviness. This was not just due to the city’s legendary summer heat and thick fog, but the mental state of its people. They still looked terrified after bombing by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in May that had left five thousand local people dead and tens of thousands of houses destroyed. On June 14, however, two gentlemen rushed through the prostrate city to the Executive Yuan of the central government. The older man was Reverend Cheng Jingyi, the General Secretary of the Church of Christ in China ( Zhonghua jidu jiaohui ; hereafter, CCC), and the other man was Dr. Cui Xianxiang, the Associate General Secretary of the CCC. 1 They were heading for a meeting with the Vice-President of the Executive Yuan of the GMD government Kong Xiangxi (better known in the West as H. H. Kung, brother-in-law of Jiang Jieshi, known as Chiang Kai-shek in the West). 2 This short meeting between the two Christian leaders and a high-ranking GMD official triggered a substantial program of cooperation between the Nationalist government and the Chinese Christian church that would be known as the Border Service Department (BSD). The BSD was a true cooperative venture. While managed directly under the CCC’s General Assembly ( zonghui ), it was created in the winter of 1939 with its total financial support coming from the GMD central government. The BSD located its 1 Sichuan sheng difangzhi bianzhuan weiyuanhui [Sichuan local history compilation committee], ed., Sichuan shengzhi: zongjiao zhi [Sichuan province annals: religion], (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1998), p. 465. 2 Yang Tianhong, “Zhanzheng yu shehui zhuanxingzhong de Zhongguo jidu jiaohui” [The war and the Chinese Christian church in social transition], Jindaishi yanjiu [Modern history research], issue 6 (2006), p. 38. 1 headquarters in Chengdu, but over

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