Publishers note--This volume intends to tackle two problems. The first is the historical framework of imperialism - until now widely applied by Western and Chinese scholars as an approach to the Christian evangelization movement in China. The theological aspect of the missionary action is seldom taken into account, nor is religion treated as an authentic human experience. In this volume two authors try to place the position of the Christian mission in its broader context. Scott Somers reflects on the changing image of the Japanese occupation in Taiwan, based on Protestant missionary sources; Koen De Ridder discusses the early diplomatic contacts between China and Belgium and the position of the Belgian missionaries. A second problem dealt with is that of the native Christians. While Jessie Lutz attempts to sketch a profile of the Chinese Protestant evangelizers, Jean-Paul Wiest focuses his attention on the Roman Catholics among the Chinese Hakka minority. Gary Tiedemann explains the material, spiritual and political incentives for conversion among the inhabitants of North China, paying special attention to the socio-political profile of the converts. In the contribution of Ann Heylen we return to Taiwan, where we are offered a better understanding of the Protestant contribution to the study of the Min language. Finally, Karel Steenbrink describes the changing religious affiliation of assimilated Chinese in Indonesia during the period 1900-1942.

Contents: Introduction / Ku Wei-ying and Koen De Ridder -- Missionaries, opium and imperialism in the Western perceptions of the Japanese colonial empire in Taiwan / Scott Sommers -- The first diplomatic contacts between Belgium and China: its background and consequences for politics, trade and mission activity / Koen De Ridder -- A profile of Chinese protestant evangelists in the mid-nineteenth century / Jessie G. Lutz -- Was the Christian God partial to the Hakka people? / J.-P.Wiest -- Conversion patterns in North China. Sociological profiles of Chinese Christians, 1860-1912 / R.G. Tiedemann -- Missionary Linguistics on Taiwan. Romanizing Taiwanese: codification and standardization of dictionaries in Southern Min (1837-1923) / Ann Heylen -- The religious quest of the Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia ca 1900-1942 / Karel Steenbrink.

"本書是一部從比較研究的角度研究基督教在近現代中西文化交流中的作用的一部論文集，全書分中國形象、翻譯策略、宗教理念、文化教育、政治定義五大方面，涉及一些研究者通常不太注意的方面,如錢德明與中國音樂".
"Christianity in China: perspectives and methodologies as comparative studies is the proceedings [sic] of the titular seminar, which was held November 25-26, 2006 at Peking University..."--English abstract page 1.

Vanessa Künnemann, Ruth Mayer / Transnational Nationalisms – China and the United States in a Pacific World. An Introduction. PART I: NATIONALISMS AND CONFIGURATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES . Yong Chen / The American Dream and Dreams of China: A Transnational Approach to Chinese American History - Klaus Mühlhahn / National Studies and Global Entanglements: The Re-Envisioning of China in the Early Twentieth Century - Nicola Spakowski / China in the World: Constructions of a Chinese Identity in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century.
PART II: CHINESE AMERICA, CITIZENSHIP, NATIONALITY, AND THE WORLD. Ruth Mayer / Paper Citizens and Biometrical Identification. Immigration, Nationality, and Belonging in Chinese America during the Exclusion Era -- Madeline Y. Hsu / Befriending the Yellow Peril: Student Migration and the Warming of American Attitudes towards Chinese, 1905-1950 – K. Scott Wong / Between the 'Mountain of Tang' and the 'Adopted Land': The Chinese American Periodical Press and the Emergence of Chinese American Identities in the Face of Exclusion.
PART III: MISSIONARY INTERVENTIONS: CULTURAL MEDIATION IN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES. Thoralf Klein / Christian Mission and the Internationalization of China, 1830-1950 - Vanessa Künnemann / Following with bleeding footsteps?' American Missions in China and the (Gendered) Critique of Pearl S. Buck - Dominika Ferens / The Deserving Heathen: Missionary Ethnography of China and its American Converts.