Christianity In China

Instability between religious groups was also a common issue and yet another effect of the spread of Buddhism in China, and led to the consistent repression or defense of one’s religion (Doc’s 2, 3). Though Buddhism left a large effect and influence on multiple characteristics of society, it’s most noticeable in social and political classes

China is a very influential world power and has been for many years. The Classical and Post-Classical years in China were a time of achievement and advancement, especially in the religious movement. Post-Classical and Classical China were very important historical periods, and their religions, and the effect of them on the world around them highlighted that importance.

During the Han Dynasty, Buddha’s teachings were introduced to China by Central-Asian traders and received little support from the Han dynasty rulers. However, after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the country was fragmented. While northern China was dominated by invaders from the borderland and steppes, southern China was ruled by continuous “Chinese” dynasties. As a result, Buddhism appealed to people who felt baffled by the loss of an anticipated and durable society. Subsequently, in 581 CE, Sui emperor Wendi reunified China with this new religion and gained state support, therefore further spreading Buddhism. It was not until the Tang Dynasty did the Chinese rulers realize the threat Buddhism had posed on them. Consequently, during the

While under the rule of the Emperor Qianlong, China’s foreign policy and trade was beginning to unfold and open up to Europe. Qianlong, however, still maintained a strict and regulated administration of all foreign trade and foreign ability to exist within China. “ It is true that Europeans, in the service of the dynasty, have been permitted to live at Peking, but they are compelled to adopt Chinese dress, they are strictly confined to their own precincts and are never permitted to return home.” All outside interactions with China could only be permitted if ‘in the

It is believed that Buddhism spread to China through the Silk Road. When the Silk Road opened in the 2nd century BC, missionaries and pilgrims spread Buddhism to China. Chang Ch’ien was recorded to first bring Buddhism to China when he heard about India and Buddhist beliefs on his way back to China. In about the 1st century BC, a Buddhist community is said to have been living in China. But the most well-known story of the spreading of Buddhism is when Han emperor, Mingdi, had a dream about Buddha in 68 CE and sent Cai Yin, his official to learn more about it. Meanwhile, Mingdi learned from his ministers that he had seen Buddha, “the God of the West” in his dream. After 3 years Cai Yin came back to china with Buddhist teachings and

Japan has been a home for Shinto and Buddhist religions for centuries. The Christian missionaries during the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries worked hard to evangelize the Japanese nation but could not get desired success. There efforts in past failed partly due to sanctions imposed by the local rulers. The Jesuits missionaries traveled with Spanish and Portuguese traders to many areas of America and Asia-Pacific and established their churches and religious missions. They were funded, sponsored and trained by their respective governments in order to spread Christianity. At several places they preached the Christian faith by force but the aboriginal population did not accept it wholeheartedly. Initially the Jesuits

When the Chinese and Europeans first came into contact with each other, there was a mutual fascination for the other's culture, or way of life. The Chinese began to look at the European culture. They became interested in Western thinking. They were also beginning to look at the religion that the European missionaries were preaching about, Christianity. On the other end, the Europeans who came in contact with the Chinese were fascinated by their culture and their philosophy, mainly the philosophy of Confucius. While the two cultures seemed to be a good match, each respecting and admiring the other, it came to an abrupt halt. The end result was China and Europe both rejecting the other culture.

During the 1300’s each empire during this time had a religion that was significant to their state and impacted them, this includes the Ottomans and the Ming. During the time period of the Ming dynasty, they based their states’ religion of Neo-Confucianism or “new-Confucianism”. Neo-Confucianism incorporates aspects of Buddhism and Taoism into tradition Confucian beliefs. Their religion had a significant impact on their State. After the Mongols conquered and ruled China, as a result China disunited. One of the main reasons the Ming Dynasty lasted long as an empire, was for the reason the restored and recenter China after the destruction of the Mongols. And their religion benefited them, for it helped unite china. Having one common religion upon an empire, would eventually cause the areas within the empire to unite. In addition the religion of the Ottoman Empire had a similar impact on its society. The ottomans were a Muslim based empire, but unlike other empires they didn’t force people within their empire to convert

Throughout history many universal religions have spread throughout the world. From cities to cities, countries to countries and so on. Christianity and Buddhism are two of the top universal religions that were practiced and spread throughout the early world. A series of events lead to the early and quick spread of Christianity and Buddhism throughout the early world. As turmoil engulfed the Jews in Judea, Christianity arose. The teaching of Christianity began with a Jew named Jesus. At the age of 30, Jesus began preaching the word of God to villagers near the Sea of Galilee. As Jesus preached, significant amounts of groups crowded around him to learn about his teachings, especially when word spread that he had performed acts of healing. Soon Jesus later formed a group of disciples or close followers to help spread his teachings.

In document 1, there is Hongwu Emperor’s favorite passage from “The Way and the Power” and it’s stopping China from letting people trade and go to other countries because the king was afraid of his people realizing that there are lots of better places in other countries and other countries have better products than China. If people finds out that other countries better place to live than people will start complaining and scatter to other countries. This will eventually make China lose power and other countries will start to invade and attack China. Next, document 9 a Chinese emperor wrote rules for his people in 1524 and it was about trading without permission with Barbarian will be punished. First rule said that people who meet them and trades with barbarian before the examination of the ship will be punished.

People often confuse China with Japan, especially when it comes to their history together. Because of this, one might infer that the two have striking similarities. But in fact they have a multi duos amount of differences such as their economies, cultures and politics. As China and japan sport similar beliefs and curiosities towards Christianity and the European Missionaries, they feel threatened due to their underlying beliefs. Disagreements led to China and Japan's economy to launch by establishing grounds and Christianity also took a big toll onto their diplomacy.

1. Trade rights and religious perceptions affected how Matteo Ricci viewed relations with china by taking a different strategy than the other missionaries. “…the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) encouraged his followers to immerse themselves in the language and to become conversant with the rich traditions of Chinese literature (Source 21.2, Ricci, Matteo, in Patterns of World History, Vol. 2, p. S21-4)”. Instead of limiting their training in Chinese language and culture and focusing merely on the conversion of the poor, the Jesuits instead immersed themselves in the Chinese language and high culture of the empire. They gained recognition through their advanced knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, military science and other European learning required by the imperial

There are multiple reasons why and how Buddhism spread in China. I feel that factors like, religion, politics, and social, played a major part in spreading Buddhism throughout China. The factors mentioned are usually a contributor in global changes and has definitely played its part in China’s adapting a new belief. Of course there were other reasons, like economic, that caused the people of China to gravitate to the Buddhist ways. People reconsidering their faith, due to many of life downfalls or the weight of participants in something that’s new, gained recognition and spread due to popular demand. During the political chaos from 221 to 589 that came with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism started to become a strong existence in

To convert people all over the globe, Jesuits resorted to many strategies to relate to the locals on their missions. In the mission to convert China to Christianity, the greatest success came from Jesuits emerging themselves deep into Chinese culture, and failed because of lack of European support. When Jesuits first got to China they studied the culture and found “a well-established pattern of using robes and other adornments to denote social status,” (403) [1]. The most successful campaigns used by missionaries in other parts of the globe involved mixing local culture with Christianity. Until 1592 missionaries in China dressed as Buddhist monks, with distinctive robes that inadvertently singled them out as people not to be associated with.

The geographical area of China is more than 9 million square kilometers and as a result, it is the fourth largest country in the world. There are several ethnic groups in China, the Han Chinese is the largest group, and it is found in almost all parts of the country. Other minority groups include Tibetan, Zhuang, Korean, and Mongol. The Chinese society is high context and non-verbal. The Chinese people acquire the knowledge of what they are supposed to do and say even if they are not told through conversation. Voice and facial expressions play a critical role in determining the feelings in a person. They do not have facial expressions when in a conversation. Direct eye contact is avoided because it is viewed as a symbol of disrespect (Clair & Norris, 2011).