From Opium Fiend To Preacher

In modern times, China has always been suffering from opium. Later, the war between China and Britain broke out caused by the destruction of opium in Humen, which finally opened up the door of China. After 1858, opium became legal goods in the name of' foreign medicine', and began to sale publicly on the Chinese market. Shortly after, opium became a kind of custom in modern China society. Meanwhile, addicting to opium existed as a way of life. Millions of Chinese people were absorbed in opium in that time. Some foreign missionaries came to China, in the purpose of preaching Christian, and started a great movement against opium in China. Over 70 years from 1835 to 1906, missionaries from American and European countries poured in the movement one after another. They exposed opium's harm to Chinese people and cured opium fiends mainly by means of written propaganda and medical facilities, from which missionaries and missions attracted more and more Chinese people to join in church. On the one hand, they forbade opium fiends from joining in church; on the other hand, they cured those opium fiends. Some opium fiends even gave up opium, joined in the church, and became dependable assistants later on.The Chinese evangelists experienced a change from opium fiends to preachers. During the change, their ways of life was also changed greatly. This article will focus its study on the change. The writer gave a relatively broad definition of the way of life, that is, people's various forms of social activities in daily life. In English, it means the way of life.Reviewing the studies of missionary history, most scholars paid more attention to the superiors in church and the life and belief of famous Chinese evangelists. They showed less concern for the inferiors on whom I will do more research in the following text. I will study in terms of the history of modern Christians from opium fiends to preachers, track their social lives, understand the role opium and Christianity played in their lives, and figure out what effect Christianity had on the relationship between Chinese people's soul and body, belief and life.In general, the essay is divided into five parts. Chapter one mainly reviews academy's successes in the past, and based on it observes modern Chinese evangelists' life and belief from the point of view of their changes in life-style. Chapter two simply narrates opium spread and its way of addicting; and gives a description of the opium fiends'life of opium in modern China. Chapter three proves the earliest voice of anti-opium from western preachers in China, describes the situations of opium refuge in China established by church, and investigates the overlooked contributions evangelists have made. Chapter four mainly talks about the experiences of Chinese Christians, especially fixes eyes on three Chinese preachers' converting experiences, namely, Shi Kweipiao, Xi Shengmo, Wang Jingming. The last part of the article summarizes the researching methods the whole text has adopted---the history of society, and finally has a simple discussion on the theory and paradigm of modern China history.