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China's religious affairs are handled by the various religious
bodies, their clergy and followers themselves. China's religious
affairs and religious bodies are not subject to any foreign domination.
The Chinese government supports the management of religious affairs
by the various religions themselves according to the Constitution
and laws.
The principle of independence and taking the initiative in their
own hands in the management of churches is a historical choice made
by the Chinese religious believers of their own accord as part of
the Chinese people's struggle against colonialist and imperialist
aggression and enslavement. Following the Opium War of 1840 China
declined to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. During this
process Western Protestantism and Catholicism were used by colonialism
and imperialism as a tool for aggression against China, and a number
of Western missionaries played an inglorious part in this.
-They participated in the opium trade and in plotting the Opium
War unleashed by Britain against China. In the 19th century Robert
Morrison, a British missionary, and Karl Friedrich August Gutz,
a German missionary, both working for the East India Company, participated
in dumping opium in China. Some missionaries strongly advocated
resort to force by Western powers to make the Qing government open
its coastal ports, saying that it was only war that could open China
to Christianity, and directly participated in the British mititary
activities to invade China.
-They participated in the war of 1900 launched by the allied forces
of eight powers against China. A number of missionaries, serving
as guides, interpreters and information officers, took part in the
slaughter of Chinese civilians and the robbing of money and property.
According to Mark Twain, the renowned American writer, some of the
missionaries imposed on the poor Chinese peasants fines 13 times
the amount they were supposed to pay, driving their wives and innocent
children to lingering death from starvation, so that they were thus
able to use the money gained through such murder to propagate the
Gospel.
-They directly took part in plotting and drafting unequal treaties,
such as the Sino-British Treaty of Nanking of 1842, the Sino-American
Treaty of Wanghea of 1844, the Sino-American and Sino-French treaties
of Tientsin of 1858 and the Sino-French Convention of Peking of
1860. According to these unequal treaties, Western Catholic and
Pretestant missionaries could lease land for building their own
places of worship in trade ports and enjoyed the protection of local
officials; missionaries could also freely lease or buy land for
construction and other purposes in the provinces; local Chinese
officials must treat kindly and protect those missionaries who came
to inland regions to preach their religions; Chinese officials must
not impose prohibitions on Chinese who professed a religious faith;
etc.
-They enjoyed extraterritoriality, and were not governed by China's
laws. The Western powers gave their missionaries in China protection
on the strength of the consular jurisdiction they enjoyed. Taking
advantage of extraterritoriality some Western missionaries, backed
by the aggressive imperialist forces, went to inland China to build
churches and set up parishes. They forcibly occupied land, and bullied
and oppressed Chinese officials and civilians. These missionaries
even wilfully extended the extraterritoriality to Chinese converts
and interfered in Chinese judicial authority.
-They strengthened the control of the Western powers over China
on the pretext of "religious cases," i.e., conflicts and
disputes between Chinese people and the Western missionaries who
incurred popular indignation by doing evil deeds under the protection
of the unequal treaties. In the period between 1840 and 1900, some
400 such cases occurred in China. On the pretext of these religious
cases the Western powers imposed military and political pressure
on the Chinese government. They put forward various unreasonable
demands, compelled the Chinese government to pay indemnities, and
arrested and executed innocent people. Moreover, they even launched
aggressive wars on such a pretext. In a case in Tianjin in 1870
alone, the Western powers compelled the Qing government to execute
20 people and exile 25.
-They obstructed and opposed China's struggle against fascism
and the Chinese people's revolution. After Japan invaded Northeast
China the Vatican took a stand which was, in fact, supporting the
Japanese aggression. It took the lead in recognizing the puppet
Manchukuo regime set up by the Japanese and sent a representative
there. After the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan
some Western missionaries stirred up hostility against the people's
revolution among the converts and even organized armed forces to
help the Kuomintang fight in the civil war.
-They adopted a hostile attitude toward New China and plotted
sabotage. After the founding of New China in 1949 the Vatican issued
papal encyclicals several times instigating hatred against the new
people's political power among the converts.
While playing an inglorious role in modern Chinese history, Western
Catholicism and Protestantism manipulated and controlled Chinese
churches turning them into the appendages to Western religious orders
and mission societies. Under these circumstances Chinese clergymen
and the vast majority of their followers had no rights. In the 1940s
among the 20 archbishops in China there were 17 foreigners and only
three Chinese; in the 143 parishes there were some 110 foreign bishops
but only about 20 Chinese bishops.
Some Chinese Christians early on expressed their wish to cast
off such control and began establishing their own independent Christian
organizations. However, in the semi-colonial and semi-feudal old
China it was absolutely impossible for Chinese churches to maintain
real independence and realize self-management.
The founding of the People's Republic of China put an end to the
era of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society in China, thus providing
the historical conditions for Chinese Catholicism and Protestantism
to become independent and self-managing. In July 1950, 40 leading
figures from various religious denominations headed by Wu Yaozong
published the "Three-Self Declaration," titled "The
Way in Which the Chinese Christianity Works for New China's Construction,"
expressing the attitude of Chinese Christians who supported New
China, and their determination to cast off imperialist influence
and achieve the "Three Selfs" (self-administration, self-support
and self-propagation) of Chinese churches. In September 1950, 1,527
leading Christians signed the declaration. Three or four years later
the number of Christians who had signed the document reached more
than 400,000, about two-thirds of the total number of Christians
in the country. Christians have since then adhered to the principles
of the "Three Selfs."
In November 1950 more than 500 Catholics in Guangyuan County,
Sichuan, published the Declaration on the Catholic Reform Movement
of Self-Support, advocating cutting off the relationship with imperialism
in all aspects and setting up new churches on the basis of self-administration,
self-support and self-propagation. The declaration was welcomed
by the leading Catholic clergymen and other converts in all parts
of China. Though the Vatican took repeated political actions of
hostility against New China, the Chinese church reported the appointment
of one acting bishop and two full bishops, selected in 1957 and
1958, to the Vatican. However, the Vatican refused to recognize
them threatening to mete out extraordinary punishments, greatly
hurting the feelings of the Chinese Catholics. Since then the Chinese
Catholic church has firmly taken the way of selecting and ordaining
its own bishops and independently managing the churches. In religious
belief Chinese Catholicism is the same as Catholicisms anywhere
else in the world, while in church administration all the internal
affairs are handled according to decisions made by the Chinese Catholic
church independently.
In the past few decades the Chinese Protestantism and Catholicism
have stuck to the principle of independence and self-management,
which has met with assent and support from the vast majority of
believers and enabled the church and its religious activities to
develop soundly. Now the total number of Chinese Christians is 14
times as many as in 1949. Chinese Catholicism has 115 parishes under
the direction of Chinese bishops or priests.
While adhering to the principle of independence and self-administration,
Chinese religions are active in making exchanges and contacts with
their counterparts all over the world on the basis of equality and
friendship. China is always open to foreign religious organizations
and individuals who are friendly to China, respect China's sovereignty
and Chinese religions' principle of independence and self-administration.
China's Protestantism and Catholicism have maintained friendly contacts
with churches in many countries. In February 1991 the China Christian
Council officially joined the World Council of Churches. The Chinese
Catholic Church has sent representatives to attend some international
religious conferences successively, such as the Fifth World Conference
on Religion and Peace and the World Catholic Youth Day. In recent
years Chinese churches have sent quite a number of students to study
abroad and invited foreign lecturers and scholars to teach in China's
theological seminaries. Friendly international exchanges are also
increasing in the areas of China's Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.
The Chinese government has consistently adhered to a peaceful
foreign policy of independence and taking initiative in its own
hands, and is willing to improve the relations with the Vatican.
However, such improvement requires two basic conditions: First,
the Vatican must end its so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan
and recognize that the government of the People's Republic of China
is the only legal government in China and that Taiwan is an inalienable
part of China's territory. Second, the Vatican must not interfere
in China's internal affairs on the pretext of religious affairs.
In the first place, the relationship between China and the Vatican
is one between two countries. Therefore, only when the relations
between the two countries improve can religious issues be discussed.
Whether the relations between China and the Vatican change or not,
the Chinese government will, as always, support Chinese Catholicism
which holds aloft the banner of patriotism, sticks to the principle
of independence and self-management, and stands for selection and
ordination of bishops by itself.
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