Study Of The Xi'an Young Men's Christian Association

Young Men's Christian Association(YMCA)was initiated in London,Britain,in1844.Soon after that,YMCA was established across the Britain.In 1851,two YMCAs were set up separately in Montreal,Canada and in Boston,USA,which were the first two YMCAs in countries other than Britain.In 1854,the USA and Canada YMCA jointly established the International Committee of YMCAs of the United States and Canada,the North American Committee for short.At the end of the 19 th century,the International Committee of YMCAs of the United States and Canada launched the YMCA World Service Movement,and began to expand overseas.In1885,Fuzhou Yinghua College set up a youth club,which meant the YMCA was admitted into China.In 1895,the Tianjin YMCA was established under the guidance of the North American Committee and became the first urban YMCA in China.In1896,27 YMCA in China organized the "School Youth League",which was the beginning of the National Conference for the Chinese YMCA.In 1912,the National Council of YMCAs of China officially opened with the approval of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Government of the Republic of the China.In 1914,the Xi'an YMCA was founded at the initiative of the Baptist missionaries in Xi'an.In 1922,there were 40 city-level YMCAs and 200 school-level YMCAs in China.The development of the China YMCA entered a stable period.From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the 1950 s,there were more than 20 urban YMCAs in China.During the “Cultural Revolution” period,urban YMCAs across China were interrupted.After 1980,the National Council of YMCAs of China and the YMCAs in10 cities gradually resumed and worked normally.During the Republic of China(1912-1949),the Xi'an YMCA had a board of directors and a ministry of public affairs.The board was the authority,with the right to reform the affairs of the YMCA and the appointment and removal of members of the ministry.The ministry of public affairs was the executive body,which has departments of moral education,intellectual education,sports,group education,and women.Each part of the work is different,and the Director General is responsible for it.During that period,Xi'an YMCA had a wide social relationship,and its directors were mostly well-known persons from different fields.In terms of operating expenses,Xi'an YMCA relied more on business operations,membership dues,education and fundraising.During the Republic of China(1912-1949),the Xi'an YMCA committed to cultural education,sports promotion,social improvement,and wartime services.In terms of cultural education,there were extracurricular tutoring classes,primary and secondary schools,civilian education,and vocational education.In terms of sports promotion,Xi'an YMCA promoted basketball sport in Xi'an and frequently carried out various sports events.In terms of social improvement,YMCA carried out promoting thrift and anti-drug propaganda.In terms of wartime services,refugee relief,military service,student relief and so on were carried out by YMCA during the period of Liu Zhenhua's Siege War and the Anti-Japanese War.These social ministries involved various fields of Xi'an society,and to a certain extent,promoted the modernization and social improvement of Xi'an in modern times.However,during the Republic of China,the Xi'an YMCA still had limitations,such as using its own social relations to gain privileges and strong religious atmosphere.After the founding of the People's Republic of China,the Xi'an YMCA actively carried out and advocated the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches,and achieved self-government and self-support as soon as it could.At the same time,Russian language training,accounting training,academic speeches and liberation song classes were held.In the early 1960 s,the Xi'an YMCA was forced to stop working under the influence of the Anti-Rightist Struggle.Under the efforts of the United Front Work Department of the Xi'an Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Xi'an Religious Bureau,the Xi'an YMCA gradually resumed and worked normally.In contemporary era,the Xi'an YMCA has carried out corresponding social ministry for rural children,special population,and environmental protection.Rural children's services provide companionship support,cognitive support and behavioral support for rural children,which is committed to cultivating the resilience and cognitive ability of rural children.Special population services aim for children with leukemia,children with autism and people with disabilities,enhancing their sociality through interest-oriented teaching and outside activities.The environmental protection service is mainly about the annual “Summer Camp of International Youth Environmental Protection”,which includes activities such as planting trees in the desert,building sand-protecting barrier and hiking in the desert,etc.As a non-profit religious organization with a Christian background,the Xi'an YMCA gradually realizes self-support in the long-term development process and achieves self-support in the economy.This is the basic premise that Xi'an YMCA can provide high-level services.Because of the highly specialized service team of social workers,Xi'an YMCA can provide professional social work services and eliminate religious factors in the process of social work,which also embodies its ministry specialization.The economic self-support of the Xi'an YMCA,as well as the professional and secularized construction ideas,ensure the sound development of the Xi'an YMCA.The Xi'an YMCA provides a good model for the benign development of non-profit religious organization in contemporary era.