Chapter 1

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO CHINA

As far as we now know, and until archaeology proves differently, the history of China dates back at least to Sinothropus, one of the ancestors of the Mongoloid Race, who lived near the present city of Peking some 360,000 years ago during the early Paleolithic Period. That is all the information we have on the Mongoloid Race during that particular "Culture."

Following the Paleothic Period, came the Neolithic Culture which was, in turn, divided into three stages.

First came the Early Neolithic during which the primative Mongoloids migrated into Alsaka, Canada, and South China. Eventually these Mongoloids established settlements in the Wei Valley located in Shensi Province. It was here that they hunted, fished and eventually utilized stone-bladed hoes for the cultivation of the soil. These settlers lived in pit dwellings and eventually fashioned rough pottery for domestic use.

The second culture was the Yang-shao, which established settlements at Yang-shao in Honan Province. These settlers raised millet, wheat and dry rice in addition to hunting and fishing. They used shells for ornaments and painted their pottery with vigorous designs and many colors. The Yang-shao developed the "hollow-legged tripod, which was a most unique form of pottery.

The third culture was the "Black Pottery" in Shantung, Anhwei, Honan and Chekiang Provinces. These settlers developed thin, glossy- black, wheel-spun pottery, and first utilized iron knives. The Black Pottery Culture domesticated dogs and raised pigs, oxen, goats sheep and horses. They built walls of pounded earth around their settlements for protection.

Following the Neolithic Age came the Bronze Age which lasted from 3,000 B.C. until 1,600 B.C. The first bronze casting was done in the Yellow River area and with it came the beginning of picture symbols and writing. This was the dawn of recorded history.

The origin of the name "China" seems lost in antiquity. Many think it originated with the Chin Dynasty, but it is hardly possible that a country would be named after the Emperor. The name is not found in the ancient Chinese language as the classical and official name was "Drung-hua" or "Central splendor." While "Drung" can be translated as "Central" a dictionary "Hua" with variety and elegance. As a noun it is defined as; the blooming of plants, flowers, China, glory, and splendor while as an adjective it means, variegated, flowery, elegant, accomplished, virtuous, brilliant, light, charming and beautiful. In the daily spoken language, the country is referred to as "Drung-guo" or "The Central Country."

China was the center of the known world. To the South were their great neighbors, India and Persia. Manchuria and Mongolia were their powerful and much less peaceful neighbors to the North. In the West were Tibet and Turkestan which were eventually gathered into her fold and called respectively, the "West Hideaway" (because of the mountains) and the "Western Frontier." To the east was a smaller, less powerful and rather subservient country known as Japan which admired and respected its great neighbor across the Yellow Sea. So enduring was that respect that when St. Francis Xavier and his missionaries arrived in Japan one of the first inquiries they faced was, "Has the Middle Empire accepted your teaching?"

China, of ancient times, would have been very much surprised to know that Japan would later conquer her, but even that conquest would not survive and the Japanese who went to China to live would eventurally be assimilated into the nation just as the Mongol and Manchus, who had also once been conquorers, became swallowed up by the Middle Kingdom. One distinction, however, remained as while the two great rivers of China flowed from the mountains of Tibet, it seemed only natural that the mountian country should become part of China, while Japan was across the sea and could never be truly joined.

While much of the history of China is a history of accomodation and assimilation the country recognized a need to protect itself from foreign domination. After continuous invasions from the north, Emperor Chin-shih, the founder of the Chin Dynasty, decided in 255 B.C. to build a great wall to protect his kingdom. 700,000 criminals and prisoners of war were enslaved for the purpose of constructing the wall which covered 2,000 miles. (In 1547 an additional 300 miles were added.) It is difficult to imagine the hardships these workers must have endured or how many froze to death to construct this massive border.

The sea to the east was also an avenue from which the invasions came and for many centuries it was closely guarded so that no foreigners were allowed to enter. Eventually those defenses broke down and the foreigners entered, for better or for worse. In 1834 the entry of the British began the ultimate distruction of Empire.

The British ships had been coming to China's back door for years trading their wares, however they had never been allowed to actually land. Along with other merchantable items, they brought opium from India and once some Chinese became dependant on the drug, the victims would pay any price to ensure their supply, including the eventual destruction of the Empire.

The governments, both north and south, tried to intervene but they were no match for the combined power of the British Empire and the cancer of drug addiction that the British had introduced which was spreading its tendrils over the country and corrupting millions. In a desperate attempt to terminate this evil, the Chinese dumped thousands of pounds of opium into the South China Sea in an action much like our Boston Tea Party. Under force of arms the British demanded and received reparations including ports of entry at Amoy, Canton, Foochow, Mingpo and Shanghai (all the important coast cities of China expecting Tsingtao, which was not yet in existance) and the island of Hong Kong which they have held ever since. The Opium War with England was one of the most unjust wars in history because it caused not only the death of millions but the destruction of body and soul together, a fate far worse than slavery. Even the Church could not offer the Sacrament of Baptism because an addict could not promise reformation and a century later the death and destruction continued. In Tsinan, for instance, we had a very able dentist who we considered to be the best in the area and yet we would often have to wait an hour or two until he got over his stupor.

Eventually the need for importation of opium ended as poppies were grown in China. The Province of Kweichow alone has acres upon acres of poppies. The workers wait till the petals fall then the men prick the skins of the pods. At early dawn the women and children gather the opium that exudes. How can one stop this as the destruction of a people seems to mean very little when profit and politics control. A second sad event in the recent history of China is the spread of Russian Communism from the West over the Empire. How long this will last or what effect it will have is impossible to determine, but there is a dogged tenacity to communist ideals which the young avidly swallow and to those of us who know the former culture, see a very sad picture of the breakdown of all respect for the parents and the aged. How many of the people who have been killed for their refusal to follow will never be known, but one can rest assured that they were among the best in the country.

While the advent of Communism may have destroyed much of Chinese tradition, it also brought an end to the foreign domination of China's ports. Despite 3,000 miles of seacoast, for years China had no harbor of her own. The Russians took Dairen; the German's got Chaio-chou Bay (Tsingtao); the English had Hong Kong; the British and French had their important concessions in Shanghai and Tientsin and the French were entrenched in Vietnam with designs on acquiring the little island of Nainan and the Province of Yunan (perhaps because they wanted both and Eastern and a Western door to China.) Legations were established at Peking and by 1900 there were eleven different countries represented in the capital city. The Communists put an end to all of the concessions, except that the British were allowed to keep Hong Kong.

China is one-third larger than Eurpoe, with very fertile soil, sufficient navigable rivers, large forests, and rich mineral deposits. There are 600 million acres of arable land, 420 million of which are underlaid with coal which represents an estimated 16 billion tons of anthracite. Baron Von Richthoven thought that the little province of Shensi (about the size of Illinois) had enough coal to supply the world for the next thousand years. Because the land contains such an abundance of wealth it should not be surprising to learn that the Chinese culture is also rich in tradition dating back thousands of years.

The ancient desert city of Lou-lan, which was alive during the late Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) left relics including papers and documents which indicated that the use of paper in China predated European use by several centuries. In addition these relics disclosed several brush pencils which are remarkably similar to those used in China today for script writing. During the Sung Dyansty (960-1260 A.D.) the compass, known as the "South pointing lode-stone," was utilized for the first time. Pottery of this period had been exported as far away as Egypt. Gunpowder and hand grenades were also a product of this dynasty as was the Abacus or figuring board, known in Chinese as the Suanpan.

Although calligraphy was more suited to the Chinese taste as it was more artistic especially for the analects on silk where eight or ten large characters were used, printing in China also predates it European counterpart by several hundred years. China had perfected moveable type 200 years before Guttenberg and the Sung edition, called "Butterfly Binding," a process that is still in use today, was perfected for publishing volumes.

A strong argument can be made for the proposition that many of these skills which were purportedly developed in Europe were, in fact, the direct products of Chinese teaching. In 751 the Chinese army had been defeated at Kashgar and many of the prisoners were taken to Samarkand and possibly from there to Europe. As the Golden Age of Learning in China occurred in the Tang Dynasty between the years 618 and 907 A.D. in is not difficult to assume that the soldiers brought with them knowledge and learning.

Marco Polo found China divided. The North was called Cathay and was the land of the Khitans, a powerful local tribe, and the South was called Nanji. Although the two halves were eventually united, China has retained localize distinctions particularly in the various dialects which are spoken, principally Mandarin in the North and Cantonese in the South. There is much, however, that demonstrates the unity in the country. The written language remained the same throughout China. Although in all official business the western calendar is used, the lunar calendar is followed and the New Year is announced annually.

To the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is the most important time of the year and is celebrated by rich and poor alike. It seems to be one time of the year when everyone must have meat, not large pieces of it, but just enough to flavor the vegetables making it more a seasoning than a separate dish. The New Year is celebrated for two weeks and particularly on the first three days the three meals consist of "chiao-dse" or "bao-dse," which are little steamed turnovers filled with finely chopped vegetables and meat. Everyone in the family must help in the preparation.

At the dawn of New Year's day, the children vie with each other to be the first to Kowtow three times to the grandparents, and then to the parents. In return, they will recieve a few words of wisdom on how to spend the new year. During the two week festival, there will be plays in the streets with the actors performing on stilts so that all can see. The festivals will bring parades with colorful dragons, (some of which are a block long) grasshoppers, and other animals. The participants go from village to village and will put on a show wherever they can collect an audience, and they expect no pay. And for us, the New Year meant keeping our three large watch-dogs inside the compound to ensure that they were not enticed out where they might eventually end up inside some of the "baodses." In the Church, the Chinese band was allowed to play during the Mass on New Year's Day, even when that day fell on Ash Wednesday, which gave the festival some religious significance. Additionally, the first kowtows by the entire village were made to God.

In order to understand the attitude of the Chinese toward foreigners, one must realize several things. First, although modified by present conditions, the conservative temperment of the people is still very strong. Next, because the the vastness of the country, China has sufficient scope for directing its energies within her own borders, and finally, the countries which adjoin China were traditionally inferior in culture, size, civilization and population. Thus, when the earliest foreigners came, the Chinese treated them in accord with their own policy, beliefs and methods of trading. When the first Jesuits brought their maps of the western world, there was naturally much surprise that there could be great countries beyond China.

Gradually, however, they understood and began to make Chinese maps of the world. Of course all of these newly discovered countries must have names which could be written in Chinese and each syllable had to be represented by a Chinese character of polite meaning. The difficulty was that phonetic pronounciations would not usually result in a combination of characters which had any connected meaning. Thus, the closest that the Chinese could get to America was "Ya-mee-li-ja" or for Italy, "I-da-li-ya." To refer to a country, one syllable was given a representative character and combined with the word "guo" or country. Thus England became "Ying-guo," and America is "Mee-guo" which is translated in "the Beautiful Country." However much the Chinese Communists dislike us today, to them our country is still "the Beautiful Country."

Cities in China always had at least two characters and frequently a third is added to designate political status. Thus, "ching" was added to the capital of a country; "fu" to a prefecture of the first rank; "ting" to a prefecture of second rank; "chou" to a prefecture of third rank; and "hsien" to a city with a magistrate. The ancient city of "Shuin-tian-fu" (in accord with God or Heaven) was eventually chosen as the capital and the name was changed to "Bee-ching" (North capital) which was, of course, anglicized to "Peking."

The ancient city of "Kiang-ning"(repose of the Yang-tse-kiang) on becoming a capital was changed to "Nan-king." At the same time the name of Peking was changed once again to "Beeping" (North peace) or Peiping as our maps call it. Mao-dse-dung preferred to have his capital in Peking as he probably felt more at home there. In fact, a 1923 listing indicates that he was the librarian of the Tsing-hua University located there. The old city of "Changan" (Lasting peace) had often been the capital of the country, and when the final move was made, the name was changed to "Sian" (Western peace). Nanking however, kept its name of the South Capital.

The influece of China and the Chinese language was certainly not restricted to the country itself. Just as the word "China" is not to be found in the Chinese language, so the word "Japan" is not in the japanese language. The Japanese call their country "Nippon." The two Japanese characters which form this word are, in Chinese, translated into "Origin of the Sun" or, phonetically, "Zheben" or Japan. Most probably our maps got the word Japan from the diary of Marco Polo, who called it Zipango (the last syllable is the Chinese word for country).

History tells us that the Japanese had early contact with Korea, its nearest neighbor, and through Korea, eventually with China itself. In 218 A.D. the Empress of Japan hired a Korean Scholar to teach the princes the art of Chinese writing. The "Tsian Dse Wan" (Book of 10,000 Words) found its way over to Japan, as did Buddhism, once again through Korea. Finally, direct communication was opened between the Emperors and one of these letters opened with, "The Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun greets the Emperor of the Land of the Setting Sun," which may be another clue to the origin of the name Japan. The Chinese are nationalistic and proud of their ancestry. Those of pure Chinese nationality are known as the Hans, descendants of the people of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.— 220 A.D.). Half-Chinese are unwanted in the country, a fact I realized during one of my first months in China. One of the girls had lighter hair and I was asked if I had noticed this. I had not and I wondered what difference it would make. I was then told that she was the daughter of a Dutch father and a Chinese mother and that she would not last in the school. In fact, she did not. Another time I passed a remark to a girl who had been very agile in dancing that she could pass for half-American. One of the Chinese teachers (whom I had asked beforehand to kindly correct me for any mistakes I made in the language) called me aside and told me never to say anything like that again as it was a terrible insult. Several years later we had two girls in the school who were daughters of a Chinese official and a German mother. All of the other girls seemed delighted to hear them sing German songs and perform dances but once again, it was predicted that they would not last. True to form they were suddenly withdrawn. One summer we visited the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in their summer house near Tsingtao where we were waited on at table by one of the most beautiful nuns I have ever seen. She spoke perfect Chinese and yet she was definitely foreign. I asked one of the other sisters about her and although I was told that the nun was half-Portugese and half-Chinese, I should be careful not mention it because that was the sorrow of her life.

On leaving China in 1947, going down to the Yellow Sea by boat, I met a Chinese girl, named Helen, who interestingly greeted me with her "pidgin" English. (Pidgin English is picked up only by speaking, the word "pidgin" seems to have been the Canton or Shanghai pronounciation for the word "business") We sat together at the breakfast table that morning because she was from Tsingtao and knew the Sisters there although she was not Catholic. On leaving the dining room, she asked me the number of my cabin, and asked it I wanted to see her baby. I told her that I would be delighted to, and later she brought the baby, which was only a few weeks old, wrapped in a pink silk blanket. We talked as I held the baby and suddenly she said, "Baby bu hao" (Baby not good). Again I had failed to notice the blue eyes and the light hair and I realized that it was the mother and not the baby who had been "bu hao." She then told me that she had become too well acquainted with an American Marine from Philadelphia, and that he had returned to the United States along with his division, leaving her and the baby and a promise that he "would leave his American wife and come back to live with her." Together they had agreed on the baby's name, Jerry if it was a boy and Terri, if a girl so Terri she was. Helen was one of many who had been left with that promise and now she was taking the baby to her mother who lived in Shanghai because she could not take care of it herself. I wondered how many more babies there were in the coast cities of China who were half-American, remnants of the war. And then I wished, with all my heart, that some day I could go back to China and start an orphanage for these poor unwanted little things who were far more unwanted than even the babies whom we had seen thrown out into the fields. One wonders what has happened to them during the Communist regime since they cannot hide their identities.

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA

Probably the oldest form of religion in China is Taoism, or "Tao-chao." "Tao" means "The Way," the way to goodness or the way to heaven. "Lao-dse" which means "the venerable one" was its fountain head. All five of the ancient sacrifice mountains were Taoist and priests and nuns took care of the Toaist temples. They had a mother goddess named Niang-niang-pussa, just as the Buddhists had their Kuan-yin who was intented to befriend mothers of families or those to wanted children to grace their homes.

Peking had a very influential Taoist temple dating from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and at the time of the Mongol conquest it occupied the central place of honor in the city which, in those days, was called Kambalec. The slight movement of the city to the east when it became Peking isolated the temple in the western suburbs. One hundred Taoist priests lived there and each year, during the New Year, there was an open house. Other temples like the Tung Yieh Miao on the East Sacred mountain where people will often go to burn special incense, are also quite renown. In Chang-an (the ancient Kaifeng) there are two temples of the Ming Dynasty (1364-1644) called the temples of the "Wild Geese." Throughout China hundreds of temples are dedicated to the Mother Goddess.

Confucianism followed and was based on Taoism. Confucius himself was a Taoist who was born at Chu-fu in the ancient state of Lu which is the southern part of Shantung Province in 551 B.C. He died in 479 B.C. and was buried in his native city. In 445 A.D. a Buddhist emperor built a temple in his honor there which, unfortunately was desecrated by the "Red Guards" in 1967.

Confucius was a shepherd as a boy and his father was one of the three famous captains of Lu. He grew to the extraordinary height of 6'4", educated himself, and married at the age of nineteen. When he was fifty years old he became a magistrate of the State of Lu. Later he became the Secretary of Public Works and finally the Grand Minister of Justice. He edited the ancient classics of the time which later became known as the "Five Classics of Confucius," a work every school included in its curriculum.

The basic tenent of Confucianism is summarized as follows:

"What is Godgiven is called Human Nature; to fulfill that nature is called the Moral Law (the Tao); the cultivation of Moral Law is called Culture."

The disciples of Confucius divided into two schools of thought. Mencius (the orthodox school) taught the sheer expansiveness of the human heart. Hsuntse (the liberal school) taught the wickedness and necessary restraint of the human heart. In Chinese Confucianism is called the "Lu" or "Ju" which means the Intellectual religion or the religion of the Literati. The Emperor Yang Chien (581 A.D.-604 A.D.) restored Confucianism as the state religion just as it had been in the Han Dynasty. Later Emperor Tai Tsung (627 A.D.-650 A.D.) further strengthened the religion by uniting Taoist Philosophy with Confucian Principles. Although Confucius himself never intended to be the founder of a religion, Tai Tsung ordered temples built in his honor in the "chou" and "hsien" cities (larger cities) and these temples were called the "Temples of Literature." The civil service examinations were conducted at these temples. Tai Tsung also ordered that the tablet of Confucius replace that of Chou Kung and be given the highest honor available. In 932 A.D. the Confucian classics were written out on stone tablets for posterity. Later they were transcribed on paper using elaborate calligraphy which was subsequently reproduced utilizing block printing techniques.

The third important religion of China was Buddhism, the "Shih-chiao" or Fuo-chiao," which means the religion of Liberation or Freedom. Buddhism took a firm hold on the Chinese people after it came from India in about 217 B.C. during the Chin Dynasty. Emperor Tai Tsung, who obviously had a particular interest in Religion, sent a delegation to India to further examine the teachings and temples in honor of Buddha were erected in all the major cities. Eventually monastaries and nunneries were built and tiny shrines graced many homes. In Peking the daughter of Kublai Khan (the mongol conqueror of China) shaved her head an entered the Monastery of Oak Pool, the Tan Chih Sse, "kowtowing day and night" to Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.

The Province of Tibet is still thoroughly Buddhist, with many monasteries on its mountainsides. Father Spa, a Belgian Priest, decided to make a special study of Buddhism. He traced the origins of the religion starting in India, then on through Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and finally to Japan. He arrived in Japan just in time for the "Pearl Harbor" event. The Japanese couldn't understand that a Catholic priest would want to study Buddhism and consequently he was given two guards who followed him wherever he went. This rather amused Father Spa and he often boasted of acquiring two bodyguards, gratis. The Jewish faith is also present in China and by 1940 it was estimated that there were about 36,000 Jews in China. This number, of course, considers only professed members of that faith.

No one knows when the first Jewish people came to China but undoubtedly Jewish merchants came overland with their wares from the earliest days. As early as 249 B.C. records indicate that Jewish people moved to China to escape the Babylonian persecution and that decision was undoubtedly made because prior traders knew of the country and its people. Other groups came between 58 A.D. and 75 A.D. Although some may have gotten as far as the East Coast cities, they seemed to prefer special settlements like the present city of Kaifeng where they could worship together.

The city of Kaifeng, then known as Pien-liang or Dam of the Pien River, was the capital of the country during the North Sung Dynasty (960-1129 A.D.). The city attracted artists from throughout the country particularly refugees from the North and the Chin Tartars. During the 15th century a colony of Jews who had fled from Arabia found the city to be a peaceful home where they built their synagogue. This building, located on the Chiao-Ching-Chiao Hutung, or Jewish Street, housed two tablets, each measuring seven inches, by two and one-half inches by one inch. The first, carved in 1489 during the reign of Hung Chieh of the Ming Dynasty, is constructed of dark granite and is still quite legible. It reads as follows:

"Abraham, the patriarch, who founded the religion of Isreal, was of the nineteenth generation from Adam. From the creation of heaven and earth, the patriarchs handed down the tradition they received. They made no images, flattered no spirits or ghosts and believed in no superstitions. Instead they believed that spirits and ghosts cannot help man, that idols cannot protect them, and that superstitions are useless. So Abraham meditated only on God."

The second tablet was carved in 1513 during the reign of Chang Teh and is too worn to be legible.

Records indicate that in the 10th and 12th centuries other groups of Jews came to China from India and these people maintained their occupation as merchants. There are no records of persecutions of the Jewish religion in China although other religions did suffer at various times. The Buddhists, for example, in 845 A.D. withstood the destruction of 40,000 temples and 250,000 monks and nuns were sent home to a secular life which set the stage for the rise of Confucianism.

The decline of Judaism in China can be directly traced to the intermarriage of the early settlers with the Chinese people. By 1850 Bishop Smith found the few Jews left in Kaifeng destitute and by 1900 there were only 140 left. Eventually the Canadian Methodist Mission bought the site of the synagogue and thus acquired the two tablets. Today the synagogue is an unusual Buddhist temple with many small relief Buddhas in the little niches around its high tower.

Other lesser religions also found their way in China. The present city of Sian, or West Peace, which was formerly know as Chang-an or Lasting Peace, was the Capital during the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Tai Tsung issued a degree allowing freedom of religion and invited all religions to establish themselves in his capital city. Thus Chang-an became a Chinese mecca of culture and many different faiths including Nestorians, Manicheaens and Mohammedans came forward. The Nestorians built a monestar y with twenty two priests. Perhaps they were the first Christians as they entered the country as early as 505 A.D. In 1625 an excavation at Chou-chih, near Sian, unearthed a 6th century monolith over six feet tall and three feet wide. The inscription describes a monastary and commemorates the introduction and propagation of the "Da Ching Chao" or illuminated religion to China. The tablet contains over 700 characters in Chinese using Taoist phaseology and mentions the construction of the temple in 635 A.D. There are Syriac names and inscriptions along the edge and a Roman Papal Cross above. While a complete history of Nestorianism in China would undoubtedly prove most interesting if it could be written, most of this story is lost in antiquity. For centuries they were called the "yang-chao" or foreign religion undoubtedly because they retained their former language in their rituals. The Buddhists, for example were just as "foreign" but they translated everything into Chinese. In the beginning of the 11th century the Keriats, an important tribe of interior China, was converted to Nestorianism and Marco Polo tells of having seen Nestorian temples in most of the larger cities of China. As with the Jewish faith, there were no major persecutions against the Nestorians and only intermarriage caused the religion to decline.

Of all these older faiths, possible the most discernable in our times in China was the Mohammedan, which entered during the 7th Century A.D. through Turkestan and Central Asia. From Sian the Mohammedans moved inward and the city of Kaifang had seven mosques. By 1940 the Province of Shangtung alone had the following:

■ Tsinan-3,000 families and 4 mosques
■ Lintsing-1,000 families and 3 large mosques, one of which took 500 years to build and holds 10,000 people.
This city is situated on the Imperial Canal and all of the mullaks of Peking are educated here.

■ Taian-1,500 families and 2 large mosques
■ Tsinning-7,500 families and 5 large mosques with 3 smaller mosques
■ Yenchow-1,000 families and 1 large mosque
■ Chingchou-1,500 families and 2 large mosques

I asked one of our Chinese teachers about the Mohammedans in China and was told that they were well respected in China because they had their rules and they lived by them. For example, no pork was allowed and if a Chinese person wanted to join this faith he had to eat or drink nothing except salt water for three days in order to rid his system of pork. At the "Wan-dse-hsiang" or principal market in Tsinan, one could always tell the Mohammedan merchants because they only sold beef. The Mohammedans were fully integrated into the Chinese society unlike some Eurasians, and many continued to wear the queue, or long braid of hair, long after other Chinese has discontinued the practice.

In Peking the most famous mosque was the Temple of Ritual Worship on "Cow Street," and in 1919 the mullaks of the city estimated that there were 25,000 Mohammedans practicing there.

The Protestant religions seemed to have entered China through Robert Morrison who was an Australian who arrived in 1807 and is buried in Macao. By 1850 there were 80 missionaries and in 1910 protestant congregations totalled 278,628 members and 46,400,000 bibles had been translated and distributed.

In 1863 Rev. Hunter Corbett and Calvin Mateer left Pennsylvania on a six month trip that took them to China. In 1846, Mateer and his wife opened a boarding school for Chinese boys at Tengchow. Mathematics, science, history and religion were the subjects taught there and the first class graduated in 1877. Mateer encouraged his graduates to become teachers as he felt that was more important than the religious ministry at the time and the school eventually became known as the Shantung Christian University one of the earliest and most advanced "Western" Universities in the Country.

Although he was a Western missionary, Mateer did not attempt to force Western Culture on the Chinese. English was not taught as a seperate subject and Chinese remained the medium of expression. The teachers were required to adjust to many Chinese ways rather than the alternate. The parents of Henry Luce, who founded "Life" Magazine labored at Shantung Christian University and it was here that Henry was born and spent his early days. Mateer reflected the Protestant philosophy that education was the key to succesful missionary activity and to that end 84 textbooks in over 30,000 volumes were printed and sold in China by 1880.

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