An academic symposium themed “Individuals, Organizations, and Cultures Spanning across China and the West” was held on September 25 in Shanghai.
Held by the Shanghai Society of History and the history faculty of Shanghai University, the conference was opened by Professor Tao Feiya’s keynote speech “Reflections on China-West Cross-Cultural History Studies”. As a respected professor of history at Shanghai University, he drew on his research experience in China’s religion and society in modern and contemporary times.
The one-day conference was as well conducted online since some speakers were unable to show up due to the COVID-19 travelling restrictions. A total of 28 lectures were given, focusing on the cultural exchange between China and the West in modern times from different perspectives. Some searched into the literature, such as “Looking at the Development of China’s Modern Medicine from Family Letters”, “From Manila to Shanghai: The Rise and Decline of The Far Eastern Review”, and “Sacred Edict of The Kangxi Emperor and How It was Preached in Qing Dynasty”.
Many lectures touched upon the interaction between China and the West in relation to Christianity, such as “Christianity and Modern Chinese Intellectuals”, “Matteo Ricci's Approach to Chinese Culture and Cross-cultural Communications”, “The Chinese History Writing by Christian Missionaries in Modern China and Its Evolution”, and “Significance of Adjustment: Missionary Home-returning Vacation System”.
Among the many Christianity-related topics, some reviewed the attempts to localize Christianity in China.
Yu Qiang from Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences shared the story of a Chinese lay Christian Ruan Qiyu in his report “An Intermediary Between Cultures: Record of A Hangzhou Christian”: “Ruan was trained in medicine and later worked as a newspaper editor, and he served as an intermediary between the traditional Chinese medicine and Western modern medicine. In terms of faith, he became a Christian under the influence of David Duncan Main from the Church Missionary Society. Later, he renounced denomination in public and debated with the Anglican church, where we saw that he declared and promoted Christianity localization.”
Tian Yanni, a scholar from Jilin University, talked about how a female Christian impacted the localization of Christianity in her report titled “Dora Yu and Chinese churches’ revival in the early 20th century”. She reviewed that just as the Christian revivals in the UK and USA which lasted one and a half centuries greatly influenced the development of Christianity, the revival of Chinese churches in the first half of the 20th century was also an important movement in the history of Christianity in China. By studying Yu’s autobiography and other literature, Tian searched into her life and contributions, particularly her life as the earliest evangelist who broke away from the support of mission society and became independent.
“A major ‘fruit’ of Dora Yu’s work was Watchman Nee, who converted to Christianity after hearing her preaching in 1920 and contributed to revivals in China’s local churches. In the first half of the 20th century, many female Christians like Dora Yu experienced a revival and joined the ministry, bringing extensive and profound impacts to Chinese churches,” she said.
Yang Yuanmeng from Shanghai University delivered a talk named “The Spreading and Development of Christianity in the 19th Century Hainan”. She shared the ministry of the American Presbyterian Mission in Hainan, where they started from learning the local culture and gained rich experience and reflection in serving the Hlai people.
The conference ended with a closing address by Zhang Yongan, dean of the school of literature at Shanghai University.
- Translated by Grace Song
2021年9月25日，“跨越中西的个人、组织与文化”学术研讨会在上海实地举行，因疫情原因，一些外地学者不能到场，因此讲座借助于线上线下的方式同时举行。
此次会议是由上海市历史学会和上海大学文学院历史系共同举办的。研讨会邀请了上海大学历史系教授陶飞亚做了开幕演讲，他根据自己多年研究近现代中国宗教与社会的经验分享了《中西之间——跨文化史研究的一点反思》。
在为期一天的研讨会上，共邀请了28位学者讲员，每场学者依次报告，报告完毕，随后自由提问，最后依次作答。
每位讲员的报告内容深度和维度各有不同，都是从不同的角度阐述了近现代以来中国与西方在个人、组织与文化交流中一些值得研究的主题。比如透过文献研究重新考察近现代的一些现象，如《中国现代医学发展：以家族书信为中心的考察》、《从马尼拉到上海——《远东时报》兴衰记》、《清代《圣谕广训》及其宣讲制度再考察》，也有涉及到近现代时中西双方在天主教、东正教、基督新教等宗教与社会交流上的一些值得研究的现象和话题，
如《基督教与近代中国知识分子》、《“利玛窦规矩”与跨文化交流：近代来华传教士的解读与理解》、《近代来华基督教传教士的中国历史书写及其路径演进》、《调整的意义：来华传教士回国休假制度刍议》等。
学者们分享是自己近期的学术研究和形成的论文，主题各异，为实地与线上的参会者呈现了对中西方的个人、组织、文化的交流发展的反思与解读。
在众多话题中对于有关基督教的话题的探讨中，不少学者从历史中回溯和考察许多关于推动基督教本土化上的努力和尝试。
其中，来自浙江省社会科学院的俞强在报告《跨文化的中间人：一个杭州基督徒的记录》中分享了一个小人物阮其煜的故事：“阮其煜的学术领域和背景是西医，后期他做了报社编辑，后来成为沟通中西医的代表。信仰上，他不仅是医生，也是基督徒。他信仰的转变，他受到了圣公会梅藤根差会的影响。后来他在杭州公开宣言，成为脱离宗派的发言人之一，这是他的转变。后来他跟圣公会有了辩论，可以看出他有圣经中国化的思想，也是推动信仰本土化运动的倡导者。”
来自吉林大学的学者田燕妮报告《余慈度与20世纪初中国教会复兴运动》谈到一位女性基督徒对基督教本土化的影响。她回顾说，延续一个半世纪之久的英美基督教复兴运动是基督教发展史上的重要阶段。同样，在20世纪上半叶中国教会的复兴，也是中国教会发展史上的重要运动。复兴运动促成了属灵的更新和奉献，并成就了得救人数的急剧增，而她通过研究余慈度的自传等书籍来认识她的风格和贡献。田燕妮提到，余慈度是最早脱离差会支持自立的传道人，
“余慈度最大的属灵果实是倪柝声，在1920年的布道会上，倪柝声因听了她的布道而皈信耶稣...倪柝声也在中国开始了地方教会的复兴运动。20世纪上半叶，有很多类似余慈度的女性基督徒复兴并参与服事，给中国教会的复兴广泛深入的影响。”
上海大学的杨圆梦在《19世纪海南基督教传播与发展述论》。报告中分享了当时北美长老会在海南的服事中，首先学习海南的当地文化，尤其他们对黎族的服事有着丰富的经验和思考。
最后，研讨会由上海大学文学院院长张勇安教授致闭幕辞并祝贺此次研讨会圆满结束。
“跨越中西的个人、组织与文化”学术研讨会上海落幕 不同角度回溯近现代中西文化交流的尝试
An academic symposium themed “Individuals, Organizations, and Cultures Spanning across China and the West” was held on September 25 in Shanghai.
Held by the Shanghai Society of History and the history faculty of Shanghai University, the conference was opened by Professor Tao Feiya’s keynote speech “Reflections on China-West Cross-Cultural History Studies”. As a respected professor of history at Shanghai University, he drew on his research experience in China’s religion and society in modern and contemporary times.
The one-day conference was as well conducted online since some speakers were unable to show up due to the COVID-19 travelling restrictions. A total of 28 lectures were given, focusing on the cultural exchange between China and the West in modern times from different perspectives. Some searched into the literature, such as “Looking at the Development of China’s Modern Medicine from Family Letters”, “From Manila to Shanghai: The Rise and Decline of The Far Eastern Review”, and “Sacred Edict of The Kangxi Emperor and How It was Preached in Qing Dynasty”.
Many lectures touched upon the interaction between China and the West in relation to Christianity, such as “Christianity and Modern Chinese Intellectuals”, “Matteo Ricci's Approach to Chinese Culture and Cross-cultural Communications”, “The Chinese History Writing by Christian Missionaries in Modern China and Its Evolution”, and “Significance of Adjustment: Missionary Home-returning Vacation System”.
Among the many Christianity-related topics, some reviewed the attempts to localize Christianity in China.
Yu Qiang from Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences shared the story of a Chinese lay Christian Ruan Qiyu in his report “An Intermediary Between Cultures: Record of A Hangzhou Christian”: “Ruan was trained in medicine and later worked as a newspaper editor, and he served as an intermediary between the traditional Chinese medicine and Western modern medicine. In terms of faith, he became a Christian under the influence of David Duncan Main from the Church Missionary Society. Later, he renounced denomination in public and debated with the Anglican church, where we saw that he declared and promoted Christianity localization.”
Tian Yanni, a scholar from Jilin University, talked about how a female Christian impacted the localization of Christianity in her report titled “Dora Yu and Chinese churches’ revival in the early 20th century”. She reviewed that just as the Christian revivals in the UK and USA which lasted one and a half centuries greatly influenced the development of Christianity, the revival of Chinese churches in the first half of the 20th century was also an important movement in the history of Christianity in China. By studying Yu’s autobiography and other literature, Tian searched into her life and contributions, particularly her life as the earliest evangelist who broke away from the support of mission society and became independent.
“A major ‘fruit’ of Dora Yu’s work was Watchman Nee, who converted to Christianity after hearing her preaching in 1920 and contributed to revivals in China’s local churches. In the first half of the 20th century, many female Christians like Dora Yu experienced a revival and joined the ministry, bringing extensive and profound impacts to Chinese churches,” she said.
Yang Yuanmeng from Shanghai University delivered a talk named “The Spreading and Development of Christianity in the 19th Century Hainan”. She shared the ministry of the American Presbyterian Mission in Hainan, where they started from learning the local culture and gained rich experience and reflection in serving the Hlai people.
The conference ended with a closing address by Zhang Yongan, dean of the school of literature at Shanghai University.
- Translated by Grace Song
Academic Conference on China-West Cultural Exchange in Modern Times Held in Shanghai
