MISSIONARIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES DURING THE ANTI- CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT —FRANCISCAN MISSIONARIES IN ENSHI IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY XIANG HONGYAN (B.A. History, Wuhan University) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2009 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS —————————————————————————————————— Many people have contributed to my thesis in different ways. It is my pleasure to be able to acknowledge my indebtedness to them. During the early phase of my research, Father Alex Coenen assisted my work in obtaining valuable mission sources in Franciscan archive center at Sint-Truiden of Belgium. Father Antonio Eguiguren of Ferdinand Verbiest Institute in Catholic University of Leuven offered me much help during my fieldtrip to Leuven. He not only introduced more archives to me, but also put me in touch with other scholars in Leuven. During my fieldtrip to China, Father Li Xiaoguo of Enshi Catholic church not only helped me to collect precious archive sources, but also accompanied me to visit churches and places where anti-Christian incidents took place. In the translation of French, Italian and Latin documents, I owe thanks to Duffie D Anglemont de Tassigny Pierre Yves. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my supervisor Thomas David Dubois of National University of Singapore. He has given me much support during my master study, both emotionally and academically. Whenever I have questions, I only need to knock the door of his office, and he would listen to me and give me suggestions that I need. He helped me to identify potential problems of my thesis and guided me to polish its structure. I feel lucky to have such a responsible and amicable supervisor. The unconditional love given by my family is the greatest emotional support to me. I especially want to thank my mom Xiang Changju and my cousin Tan Changzou for their care and support. I also want to thank my friends for always standing by my side. Professors and graduate students in history department of National University of Singapore not only gave me much inspiration and suggestions on my research, but also showed academic integrity and high standard of research ethics, which will affect me for all my life. Finally my gratitude goes to National University of Singapore for its generous financial support and the education it offered to me. X.HY Singapore March 2009 i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ i TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ ii SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1. BACKGROUND: LOCAL SOCIETY OF ENSHI .......................20 1.1 ABOUT ENSHI ........................................................................................................ 20 1.2 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT- TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION ... 22 1.3 AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE ....................................................................... 26 1.4 ETHNICITY, CULTURE AND BELIEFS ................................................................. 28 1.5 SECRET SOCIETIES................................................................................................ 31 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 2. MISSION HISTORY IN ENSHI...................................................41 2.1 MISSIONARIES IN HUBEI BEFORE 1870 ............................................................. 41 2.2 MISSION HISTORY IN ENSHI FROM 1870 TO 1900 ............................................ 50 2.3 MISSION HISTORY IN ENSHI FROM 1900 TO 1930 ............................................ 55 2.4 MISSION ACTIVITY IN ENSHI .............................................................................. 60 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 3. MISSIONARIES AND LOCAL SOCIETY BETWEEN 1890 AND 1930 .........................................................................................................................72 3.1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MISSIONARIES AND CHINESE CONVERTS 73 3.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MISSIONARIES AND CHINESE OFFICIALS . 78 3.3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MISSIONARIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES ... 82 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 85 ii CHAPTER 4. ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT BETWEEN 1890 AND 1911 .88 4.1 ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN THE YANGTZE RIVER VALLEY ............... 89 4.1.1 Wannan Anti-Christian Incident (1876) ............................................................... 89 4.1.2 The Li Hong Incident (1891) ............................................................................... 93 4.1.3 The Yangtze Anti-Christian Movement (1891) .................................................... 96 4.1.4 Yu Dongchen Revolt in Dazu County of Sichuan (1890, 1898) ........................... 98 4.2 ANTI-CHRISIAN INCIDENTS IN ENSHI ............................................................. 101 4.2.1 Priest Victorin Delbrouck‘s Assassination in December 1898 ............................ 102 4.2.2 The Murder of Bishop Theotime Verhaeghen in 1904 ....................................... 106 4.3 WHY GELAOHUI‘S ANTI-CHRISTIAN ACTIVITIES COULD BE SUCCESSFUL ...................................................................................................................................... 108 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 112 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 113 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 119 GLOSSARY ......................................................................................................... 141 iii SUMMARY In the late-nineteenth century China, an anti-Christian movement swiped the entire country. Previous scholars have explained the causes of the movement from the perspective of cultural conflict, Western imperialism, China‘s anti-foreign tradition, and so on. However, these explanations are not equally applicable to different regions of China during the anti-Christian movement. This thesis tries to provide a new perspective of the causes of the anti-Christian movement by studying the relationship between Belgium Franciscan missionaries and the secret society Gelaohui in Enshi in the late nineteenth century. This thesis argues that Franciscan missionaries in Enshi were quite experienced at dealing with the local society in the nineteenth century. They generally had peaceful working relationships with different groups of people in the local society such as Chinese officials, Chinese Christians and non- Christians. However, the secret society Gelaohui frequently had trouble with Franciscan missionaries. They not only confronted those missionaries indirectly, but also directly organized the anti-Christian movement that took place in Enshi and the entire Yangtze River Valley. iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TABLE 1. Mission statistics of South-West Hubei Vicariate between 1901 and 1930……..58 MAPS 1. The location of Enshi in China…………………………………………..21 2. South-West Hubei Vicariate……………………………………………..52 3. Important missions in Yichang Vicariate………………………………..54 FIGURES 1. Church organization in Lichuan County…………………………………61 2. Belgian priest with students from the mission school…………………....63 3. Girls in church orphanage weaving under the guidance of Chinese nuns…………………………………………………………...65 4. Belgian missionaries with the leaders of the revolutionaries and the Manchu after the successful mediation…………………………...76 v INTRODUCTION Christianity reached China long time ago, yet it was The Opium War which facilitated its spread in China. After The Opium War many missionaries from different countries started coming to China with enthusiasm for Christ. The number of Chinese converts also started to increase, although not as rapidly as what missionaries had expected. In the mission history of China, the anti-Christian movement was the most influential event in the nineteenth century. The decade from 1890 to 1900 was important as it saw the movement reach its zenith. Organized and unorganized harassment and persecution toward foreign missionaries and Chinese converts was widespread in China. Many Western missionaries and Chinese converts became victims of this movement. Since then, numerous researches on the motives behind this movement have been carried out. Through the analysis of the motives behind China‘s anti-Christian movement, the missionaries‘ role in Chinese society also becomes clear from various perspectives. There have been several explanations among scholars about the motives behind this anti- Christian movement. Some Western scholars have ascribed this movement to missionaries‘ imperialistic behavior. Joseph W. Esherick claimed that although there was growing conflict between missionaries and Western mercantilistic enterprises in the late nineteenth century China, trade and Christianity