Christianity and China Today

Franklin Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 33, 24 March 1939, Page 5

Christianity and China Today

NEW LIFE MOVEMENT A NATION IS MOULDED UNDER CHIANG KAI-CHEK The part Christianity is playing in moulding the new China was graphically described by the Rev. G. A. H. Eldriedge, the “hiking evangelist,” who passed through Pukekohe yesterday on the first stages of his preaching tour of the Dominion.

Formerly a resident of the Hopei Province, where he spent a number of years in the mission field, Mr Eldriedge knows the east as few Occidentals do.

“Although 1 must confess that the activities of the missionaries in China have produced, in view of the labour and money expended, very limited results only, there is no doubt but that the New Life Movement, which is based upon Christianity, is doing much for the Chinese people, especially in these times of warfare and invasion,” Mr Eldriedge stated.

The missionaries’ lot in China was indeed a difficult one, due largely to the suspicion and hostility frequently encountered. This had been largely engendered by the predatory propensities of the early adventurers who visited Cathay in bygone days with rapine and plunder, violating the confidence of the people, and introducing the vices of the West. In spite of this stumbling- block which their own countrymen had laid before them, however, the missionaries wore doing a great work for China. “General Chiang Kai-Chek and his wife, who is a fine, intelligent woman, are both Christians,” he said. "They are of a type pre-eminently intellectual as well as spiritual, with an abiding faith in God.” This was shown by the fact that, even when the fighting was at its bitterest and the danger greatest they would spend an hour daily in prayer.

Mother and Father of China

“Their attitude has built up the morale and confidence of the people, and has earnj&d them the name of the mother and father of China,” he said. “Briefly, the people, as a whole, are solidly behind the General. He is more to them than a mere military leader.”

The Christian principles which actuated their leader, and on which the New Life Movement was founded, were principally Chinese in motive power, and appealed strongly to the Ghinese heart. After centuries of m'isgovernment, famine, pestilence, and war, an attitude of indifference had grown to characterise the Chinese people ; however, this was now gradually being overcome. “When she embarked upon the disastrous war, Japan did not realise the staying power, and the vast reserve of man-power of her opponents,” he concluded. “Japan is like a man struggling in a great river. No sooner does he move forward than the waters close in behind him. There can only be one outcome of the war in China, as is shown by Chiang Kai-Chek’s own words: ‘America fought nine years for her independence; we can do the same’.”