Chinese Christian Returnees in Late Qing Dynasty and Early Republic

Returnees who studied and worked overseas before returning to China have a long history. Since 1854, when the first overseas student Yung Wing¹ (Rong Hong,​ 容闳, Yale University, 1854) returned home after completing his studies in the United States, returnees have left ​deep impressions upon China. 

The first generation of Chinese returnees was the young students who came to the US through the state-sponsored Chinese Educational Mission (1872 to 1881), as well as a few students who were sponsored by their families or churches before 1900; the second generation was the large number of students in the US who were sponsored by the Boxer Indemnity beginning in 1909 and those who studied in Europe and Japan from 1900 to 1927.² A considerable percentage of the Chinese who studied in the US were graduates of Christian colleges in China, and perhaps around one-third of them had some connection with Christianity during their time in America, primarily through the Chinese Students Christian Association (CSCA) or the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)/ Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), but only a minority of this group were baptized and practicing Christians.   

Focusing on several well-known Christians from these two generations as examples, this article will briefly review the contributions of these historical returnee Christians to China in various social and cultural fields as well as in evangelism and mission. It will also discuss the social, cultural, and political difficulties they faced and some of their responses to these challenges. It is hoped that such a review will help today’s Chinese returnee Christians and Christian workers in returnee ministry gain insights about their callings and strategies. 

Contributions of Chinese Returnee Christians 

The first generation of Christian returnees made contributions mostly in the field of engineering. Zhan Tianyou​ (Tien-yow Jeme, 詹天佑, Yale University, 1881) was the first Chinese engineer who led a team of Chinese to build a railroad. Zhan was in the first group of thirty young children sent by the Qing dynasty government to study abroad in 1872. His host family, L. H. and Martha Northrop, not only gave him attentive care but also led him to convert. From 1905 to 1909, Zhan served as the chief engineer and general manager of the Jing-Zhang Railway, which was an important achievement in the history of modern Chinese ​engineering.³ Though Zhan’s remarkable professional achievements are known, his Christian identity is less well known. 

For Shi Meiyu ​(Mary Stone, 石美玉, University of Michigan, 1896), a female medical missionary, healing the sick and saving lives was inextricably linked to evangelism and missions. ​Shi returned to China in 1896 under the auspices of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During her 20 years of medical practice in Jiujiang, Shi trained more than 500 nurses and led them in Bible studies. In 1920, Shi and American missionary Jennie V. Hughes founded the Bethel Mission and in 1930, ​Ji Zhiwen (Andrew Gih, 计志文)​ took the mission further and initiated the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band, which led great spiritual revivals in 13 provinces of China and Southeast Asia.⁴

In that era, many Chinese intellectuals paid special attention to education to save the country from perishing and to promote the transformation of China into a modernized country. Yan Yangchu​ (Y. C. James “Jimmy” Yen, 晏阳初; Yale University, 1918; Princeton University, 1921) initiated the national mass education movement in 1922 and formed the National Association of Mass Education Movements (MEM) in 1923. ​The MEM established a model of rural reconstruction (education, agriculture, medicine, and so on) in North China. In the 1930s, the Nationalist government promoted Yan’s experience of rural reconstruction nationwide. In his later years, Yan looked back on his life and said that his spiritual inspirations came from the “three Cs”—Christ, Confucius, and coolies.⁵

Engineering major Mei Yiqi​ (Yi-chi Mei, 梅贻琦; Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1914; University of Chicago, 1922) is the “forever president” of Tsinghua University in the minds of its alumni. Mei began teaching at the Tsinghua School in 1915, and he often led Bible studies on campus. In 1931 Mei was appointed as the president of Tsinghua University. During his 17 years as the president of Tsinghua, Mei advocated for professorial governance and freedom of thought, which made Tsinghua’s academic reputation rise rapidly. Because of the Japanese invasion, in 1938, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Nankai University moved to Kunming, Yunnan, and formed the National Southwest Associated Universities (NSWAU). Mei served as the president of the NSWAU, leading a group of outstanding academics ​that greatly influenced China’s higher education.⁶

Liu Tingfang​ (Timothy Ting Fang Lew, 刘廷芳; Columbia University, 1915 and 1920; Yale Divinity School, 1918) was a talented scholar in liberal arts.​ After finishing study in the US and returning to China, Liu was an assistant to the chancellor at Yanjing (Yenching) University and dean of its School of Religion. Liu edited the Christian magazine Life (which later became Truth and Life) and responded to the New Culture Movement. He also edited the Christian literature and art magazine Amethyst. He is best known for leading and editing Hymns of Universal Praise.⁷

After Song Shangjie​ (John Sung, 宋尚节, Ohio State University, 1926) completed his PhD in chemistry, he entered Union Theological Seminary, which ​taught liberal theology, and he had a crisis of faith. But he experienced a renewal of his spiritual life in February 1927 and began to witness to his seminary professors and classmates. The seminary leaders thought he had a mental illness and committed him to a mental hospital, where he stayed for 193 days, during which time he read through the Bible multiple times. After his release from the hospital in November 1927, Song immediately returned to China. From 1927 to 1930, Song preached in revival meetings in towns and cities along the coast of his native Fujian Province. In the 1930s, Song traveled throughout Southeast Asia to evangelize diaspora Chinese there. Song “preached multiple sermons each day to huge gatherings of people while often experiencing intense pain from intestinal tuberculosis.”⁸

Difficulties Faced by Chinese Returnee Christians 

From 1916 to 1937, China was not an easy country to return to politically. With Yuan Shikai’s death in 1916, the Chinese Republican government fell apart, and warlords in various parts of the country vied for power. After the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921, members caused disruption in urban areas. They had a different goal for the future of China than the liberal-minded returnees. 

The Anti-Christian Movement in the 1920s was part of a growing reaction to imperialism. Socialists and Communists protested against a conference of the World Student Christian Federation in China being held at the Tsinghua campus in Beijing in 1922. The Restore Educational Rights Movement in 1924 demanded that the Christian colleges in China cease to make religious instruction compulsory and appoint Chinese presidents. Strikes and boycotts followed the May Thirtieth Movement after Shanghai police opened fire on Chinese protesters in 1925. Finally, during the Nanking Incident of 1927, church property was damaged, and six Westerners (including a Christian missionary) were killed, resulting in one third of the missionaries leaving China.⁹  

The Japanese annexation of three provinces in northeast China (Manchuria) in 1931 caused greater turmoil. Students marched in protest. Tsinghua President Mei Yiqi tried to quiet the campus by arguing that studying was a good response. Later, he knew the invasion was coming so he boxed up the university’s library and shipped it south to Changsha. Wang Liming​ (王立明, Northwestern University, 1920),¹⁰ the leader of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in China and her husband ​Liu Zhan’en¹¹ were active in leading resistance against the Japanese in Shanghai.

When the Japanese invaded northern China in 1937, Yan Yangchu’s work in the countryside was disrupted. After the Japanese Army took Shanghai, Liu Zhan’en was assassinated in 1938, so Wang Liming and their three children fled to the wartime capital of Chongqing. Other Christian returnees left their children with mothers, aunts, or uncles as they moved to central and southern China. After Pearl Harbor in December 1941, campuses with connections to the US were taken over by the Japanese Army. Zhou Xuezhang ​(Henry Chou, 周学章, Columbia University, 1923), a professor at Yanjing University in Beijing, the largest Christian college in China, was jailed by the Japanese military with ​other Yanjing teachers. He died before the war finished.¹²

After the war ended, the Chinese Civil War began again. As the Chinese Christian returnees saw that Mao and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were going to win in 1949, they had to choose whether to stay on the mainland, go to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Party, or migrate to the US. Those who stayed in China had difficult years once China entered the Korean War because of their connections with the enemy, the US. Their Christianity was one more liability in the early 1950s since Mao wanted to bring all the churches under the leadership of the Party.  

The returnees were a very small percentage of the Chinese population, but they had great effect because of the roles that they played in education and other fields. They multiplied their influence by working together informally and formally through organizations (for example, quite a number of them worked with the YMCA), writing articles in journals, joining clubs and attending conferences, participating in university reunions, and hiring returned students as professors in universities. These networks of friendships had the common goal of implementing social change. They also were pioneers in new professions, including journalism, law, and medicine, among others.

Many Chinese students went to study in the US in order to help modernize their country through science and technology. During the May Fourth Movement that began in 1919, many hoped that “Mr. Sai” (science) and “Mr. De” (democracy) would renew Chinese culture. Chinese Christians hoped for a deeper change—to see their countrymen have new life and new hearts of service through following Jesus. 

As the power of the CCP increased, China’s political future was openly and fiercely contested. Though the returned students considered themselves as patriots, their competitors, who wanted political and educational power, often labeled them as traitors who were denationalized and enslaved to foreign interests. These accusations were more powerful in the larger setting of growing resentment towards Western and Japanese imperialism.¹³

The upheaval and dangers caused by the warlords and wars led some liberals to despair, and their groups dissolved from internal disagreements and external pressures. However, Chinese Christians continued to optimistically work to improve the lives of the urban and rural poor as well as devote their lives to the next generation of scholars.

The Christian returnees’ goal of gradual change was at odds with both the traditionalists and the Communists’ goal of revolution. During the war, all had to pull together for the immediate goal of saving China. At the end of the war, those differences came to the fore once again and led to conflict.

Implications for Today’s Returnees

There are significant differences and similarities between the China that these historical Chinese Christian returnees went back to and the nation that returning Chinese Christians live in today. On the one hand, China is no longer “the sick man of East Asia.” The nation has become powerful and wealthy, and it is now competing with the US in science and technology. Chinese youth are proud of the high-speed railway and many other economic achievements that the country has made over the past 40 years. China has not been at war for decades.

On the other hand, the China–US relationship has deteriorated in the last decade, and nationalism has risen again, encouraged by the CCP. Anti-Western and especially anti-American rhetoric has become popular, in contrast with 40 years ago when China was opening her doors to the world. Animosity towards Christianity has come back. Christianity is still viewed as “a tool of Western cultural invasion.” Domestic Chinese churches are experiencing real persecution. “Rumors of war” with Taiwan have sharply risen. After the COVID-19 epidemic, the world has seen a new wave of immigration of the “path-runners” who have chosen to leave China by dangerous means.¹⁴

Today’s returnees are experiencing many challenges and difficulties in terms of the political environment similar to what the first two generations of returnees faced. But current Christian returnees are still making contributions in the growth of the church and mission in China. Dozens of shen gui​ (神归, “seminarian returnees”) have returned to China after completing theological education abroad to plant and pastor house churches in Chinese cities​. Often the churches pastored and led by these shen gui also have more returnee Christians in their congregations, who likely feel more comfortable worshiping and serving in such churches. 

Most of today’s Christian returnees are professionals in the fields of science and technology, the humanities, medicine, law, and education. Many of them were visiting scholars instead of students while overseas. Though they were involved in “religious activities” while abroad, many do not openly admit that they are believers. A lot of modern Christian returnees strive to follow Christ by excelling in their professions and careers while being low-key about their Christian faith. They desire to purposefully use their influence to promote Christian values in their professional endeavors.

Although today’s Christian returnees may not be able to make contributions as groundbreaking as their historical counterparts did, they can be salt and light in China as were the Christian returnees in the early decades of the twentieth century. China does not allow professional missionaries, but returnee Christians who are “marketplace missionaries” can serve the church by leading Bible studies or worship, teaching Sunday schools, engaging in (low-profile, private) personal evangelism, and going on short-term mission trips. 

When returnees first arrive back in China, most will experience reverse culture shock. They will fit back into their culture more easily by growing in humility. By learning to let their light shine through life and work (Matthew 5:16), they can influence their neighbors and bring change to their communities. It is important for returnee Christians to ask God for wisdom as they follow Peter’s admonition to early Christians who were struggling: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).

1. In this name and all subsequent Chinese names, we follow the Chinese custom of listing the family name first.
2. Returnee Handbook, 1st bilingual version, Overseas Campus and Reframe Ministries, 2024.
3. “Zhan Tianyou: Railroad Engineer, Warm Gentleman, Doctor of Law, Returnee from the US (原来詹天佑除了会修铁路，还是暖男、法学博士、留美幼童……),” Spread the Gospel website, April 27, 2020, accessed November 4, 2024, https://posts.careerengine.us/p/5ea6d0481bd5066d225c6fd6.
4. Yading Li, “Stone, Mary,” in Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (BDCC), accessed November 4, 2024,  https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/stone-mary.
5. Stacey Bieler, “Yan Yangchu,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/yan-yangchu.
6. Stacey Bieler, “Mei Yiqi,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/mei-yiqi.
7. John Barwick, “Liu Tingfang,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/liu-tingfang.
8. Andy Pearce, “John Song: A Fruitful Returnee,” ChinaSource Blog, October 25, 2021, accessed November 4, 2024,  https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/blog-entries/john-song-a-fruitful-returnee/.
9. Stacey Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American Educated Chinese Students (Armonk, New York: M. E.  Sharpe, 2003).
10. John Barwick, “Wang Liming,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/wang-liming.
11. China Group, “Liu Zhan’en,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/liu-zhanen.
12. Stacey Bieler, “Zhou Xuezhang,” BDCC, accessed November 4, 2024, https://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/zhou-xiezhang.
13. See note 8.
14. Sean Cheng, “The ‘Route Runners’ Are Coming to America. Are Chinese Churches Ready?”, Christianity Today online, May 3, 2023, accessed November 4, 2024, https://zh.christianitytoday.com/2023/05/fleeing-china-immigration-chinese-church-mission.