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Christian Faith vs Traditional Culture:
The core of this problem is faithfulness to the culture. That is, as a Chinese Christian, should one be faithful to God that he believes in, or continues to be faithful to his traditional culture? To the Chinese people, the most irreconcilable conflict is the attitude to the ancestors. The Chinese claim proudly that they are "descendents of the Huaxia nation" or "offspring of the dragon". Let's put aside the implication of these statements, that the Han people are the center and the other nationalities are ignored. "Dragon", this very image and symbol have put the Chinese Christians in an extremely difficult situation: In the Bible, the Book of Revelations describes the dragon, which the Chinese regard as their ancestor, as Satan himself, the ruler of the dark forces, whom was finally defeated by God and thrown into a "the lake of fire and sulfur" (Revelations 12, 20). Although some Christians hold that the evil dragon in the Bible is not the holy dragon in our culture, this explanation doesn't relieve the confusion and anxiety of the majority of the believers. A PhD student of philosophy said,
We can say that his heart-felt situation truly reflects that of most Christians. Almost all the intellectuals that I have contact with have the same feeling. Also, there are some Christians who totally stand by the biblical definition, maintaining that they are the same dragon, and that they shouldn't claim themselves "descendents of the dragon". Another subject of conflicts concerning the ancestors is sacrifice-offering. The focus of this contention of etiquette, which lasted for over 100 years from the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, is none other than could or should the Christians continue their participation in offering sacrifices to the ancestors. This contention ended up with the arbitrary negation of the Holy See of the legality of offering sacrificing to the ancestors, and Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng's "prohibition of the Christian belief". This did not end the problem for Chinese Christians today. To the Chinese, offering sacrifices to the ancestors is a common ideal both of the officials and the ordinary people, a ceremony as a link to tradition. If no sacrifices were offered to the ancestors, "the intimate relationship between fathers and sons would be cut off, the faithfulness between the emperor and the courtiers will disappear, and the heritage of the nation and the state would be lost." Therefore not offering sacrifices turned out to be an alien action, which could break the ongoing of the harmony in the family and blood lineage, which is part of the Chinese tradition. Such would definitely be viewed as a threat from an alien culture. However, as for the Christians, they only believe in one God, who is a "jealous God" (Ten Commandments, Exodus 20). No other spirits are allowed to be worshipped, which would definitely include those of the ancestors'. Obviously, these two contradicting attitudes have put the Chinese Christians into a very difficult situation, struggling to decide which one to choose or abandon. Some believers regard offering sacrifices to the ancestors as a "respectful ceremony" with no implication of worship in it, in order to get out of this dilemma, thus legalizing in a biblical sense the participation of the Christians to the rituals in which they pay homage to their ancestors. However, it is still a problem in the rural areas where the power of clans is strong and sacrificial ceremonies are frequently held. Especially in the South, the situation is yet waiting for a solution. <excerpt from http://hirr.hartsem.edu/sociology/huang.html>
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From the late 1800s to the early 2000s, Chinese
Christians have been censured with statements like
"one
more Christian is one less Chinese". Today, the wording
has changed, but the essence is still the same. After
learning that his son, a PhD student of a prestigious
university became a Christian, the father telephoned him
immediately, criticizing his muddle-headed decision. Even
if he had to believe in a god, the father said, wouldn't
a Chinese one be good enough, there being so many of them?
Why would he turn to a "foreign religion"? It was
something really wrong for a Chinese to do, a betrayal to
the "ancestors". This reflects the first impression
and common reaction to Christianity and Christians: a
foreign religion, something "not our kind". A young
teacher of philosophy in a university said, "On the one
hand, I am very proud of China's profound and brilliant
culture, being a Chinese person. On the other hand, I know
that some stuff in the Chinese culture doesn't agree
with the Bible teachings and my belief, being a Christian.
Every time I face this, I feel troubled, not knowing
whether to position myself as a Chinese or a
Christian."
In fact, when these intellectuals made their decision to
convert to Christianity, they have decided to become
"marginalized" in terms of culture. They
are still Chinese, but not Chinese in the traditional
sense, at least they no longer belong to the mainstream
culture. In a country where Confucianism and Materialism
are in the lead, they are marginalized either by being
deprived of the right of speech, or by actively making the
very choice themselves.
In an anthropological sense, they have "walked
out" of
their "own" culture, thus obtaining a special angle to
observe and comment on their own culture.