Study On The Young Men’s Christian Association Of Taiyuan (1912-1937)

Has been set up in Late Qing and Early Republican China, The young men’s ChristianAssociation of Taiyuan is one of the most famous city YMCA organizations at north Chinaduring the period of Republic of China. Mirroring the Fenyang YMCA and Datong YMCA,The young men’s Christian Association of Taiyuan is very lively at that time and has greateffect on Shanxi society.Surveying the foundation and the development of the young men’s Christian Associationat Euro-American countries, then entering China through the International Committee ofYMCA in USA and Canada，The Taiyuan young men’s Christian Association finally rooted inTaiyuan. Comparing with flexibility&open character of foreign YMCA and YMCA of China,this paper studies Taiyuan YMCA’s composition, member management and economicdevelopment to aim at reveal Taiyuan YMCA in difficult position at both manpower andfinancial power during that period of time.After the Establishment of Taiyuan YMCA, All circles in the society started developingmany activities on ethics, intellect, physique, social skills. Moral education，this part mainlyfocus on studying Taiyuan YMCA has combined social reality and extends it’s concept whichachieved great effort on the premise of religious propaganda moral education activity beenleft out in the cold. Intellectual education, this part discuss on School education, Intellectualspeech, Cultural Activities and other areas. Physical part, to set about sports and hygiene, anddiscuss YMCA has influence on Taiyuan citizens’ health and sports undertakings. Social part,this part introduces Taiyuan YMCA carry out both group activities and children activities.Besides, this paper also includes social charity activities, rural development activities andchange existing habits or customs activities and other Christian ministries by Taiyuan YMCA.By review the activities of above, this thesis tries to throw light on the influence that YMCAbrings to Taiyuan society during that period of time.As a kind of non-governmental organization, Taiyuan YMCA processes Service,Communication, integration, Strain, Prevalence and other social functions. Comparing withmany advantages of government and other social organizations, some defects and limitation of non-governmental organization have been shown on Taiyuan YMCA. Studying on bothsuperiority and insufficiency of Taiyuan YMCA as non-governmental organization can givesome reference for establishing our country’s non-governmental organization nowadays.