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The term “Sino-Foreign Protestant Establishment” (SFPE), coined by the notable Chinese historian Daniel H. Bays (1942-2019), plays a pivotal role in understanding the development of Christianity in twentieth-century China. This concept is reflected at three levels: ideological, institutional, and individual. At its core, SFPE marks a notable ideological shift towards indigenous leadership within the Chinese Christian movement while balancing local autonomy with foreign missionary collaboration. This ideological evolution is mirrored institutionally in the formation of the China Continuation Committee (CCC), a significant outcome of the 1913 National Missionary Conference, itself a derivative of the Edinburgh Conference’s Continuation Committee. Over time, the CCC underwent a transformation, culminating in the establishment of the National Christian Council of China (NCC) in 1922, which became the central coordinating body for Protestant activities across China. On an individual level, key proponents included influential figures such as Methodist layman John R. Mott (1865-1955), the chairman of the 1910 Edinburgh Conference and its Continuation Committee, and his Chinese counterpart Rev. Cheng Jingyi (1881-1937), who served as a full-time secretary for the CCC from 1913 to 1922 and as the first General Secretary for the NCC from 1922 to 1933.
This roughly four-decade-long Establishment flourished during the Republican era (1912-1949) and disintegrated around the mid-20th century, amidst the early Cold War and the inception of the Chinese Communist regime in 1949. This decline calls for an important question of how the religio-political mechanisms, especially those involving progressive Chinese Protestant leaders, catalyzed the shift from Sino-Foreign Protestant collaboration to estrangement. This question is significant as it furthers our understanding of how both the impact of political shifts and the proactive role of native Christian leaders converged to redefine national Christian self-identity.
In this paper, I introduce the concept of “Sino-Foreign Protestant Estrangement,” using “estrangement” as a linguistic parallel to Bays’ “establishment.” This paper argues that the transition from Establishment to Estrangement was driven by three key estranging strategies: ideological reconstruction, institutional rebuilding, and individual decoupling. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) played a significant role in this estranging process, the agency of Chinese Christian leaders in shaping this new religious identity is also crucial. A prominent figure in this regard was Y. T. Wu (1893–1979), the most significant Protestant leader in charting the post-1949 framework of church-state relations. Wu’s life and thoughts around 1949 will be used to exemplify the application of these estranging strategies. Firstly, the ideological reconstruction focuses on how Wu utilized political-theological discourses to critique the existing inadequacies within the SFPE framework. This involved a reevaluation and re-articulation of the principles underpinning the Sino-Foreign relationship. Secondly, the process of institutional rebuilding comprised Wu’s efforts to dismantle the existing SFPE structures. This was exemplified in his involvement with the formation and reformation of the Tian Feng Society. Additionally, the transformation and decline of the NCC and the emergence of the Three-Self Committee served as other pivotal examples. And thirdly, individual decoupling highlights the personal aspect of Wu’s estrangement strategy. This entailed distancing himself from influential foreign figures who had previously played a significant role in his life and work, most notably John R. Mott and Sherwood Eddy (1871–1963). This decoupling was not just a personal shift for Wu but symbolized a broader move away from foreign influence in Chinese Protestant circles. All these three tactics aimed to remove the “Foreign” elements from the prior Establishment, leading to the novel emergence of what I call “Cold War Christian Chineseness.”
In terms of sources, I primarily rely on the recently published Collected Works of Y. T. Wu, which encompass a comprehensive collection of Wu’s published and unpublished works. I also utilize The Christian Weekly, a Protestant magazine founded by Wu, and China Bulletin, a crucial source for understanding the broader Christian movement in mid-20th century China. Lastly, I reference Documents of the Three-Self Movement, which compiles essential primary documents translated into English on the socialist transformation of Chinese Christianity.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
China Bulletin by Far Eastern Joint Office, Foreign Missions Conference of North America, 1947-1961.
Merwin, Wallace C., and Francis P. Jones, comps. Documents of the Three-Self Movement. New York: National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, 1963.
Tian Feng (The Christian Weekly), 1948-1964.
Ying, Fuk-tsang, ed. Wu Yaozong quanji [The Collected Works of Y. T. Wu], Volumes 1-4. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2016-2020.
Secondary Sources
Bays, Daniel H. A New History of Christianity in China. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Ferris, Helen. The Christian Church in Communist China to 1952. Montgomery, AL: Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center, 1956.
Hood, George A. Neither Bang nor Whimper: The End of a Missionary Era in China. Singapore: The Presbyterian Church in Singapore, 1991.
Jones, Francis P. The Church in Communist China: A Protestant Appraisal. New York: Friendship Press, 1962.
Lacy, Creighton Boutelle. “Protestant Missions in Communist China.” PhD diss., Yale University, 1953.
Liu, Jianping. The Cross under the Red Flag: The Policy Changes of the Chinese Communist Party towards Protestantism and Catholicism and Its Impacts in the Early PRC (1949-1955). Hong Kong: Jidujiao Zhongguo zongjiao wenhua yanjiu she, 2012.
Mariani, Paul P. Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai. Harvard University Press, 2011.
Song, Jun. Making Choices in the Midst of Change: The End of the National Christian Council of China (1949-1951). Hong Kong: Jidujiao Zhongguo zongjiao wenhua yanjiu she, 2017.
Wickeri, Philip L. Seeking the Common Ground: Protestant Christianity, the Three-Self Movement, and China’s United Front. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.
Xu, Yihua. “‘Patriotic’ Protestants: The Making of an Official Church.” In God and Caesar in China, edited by Jason Kindopp and Carol Lee Hamrin, 107-121. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2004.
Ying, Fuk-Tsang. Christianity’s Failure in China? Essays on the History of Chinese Communist Movement and Christianity. Hong Kong: Daofeng shushe, 2012.
Zhang, Richard X. Y. “The Origin of the ‘Three Self’.” Jian Dao: A Journal of Bible & Theology, no. 5 (January 1996): 175-201.
Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)
The term “Sino-Foreign Protestant Establishment,” defined by noted Chinese historian Daniel H. Bays, is central to understanding the evolution of Christianity in early twentieth-century China. Flourishing during the Republican era and unraveling in the mid-20th century with the rise of the Chinese Communist regime, this roughly four-decade-long Establishment underwent a significant shift. This paper explores, by introducing the concept of “Sino-Foreign Protestant Estrangement,” how the religio-political mechanisms catalyzed the shift from Sino-Foreign Protestant collaboration to estrangement. It focuses on Y. T. Wu, a pivotal Protestant leader in post-1949 church-state relations. The study argues that the transition from the Establishment to the Estrangement was orchestrated through three key strategies: ideological reconstruction, institutional rebuilding, and individual decoupling, all aimed at removing foreign influences from the initial Establishment. These tactics culminated in what is termed “Cold War Christian Chineseness,” a new phase of Chinese Christian self-identity shaped by these transformative processes.