The Impact of Christianity on Sino―US Relations in the History of China

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【Abstract】Superficially， the United States is a very secular country， but on the contrary， she is a quite religionized country essentially. The impact of christianity on the United States is fundamental and profound， actually the diplomacy of the United States is quite ideological. The United States’ diplomacy towards China has been following the doctrine of Protestant， and Christianity has been playing an important role in the sino-us relations. The Christianity has a great impact on the Sino-US relations in the context of globalization. We should neither hold a pessimistic attitude， nor too optimistic towards the development of Sino-US relations， but rather have a clear head of its complexity.

【Key words】Christianity； history； Sino-US relations

Ⅰ. Introduction

It is well known that Christianity， especially the Protestant has a fundamental and profound impact on all walks of life in the United States. And it’s not exaggerated to say that the United States is under the reign of Christianity. We could not avoid the impact it has no matter when we study the United States herself or the issues concerning the United States. Religion， as it were， is the axis that finally all the questions will end up with it. However， what needs to be made clear is that the present mode of American religion has changed from the early Protestant to the Protestant-Catholic-Jew Triple Melting Pot. But this is not the topic that we are going to discuss in the following paragraphs.

The topic that we are going to discuss about is what kind of impact Christianity has on Sino-US relations in the history of china. It will be divided into three parts to elaborate： the impact of Christianity on the ideology of the United States； the impact of Christianity on the history of Sino-US relations； opinions towards the future development of Sino-US relations.

Ⅱ. The Impact of Christianity on the Ideology of the United States

As a nation where the basic idea is the separation of church and state， the religious color is quite dense domestically. And this has brought many advantages， as a French philosopher put， “The religion do not directly interfere with the social politics， however， it has been regarded as the most important part in the national political institution.” There are more than 300 thousand Christian， Judicial churches and other religious sites. According to some statistics， among the surveyed people， 95% of them claim they trust God， 80% regard Jesus Christ as immortal， one third of them believe Satan or some kind of evil， as high as 65% had been participated in some organized religious groups， and 40% go to church every week. In contrast， the proportions of the British， Germany， and French in this report are 55%， 54%， and 48% respectively. So many sociologists believe that the religious color of America is the densest in the developed countries. As an American scholar put， the States is the most developed country in the world， at the same time， the most developed in religion. In the diversified religious schools in America， Christianity undoubtedly takes the advantages. In 1990， a survey on national religious belief conducted in the New York State University showed that 86.2% of people above 18 years old in the 48 states （except for Alaska and Hawaii） believed in Christianity. The religious sociologist Will Herzberg holds that， “The vital access to gain identity between the Americans is to be a follower to Protestant， Catholicism， or Judaism”. Diplomacy is the extending of the interior policy， the American religion of course will influence the foreign policies. So when considering about its external policies， we cannot ignore the influence of religious factors.

Ⅲ. The Impact of Christianity on the History of Sino-US Relations

Christians have an intense enthusiasm for preaching and an attitude of salvation. The United States’ diplomacy towards China has been following the doctrine of Protestant. Since their first contact long times ago in the history， the European and American countries has been treating China as a vital region for preaching. The news that China has populous citizens and immense areas of lands inspired and agitated the preachers， for it is a quite challenging and attractive chance to have millions of people to convert to Almighty God， and they definitely will not abandon the chance to “honor the God”. The traditional China， in the eyes of the Christians， is a secular and idol-worship country， for she abides by the Confucian traditions and keep faith with the Buddhism. And for them， China is just a country ruled by the pagans， but not anti-Christianity， so she is a place that should be lightened by the gospel， not a world that should be wiped out. The earliest preach in China was mainly the European Catholic church， just after the foundation， the United States began to assign the missionaries to China， the context of which was the creed of the Protestant. From the aspect of the impact of religion， the Sino-US relations can be divided into four stages from the early preach to the end of the cold war and the present time.

First stage， from the year 1830 to the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. February 1830， the American preachers Elijah Coleman Bridgman and David Abeel came to Macao and Guang Zhou， and this represents the beginning of American’s preaching to China. Ever since that， the zealousness of preaching has been keeping the pot boiling， and its power becomes more and more strong. From 1960s and 1970s， the strength of American preaching outdistanced the European land， the Protestant thinking began to become the mainstream in Chinese Christianity world. During the period of national government， with the spread of New Culture Movement， traditional values began to collapse， and Christianity spread in a quite fast pace. The number of Christians rose from 60 thousands in the year 1900 to 360 thousands in 1920. In the early period of the Republic of China， many members of parliament and upper classes are Christians， like Sun Yat-sen， Jiang， Song， Kong of the Four Great families， they all had a faith in Christianity. At that time， the United States’ attitude towards China was quite friendly， accept repressing the Boxers by the Eight Power Allied Force in the name of defending the religion， the States had not been involved in any invasive war against China. Besides， the States had proposed the importance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the People’s Republic of China in many different occasions. During the war time， the United States assisted the pro-Christian Republic of China against the anti-Christian Japan， even became the foundation of Asian foreign affair policies.

Second stage， from the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the visit of president Nixon. After the founding of new China， she becomes a socialist country， with a belief in Maxism， namely materialistic atheism， which is completely opposite to American Christianity. So， the socialist China becomes the enemy of the United States as strength of anti-Christianity. Meanwhile， the American government has been taking a policy of assisting Jiang Jieshi and fighting against Communism， the new Communist regime would never permit the existence of the Christian church that stands side by side with the western imperialism. So the Chinese church went on the path of Three-Self Patriotic Movement， cut every possible contact with the foreign churches. During this very period， the Sino-US relations sank to a low ebb. Those problems aroused by the religion deepened the estrangement between the United States and China.

Third stage， from the visiting of president Nixon to the end of Cold War. Thanks to this visit， the relationship between the United States and China had changed greatly. From American side， the Christians had never gave its way to the heretical China， the only reason for the two countries to come together was just to fight against their common enemy―Soviet Union. And this also embodied the “Christian wisdom in diplomacy”： to unite the minor enemy to hit the major enemy， and then fight against the minor enemy. In the US-China relations， the States has been conducting the religious infiltrating all through， in the hope of peaceful evolution and culture evolution. From the Chinese side， ever since the Cultural Revolution， Chinese churches resumed the public religious activities， people also began to relocate the Christianity. Additionally， Deng Xiaoping， carried out a pragmatic diplomacy without considering the ideology of other countries， in which the national interests is overriding， while the ideology is not the major problem to consider. In this stage， the US-China relations was zigzagging around the Christian issues.

Fourth stage， from the end of Cold War to the present days， of which can be divided into two periods， Clinton administration and Bush administration. After the radical social change in the Soviet Union and East Europe， China insisted to carry out the reform and opening up to the outside world， and took a more pragmatic approach towards the internal and external， from which the United States saw the traditional secularism and realism of China， besides， China didn’t fall back in her economy， but instead developed more rapidly than before. So the States went back from the path of hostility to pull China into the western system and changed its strategy within that system. During the Clinton administration， the States not only forced China went into the world track of market economy， but also drew up the American International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to raise its bargaining chip. Ever since the Bush administration， the right wings of Christianity sharply expanded their influence， the diplomatic policies were grasped by the fundamentalist， the recent condition of China could not satisfy the sincere Christian Bush and conservatives he represents. In the eyes of evangelists， China was a hostile force second only to the Islamic world， a country who had a faith in the philosophy of materialism， atheism， and encouraging heathenism， which had a potential threat to the Christian civilization. The US-China rlations in this period still could escape from the religious issues.

Ⅳ. Opinions towards the Future Development of Sino-US Relations

As for the future development of Sino-US relations， the Americans have two perspectives with a view on the recognition of Christian countries： One is that the Sino-US relations will finally come to an end for the disputes aroused by the religion. For those people who hold this kind of view， they believe that the materialism of Chinese is impenetrably thickheaded， they are hopelessly to understand the States， the Christianity， and democracy. Although the pragmatic approach makes China enter into the market economy， the success of market economy would only strengthen the confidence toward their own ideology and tradition， in the near future， there will be fights and disputes between the United States and China.

The other one is much more optimistic， it holds that the Sino-US relations will not deteriorative， and they will not walk down the path of opponency and antagonism. This view regards that although the traditional Confucianism and Buddhism are far away from the God， not believe in God， they are not antagonistic to God， not as Islam which directly denies the doctrine of Jesus Christ. From the first appearance in Tang dynasty， accept for some special times， China has treated Christianity quite friendly and tolerant. With the protection of American towards the Christian spread and the tolerant policy of China toward religion， Christianity developed sound and rapidly in those years.

Ⅴ. Conclusion

However， both of the views above mentioned are improper， I think the future development of Sino-US relations will neither be driven to the extremes， nor the broad way， but a state that between them. Although the differences are indeed existed， not enough to arise any disputes. As a multi-national， and multi-belief huge country， China has never been trapped in any was or disputes concerning with the religion. However， because of the cultural especially religious differences between these two countries， the development of Christianity in China will not as surgent as some optimistic scholars have suspected.

In sum， I think the impact of Christianity on Sino-US relations is quite complex， when the Chinese government has a tolerant attitude towards the spread and impact of Christianity， the relations between the two countries will be quite stable and vice versa. With the deeper communication and understanding based on seeking common ground， handling the problems prudently and appropriately， our two countries would lower the negative impact aroused by the religious issues to a minimum level.

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