中文 | Русский | Provided by 'DECR Communication Service of the Russian Orthodox Church'
An International Conference on
the Boxer Movement and Christianity in China
"An International Conference on the Boxer Movement and Christianity in China" was held respectively in Taipei and Hong Kong on 10th, 11th and 14th June. The organisers include (1) Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society, Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, (2) Holy Spirit Study Centre, Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, and (3) Research Center of Catholic History, Fu-Jen Catholic University.
The objective of the conference was to investigate the historical events that took place during the Boxer Rebellion in China (circa 1900), where peasants were against anything that has got to do with foreign influence, and hence Christianity was the biggest victim in this event: the Boxers burned down many Churches and killed many people including foreign missionaries and native Chinese Christian converts.
7 sessions were held in Taipei and a total of 16 papers were presented; and in Hong Kong 8 papers were presented from the 4 sessions held. Most of the scholars who attended the conference were Catholics, but there were also other academics including those from Mainland China and one Orthodox paper was presented by Priest Dionisy Pozdnayev Church on Blood of Martyrs: To the History of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China. The sessions were divided into different themes, such as papers written mainly from archives, the Boxers in specific regions, the Holy Martyrs, the religious beliefs of the Boxers and implications of Boxers, particularly on Christian education in China. Novel methodologies were taken into account by the scholars during the research and presentation of their papers which include photographic, pictorial and oral sources. Paul Cardinal Shan of the Catholic Diocese of Kaohsiung, gave a short summary on the present research of the Boxers Rebellion in the opening ceremony as follows:
- the consequences of the Protectorate,
- the wide gap of misunderstanding between different parties in history,
- the missionaries who corrected from their mistakes,
- acknowledgement of faults and apologies, and
- the importance of objectivity in research.
He expressed that the aim of this conference be a tentative one that lays the foundation for further in-depth research. Bishop Joseph Zen of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong further remarked on his opening speech that it was due the to the lack of historical facts by research that caused the hostility of the Chinese authorities when the Vatican announced the canonisation the martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion in November 2000.
The papers aimed to find out the rationale of the Boxers from different viewpoints, i.e. from the missionaries, the foreign diplomats and the Boxers themselves. One interesting finding from the conference was that there were different viewpoints on the missionaries done by Chinese PRC scholars from the others, partly due to the consultation of different sources. Therefore it was recognized that the knowledge of European languages other than English were very important for such kind of research as many archives and other sources were in French, Italian, Spanish and Russian, and also stressed the importance for Chinese scholars not to over-rely on translated sources, which can be biased. It was also suggested that future conferences could involve academics from other religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism. The conference ended with the presentation of a paper outlining the development of previous conferences on the Boxer Rebellion held in China and overseas.