Western people in the Qing court
Modern Western invasion has caused frequent lesson plans in China, and waves of anti-cultural crazes have emerged in society, and it has reached its peak with the development of revolutionary activities. Between the establishment of , the establishment of of the Qing Dynasty and the invasion of the West in 1840, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty changed the missionary policy during the Ming Dynasty, gradually weakened the influence of missionaries in China, and adopted a strict policy of prohibiting religion.
1. Changes in the Ming and Qing dynasties and policy changes
There were still many Western missionaries in China during the Qing Dynasty. But they no longer acted as missionaries in China, but served the royal family as painters, doctors or officials.
"Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" Lang Shining and Ruyi
Why are missionaries who can only live in the palace and live and work as missionaries? This means that we have to mention the missionary policy in the early and mid-Qing Dynasty. In traditional historical narratives, the missionary part is very fragmented. People often only see a large number of missionaries appearing in the late Ming Dynasty, and see a large number of lesson plans happening in the late Qing Dynasty. The hundreds of years of history from the late Ming Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
So what happened in between?
After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, it turned against the previous foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty and began to implement austerity policies in foreign exchanges. The government at the end of the Ming Dynasty used the technology and relationship network of missionaries to assist the Ming army in fighting the Qing army. It can be seen that the overall cultural atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty was tolerant and open and tolerant, and adopted a positive attitude towards new things coming from the West, whether it was military technology or scientific and technological culture. But the Qing Dynasty was different. This was a dynasty that entered the Central Plains as a foreign race. They all adopted a very cautious attitude towards the Central Plains culture, not to mention the foreign cultures and missionaries from the West. On the basis of the use of advanced Western technology, the Qing emperor changed the loose policies of the previous dynasty on the basis of having to use it.
Portuguese in "The Blossom of Ming Dynasty"
2. The missionary policy of the Qing emperor
Since modern times, Chinese internal lesson plans have been continuously, but in fact, many lesson plans have occurred as early as the early Qing Dynasty, and most of these lesson plans have become the reason used by the Qing emperor to prohibit missionary. In 1664, the most serious lesson plan broke out in the early Qing Dynasty. Because this lesson plan is closely related to the calendar, it is called the "Calendar Case". After all, the conflict between Chinese astronomical officials and Western missionaries in observing astronomical phenomena and measuring the calendar. Although the "record cases" were later rehabilitated and the missionaries were able to continue to hold official positions in the Imperial Heaven Supervisory Bureau, the policy of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty on the grounds of "record cases" was not changed with the rehabilitation.
年多天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天天� Kangxi actually turned a blind eye to the relevant ban. In his later years, the " etiquette dispute " broke out, and Kangxi once again issued a missionary ban, but at this time, Kangxi was no longer able to take care of these secondary affairs. The real ban on ban actually started with Emperor Yongzheng .
Although the Westerners had only been in power in the Qing Dynasty palace
Although Yong had only been in power for more than ten years, he was an important center of the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi founded the foundation and the country was truly consolidated or rectified until the Yongzheng period. Since the first year of Yongzheng (1723), he ordered that missionaries were strictly prohibited from preaching in China. The court stipulated that except for missionaries stationed in Beijing, all priests from all over the country would be repatriated to Macau, and no missionary was allowed to appear among the people. Starting from the second year of Yongzheng (1724), hundreds of churches across the country were reorganized into schools, ancestral halls, temples or granaries, and dozens of missionaries were expelled to the Guangdong, Guangxi and Macau, and even priests or believers died.
Emperor Yongzheng
There were a large number of missionaries in the palace during the Qianlong period. Their positions covered court painters, court doctors, and officials of the Imperial Heaven Supervision. It can be seen that Qianlong did not inherit his father's policies in the early days of his ascension, and he also turned a blind eye to missionaries. However, in the eleventh year of Qianlong's reign (1746), the governor of Fujian submitted a memorial that the local priest Bai Duolou developed more than 2,000 believers in the local area, saying that the Catholicism had developed to a very strong point, and if it was left alone, it would have irreparable consequences.
Bishop Sculpture of Saint Baidolu
Under Qianlong's default, Baidolu was ordered to be executed. At this point, the Qianlong Dynasty ended its initial loose policy and began to implement a strict ban on religion. Seven missionaries were executed one after another, and a large number of related books were destroyed. Before China entered modern society in 1840, this time Catholicism suffered a devastating blow.
Westerners draw Bai Duolu's execution map
3. The reasons and effects of banning religion
banning religion was a slow and long process in the Qing Dynasty. After several generations of emperors, the reasons involved are very complicated, but the most critical point is to see whether the missionaries have "useful value" to the court. The Qing Dynasty's attitude towards Western culture was not as tolerant and pleasing as in the late Ming Dynasty, but valued its practical value. The Qing Dynasty before the Opium War was generally in a peaceful and stable environment, and most of the Qing emperors were more diligent. They no longer needed Westerners. The astronomical technology that Westerners were best at was already mastered by Chinese officials after more than a hundred years of imitation and learning. Moreover, most missionaries in China act in individual ways, and the national power behind them did not play any role at this time, and the personal power of missionaries was too small compared to the huge Qing Empire.
Before the Opium War, after more than a hundred years of education by the Qing government's ban on church policies, the people were suspicious and frightened about priests and Catholics. At the same time, officials were also very unfamiliar with missionaries, and they also believed that missionaries were here to persecute them. Western missionaries seemed to be venting their resentment that they had been holding back for more than a hundred years. They used the missionary rights obtained by the Inequality Treaty to preach in various parts of China and did many extraordinary things, resulting in frequent lesson plans in the late Qing Dynasty, which greatly changed the direction of China's history.
lesson plans frequently
Wenshijun said
Missionaries preach in China, simply speaking, it is the spread of culture between the East and the West, but behind it reflects a country's attitude towards foreign civilization. While imposing many restrictions on missionaries, the late Ming Dynasty tried its best to protect their legitimate rights and interests. However, the Qing Dynasty changed the loose policies of the previous dynasty and regarded missionaries and the Western culture behind them as disasters, resulting in the successive occurrence of lesson plans, which had a huge impact on the entire Qing Dynasty and even the Republic of China afterwards.
References
Tao Feiya: "Suspicion of Distant People: The Reasons and Influences of the Prohibition of Education in the Early and Middle Qing Dynasties", Journal of Fudan Scholars, 2009 No. 4.
Tao Feiya: "Church Prevention Lesson Plan: Protestant Missionaries collectively submitted memorials to the Qing court after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895", Journal of Shanghai University, No. 6, 2008.
(Author: Haoran Literature and History·Xiaoyang)
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