The Chinese Community's Response to Protestant Missions Prior to the 1940s

ABSTRACT/RESUME In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Protestant mission to the Chinese immigrants in Canada suffered a serious setback because of the racial tension between Chinese and English-speaking Canadians. Although one of the initial goals of the mission was to break racial and cultural barriers and bring about interethnic group contact, the Chinese protectively drew more ethnic boundaries when they encountered Protestant missionaries. As a result, Chinese immigrants separated themselves more distinctly from white Canadians. The Protestant mission thus considerably hindered integration of the Chinese immigrants. This paper discusses the impact ethnic conflict had on the Chinese immigrants' response to their efforts. Dans le dix-neuvieme et vingtieme Siecles, la mission protestant pour les immigrantes chinoise dans le Canada a souffert un revers serieux parce que des tensions raciale entre les canadiens qui parlaient Ic chinois et l'anglais. Un but initial de la mission etait casser les barrieres raciale et culturelle, mais les chinois ont tire des plusieurs limites ethnique quand us rencontraient les missionnaires protestants. Donc, les immigrantes chinoise se separaient distinctement des canadiens blanche. Ainsi, Ia mission protestant a aide de ralentir le processus des immigrants chinois entrer la societe en generale. Cet expose sera discuter les reactions des immigrants chinois pour la mission. It sera donner plus de l'attention au impact de conflit ethnique sur Ia response chinoise aux missions. ********** Protestant missionaries made their first contacts with Chinese immigrants in Canada as early as the late 1850s. (1) In the late 1880s and 1890s, major Canadian Protestant denominations, such as the Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican, organized missions within the Chinese immigrant community. (2) From the very beginning, most Chinese immigrants discovered that the missionaries were different from other white Canadians: they were sympathetic to the Chinese who were discriminated against by Canadian federal and provincial legislatures and by the public; and were willing to help the Chinese. (3) The Chinese expressed their sincere appreciation to missionaries' kindness and friendliness by offering them respect and friendship. No matter how appreciative the Chinese were of the missionaries' treatment, however, the religion that the missionaries preached was not absorbed into the immigrant community. A Presbyterian missionary described the situation as follows: Canadian Ethnic sometimes the Chinese show their appreciation for what we do for them by giving us presents, but their appreciation of our efforts does not goes [sic] so far as to bring them to the missions to hear the gospel. (4) Indeed, the missionaries often complained that the Chinese displayed an indifferent and sometimes resistant attitude. Some even blamed the Chinese for refusing the gospel of God and completely indulging in their ancient superstitions. (5) However, if the issue is considered from the historical perspective of Chinese life in Canada, it will be found that the Chinese response to the Protestant missions was not simply an issue of religious orientation. The Chinese experience in Canada, to a great degree, affected their attitude about Canadian Protestant churches and their missions. Changes in the ethnic relationship between Whites and the Chinese immigrants resulted in an altered Chinese attitude. This paper will examine the Protestant missions from the perspective of the Chinese immigrant. More specifically, it will discuss how Chinese immigrants responded to the missionaries' message and what role the Chinese way of life played in the encounter between these immigrants and the missionaries. The paper will give more attention to the impact of ethnic conflict on the Chinese response to the missions. PRAGMATIC ATTITUDE TO MISSIONS Chinese immigrants were completely segregated from the larger society in the later nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries due to discrimination. …

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