Following the 'opening' of China after the Opium Wars, the European political and economic presence in the Middle Kingdom surged. An important part of this presence concerned the significant...Show moreFollowing the 'opening' of China after the Opium Wars, the European political and economic presence in the Middle Kingdom surged. An important part of this presence concerned the significant increase in Western religious mission orders within China. In this thesis, these often-overlooked missionaries are put central by examining their interactions with the local Chinese social and political environment. By following the actions and ideas of the Belgium Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shortly known as the order of Scheut, this research asks new and insightful questions concerning the policies employed by the missionaries and their eventual outcome. By tracing the order’s development in the vicariates of Outer-Mongolia and Gansu, in terms of their approach towards the mission and the subsequently ensuing conflict, it shows how seemingly minor changes in attitude can create two widely different scenario’s and contradicts the perception of missionaries as mere agents of Western expansion. Missionaries, as agents of dialogue, managed to adapt their actions based on the environment they encountered and through their adaption, influenced the manner in which their local environment perceived them in the context of China’s turbulent nineteenth century.Show less
