Cheng Jingyi: Prophet of His Time Peter Tze Ming Ng

heng Jingyi (C. Y. Cheng, 1881–1939) distinguished him- missionary movement was dominated by organized missionary Cself by presenting what has been called the best speech at societies, most of them agencies of Western mainline denomi- the Edinburgh 1910 World Missionary Conference. In his remarks national churches. (The China Inland Mission was the primary he said: “As a representative of the Chinese Church, I speak entirely exception.) After 1900, however, there was a great increase in the from the Chinese standpoint. . . . Speaking plainly we hope to amount of local, independent missionary work done by Chinese see, in the near future, a united Christian Church without any Christians. Much attention has been paid to the development of denominational distinctions. This may seem somewhat peculiar denominational Christianity in China, but only in more recent to you, but, friends, do not forget to view years have scholars begun to look into the us from our standpoint, and if you fail to growth of Chinese indigenous Christian- do that, the Chinese will remain always as ity immediately after 1900.5 Daniel Bays, a mysterious people to you.”1 for example, reports that “the number Jingyi was a Chinese born in Beijing of Protestant Christian church members on September 22, 1881. His father was a grew rapidly, from 37,000 in 1889 to 178,000 pastor with the London Missionary Soci- in 1906.” He also notes, “In retrospect, the ety (LMS). Jingyi received education from most important feature of this period was LMS’s Anglo-Chinese College in Beijing the growth of the spirit of independence and theological training from LMS’s theo- in Chinese Protestant churches. This had logical school in Tientsin (Tianjin). Within hardly begun in the nineteenth century, two weeks of his graduation day in 1900, but it was a prominent theme after 1900.”6 Jingyi and his family became involved in the terrible experiences of the Boxer Indigenous Movements from outbreak. “Six times he had very narrow 1900 to 1949 escapes from death. His family was shut up in the British Legation quarter in Peking Chinese Christians exhibited a strong desire for two months, where they suffered ter- for independence after the outburst of the rible hardships, costing the life of his little Boxer incidents in 1900. Chinese Christians sister and permanent injury of his younger had long been accused of believing in a brothers.”2 These experiences had a great foreign religion (yang jiao).7 They were Cheng Jingyi, 1910 impact on Jingyi’s life. criticized for being protected by Western He went to England in 1903 to help missionaries and foreigners and for enjoy- George Owen of the LMS in the translation of the Union version ing a number of privileges as a result of religious court cases of the Mandarin Bible. Then from 1906 to 1908 he studied at the (jiaoan) that arose as a result of the so-called unequal treaties Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, Scotland. In the summer of made with Western governments.8 In order to avoid these accu- 1908 he returned to China and served as an assistant pastor at sations, a new consciousness arose among Chinese Christians the Mi-shi Hutong Church in Beijing. He returned to Scotland that sought a form of Christianity freed from the dominance of for the 1910 Edinburgh conference, then back to Beijing, where the foreign missionaries. Chinese Christians, including Cheng he was ordained as pastor of this church, which was associated and others, were seeking a new identity for themselves. They with LMS but was an independent Chinese church.3 Cheng wanted to demonstrate their independence, fostering a self-reliant was thus working on the front lines of promoting indigenous Christianity that was freed from foreign funding, from foreign Christianity in China. Some parts of China saw some “three- mission direction, and from foreign preaching and theology—that self” movements initiated by missionaries in the mid-nineteenth is, the churches should be self-supporting, self-governing, and century, including the development of the First and Second self-propagating.9 Amoy Church in Xiamen, as well as the self-governing pres- As early as 1902, two years after the Boxer incident, Pastor byteries under the English Presbyterian Mission in Swatow.4 Yu Guozhen and some Chinese Christians met in Shanghai and The movement was led to a second stage with the indigenous formed the Chinese Christian Union (Zhonghua Jidutuhui). Real- movements started by local Chinese Christians in response to izing the utmost importance of developing three-self Christian the Boxer movement. churches, in 1903 they started a quarterly magazine, the Chinese Throughout China in the nineteenth century, the Protestant Christian (Zhongguo Jidutubao),10 and in 1906 formed the Chi- nese Christian Independent Church (Zhonghua Yesujiao Zilihui), Peter Tze Ming Ng was a professor in the Depart- an independent, all-Chinese Christian organization. It was ment of Religion, the Chinese University of Hong clearly stated that this church was to be separate from all Kong (CUHK), from 1985 to 2008. He now serves as foreign missionary societies in order to demonstrate to the Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study Chinese people that they could run their own churches, hence of Religion and Chinese Society, Chung Chi College, becoming truly native and fully self-governing, self-supporting, CUHK. —[email protected] and self-propagating. By 1924 more than 330 local churches had joined the Chinese Christian Independent Church, with over 20,000 total members.11

14 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 1 In 1907 the Centenary Missionary Conference was held in more concerned with the development of a united Christian Shanghai, with the topic of the Chinese church high on its agenda.12 church in China that was freed from denominationalism. For There had already been suggestions as to how to establish three- the Christian churches to cooperate and to unite in China, they self, independent Chinese churches for indigenous Christianity needed to put aside the spirit of denominationalism. As a matter in China. They included proposals for uniting independent of fact, “denominationalism has never interested the Chinese churches and of organizing regional conferences in different mind. He finds no delight in it, but sometimes he suffers for parts of China.13 In 1910 a movement was started in North China it.”20 The statement “Your denominationalism does not inter- involving a comparable federation of independent churches. It was est Chinese Christians” has been often repeated and quoted.21 also called the Chinese Christian Independent Church, but with a It is striking that Cheng could make such a statement at the different Chinese name (Zhongguo Jidujiao Zilihui); Chang Po Ling 1910 conference. was appointed president.14 The federation centered in Beijing and As noted, some observers thought that Cheng’s speech Tianjin and soon was joined by independent Chinese churches was the best speech of the conference. Afterward he returned to from all over Shangdong and Shanxi Provinces, including Tsing- China and continued to work for the development of a united dao (1911), Jinan (1912), and Yantai (1919). These movements of Chinese Christian church along the lines he had envisioned. With the independent churches laid a substantial groundwork for a the support of John R. Mott and the China Continuation Com- series of regional conferences throughout China. The conferences mittee, Cheng traveled widely throughout China in 1912–13, led to the first national conference of the China Continuation working to promote interdenominational cooperation among Committee in Shanghai between the years 1912–13, and the later denominational churches, as well as to foster coordination development of the National Christian Council in China, which among individual Chinese Christians. He helped indepen- was formed by Cheng Jingyi in Shanghai in 1922.15 dent churches attain the goals of the three-self movement and Consider some interesting statistics. Between 1910 and 1920 promoted the idea of federation as a first step toward union the number of foreign missionaries grew from 5,144 to 6,204, an among the Chinese Christian churches. increase of 20.6 percent, whereas the number of Christian believ- When the China Continuation Committee met in 1913, ers more than doubled, from around 180,000 to 366,524. With it was attended by 1,100 representatives, one-third of whom the anti-Christian movements attacking missionary work in the were Chinese. Because of Cheng’s work among the indepen- 1920s, the number of missionaries dropped to 4,375 by 1928. Yet dent churches, when the committee convened again in 1922, the number of Christian believers continued to rise: to 446,631 the number of Chinese representatives had increased to more in 1928, then 536,089 in 1936, and then 834,909 in 1949.16 Western than half of the total attendance. At the second meeting, Cheng missionaries had obviously done much good work and laid a proposed broadening the work of the committee and renamed it substantial foundation for the subsequent growth of Christianity the National Christian Council (NCC, Zhongguo Jidujiao xiehui).22 in China. But the dramatic growth in the number of Christians in Cheng was appointed its general secretary. He also worked for the twentieth century witnesses also to the significant effort made the formation of the Church of Christ in China (CCC, Zhonghua by the various indigenous Christian groups and independent Jidujiao linhui), which began operating in 1927. The CCC soon Chinese churches, not to mention individual Chinese Christians, became the largest Protestant church in China, representing close for a Christianity that was truly self-propagating.17 to a quarter of China’s Protestant churches, including members from both denominational and independent churches. In short, The Quest for Indigenous Christianity Cheng had successfully labored to expand the work of the China Continuation Committee, not only for the promotion of coop- With this understanding of the development of indigenous eration and unity among denominational churches but also for Chris-tianity in China as background, we now turn to what C. the realization of his vision to institute the three-self principles Y. Cheng did at and after the Edinburgh conference in 1910. At and to accomplish the federation of Christian churches in China. the conference he made two speeches; one was at the debate of The federation was formed not only for the sake of cooperation Commission II on the topic “The Church in the Mission Field,” among the missionaries, but also for the sake of unity among the and the other, “Co-operation and the Promotion of Unity,” was Christian bodies in China, while at the same time maintaining part of the debate of Commission VIII.18 In his first speech Cheng cooperative links with the missionaries.23 declared with some urgency: “The problem in China is the inde- pendence of the Chinese Church.” He assured his audience that Conclusion the formation of a Christian church in China should be viewed as “a joy, not a burden.” And he made a strong appeal for sup- Cheng died on November 15, 1939, at the Lester Chinese Hospi- port of the development of indigenous churches in China, tal in Shanghai at the age of fifty-eight.24 He indeed understood saying: “I hope with all sincerity that this Conference will accurately the situation in China and saw the need not only recommend and take measures towards helping the Chinese for the pursuit of cooperation among missionary churches, but Church movement.”19 also for the development of indigenous, three-self churches. In his second speech, as quoted in the first paragraph of Despite his youth and his being a Manchu working among the this article, Cheng restated his hope of seeing a united Christian Han people, Cheng demonstrated great leadership in relation to church without any denominational distinctions whatsoever. the foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians and in moving While Western missionaries were thinking of unity as a means them toward a unified Christian church.25 Cheng was indeed a to the end of cooperation in mission, Cheng was saying that great man and a great prophet of his time.26 Much of what Cheng Christian unity—a united Christian church—should be the end said in Edinburgh and much of his subsequent work remained of mission work in China. Cheng could see that for the missionar- of immediate relevance for decades. To this day, the issues he ies, “unity” primarily applied to the denominations and various perceived as important in 1910 are central to the development mission boards. He made it clear that Chinese Christians were of Christianity in China.

January 2012 15 Notes 1. “Report of Commission VIII,” in Reports of Commissions I to VIII 15. See Wang Zhixin, Concise History of Chinese Christianity (in Chinese) and The History and Records of the Conference, 9 vols. (Edinburgh and (Hong Kong: Chinese Christian Literature Council, 1959), pp. 255–57. London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1910), 8:196. The Boston 16. For all these figures, see Jonathan Chao, “Seeing Church Growth Missionary Herald judged it “without question the best speech” from the Development of the Chinese Church” (in Chinese), in (106 [1910]: 354); see Brian Stanley, The World Missionary Conference, Essays on Christianity and Modern China (in Chinese), ed. Peter Chi Edinburgh 1910 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), p. 108. The picture of Ping Lin (Taiwan: Cosmic Light Publication, 1981), pp. 350–62. Cheng Jingyi on p. 14 is from U. W. Schreiber, ed., Die Edinburger Welt- 17. There were also other great evangelists in those years such as Shi Missions-Konferenz (Basel: Verlag der Basler Missionsbuchhandlung, Meiyu (Mary Stone, 1873–1954), Song Shangjie (John Sung, 1901–44), 1910), opposite p. 56. and Chen Chonggui (Marcus Cheng, 1884–1964). See, for reference, 2. C. L. Boynton et al., “Dr. Cheng Ching Yi: Resolution—Reminiscences,” Bays, Christianity in China, pp. 314–15. Chinese Recorder 70, no. 12 (1939): 691. 18. See “Report of Commission II” and “Report of Commission VIII,” 3. The Chinese church attained full independence, financially and in in Reports of Commissions I to VIII, 2:352–53 and 8:195–97. every other way, while maintaining the most friendly relations with 19. “Report of Commission II,” 2:352. Cheng further elaborated his the parent mission (ibid.). points in a subsequent article, “The Chinese Church in Relation to 4. See, for example, research work done by David Cheung (Chen Yi Its Immediate Task,” International Review of Missions 1, no. 3 (1912): Qiang), Christianity in Modern China: The Making of the First Native 381–92. John C. Gibson, who was an active leader in both the Protestant Church (Leiden: Brill, 2004), and George A. Hood, Mission Shanghai (1907) and the Edinburgh (1910) conferences, also had the Accomplished? The English Presbyterian Mission in Lingtung, South following remarks: “The time is well within the memory of working China (Frankfurt: Lang, 1986). missionaries when we had to labour with the Home Church and 5. See, for example, Daniel Bays, ed., Christianity in China: The Eighteenth persuade it to believe that there was such a thing as the Chinese Century to the Present (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1996); Church in existence. . . . It was now beyond doubt that the Chinese Jessie Lutz and R. Ray Lutz, Hakka Chinese Confront Protestant Church was an important adjunct to the Christian Missions in Christianity, 1850–1900, with the Autobiographies of Eight Hakka China.” He also recalled: “When the Centenary Conference of 1907 Christians (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1998); and R. G. Tiedemann, met, the minds of missionaries were fully prepared for this recogni- “Indigenous Agency, Religious Protectorates, and Chinese Interests: tion. The organizers of the conference touched the core of the matter The Expansion of Christianity in Nineteenth-Century China,” when, in drawing up the programme, they set down as the first in Converting Colonialism: Visions and Realities in Mission History, topic: ‘The Chinese Church,’ and appointed a representative Com- 1706–1914, ed. Dana L. Robert (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), mittee to deal with it and allotted to it the whole of the first day of pp. 206–41. the Conference work. . . . It was impossible that the Chinese Church 6. Bays, Christianity in China, p. 308. should any longer fail to be recognised as holding the foremost 7. “The Christian religion is the only one of the religions of foreign origin place among the forces which are now creating a Christian China” for which the Chinese reserve the designation ‘foreign religion.’ The (“The Part of the Chinese Church in Mission Administration,” foreign taste of Christianity is perhaps too strong for the Chinese Chinese Recorder 43, no. 6 [1912]: 347–49). people to like it” (C. Y. Cheng, “The Development of an Indigenous 20. Stanley, The World Missionary Conference, pp. 277–79. Church in China,” International Review of Missions 12 [1923]: 371). 21. See, for example, Chinese Recorder 70, no. 12 (1939): 689. 8. Reports of jiaoan (religious cases) can be found in Paul A. Cohen, China 22. Meanwhile, the editor of the Chinese Recorder commented, “Has the and Christianity: The Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Christian movement in China during 1922 found a new pivot? Yes! Antiforeignism, 1860–1870 (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1963), The transfer from missions and Western Christians as a pivot to the and Joseph W. Esherick, The Origins of the Boxer Uprising (Berkeley: Chinese Church and Chinese Christians has been made. The Survey Univ. of California Press, 1987). and Commission reports are set up mainly in terms of missions and 9. It should be noted that foreign missionaries had long been relying on the contributions of Western Christians. The outlook of the National the “unequal treaties” as guarantee and protection for all missionary Christian Conference and the National Christian Council, however, activities in China. It was extremely difficult for missionaries to together with their program are painted in colors of the Chinese understand the feelings of Chinese Christians, who demanded a Church and Chinese Christians” (“The Christian Movement in truly Chinese church independent of the foreign control. From the China During 1922,” Chinese Recorder 54 [1923]: 8). missionaries’ perspective, the Chinese were simply trying to seize 23. Both Cheng’s outlook and level of involvement can be seen in Cheng power. Ching-Yi, “The Continuation Committee Conferences in China: II. 10. There was much discussion among Chinese Christians, and their A Chinese View of the Conferences,” International Review of Missions opinions were expressed in this magazine. The Shanghai Municipal 2, no. 7 (1913): 507–12. Archives contains a full set of the magazine (in Chinese), nos. 2–60, 24. For further information on the life and ministry of Cheng Jingyi, see from 1904 to 1915 (U128-0-1 to U128-0-11). Nelson Bitton, “Cheng Ching-yi: A Christian Statesman,” International 11. See Duan Qi, “The Development of Christianity and the Independence Review of Missions 30, no. 4 (1941): 513–20; Howard L. Boorman and Movement in the Early Twentieth Century” (in Chinese), in Duan Richard C. Howard, eds., Biographical Dictionary of Republican China Qi, Historical Documents of the Indigenization of Chinese Christianity (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1967), 1:284–86; Cha Shi Jie, (in Chinese) (Taiwan: Cosmic Light Publication, 2005), pp. 127–32. “Cheng Jing Yi,” in Brief Notes on Characters of Chinese Christianity 12. Centenary Conference Committee, Records of the China Centenary (Taiwan: China Evangel Seminary Press, 1983), pp. 121–28; Francis P. Missionary Conference (Shanghai: Methodist Publishing House, 1907). Jones, “Cheng Ching-yi,” in Concise Dictionary of the Christian World 13. Cheng had been so impressed by the movement that he wrote an Mission, ed. Stephen Neill, Gerald H. Anderson, and John Goodwin article for the Chinese Recorder even before he attended the Edinburgh (London: Lutterworth Press, 1970), pp. 120–21. conference: “What Federation Can Accomplish for the Chinese 25. Cheng also attended the International Missionary Council (IMC) Church,” Chinese Recorder 41, no. 2 (1910): 156–60. meeting at Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1918; the IMC meeting 14. See Charles E. Ewing, “The Chinese Christian Church in Tientsin at Jerusalem in 1928, where he was elected a vice-chairman; and the (Tianjin),” Chinese Recorder 43, no. 5 (1912): 282–85. It should be noted IMC meeting at Madras, India, in 1939. He was the only Chinese to that before Cheng attended the Edinburgh conference in 1910, he had be present at all three of these great world missionary conferences. been working for two years as assistant pastor at the Mi-shi Hutong 26. At Cheng’s death an editorial in the Chinese Recorder commented, Church, in Beijing, where he would definitely have been involved in “Many times he [Cheng] had been likened to be a prophet—a really and influenced by this independence movement. This background true and great prophet like one of Old Testament times” (70, no. 12 helps explain his strong appeal at the Edinburgh conference. [1939]: 689).

16 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 36, No. 1