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CHAPTER XIII

EVANGELISM IN CHINA.

O fully understand the Chinese, one must be born a Chinaman. This is true; but it is also true that to fully understand any man it is necessary to be that man. But such seeming impossibilities as psychically identifying and regenerating oneself with, and into, another race, or another individual, are in reality not impossibilities at all. In other words, it is quite possible to understand the Chinese, and it is quite possible to understand any person, for it is quite possible to put oneself in the place of another. Christ, being in the form of God, and equal with God, made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This, in a sense, is what every true missionary is doing, he is identifying himself with the people to whom he goes with the gospel message. Just in the measure in which he does this, he understands the people and is successful, for just in such measure can the people understand the missionary and his message. "For who among men knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?"

When a few years ago the Rev. Hunter Corbett,

D. D., of Chefoo, China, was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, there was a Chinese elder from the Los Angeles Presbytery sitting as commissioner in that Assembly, clad in Chinese clothes and wearing a queue. Immediately after Dr. Corbett's election, this Chinese elder exclaimed, "They have honored one of my own countrymen and chosen him as Moderator of this Assembly! From henceforth I will be an American!" He immediately went out, had his queue cut off, doffed his Chinese clothes, donned a suit of American made clothing, just to show his appreciation of the Assembly's appreciation of one who had so thoroughly identified himself with the Chinese as to be understood by them. as one of their own race. This is the secret of Dr. Hunter Corbett's success in China. The question of understanding the Chinese is simply the question of making the Chinaman understand you; and this is simply, or profoundly, the question of denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Christ. Such a course will solve the Chinese puzzle. The individual, the church or the nation which most nearly proceeds according to this principle will come nearest the goal of understanding the Chinaman, and of being understood by him. In this chapter we shall undertake to discuss and present Evangelism in China in the light of the above principle, with the desire of promoting the happy and speedy solution of the greatest political, social, economic, and religious problem of the day, viz:-How can China be saved? China has a population variously estimated, but numbering possibly 400,000,000 people. These people are divided into eighteen separate provinces with

The Problem
Analyzed

1. Politically

four shadowy dependencies: Mongolia, Manchuria, Thibet, and Chinese Turkestan. These last named are something more than ghosts of departed members of the Chinese Empire. The real ghosts of such departed members are Korea, Burma, Siam and Annam. But the eighteen provinces are all living and flourishing members of a new Republic which was born after more than four thousand years of travail, and which, as such, has been welcomed all too grudgingly into the family of nations, especially by the crowned members of that family. The United States of America has, however, shown, we are glad to say, a more cordial spirit toward this new sister republic. Minerva, we are told, sprang full grown from the brow of Jupiter. China, whether full grown or not at the time of her birth as a republic, was so large as

make it difficult for any one or all of the sister nations of the earth to handle her. The eighteen provinces of China proper have an average area of 75,000 square miles, while the average area of the states of the United States of America is only 62,000 square miles. These same provinces have an average population of 21,000,000, while the average population of the states of the U. S. A. is only 1,570,000. The total area of China is 4,200,000 square miles, while that of the United States excluding Alaska, is 3,000,000 square miles.

The Chinese people were reported at first as being totally unprepared for a republican form of government. But a closer study of the facts shows that in many ways they are quite well prepared. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, of Peking, who has spent half a century in China and is one of the ablest students

of the Chinese people now living, said to the writer: "I am very hopeful of the ultimate success of this new Republic. The Chinese people are the most democratic people on earth." Mr. W. W. Yen, Assistant Secretary of State in the Chinese Republic, with whom we discussed the situation at some length, called our attention to the fact that "the various Chinese provinces have always been accustomed to governing themselves quite largely, and that the new republican form of government is not foreign to the instincts of the people." He also said, "The United States of America did not get together in their present happy federal relations until after years of discussion, strife and struggle over the question of the rights of the various states. We must not expect the various provinces of China, and the new Republic of China to adjust their political affairs all at once, and without some disturbances and differences." In a personal interview which we had with Mr. Tang Shao Yi, the first Prime Minister of the Chinese Republic, he emphasized the point that, "Time must be given for educating the people and for the organization of a strong central government. These things cannot be done in a moment. It will take years of reform and education; but I am optimistic and believe the Republic of China has come to stay." The fact is, China is not a stranger to good government. During the T'ang Dynasty, from 620 to 907 A. D., history records that, "China was probably the most civilized country on earth; the darkest days of the West, when Europe was wrapped in the ignorance and degradation of the Middle Ages, formed the brightest era of the East. China exercised a humanizing effect on all the sur