Christianity And Modern Shaanxi Society

After the Opium war broke out in 1840, Christianity was once again spread into China, bringing great influence to the modern Chinese society .The inland province, Shaanxi, had also attracted many western missionaries from the southern, northern and the central parts of province to spread their doctrine from 1870' on.Based on modern social status of Shaanxi, this dissertation analyzes the spreading and development of Christianity in Shaanxi province from 1840 to 1949, revealing the impact of Christianity in the social changes in modern Shaanxi. Both the spreading of Christianity and the Shaanxi peasants' believing it were closely attached to the economic status of the society at that time. All the undertakings founded or run by Christian churches in Shaanxi compensated to some extent for what the government had done, producing effective influence to the social changes of Shaanxi. However, the missionary cases taking place in modern Shaanxi manifested a negative influence of the spreading of Christianity to the social changes of modern Shaanxi. Besides, the dissertation also analyzes the spreading of Christianity in the Shensi_Kansu_Ningsia Border region. Directed by the policy of "Freed of religious believe" implemented by the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese Christian churches finally became independent from the foreign powers, supporting the churches all by themselves which burdened great historical and practical significance in the history of the development of religion in China.