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Memories of Faith: The ‘Christian Sutras’ of Eighteenth-Century China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
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Drawing on official documents filed at the First Historical Archives in Beijing, and on missionary correspondence located at the Archivio storico ‘de Propaganda Fide’ in Rome, this paper will focus on printed manifestations of popular Christianity during the mid-Qing period. It will argue that, following the exclusion of foreign missionaries after the imperial edict of 1724, tendencies towards inculturation accelerated. Early nineteenth-century sources reveal that the Christian villagers were well aware of the fact that they had preserved but a fraction of what the foreign priests had introduced several generations earlier, yet the sheer memory of their ancestors’ faith was sufficient to provide the religious and social cohesion which characterized Christian life during the eighteenth century. While developing into a syncretic expression of a belief originally introduced by European missionaries, popular Chinese Christianity absorbed elements of other religious systems, mainly popular Daoism and Buddhist millenarianism, as well as ‘Confucian’ patterns of social morality. The spiritual writings memorized and passed from generation to generation in semi-literate rural communities played an important part in the formation of a new, Christian expression of popular religiosity.
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References
1 Hereafter FHA. These are the ‘China Number One Historical Archives’, the former Imperial Archives. Most material consists of memorials sent by provincial governors to the imperial administration, as well as imperial edicts. The documents presented in this article exclusively pertain to the ‘Grand State Council Records for Palace Memorials’. For a systematic overview, see Zhongguo diyi lishi dang’anguan guancang dang’an gaishu [An Outline of the Collections of the First Historical Archives] (Beijing, 1985).
2 Hereafter APF. For a complete overview see Metzler, Josef, Inventario dell’archivio storico della Sacra Congregazione per l’Evangelizzazione dei Popoli o ‘De Propaganda Fide’ (Rome, 1983 Google Scholar).
3 For a brief introduction to the currently used terminology, see Costa, R., One Faith, Many Cultures: Inculturation, Indigenization and Contextualization (Maryknoll, NY, 1988 Google Scholar). It should also be borne in mind that Roman Catholicism remained the sole representative of Christianity in China until the early nineteenth century, when Protestant missionaries of North European origin began to proselytize. Chinese Ncstorianism had already become extinct prior to the Mongolian invasion in the thirteenth century.
4 This article will not primarily deal with the issue of inculturation, though it developed out of my recently completed Ph.D. thesis, The inculturation of Christianity in late imperial China’ (University of London, 2001).
5 For more insight into the so-called Rites Controversy, see Minamiki, George, The Chinese Rites Controversy: from its Beginnings to Modern Times (Chieago, 1985 Google Scholar), as well as David E. Mungello, ed., The Chinese Rites Controversy: its History and Meaning (Nettetal, 1994). An important archival source is BL, Eur. MSS 867.g.13.(3): Pope Alexander VII, ‘Préjugez legitimes en favoeur du decret de N.S. Père le Pape Alexandre VII. (le 23 Mars 1656) et de la pratique des Jésuites, au sujet des honneurs que les Jésuites rendent à Confucius et à leurs ancestres’ (Paris, c.1700).
6 For a detailed account of the Christian missions during two first decades of the eighteenth century, see Rosso, Antonio Sisto, Apostolic Legations to China of the Eighteenth Century (South Pasadena, CA, 1948 Google Scholar).
7 Zhang Boxing’s reasonings are presented in a letter by Domenico Perroni of 1723, Cf. APF, SOCP ‘Indie Orientali’ XXXI (1723-1725), fol. 147. The letter itself refers to the martyrium of Francisco Buccherctti and Giovanni Batista Mcssari, among other missionary novices.
8 An edict from the early years of the Yongzheng Emperor’s rule, reprinted in Wang Zhichun, ed. Chunchen, Zhao, Qingeshao rou yuan ji [Records of Hospitality towards Strangers in the Qing Dynasty] (Beijing, 1989), 64–6 Google Scholar, reveals his discerning religious spirit.
9 See the unpublished paper by Menegón, Eugenio, ‘Surniama Tragoedia: religion and political martyrdom in the Yongzheng Period’, presented at the Symposium on the History of Christianity in China, Hong Kong, 2–4 Oct. 1996 Google Scholar. The legal proceedings against the members of the Sunu clan can be inspected in Wenxian conghian, as the ‘Case against Yinsi and Yintang’ [Yinsi yintang an].
10 For a more detailed picture of the insurrections during the early Qing period, see Zhou Yuniin and Yong, Shao, Zhongguo huibang shi [History of China’s Brotherhoods and Societies] (Shanghai, 1993 Google Scholar), ch. 1. The importance the Qing attached to a merciless policy towards rebels of all persuasions is vividly illustrated in J.J.M. de Groot, Sectarianism and Religions Persecution: A Page in the History of Religions (Leiden, 1901), 340–9.
11 Ibid., 273–4.
12 The observations are based on the diary of the Roman missionary Carolus a Castorano, for the years 1698–1724: BAV, MS Lat. Vat. 12849, Brcvis narratio itincris ex Italia usq. ad Chinam’. It contains (alongside a detailed baptismal record of Chinese Christians) an account of individual persecutions against Christian villagers and missionaries during this period, in particular the campaign of 1714 in Shandong province.
13 As in the case of the Chinese missionary Cai Zu, arrested in Fujian province in 1733. Traitor’ (jiamnin) Cai was found in the company of two Portuguese nationals and of several books, including a volume depicting ‘Christian paintings and statues’ (tianzhujiao tuxiang). See Wang Zhichun, Qingehao rou yuan ji, 86.
14 The Yongzheng memorial sent Shockwaves through the missionary community, and was hastily translated for relay to Europe. See, for instance, the letter of 1724 by Domenico Perroni to the Propaganda offices in Rome: APF, SOCP ‘Indie Orientali’ (1723-5) XXXI, fols 40–2, 125–31.
15 Emphasised in a letter by Antoine Gauhil sent to Paris, 6 Nov. 1726: Antoine Gaubil, Correspondence de Pékin 1722-/759 (Geneva, 1970), 128–9.
16 Free translation of the original: ‘Perciò si è messo in cssccuzionc il sudetto decreto, e li Missonarii sono scacciati, le chiese restano occupate, e profanate per il publico servizio: li christiani e ncophiti, benche perseguitati in altri luoghi, con puochi danari, se tirano fuora de tra vagli. Il Diploma, ò patente imperiale va … per esser abbruggiato, e cosi l’arroganza e la vanità questi noi… fui cioè grandi di Cina, è finita, e svanita col fumo.’ AFP, SOCP ‘Indie Orientali’ XXXI (1723-5), fols 188–9.
17 The role of the painter Giuseppe Castiglione, SJ (Chinese name, Lang Shining) – whose work included depictions of the victorious Qing troops, European landscapes and the construction of the Yuanmingyuan summer palace – has been widely speculated on. The fact that Castiglione never mastered the Chinese language makes the Emperor’s favourite court missionary even more enigmatic. His quiet yet persistent interventions on behalf of China’s Christians, however, certainly left an impression on the Emperor. It has even been argued that the paintings and robot toys produced for the Emperor did more for the advancement of Christianity in the empire than any theological discourse. See the unpublished conference paper by Alabiso Alida, ‘Castiglione and the introduction of European painting and architecture in China’, for the international symposium ‘China and the World in the Eighteenth Century’, Beijing, June 1995.
18 The incident is reported in Ze, Zhang, Qingdai jinjiaoqi de tianzhujiao [Catholic Christianity during the Qing Prohibition] (Taibei, 1992), 120–1 Google Scholar.
19 The executions of Bishop Sanz and four other European priests in 1746 can thus be regarded as exceptions.
20 This also affected the Three-Tcachings-in-One [sanjiao heyl), which combined Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism into a highly popular syncretic movement. Thrcein-Onc temples were destroyed and often only survived under the guise of Confucian academics, where its founder Lin Zhaocn (1517-98) was displayed in the maimer of the Confucian sages. See Dean, Kenneth, Lord of the Three in One: The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China (Princeton, NJ, 1998), 17–18 Google Scholar.
21 Despite repeated reassertions from Chinese Christians and European missionaries that the two religions were not identical. See Ma Zhao, ‘Shilun Qianlong shiqi (1736-1796) chajin tianzhujiao shijian’ [‘A preliminary study of events relating to the prohibition of Christianity during the Qianlong period, 1736–1796’] (MA dissertation, Research Centre for Qing History, Rcnmin University of China, Beijing, 1999), 30–2.
22 See Groot, de, Sectarianism and Religious Persecution, 280–7 Google Scholar.
23 See Ma Zhao, ‘Shilun Qianlong shiqi’, p. 19. For Sichuan province see Guiot, Leonide, La Mission du Sutchuen au XVIIIme siècle: vie et apostolat de Mgr Pottier (Paris, 1892), 149 Google Scholar.
24 See Naquin, Susan, Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774 (New Haven, CT, and London, 1981), xiii–xv Google Scholar, for a brief account of sectarian insurrection in the province.
25 For the historical background of Christianity in the provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, see Margiotti, Fortunato, Il cattolicismo nello Shansi dalle origini al 1738 (Rome, 1958 Google Scholar).
26 Beijing’s bishops during the period of prohibition were all Europeans: Bernardinus della Chiesa (d. Dec. 1721), Francisco da Rocha Frocs (d. June 1733), Polycarpo Souza (d. May 1757), Damascenus Salutti (left office April 1780), Alexander de Gouvca (d. July 1807), and finally Joachim de Souza-Saraiva (in office until 1818, but not replaced by a residing bishop until 1826). See Qingyuan, Zhao, Zhongguo tianzhujiao jiaoqu huafenjiqi shouzhang jieti nianbiao [Annual Compendium of the Dioceses and their Leaders in Catholic China] (Tainan, 1980), 27 Google Scholar.
27 It is estimated that some 40 missionaries, Chinese and European, were risking their lives for their cause. See Ma Zhao, ‘Shilun Qianlong shiqi’, 8.
28 Gottfried-Xavier Laimbeckhoven, S.J. (Chinese name: Nan Huaircn, 1707–87) is mentioned in conjunction with his successor as Bishop of Nanjing, Nathanacl Burger O.S.F. (d. 1780) in Moidrey, Joseph de, La Hiérarchie catholique en Chine, en Corée et au Japon (1307-1914) (Shanghai, 1914), 28–30 Google Scholar, 242–3. See also Krahl, Joseph, China Missions in Crisis: Bishop Laimbeckhoven and his Time 1738–1787 (Rome, 1964 Google Scholar).
29 See the moving letter by the Chinese priest Cassius Joseph Taj, sent to the Vatican on 25 Dec. 1779: APF, SC ‘Indie Orientali’ XXXVI (1779-81), fol. 236r.
30 The correspondence of the Chinese novices of Naples is analysed in Francesco D’Arelli, La Missione Cattolica in Cina tra i secoli XVIl-XVIlI (Naples, 1995).
31 The Monastery of the Nativity, in the vicinity of Chengdu, is a good example. The centre accommodated nearly 700 novices and formed the basis for missionary activity in and south of Sichuan. See Ze, Zhang, Qingdai jinjiaoqi de tianzhujiao, 156–9 Google Scholar.
32 Such as De Pei, governor of the Hu-Guang double-province, a secret Christian who assisted the persecuted community throughout his official life (1688-1752). See Krahl, , China Missions in Crisis, 3–4 Google Scholar, 9–10.
33 See APF, SC ‘Indie Orientali’ XXXVI (1779-81), fols 283–4, 266–9.
34 This fact is underlined in numerous examples of missionary correspondence. See, e.g., APF, SC ‘Indie Orientali’ XXXVI (1779-81), fol. 117.
35 See the excellent study by Haar, Barend ter, The White Lotus Teaching in Chinese Religious History (Leiden, 1992 Google Scholar).
36 ‘Un’ imprudenza non considerata dalla parte degli Europei Pckinesi, in rimettere molti plichi di lettere interessanti con gran copia de libri cinesi trattandi di materie della Santa Religione …’. This is the beginning of the account by Emmanuele Conforti on the persecution of 1805. Cf. APF, SC ‘Cina and Regni Adiacenti’ III (1806-11), fol. 398r.
37 A comprehensive bibliography of Chinese translations of European writings can be found in Henri Bernard, ‘Les Adaptions chinoises d’ouvrages européens: Bibliographic chronologique depuis la venue des portugais à Canton jusqu’à la mission française de Pékin, 1514–1688’, Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies of the Catholic University of Peking, 10 (1945), 1–57, 309–88. The contents of Vcrhacren, H., Catalogue de la Bibliothèque du Pé-t’ang (Beijing, 1949 Google Scholar), reflect the wealth of European sources the Jesuit translators could draw on.
38 Broomhall, M., The Bible in China (1934)Google Scholar, published to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Robert Morrison’s translation of the New Testament in 1814, contains a detailed account of the story of the Bible in China. The first full Bible translation – the Shentian shengshu [The Sage Scripture of Divine Heaven] by J.R. Morrison and W. Milne – was not complete until 1823, though an earlier version had been produced by J. Marshman (1815-22) in India. See Broomhall, Bible in China, 50–97, and (for the extraordinary background of the first Chinese Bible translation) W.W. Moscley, The Origins of the First Protestant Mission to China (1842). See also Jost O. Zctzschc, The Bible in China: History of the ‘Union Version’ or The Culmination of Protestant Missionary Bible Translation in China (Sankt Augustin, 1999).
39 For a comparative analysis of the written word in Christendom and in China, see Wang, Xiaochao, Christianity and Imperial Culture: Chinese Christian Apologetics in the Seventeenth Century and their Latin Patristic Equivalent (Leiden, 1998), 184–6 Google Scholar.
40 Though still far from any notion of ‘universal’, the educational system of late imperial China profited from the educationalism inherent in Confucianism. Many rural districts, in particular in the Jiangnan, had an ample supply of charity schools (yixue), community schools (shexue), and private academics (shuyuan). See Hsiao, Kung-Chuan, Rural China: Imperial Control in the Nineteenth Century (Seattle, WA, 1960), 235–58 Google Scholar. The Sanzijing owed its existence to the Confucian reformer Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and was used for primary education well into the twentieth century.
41 See Richard Shek, Hon-Chun, ‘Religion and society in late Ming: sectarianism and popular thought in sixteenth and seventeenth century China’ (University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. thesis, 1980), 155–7 Google Scholar. Not unlike the Communist literary propaganda of the 1940s and 1950s, baojuan often played on the theme of moral fortitude in adverse conditions.
42 The use of baojuan by the founder of the Luo movement should be seen as a measure of its popularity, since its founder Luo Qing (1442-1527) disapproved of the ‘empty recitation’ of religious tracts. Cf. Zhou Yumin and Shao Yong, Zhongguo huibang shi, 27–8.
43 See Overmyer, Daniel, Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the 16th and 17th centuries (Cambridge, MA, 1999 Google Scholar).
44 See Susan Naquin, ‘Transmission of White Lotus sectarianism’, in D. Johnson, A. Nathan, and Rawski, E., eds, Popular Culture in Late Imperial China (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1985), 265 Google Scholar. Naquin estimates the number of destroyed White Lotus scriptures between the years 1720 and 1840 at c.2,000 books, equalling 400 titles.
45 See Goodrich, L.C., The Literary Inquisition of Ch’ien-lung (Baltimore, MD, 1935), 275 Google Scholar. Despite this clear legal position, the state usually took a rather more relaxed attitude towards prosecuting distributors of such ‘seditious writings’ – at least prior to the great millenarian uprisings of the latter half of the Qing period. See also Overmyer, Precious Volumes, 229–30.
46 For a summary of popular book printing, as well as the printing and distribution of books as a mass commodity, see Rawski, Evelyn Sakakida, Education and Popular Literacy in Ch’ing China (Ann Arbor, MI, 1979), 111–23 Google Scholar.
47 The Protestant missionaries of the nineteenth century would quickly learn the same lesson. See Alice Gregg, Henrietta, China and Educational Autonomy: The Changing Role of the Protestant Educational Missionary in China, 1807–1937(Syracuse, NY, 1946), 12–18 Google Scholar.
48 See FHA, document 493, section 3, catalogue 167, scroll 9258, nos 35, 36. The reporting officials are Cao Wcnzhi, Wu Mingqiu, and Liu E.
49 See the Propaganda document relating to the same event: APF, SOCP ‘Indie Orientali’ LXXHl(1817), fols 33–4.
50 See Naquin, Susan, Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrants Uprising of 1813 (New Haven, CT, and London, 1976), 19–24 Google Scholar. Also, for the concrete example of the Adeodato case, APF, SOCP “Indie Orientali’ LXXIII (1817), fol. 35. The Po-xie xiang bian [Detailed Refutation of Heresy] compiled by the nineteenth-century official Huang Yubian, magistrate of districts in Zhili from 1830 to 1842, contains reprints of 68 popular religious haojuan, accompanied by a condemnatory appeal to the public to adhere to the path of orthodoxy. See Shck, ‘Religion and Society in Late Ming’, 158–60.
51 On the hymnals of the Taiping, see Wagner, Rudolf G., Reenacting the Heavenly Vision: the Role of Religion in the Taiping Rebellion (Berkeley, CA, 1982), 89 Google Scholar; Shek, ‘Religion and Society in Late Ming’, 200–1.
52 The Kouduo richao is the subject of Erik Zürchcr, The Lord of Heaven and the Demons – strange stories from a late Ming Christian manuscript’, in G. Naundorf, K.-H. Pohl, and Schmidt, H.-H., eds, Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien: Festschrift für Hans Stciniger zum 65. Cehurtstag (Würzburg, 1985), 357–75 Google Scholar.
53 See Nicholas Standacrt, ‘Chinese Christian visits to the underworld’, in Leonard Blussé and Zurndorfer, Harriet T., eds, Conflict and Accommodation in Early Modern East Asia: Essays in Honour of Erik Zürcher (Leiden, New York, and Cologne, 1993), 56 Google Scholar.
54 See Standaert, Nicolas, Yang Tingyun: Confucian and Christian in Late Ming China: His Life and Thought (Leiden, 1988 Google Scholar).
55 See FHA, original document number 501, section 3, catalogue 167, scroll 9261, no. 15; reporting officials Ying He and He Ning.
56 The Calendarium generale is part of the Beitang collection (shelf mark 2875), at present kept at the National Library (Peking Library) without access for the general public. Queries on the current state of the collections should be addressed to the Chinese section of the British Library, London.
57 See Laamann, Lars Peter, ‘The Current State of the Beitang Library’, Bulletin of the European Association of Sinological Librarians (Sept. 1996), 11–13 Google Scholar.
58 Churches were usually dedicated to Christ the Saviour, whereas chapels and prayer houses for female believers were devoted to Mary. The Beitang library hence had the official name Bibliotheca Sancti Salvaloris. See Margiotti, Il cattolicismo nello Shansi, 583 n.43.
59 Regrettably the manuscript collection fell victim to a fire in 1864. Rumours of the existence of a recently discovered cache of archival materials were ill-founded, as I witnessed myself in 1995. The papers were indubitably not examples of the expected missionary correspondence, but simply hand-written filing cards for a catalogue – probably Verhacrcn’s.
60 The fate of the book collection – and that of the congregations of Beijing – is spelt out in a letter by Emanuele D. Goldino, attaché of the Portuguese ecclesiastic administration of Goa, sent to Rome from Macau in Oct. 1806: APF, SC ‘Cina et Regni Adiacenti’ III (1806-11), fol. 196r.
61 Letter by Luigi da Signa, from Shanxi province to Rome, 7 March 1806: APF, SC, ‘Cina and Regni Adiacenti’ III (1806-11), fol. 106v.
62 Ibid., fol. 107r.
63 The edict of JQ 15 (1811) is reprinted in the ‘Veritable Records of the Jiaqing Emperor’, vol. 142, and cited in Ze, Zhang, Qingdai jinjiaoai de tianzhujiao, 165–70 Google Scholar.
64 Cf. APF, SC ‘Cina & Regni Adiacenti’ III (1806-11), fol. 400t. The source is a description of the Adeodato case.
65 See the printed collection Ba-xian dang’anguan [The Ba-xian Archives], Ba-xian / Sichuan, Part 5, Section 13, ‘Christianity and Heresy’, 240–5: ‘Cases resulting from an investigation into Christianity in Ba-xian, QL 47–48 [1782-1783]’.
66 The Japanese parallel case is illustrated in Christal Whelan, ‘Written and unwritten texts of the Kakure Kirishitan’, in John Breen and Williams, Mark, eds, Japan and Christianity: Impacts and Responses (Basingstoke, 1996), 122–37 Google Scholar, CSP. 126–33. A comparative presentation of written materials introduced to and printed in Japan by the Jesuits is provided in J.F. Moran, The Japanese and the Jesuits: Alessandro Valignano in Sixteenth-Century Japan (London and New York, 1993), 145–60.
67 See ‘Cases resulting from an investigation into Christianity in Ba-xian’, 242. Explicitly mentioned titles are: Tianzhu jiaoyao [Summary of the Religion of the Lord of Heaven], by Matteo Ricci, S.J. (1605); the Wanwu zhenyuan [True Origin of All Things]; Bi wang [Fleeing Evil]; Tianzhu jingshu [The Sutra of the Heavenly Lord]; zZhaozao tian, di, renwu zhenzhu [True Lord of All Creation]; and the Jiaoyao xulun [Prolegomena to the Essential Aspects of the Faith].
68 Often cited vitae are the Tianzhu shengjiao shengren xingshi [Lives of the Saints of the Catholic Church] and the Shengmu xingshi [Life of the Holy Mother]. See Margiotti, Il cattolecismo nello Shansi, 279.
69 See the memorial by Zhuang Yougong of QL 19 (1766): FHA, section 3, catalogue 167, scroll 9258, document no. 9.
70 The Bibliotheca Missionum makes reference to some of the titles listed above. Unfortunately, information on many eighteenth-century publications remains scarce.
71 Most of the above writings are kept at the British Library and at the Peking Library. As these titles only refer to the surviving examples, we have to assume that there was a far more substantial body of publications printed in the imperial capital by foreigners and Chinese Christians alike. Adrianus Dudink, The Zikawci Collection in the Jesuit Thcologatc Library at Fujen University (Taiwan): background and draft catalogue’, Sino-Western Cultural Relations journal, 18 (1996), 1–40, provides insight into the abundance of translations and compositions by European missionaries, mostly originating from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
72 See Shiliao xunkan [Ten-Daily Publication of Historical Materials], vol. 12 (series: ‘Heaven’), 421. ‘Bearded Yuan’ is described as being actively involved in the Southern Cathedral of the capital, and being employed by the Board of Astronomy.
73 In addition to Xie Madou and John-Chrysostom Kho (Chinese name unknown) there were four secular priests. These six priests were strengthened by successive visits by Mouly (1835-42), Joseph Gabct (1837-42), Evaristc Hue (1841-2), Florent Daguin (1843), and Joseph Carayon (1843). See Hue, E.R., Souvenirs of a Journey through Tartary, Tibet and China During the Years 1844, 1845 and 1846, 2 vols (Beijing, 1931), 1:39 Google Scholar.
74 The Chinese priest Matthew Kou translated pamphlets on Purgatory and on the Ten Commandments into colloquial Chinese. See Guiot, La Mission du Su-tchuen, 232–3. FHA, document 501, section 3, catalogue 167, scroll 9258, nos 16, 17, refers to the discovery in 1747 of ‘privately printed sutras and pictures, talismans and books’ in the Christian village Sanggu in Wanping District, Shuntian Prefecture.
75 Ibid.
76 Perhaps illustrated spiritual instructions.
77 See Margiotti, Il caltolecismo nello Shansi, 277–81.
78 See FHA, category 3, catalogue 167, scroll 9258 [492], nos 19–20. The memorial is dated QL 39.4.12 (i.e. 21 May 1774).
79 Cf. Willeke, B., ‘The report of the Apostolic Visitation of D. Emmanuele Conforti on the Franciscan Missions in Shansi, Shensi and Kansu (1798)’, Archivum Franciscaniim Historicum, 84 (1991), 258 Google Scholar. The relevant second chapter is entitled ‘On abuses among the faithful and rites introduced to the people’ (‘De abusibus circa fidem et ritus inventis in populo’).