Table Of ContentSacred Webs
Religion in Chinese Societies
Edited by
Kenneth Dean (National University of Singapore)
Richard Madsen (University of California, San Diego)
David Palmer (University of Hong Kong)
VOLUME 13
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/rics
Sacred Webs
The Social Lives and Networks of Minnan
Protestants, 1840s–1920s
By
Chris White
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover Image: Xinjie Church, 1897. PCE/FMC, South Fujian/Amoy, Photographs, Box 2, File 2.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: White, Chris (Post-Doctoral Researcher), author.
Title: Sacred webs : the social lives and networks of Minnan Protestants,
1840s–1920s / by Chris White.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2017. | Series: Religion in Chinese
societies, ISSN 1877-6264 ; Volume 13 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016058613 | ISBN 9789004339163 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Protestant churches—China—Fujian Sheng—History. |
Protestants—China—Fujian Sheng—Social life and customs—History.
Classification: LCC BR1295.F85 W45 2017 | DDC 280/.40951—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058613
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1877-6264
isbn 978-90-04-33916-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-33917-0 (e-book)
Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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For Harrison 浩恩 White
∵
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Note on Terms and Spelling Xii
List of Images, Chart and Maps Xiii
Introduction 1
1 Setting the Minnan Stage 23
Section 1
Displaced Gods and Riceless Christians: The Processes of
Conversion among Minnan Protestants
2 Processing Conversion 51
3 Converting Costs 77
Section 2
Movers and Shakers: Mobility and Conflict in Minnan Protestant
Communities
4 Minnan Protestants on the Move 109
5 Understanding Chinese Protestant Conflicts 147
6 Networking Conflicts 168
7 Celebrating Protestant Networks 190
Section 3
The Liberating Gospel: Xu Chuncao and Spiritual and Social
Activism of Minnan Protestants
8 Incorporating Protestant and Secular Networks 217
viii CONTENTS
Conclusion 251
Appendix 1: Instances of Minnan Protestant Converts Forfeiting
their Employment to Join the Church, 1846–1866 255
Appendix 2: Index of Chinese Characters 261
References 265
Index 284
Acknowledgements
Researching and writing this book has been a long process made more enjoy-
able by the assistance, encouragement, and prodding of many individuals.
Here I gratefully acknowledge those who have been integral to the comple-
tion of this volume. This research started as a dissertation project, so it seems
right for me to first mention some of the influential teachers I have ben-
efited from. My thanks to Prof. Zheng Zhenman 郑振满 for his advice and
willingness to take on a PhD student with a funny accent. Profs. Liu Yonghua
刘永华 and Zhang Xianqing 张先清 were also gracious with their time and
advice during my PhD years and Dr. Zheng Li was of great assistance with
many of the mundane issues most PhD students would know how to handle,
but at times perplexed me as an international student. Prof. Michael Szonyi
offered detailed comments on an earlier draft of this book and Prof. K.K. Lee
李金强 also offered helpful feedback. Other mentors who read and com-
mented on portions of this volume include Kenneth Dean, Joseph Tse-Hei Lee,
Jean-Paul Wiest, Lauren Pfister, and Mark McLeister. Mark, in particular, has
been a steadfast source of support. His research, and more importantly his
life, have encouraged and challenged me.
I remember during my first year of studies at Xiamen University, I spoke
with my advisor, Prof. Zheng, about conducting oral interviews in my research.
Like many young scholars, I was concerned with the methodology—How do I
fashion a questionnaire? Should all interviews be recorded? Do I need signa-
tures? Showing his wisdom and years of experience, Prof. Zheng gently redi-
rected my focus. “Xiao Bai,” Prof. Zheng suggested, “what you really want to
do is become friends with these people. Just talk with them.” It has been my
great joy to try to follow this advice. Throughout my years in Xiamen and trav-
elling throughout Minnan, I have benefited greatly from conversations with
numerous people at various churches. I cannot mention them all, but I must
note some who were a great help. I should especially hightlight Mr. Ye Kehao
叶克豪, who has been indefatigable in his efforts to collect historical informa-
tion on the Minnan Church and has been kind enough to share these sources
with me. Mr. Lin Shiyan 林世岩, Mr. Zhu Siming 朱思明, Mrs. Zhu Zhaoyi
朱昭仪, Mr. Gao Enhui 高恩惠, and Mr. Cui Yingda 崔英达 have been very
generous with their time and have shared stories of their lives in the church.
Many Xu family members, including Mr. Xu Duokang 许多康, Mrs. Lin
Shaohua 林少华, Mr. Xu Yangsan 许扬三 and Mrs. Chen Caiyun 陈彩云
were also helpful in sharing about Xu Chuncao.
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Institutional support has been granted by various organizations. My studies
were funded by the China Scholarship Council and I spent one semester at
the Lam East-West Institute (LEWI) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).
I was also supported by a small grant to visit the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary and the RCA archives housed there. After finishing my degree, I was
able to continue researching this topic due to support from the Kay Family
Foundation (KFF) and my present institute, the Max Planck Institute for the
Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity.
Much of the sources used in this book are from archives that I visited. I was
aided in these visits by the following archivists: Geoffrey Reynolds and Lori
Trethewey at the Joint Archives of Holland (Michigan), Irene Wong at HKBU,
Russell Gasero at the RCA archives, and Hong Buren 洪卜仁 at the Xiamen
Library. Dr. Bill Brown of Xiamen University also deserves special mention for
help in providing sources used in this project. From the outset, Bill has not
only provided me with his valuable time, but also has allowed me to utilize his
growing collection of historical material on Minnan’s Christian history. Alistair
Dickens was patient and thorough in proofreading the volume and Tang Muzhi
唐牧之 was helpful in compiling the index.
Portions of this research have been previously published, and I am grateful
to the authors and publishers of these publications for permission to repro-
duce this content in this book. Parts of chapters two and three were published
in a conference volume as a chapter entitled “Displaced Gods and Riceless
Christians: The Process of Conversion for Early Minnan Protestants,” in Reli-
gion Spread through the Ten Circuits: Studies in Modern Chinese Christianity
through Regional Perspectives, edited by Wong Man-kong, Kwok Wai-luen,
and Lau Yee-cheung, 2013. Parts of the article, “Waves of Influence Across the
South Seas: Mutual Support of Protestants in Minnan and Southeast Asia,
1835–1949,” published in Ching Feng, vol. 11.1, 2012, is also found throughout
this volume. Finally, much of chapter seven has been published as “Chris-
tian Celebrations and Protestant Identity in Late Qing and Early Republi-
can Minnan,” a chapter in the volume Gospel Permeating among the People:
Christianity and South Chinese Dialect Groups, edited by K.K. Lee and Lau Yee-
cheung and published by Alliance Bible Seminary in 2016. I am also thank-
ful to the various archives for permission to publish the images found in this
volume.
I must offer my thanks to my family, especially my parents. In 1998 when
I first approached my parents about going to China for three months the follow-
ing year, I am sure they did not imagine it would turn into such an obsession.
