The Influence of Christian Propagation on the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation and Countermeasures

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the Central Conference on Ethnic Work: “It is necessary to take the forging of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main line of the Party’s ethnic work in the New Era, to promote the firm identification of all ethnic groups with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to continuously advance the building of the community for the Chinese nation.”[1]1 The September 18th Incident (1931) was a Japanese military attack on Mukden (now Shenyang) that is conventionally regarded as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Identification with the great motherland and the Chinese nation is an important component of the “Five Identifications”[n] concept and a crucial cornerstone of the sense of community for the Chinese nation. This article takes the China-Burma border region in the 1930s as a case study to explore the weakening of the local ethnic groups’ sense of community for the Chinese nation by Christian propagation, as well as the understanding and solutions to this issue from various sectors of society. It should be noted that the Christianity referred to in this article is Christianity in the broad sense, namely Catholicism and Protestantism.

习近平总书记在中央民族工作会议上指出：“必须以铸牢中华民族共同体意识为新时代党的民族工作的主线，推动各民族坚定对伟大祖国、中华民族、中华文化、中国共产党、中国特色社会主义的高度认同，不断推进中华民族共同体建设。”[1]对伟大祖国、中华民族的认同是“五个认同”理念的重要组成部分，是中华民族共同体意识的重要基石。本文以20世纪30年代中缅边区为例，探讨基督教传播对当地族群中华民族共同体意识的弱化；社会各界对该问题的认知及解决方案。需要说明本文所涉及的基督教是广义的基督教，即天主教和新教。

I. The Confusion of Ethnic National Identity in the China-Burma Border Region in the Early 20th Century

一、20世纪初中缅边境地区族群国家认同的混乱

Traditional China presented the relationship between Han and other ethnic groups, center and periphery, civilization and barbarism through the concept of “Hua-Yi distinction” (华夷之辨), and on this basis formed different ethnic classifications, such as the appellations “Man” (蛮), “Miao” (苗), and “Yi” (夷) for the southwestern region. However, Chinese written records at that time did not pay attention to the complex self-designations and other-designations of these ethnic groups. In the early 20th century, as borders between states became clearer, these so-called “barbarians” gradually formed concepts of the state, “China,” “nation,” and “the Chinese nation,” recognizing the self, the other, the state, and the relationships among the three. In this process, the religious activities of Western missionaries in the southwest promoted the formation of modern ethnic consciousness and self-awareness among the southwestern ethnic groups, while to a certain extent also diluting the concept of the motherland, offsetting the influence of traditional Chinese culture, severing the relationship between the borderlands and the interior, leading to confusion in national and ethnic identity, and even seriously threatening national security in boundary disputes. During the late Qing and Republican periods, a series of disputes arose over the demarcation of the China-Burma border. Until the 1930s, the southern and northern sections of the China-Burma border had not yet been delimited, and during this period Britain continuously encroached on Chinese territory. At the end of 1933, the Burma Corporation, under the escort of the British colonial authorities, attempted to enter the Banhong area to develop the Lufang silver mine, triggering an armed conflict between local ethnic groups and British-Burmese troops, an event known as the “Banhong Incident.”[n]

传统的中国，以“华夷之辨”呈现汉与其他民族、中心与边缘、文明与野蛮的关系，并以此为基础形成不同的族群分类，如西南地区的“蛮”、“苗”、“夷”等族称，但此时的汉文书写并没有重视这些族群复杂的自称与他称。20世纪初，随着国与国之间边界的清晰，这些所谓的“蛮夷”逐渐形成国家、“中国”、“民族”、“中华民族”等观念，认识到自我、他者、国家以及三者之间关系。在这个过程中，西方传教士在西南的宗教活动促进了西南各族现代民族意识、自我意识的形成，同时在一定程度上也淡化了祖国观念，抵消了中华传统文化的影响，割裂了边疆与内地的关系，出现国家、民族认同的混乱，甚至在界务纠纷中严重威胁国家安全。清末民国时期，中缅划界产生了一系列纠纷。直至20世纪30年代，中缅南段、北段还未能定界，这期间英国不断蚕食我国领土。1933年底，缅甸公司在英国殖民当局的护送下，企图进入班洪地区开发炉房银矿，引起当地民族与英缅军队的武装冲突，此次事件被称为“班洪事件”[2]。

After the Banhong Incident, both China and Britain realized the seriousness of the undelimited southern section of the China-Burma border and restarted the boundary survey work, which had been suspended for 30 years. In 1935, China and Britain organized the “Joint Commission for the Survey of the Undelimited Southern Section of the Yunnan-Burma Border” to jointly survey the boundary. During the survey process, the national identity of the indigenous inhabitants of the Banhong area was quite confused. For example, the Banhong king hung the Kuomintang party flag to welcome the members of the Joint Commission, and the headman Hu Hanmin stated, “For generations my family has served the Han dynasty, and the Han dynasty treated my family well. I cannot betray my ancestors’ intentions. If the foreigners come, I must fight them; this is my responsibility.”[3]3 The “Four Barbarians” (四裔) is a classical Chinese term for non-Han peoples living on the frontiers. Faced with British economic temptations and military threats, the Banlao headman also said, “Unless the moon falls to the ground, I will never surrender to the British.”[4]4 The native chieftain (土司) system was a form of indirect rule over ethnic minority regions in imperial China, where local hereditary leaders were recognized by the central government. However, the identification with “China” among the upper-level chieftains and headmen of the Banhong area was not consistent. For instance, the Yongbang king “betrayed China” and opposed Banhong and Banlao. The Banlong headman Ma Meiting was used by the British, “forgetting his roots and selling out the country.”[5]5 The Anti-Christian Movement (1922-1927) was a nationalist and anti-imperialist campaign against Christian missions in China, often linked to the broader May Fourth Movement. The Movement to Recover Educational Rights sought to end foreign control over schools in China.

“班洪事件”后，中英均意识到中缅南段未定界问题的严重性，重启了中断30年之久的勘界工作。1935年中英双方组织了“中英滇缅南段未定界会勘委员会”，共同勘界。勘界过程中，班洪地区土著居民的国家认同比较混乱。如班洪王悬挂国民党党旗迎接会勘委员会成员，总管胡汉民称“我数代人服汉朝，汉朝对我家好，我不能背叛祖先之意，洋人来，我一定要打，这是我的责任”[3]。面对英国经济的诱惑，军事的威胁，班老头目也曾言：“除非月亮落地之日，余必不降英”[4]。但班洪地区上层的土司、土目对“中国”的认同并不一致，如永邦王“背叛中国”，与班洪、班老为敌。班弄头目马美廷为英国人所利用，“忘本卖国”。[5]

During the 1936-1937 joint survey of the southern section of the China-Burma border by China and Britain, there were also incidents where indigenous inhabitants (mainly converts) in places like Yonghe welcomed the British side and resisted the Chinese side.

1936-1937年，中英两国再次会勘中缅南段，还出现了永和等地土著居民（主要是教民）欢迎英方抵制中方人士的事件。

“Now the Laku (Lahu) have all become converts, and the Kawa of Yonghe, Gannai, and other villages have fallen into their trap. This time, the converts welcomed the British and obstructed the Chinese commissioners; it was the church that masterminded it, and its latent power cannot be underestimated. …”

“今裸黑（拉祜族）已成教民者，卡瓦之永和、甘乃诸寨入其榖中。此次教民欢迎英人而阻中国委员，即教堂之主谋，其潜势力不可侮也。……。

“I (Fang Guoyu) was in Mengdong when the punitive campaign against the Yonghe rebels was underway. Someone reported: ‘Yonghe wild Kawa are roaming nearby.’ I sent people to capture them. I asked, ‘Who are you? What are you doing here?’ They replied: ‘I am a Yonghe convert; the Yonghe king sent me to the British camp to deliver a message.’ I asked what the message was, but they stubbornly refused to answer. I threatened them with death. They said: ‘I have already converted to the foreign religion. Even if the Han official kills me, I have no regrets. But the secrets between the Yonghe king and the British cannot be spoken by me.’ I questioned them repeatedly but got no answer. Such was the depth of their entrapment by the foreign religion.”[6]6 Zhuge Liang (181-234 CE), courtesy name Kongming, was a famous chancellor and strategist of the Three Kingdoms period, often revered as a folk hero and symbol of wisdom in Chinese culture.

余（方国瑜）在猛董，适剿办永和叛众，有报者曰：永和野卡在附近游弋。派人捕至，询尔何人？来此何事？曰：我永和教徒，永和王使我至英营报口信。询报何事？坚不肯答。以杀头骇之。曰：我已投洋教，汉官害我死，亦无所怨，永和王与英国之秘密事，则不能出我口。询至再三而不答，其中洋教之计有如此者”。[6]

The concepts of “China” and “the Chinese nation” among the indigenous inhabitants of the northern section of the China-Burma border were also extremely confused:

中缅边境北段土著居民的“中国”“中华民族”等观念也极为混乱：

“The Baiyi (Dai) near Kanti (i.e., Kanti, now under the jurisdiction of Kachin State in northern Myanmar), being close to Burma and having had little contact with our side, and having been influenced by the British earlier, now only a few elderly people still harbor nostalgic feelings. The young people mostly regard the British as their sovereign, and even harbor hostility towards us. Therefore, these people have won the favor of the British. The Qiu (i.e., Qiujiang) people, on the other hand, are close to us. They stopped paying tribute to us only a few years ago, and still trade and interact with our people frequently, as before, while their relationship with the British is relatively distant. Thus, their longing for our country is very deep. … Moreover, on the east bank of the Great Qiujiang, the people living in the mountains are Lisu (i.e., Lisu) and Nuzi (i.e., Nu) who migrated from the Nu River. In the past, these people were mostly managers of the Qiu people and collectors of tribute from them, occupying a higher ethnic status in the Qiujiang area. Now that their land has been occupied by the British, they are like sojourners, their status even lower than that of the Qiu people. Therefore, their hatred for the British is stronger, and they are very willing to help us. … As for the Puman people of Jiangxinpo, they quite hate the British and have never been willing to submit to them, while they still have goodwill towards our country.”[7]7 Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, 181–234) was a famous chancellor and military strategist of the Three Kingdoms period, celebrated for his "Southern Expedition" to pacify the southwest.

坎地（即坎底，今属缅甸北部克钦邦所管辖县）附近之摆夷，以地近缅甸，与我方向少接触，且受英人之熏陶较早，故现时仅少数老年人尚有念旧之心，青年子弟，多认英国人为主邦，而于我尤存敌视之心。故彼族人民多得英人之欢心，求（即求江）民则地与我近，不纳我方求贡仅数年，至今犹常与我国人民通商，往来，关系之密切，今昔无异，而与英则关系较疏，故怀念我国之心极深，……。且大求江东岸，居山岭之人民，系由怒江移去之栗粟（即傈僳族）、怒子（即怒族），此辈在昔日多系管理求民、征收求贡之人，在求江向居于上等民族之地位，今土地被英人所据，伊等若似侨民，地位反不及求民，故仇视英人之心较盛，极愿助我。……。至江心坡之濮曼民族，则颇仇视英人，始终无服英人之心，而于我国尚有好感。[7]

It can be seen that the ethnic groups in the China-Burma border region were complex, and due to various factors, the identification with “China” varied greatly among different ethnic groups and even among different branches of the same ethnic group. Some ethnic groups in the China-Burma border region, “lacking an understanding of the nation-state,” often migrated en masse, entire clans or villages, to other countries. “In the area along the Tengyue-Longling border alone, in recent years, an average of two to three thousand Yi households have moved out of the border each year.”[8]8 The “Chinese nation is one” debate was a major academic and political discussion in the late 1930s, centered on the proposition that all ethnic groups in China were branches of a single Chinese nation, opposing the idea of separate “nations” for minority groups.

可见中缅边区民族复杂，受种种因素影响，不同民族、同一民族不同支系的“中国”认同有很大差异。中缅边区的某些族群因“缺乏民族国家的认识”，经常举族、举寨迁往他国，“仅腾越龙陵沿边一带，近年来每年迁出界外的夷民平均有二三千户之报”。[8]

II. The Influence of Christianity on the Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation among Ethnic Groups in the China-Burma Border Region

二、基督教对中缅边境地区族群中华民族共同体意识的影响

The spread and development of Christianity in the southwestern border region, to a certain extent, diluted the motherland and ethnic identification of the local ethnic groups. Since the late Qing, foreign missionaries successively came to the southwest, even going to remote areas with harsh environments to preach. By the 1930s, Western missionaries were spread throughout the southwestern borderlands and were active among the Lisu, Jingpo, Lahu, Nu, Wa, and other ethnic groups in the China-Burma border region, with some ethnic groups even having “seven or eight out of ten being Christians.”[9]9 The Southwestern Yi (西南夷) refers to a collection of ancient non-Han peoples and polities in what is now Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, recorded in Chinese historical texts such as the *Records of the Grand Historian*. For example, Lancang County had as many as 25,000 believers, mainly Lahu and Wa; Shuangshan, Cangyuan, Gengma, Mianning, and other counties had a total of 20,000 believers, the vast majority being Lahu;[10]10 Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, 181–234) was a chancellor and military strategist of the Shu Han state during the Three Kingdoms period. Among some ethnic groups in southwest China, he is venerated as a cultural hero associated with the introduction of agriculture and civilization. Lushui County had 9,000 Lisu believers, accounting for over 80% of the county’s population.[11]11 “Using culture to nourish the borderlands” (文化润疆) is a policy formulation originally applied to Xinjiang, here extended to Yunnan, meaning the use of cultural work to strengthen national identity and social stability in border regions. The spread and development of Christianity in the China-Burma border region had a huge impact on the society, thought, and culture of the local ethnic groups. From the perspective of national and ethnic identification, the following effects were produced:

基督教在西南边疆地区的传播、发展在一定程度上淡化了当地各族的祖国和民族认同。自清末以来，外国传教士相继来到西南，甚至前往环境恶劣的偏远地区传教。到了20世纪30年代，西方传教士遍布西南边疆，并活跃于中缅边区的傈僳、景颇、拉祜、怒、佤等民族中，有些民族甚至“十之七八为基督徒”[9]。如澜沧县的信徒多达25000人以上，主要是拉祜族和佤族；双山、沧源、耿马、缅宁等县的信众共有2万人，绝大多数是拉祜族[10]；泸水县傈僳族信徒有9000人，占全县人口的80%以上[11]。基督教在中缅边区的传播、发展对当地族群的社会、思想、文化产生巨大影响，从国家认同、民族认同的角度产生如下影响：

(I) Strong Religious Appeal, Reducing National Prestige

（一）宗教号召力大，降低国家威信

These missionaries came to the Yunnan border, worked hard, and achieved considerable success in their missionary work. In some places, the border people “only knew the pastor, not the government,”[12] and even ignored the summons of the National Government, but when the pastor announced Christmas, they would travel dozens or even hundreds of miles, bringing the elderly and the young, to celebrate.[13] Some missionaries with ulterior motives, when preaching, loudly promoted the strength of Britain and America and the superiority of Western civilization, and even incited ethnic relations.

这些传教士来到滇边，苦心经营，传教工作颇见成效，有些地方的边民“只知牧师，不知有政府”[12]，甚至不理会国民政府的召集，而牧师通知过圣诞节时，却不远几十里、几百里扶老携幼赶过来过节[13]。有些别有用心的传教士讲道时大肆宣传英美的强大，西方文明的优越，甚至挑拨民族关系。

Due to the church’s propaganda about American material civilization and its sowing of discord, the converts only knew that the United States was the strongest country in the world, that they had to rely on the United States, that the Han people were all bad, and that they should have no dealings with the Han people. They sold the products they produced to the United States and bought back what they needed.[14]

由于教会宣传一些美国物质文明与挑拨离间，教徒们都只知道世界上美国最强，他们非依靠美国不可，汉人都不好，与汉人互相不往来。他们所生产的东西，拿到美国去卖，再将需要的东西买回来。[14]

The above practices led to tensions in ethnic relations in the China-Burma border area, fostering in some ethnic minorities an indifferent attitude toward China and the Chinese nation and a rosy imagination of British Burma. For instance, Lisu believers in Lushui regarded the undelimited China-Burma border area as a promised land, believing that there “there is no oppression and the burden is very light”; whenever they felt “oppressed” by headmen or merchants, they would take their families and cross the Gaoligong Mountains[4]4 The native chieftain (土司) system was a form of indirect rule over ethnic minority regions in imperial China, where local hereditary leaders were recognized by the central government.. Missionaries, when describing the relationship between the Jingpo people and Britain, fabricated the story that the Jingpo prince was King George VI of England, leading some Jingpo to believe they were not Chinese but Burmese[5]5 The Anti-Christian Movement (1922-1927) was a nationalist and anti-imperialist campaign against Christian missions in China, often linked to the broader May Fourth Movement. The Movement to Recover Educational Rights sought to end foreign control over schools in China.. Other missionaries directly incited Lahu believers to break away from China, “refusing to accept the jurisdiction of Chinese

上述做法致使中缅边区的民族关系紧张，部分少数民族滋生对中国、中华民族冷漠的心理，对英属缅甸产生美好想象。如泸水的傈僳族信众将中缅未定界区域当成乐土，认为那里“没有压迫，负担很轻”，他们一旦感觉受到土司、商人的“压迫”，就会携带家眷翻过高黎贡山[15]；传教士叙述景颇族与英国关系时，编造出景颇王子是英皇乔治六世，致使一些景颇族认为自己不是中国人而是缅甸人[16]。还有传教士直接煽动拉祜族教民脱离中国，“不能接受中国官吏之管辖”，不交税，不理调遣，发生民事诉讼时不告官。[17]

(2) Developing religious education, weakening national identity

（二）发展宗教教育，弱化国家认同

Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to implement the policy of "replacing native chieftains with regular officials" [n4] in the southwest, the central court adopted the principle of "pacifying the borderlands and civilizing the people," establishing prefectural, departmental, and county schools as well as academies and community schools. However, the scope of "civilizing" was mainly concentrated among the upper strata of ethnic minorities. Up until the Republic of China period, the central government was unable to integrate most of the indigenous inhabitants of the southwest into "Han" society, a problem particularly acute in the China-Burma border region.

明清以来，中央王朝为了在西南推行“改土归流”的政策，采取“安边化民”的原则，设州、府、县学和书院、社学等，但“教化”的范围主要集中在少数民族上层，直到民国，中央政府也没能使大多数西南土著居民融入到“汉”社会，这个问题在中缅边区尤为突出。

Missionary activity in the southwest was accompanied by the promotion of education [18]. "Without running schools, one cannot gain a foothold" [19]. After missionaries settled in the Yunnan border region, their top priority was to build churches and establish schools. According to statistics, missionaries opened nearly a hundred primary and secondary schools in Yunnan's ethnic minority concentrated areas, along with a large number of various forms of training classes and accelerated courses. Compared with the interior, the characteristic of church schools in the Yunnan border region was that schools were combined with religious education and religious activities; the church was the school [20].

西南地区的传教活动是与推广教育相伴随的[18]，“不办学校，就不能立脚”[19]。传教士扎根滇边后，当务之急就是建教堂、办学校。据统计传教士在云南民族聚居区开办了近百所小学和中学，还有大量各种形式的培训班和速成班。与内地相比，滇边教会学校的特点是学校与宗教教育、宗教活动相结合，教堂即学校[20]。

These church schools were not only strongly religious but also had a pronounced political orientation. In terms of teaching materials, they were mostly compiled in "barbarian scripts" [n5] or English and Burmese. The teachers were mostly members of the local ethnic group who had studied in Burma (mostly religious figures), or were directly dispatched from Burma by the church. The teaching content largely "did not conform to national and ethnic thought." For example, in the Lahu ethnic area of the Lancang River, the church school textbooks contained a lesson saying, "The Han people have come, I am afraid," and the prayer was, "God, the Han oppress us" [21]. In the Jingpo [n6] mission area, the literacy textbooks wrote, "Our leader is the King of England," and students' daily prayers often included "God bless you — America." These practices caused students to be familiar with London, Rangoon, Myitkyina, and Bhamo, while being completely ignorant of Beijing, Shanghai, and Kunming [22].

这些教会学校不仅宗教色彩浓厚，还具有强烈的政治倾向。教材方面，多用“夷文”或英文、缅文编成，教师多是本民族到缅甸读过书的人（多为宗教人士），或者教会直接从缅甸派遣，教学内容多“不合国家民族思想”。如澜沧江拉祜族地区教会学校的教材上有“汉人来了，我怕”的课文，祷告词则是“上帝啊，汉家压迫我们”[21]。景颇教区的识字课本中写有“我们的领袖是英皇”，学生日常祷告中常用“上帝祝福你—美国”。这些做法致使学生熟悉伦敦、仰光、密支那、八莫等地，却全然不知北京、上海、昆明[22]。

The "barbarian scripts" mentioned above were mostly scripts created by missionaries for the scriptless ethnic groups of the southwest. Under normal circumstances, Western missionaries assigned to various mission districts in China had to first learn Chinese. However, the Yunnan border region had numerous ethnic groups with complex languages; these border people mostly did not understand Chinese and were illiterate in Chinese writing. To facilitate evangelism, missionaries mostly learned local languages and created scripts for local ethnic groups without writing systems [23]. On this basis, they translated and printed scriptures in various scripts, thereby facilitating evangelism. The "barbarian scripts" created by missionaries objectively solidified ethnic boundaries, put into practice the classification of "Han" and "non-Han" among southwest ethnic minorities [24], strengthened self-awareness, and to some extent weakened the indigenous inhabitants' identification with the state and the Chinese nation.

前文所提的“夷文”多是各传教士为西南无文字诸族创制的文字。通常情况下，西方传教士被分配到中国各教区传教，需先学汉语，但滇边民族众多，语言繁杂，这些边民多不通汉语，且不懂汉语书写。为了便于传教，传教士多学习当地语言，并为当地没有文字的民族创制文字[23]，在此基础上，翻译、印制了各种文字的经文，从而便于传教。传教士创制的“夷文”，客观上做实了民族的界限，实践了西南少数民族对“汉”与“非汉”的分类[24]，强化了自我意识，某种程度也弱化了土著居民对国家、中华民族的认同。

Undeniably, the establishment of church schools and the creation of scripts ended the long-standing situation of oral transmission of history and keeping records by notching wood or tying knots among the scriptless ethnic groups of the Yunnan border region, promoting social development. However, these church schools were strongly religious; their main purpose in running schools was to propagate religion. The content taught "did not conform to national and ethnic thought," "posed a great obstacle to the national system and sovereignty" [25], and even prohibited believers from continuing to attend middle school after graduating from primary school, saying, "After finishing higher primary school, being able to read the Bible is enough; having knowledge will cause trouble" [26].

不可否认，教会学校的建立，文字的创制，结束了滇边无文字民族长期以来代代口传历史，刻木结绳记事的状况，促进了社会的发展。但这些教会学校宗教色彩浓厚，办学的主要目的是传教，教授的内容“不合国家民族思想”，“于国体治权，亦有莫大之障碍”[25]，甚至禁止信徒小学毕业后继续到中学读书，“读完高小能看圣经就行，有知识就会作怪”[26]。

(3) Reconstructing historical memory, offsetting traditional Chinese culture

（三）重构历史记忆，抵消中华传统文化

Christianity is an "imported product," quite different from Chinese civilization and the cultures of the southwest ethnic regions. Missionaries initially used Western civilization, such as medicine, slide shows, and films, to attract the populace and achieved some missionary results. However, as a foreign religion, to conquer the local people in terms of faith and change their thoughts and concepts, it was also necessary to integrate with local history and culture. Thus missionaries began to exploit the widespread legends of Zhuge Liang [n7] in the southwest ethnic regions. "Among the barbarians of the border region, those who revere Marquis Wu (Zhuge Liang) most deeply are none other than the border barbarians of the western (western Yunnan) area" [27]. These "barbarians" mainly included the Wa, Jingpo, Lisu, Lahu, and Hani ethnic groups. They worshipped Zhuge Liang, revering him as the supreme deity, and gave rise to related customs. Some ethnic groups even believed their ancestors had migrated there following Zhuge Liang's "Southern Expedition." Western missionaries fully exploited the worship of Zhuge Liang for evangelism. For example, among the Lisu people from Pianma (today's Pianma Town, Lushui City, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province) to Weixi on the China-Burma border, they initially "considered themselves subjects of the Great Dynasty and were unwilling to be controlled by foreigners." To avoid Western missionaries, they migrated elsewhere. Missionaries first used Western technology to attract them, and after achieving initial results, opportunistically declared, "God has two sons, the eldest son Jesus and the second son Zhuge Liang, both capable of forgiving all sins and saving from all disasters," and "Since you believe in Father Zhuge Liang, you should listen to the teachings of his brother Jesus," thereby making "the masses believe even more without doubt," achieving the desired missionary effect [28].

基督教属于“舶来品”，与中华文明、西南民族地区的文化有较大区别。传教士最初利用西方文明如医药、幻灯片、电影等方式达吸引民众，并取得一定传教成果。但作为外来宗教，想在信仰上征服当地人，改变他们的思想、观念还需与当地的历史、文化相结合。于是传教士开始利用西南民族地区广泛流传的孔明传说，“就边区夷民来说，则对武侯（诸葛亮）敬仰之最深者，莫如西部（滇西）一带之边地夷民”[27]，这些“夷民”主要有佤族、景颇、傈僳、拉祜、哈尼等族，他们崇拜孔明，将其奉为最高神灵，并滋生了相关的习俗。有些民族还认为自己的祖先是跟随诸葛亮“南征”而迁徙到当地的。西方传教士充分利用孔明崇拜进行传教，如中缅边境片马（今云南省怒江傈僳族自治州泸水市片马镇）至维西一带的傈僳族最初“以大朝百姓，不愿受制洋人”，为了躲避西方传教士而迁移到其他地方，传教士首先利用西方科技吸引他们，待初见成效后适时宣称“上帝有两个儿子，长子耶稣次子孔明，均系赦人一切罪恶，救人一切灾难”，“你们既信诸葛亮老爹，就要听他兄弟耶稣的道理”等等，从而让“众更信之不疑”，收到理想的传教效果[28]。

The legends and worship of Zhuge Liang represent the southwest ethnic groups' search for a suitable "heroic ancestor" in Chinese historical memory, thereby proving that their own group is of Chinese descent [29]. This was in fact a cultural foundation and manifestation of "China" identity. As a contemporary wrote, "That the wild barbarians generally consider themselves descendants of the Great Han Dynasty is not a little due to the cohesive power of Zhuge Liang" [30]. Missionaries first equated Jesus with Zhuge Liang, then replaced Zhuge Liang with Jesus, thereby altering the historical memory of southwest ethnic groups, forming a new psychological schema, and diluting the common culture of the Chinese nation.

孔明的传说、崇拜是西南民族在中国历史记忆中寻找适宜的“英雄祖先”，以此证明本族是华夏之裔[29]，这其实是“中国”认同的文化基础和表现，正如时人所写“一般野夷自认为大汉朝之子孙者，孔明维系之力实不鲜焉”[30]。传教士先以耶稣等同孔明，再用耶稣代替孔明，从而改变西南族群的历史记忆，形成了新的心理构图，淡化中华民族的共同文化。

Furthermore, in the Lahu ethnic area of western Yunnan, missionaries declared that the Lahu and Western peoples were originally one family: Westerners were the sons of the maternal uncle, and the Lahu were the sons of the maternal aunt, both living in the West. Later, the Lahu ancestor migrated eastward, having no original relationship with the Han people; the land they cultivated was not Chinese territory. If they did not forget their ancestors, they could not believe in the Han religion; they should follow the Western religion. Westerners believe in God, not ghosts, and do not worship ancestors. There are still Lahu living in the West today [31]. To facilitate evangelism, missionaries combined Christianity with ethnic legends, reconstructing social memory and even distorting history. All this caused changes in the identification of various Yunnan border ethnic groups with "China," threatening the territorial security of China's southwest border. Missionaries active in the undemarcated northern section of the China-Burma border once said: "In the undemarcated area, you Chinese say it is Chinese territory, and the British say it is British territory. People on my side say it is best to hold a vote, adopt democracy, and see which country the people want to belong to" [32].

此外，传教士还在滇西拉祜族聚居区宣称拉祜与西方诸族原是一家，西方人为舅父之子，拉祜为姑妈之子，同居西方，后拉祜始祖迁来东方，与汉人本无关系，开土耕种，亦非中国之地；若不忘祖宗，则不能信汉教，应从西方教，西方人要信上帝，不信鬼，不祀祖，今尚有拉祜住西方者[31]。为了便于传教，传教士将基督教与民族传说相结合，重构社会记忆，甚至歪曲历史，这些都会使滇边各族对“中国”的认同发生变化，威胁我国西南边疆领土安全。活跃于中缅边境北段未定界的传教士曾称：“未定界地方，你们中国人说是中国的，英国人又说是英国的。我侧边人说，最好发动一次投票，采取民主，看人民归哪一国”[32]。

Besides military aggression against China's territory, the colonizers also used Christianity for ideological conquest. Missionaries actively built churches and schools in the China-Burma border region, propagating Christian thought to local ethnic minorities. "The British send missionaries to every village to preach and explain at any time. The ignorant border people are gradually paralyzed" [33]. Those with ulterior motives steered the issue of faith toward ethnic antagonism and opposition between China and the United States and Britain [34], severing the relationship between ethnic minorities and China, dividing and disintegrating the Chinese nation, and then expanding territory and encroaching on land, endangering China's territorial security.

殖民者除了武力侵略我国领土，还利用基督教进行思想征服，传教士在中缅边区积极设教堂、办学校、向当地少数民族传播基督教思想，“英人每寨皆派传教之人，随时讲解宣传。蚩蚩边邙，逐渐被麻痹”[33]。别有用心者将信仰问题引导到民族对立，中国与美英的对立[34]，割裂少数民族与中国的关系，分化、瓦解中华民族，进而占地扩界，危害我国领土安全。

III. Understanding and responses from various sectors of society to the Christian issue in the China-Burma border region

三、社会各界对中缅边境地区基督教问题的认识及因应

After the September 18th Incident [n], Japan intensified its efforts to divide and sow discord among China’s borderland ethnic groups. For example, Japan supported and instigated Thailand to advocate “Pan-Thaiism,” attempting to split China’s southwestern borderland. The crisis in the southwestern borderland had already seriously threatened the survival of the nation and the state, at which time national defense construction became particularly important. “As for so-called national defense, popular will and popular morale are the most important; if the people all possess a strong sense of nation and state, then even if military force is somewhat inferior, one can still defend the country and resist the enemy” [35]. At that time, however, the national consciousness and ethnic awareness of the peoples in China’s southwestern borderland were weak, and there even appeared a phenomenon of “still harboring a hostile attitude toward us” [36]. To this end, academia also carried out various investigations and studies, and launched a discussion on “the Chinese nation is one.”

“九一八”事变后，日本加紧分化、挑拨我国边疆各族。如日本支持、怂恿泰国鼓吹“大泰国主义”，妄图分裂我国西南边疆。西南的边疆危机已经严重威胁到国家、民族的生存，此时国防建设显得尤为重要。“所谓国防者，民志民气，最为重要，使人民皆有强烈之国家民族意识，则虽武力稍差，亦可卫国抗敌”[35]，而当时我国西南边疆民族的国家观念、民族意识淡薄，甚至出现“而于我尤存敌视之心”的现象[36]。为此，学界也开展了多种调查研究，并展开“中华民族是一个”的讨论。

In the struggle over the “borderlands,” merging the “Huaxia” [n] and the “Four Barbarians” [n] into the “Chinese nation” gradually became the blueprint for the nation-state in the minds of many Chinese intellectuals in the late Qing and early Republic of China periods [37], and initiated modern China’s “Southwestern Ethnic Studies” [38]. During this period, the central government and the Yunnan provincial government organized multiple surveys, covering issues such as Yunnan’s ethnic groups, native chieftains (土司) [n], and borderlands. The Yunnan provincial government also established research institutions such as the “Yunnan Provincial Research Society on Miao-Yi Ethnic Issues” and the “Borderland Administrative Design Committee.” Members of these institutions actively carried out ethnic social surveys and wrote a large number of reports [39]. In addition, universities and research institutions that had moved westward organized scholars to conduct large-scale field investigations and founded specialized borderland academic institutions and journals. Their participation not only strengthened the discipline’s research capacity on practical social issues but also brought about significant changes in the scale of the research team, the depth and breadth of investigations, and the quality and quantity of research results [40]. In the 1930s, governments at all levels, research institutions, and scholars also paid great attention to the Christian issue in the southwestern borderland and proposed corresponding solutions.

在“边疆”争夺下，合“华夏”与“四裔”而为“中华民族”，逐渐成为晚清与民国初年许多中国知识分子心目中的国族蓝图[37]，并开启了现代中国的“西南民族研究”[38]。这一时期，中央政府和云南地方政府多次组织调查，内容涉及云南族群、土司、边疆等诸多问题。云南省政府还成立了“云南省苗夷民族问题研究会”、“边疆行政设计委员会”等研究机构，这些机构的成员也积极开展民族社会调查，撰写了大量报告[39]。此外，西迁的高校、研究机构组织学者进行大规模的田野调查、创办专门的边疆学术机构、刊物，他们的加入不仅加强了学科对社会实际问题的研究力，而且在研究阵容、调查的深度和广度、研究成果的质量和数量等方面都有了显著的变化[40]。20世纪30年代，各级政府、科研机构、学者对西南边疆基督问题也给予了高度的重视，并提出了相应的解决方案。

(I) Understanding of the Christian Issue in the China-Burma Border Region from All Sectors of Society

（一）社会各界对中缅边区基督教问题的认识

Around the 1930s, the “Anti-Christian Movement” and the “Movement to Recover Educational Rights” occurred [n]. The missionaries’ suspicious behavior and sinister intentions on issues concerning the China-Burma border demarcation and the southwestern borderland ethnic groups also aroused strong resentment among the Chinese people. Various articles and investigation reports not only outlined the general contours of the dynamic evolution of the China-Burma boundary issue but also clearly pointed out the seriousness of the Christian issue in the China-Burma border region.

20世纪30年代前后，发生了“非基督教运动”、“收回教育权利运动”。传教士在中缅勘界、西南边疆民族问题上行动诡异，用意险恶，也让国人产生了强烈的抵触情绪。各类文章、调查报告，不仅勾画出中缅界务问题动态演变的大致轮廓，也明确指出中缅边区基督教问题的严重性。

“Wherever they (the missionaries) arrived, they often set up churches, hospitals, and schools in a three-pronged approach: from group training to individual conversion, from treating illnesses to dispensing medicines, from kindergartens and primary schools to middle schools and universities, everything was available, and they would set up facilities wherever there was a gap. … Therefore, they all regarded missionary work as a lifelong career. … Because the borderland people were of mixed races, their intelligence was benighted, their lives were bitter, and miasma and smoke filled the air, as soon as they encountered foreigners from beyond the seas, they regarded them as saviors from the human world, and as soon as they saw a brand-new hospital, they saw it as a ferryboat of mercy. … The ‘Great Han Dynasty’ that had always lingered in their minds was replaced by ‘England’ and ‘America,’ and the ‘Lord Zhuge Kongming’ [n] lodged in their hearts was replaced by ‘Jesus the Savior’ and ‘Christ the True God.’ The imperialists’ lackey class of monks and pastors, besides buying people’s hearts in peacetime, also investigated products and strategic points, creating openings for their own governments to read reports and understand border conditions, and even went so far as to interfere in civil and criminal cases and manipulate government affairs, causing endless disputes between believers and non-believers. Once an incident occurred, the imperialists’ airplanes and cannons would fly in from beyond the seas in response to the cry to protect overseas compatriots, and the tens of millions of Miao people, drunk on the missionaries’ palm wine and morphine, would welcome the foreign troops with food and drink.” [41]

“他们（传教士）每达一处地方，常是教堂、医院、学校，三管齐下的：由集团训练至个别感化，由医治病症至施舍药品，由幼稚园、小学以至中学、大学，无不应有尽有，择缺设施。……，故他们都把传教当做终身事业，……因边疆人种复杂，民智底暗，生活疾苦，瘴烟弥漫，故一遇天外洋人，即认为人间救主，一见崭新医院，即视为普渡慈航。……从来萦回脑际的‘大汉朝’换上了‘英格兰得’、‘阿美利卡’，盘踞心中的‘孔明阿公’变成了‘耶稣救世’、‘基督真神’”。帝国主义者的御用阶级僧侣牧师，平居除收买人心外，复调查物产与险要，使其本国政府生（隙），阅报告而透边情，至是复干预民刑，左右政务，使教民与非教民间纠纷丛出。变遇一生，帝国主义者的飞机大炮，即应保护侨胞之声从天外飞来，而沉醉于耶稣牧师的椰子酒与吗啡精里的数千万苗民无不箪食壶浆，以迎外师。[41]

People at the time clearly saw the strength of the Christian and church school forces in the China-Burma border region, and realized that it not only seriously hindered the advancement of borderland education but also brought about a crisis of separation, threatened the state’s sovereignty, endangered the security of the southwestern borderland, and caused the borderland to “transform from China’s shield into a vanguard turning its guns around, so that the vast border wilderness was in danger of changing its color” [42].

时人清醒的看到中缅边区的基督教、教会学校势力之强，意识到其不仅严重影响边地教育的推进，还带来分离危机，威胁到国家治权，危害西南边疆的安全，造成边疆“由中国的屏障，转成了掉转枪头的前卫，于是万里边荒即有改变颜色的危险”[42]。

Investigators who went to the China-Burma border region also saw that church schools had enlightened the “people’s wisdom,” broken the superstitions of the borderland people, and improved local social customs. They greatly admired the missionaries’ spirit of sacrifice and their indomitable will. From the perspective of people from the interior, the Yunnan borderland was a place of “barbarian miasma, poisonous snakes, and bitter springs,” with a “fierce, stubborn, and inhuman” folk character; “few from the interior went there, and even fewer knew about it,” and even officials of the National Government “regarded the borderland as a dangerous road and hesitated to go forward” [43]. Yet these missionaries could risk their lives, “being foreigners of unusual appearance and different languages,” to blend in with the borderland people, making them “know only the pastor, not the government.” Meanwhile, the staff sent to the borderland by the National Government “mostly could not stay in their posts for long” [44].

前往中缅边区调查的人员也看到了教会学校启迪了“民智”，打破边民的迷信，改良了当地的社会风气。他们非常敬佩传教士牺牲的精神，坚苦卓绝的意志。就内地人而言，滇边“蛮烟瘴雨，毒蛇哑泉”，民风“凶狠顽强，悍无人性”，内地“去者少，知者亦少”，就连国民政府的官员也“视为边地为畏途，裹足不敢前” [43] 。而这些传教士却能冒着生命危险“以异国之人，状貌特殊，语言互异”，与边民打成一片，让边民“只知牧师，不知有政府”。而国民政府派往边地的工作人员“多不能安于位”[44]。

(II) Responses to the Christian Issue in the China-Burma Border Region from All Sectors of Society

（二）社会各界对中缅边区基督教问题的因应

At this time, all sectors of society realized that the development of Christianity in the southwestern borderland seriously affected national and ethnic identity and territorial security, but they did not directly interfere with the religious beliefs of the borderland people. In response to the flourishing of Christian forces, especially church schools, in the China-Burma border region, people at the time generally believed that borderland education should be promoted, shared historical memory should be strengthened, the borderland people’s concepts of state and nation should be awakened, and a firm concept of “the Chinese nation is one” should be established.

此时，社会各界意识到基督教在西南边疆的发展严重影响到国家、民族的认同和领土安全，但并没有直接干涉边民的宗教信仰。针对中缅边区基督教势力尤其是教会学校的兴盛，时人普遍认为应推进边疆教育，强化共同历史记忆，唤醒边民国家、民族之观念，建立“中华民族是一个”的坚定观念。

1. Building a Common Culture and Promoting Borderland Education

1.建设共同文化，推进边疆教育

People at the time believed that “the failure of China’s civilizing influence has allowed the church’s power to grow” [45]. The key to building a common culture was to develop borderland education. “Only by universalizing borderland education can we promote the spirit of shared weal and woe and life cooperation among the entire nation” [46]. To this end, academia engaged in in-depth discussions on the content, personnel, funding, and use of teaching materials for borderland education. Regarding the separatist problems brought by Christianity, they believed the following measures should be taken.

时人认为，“中国之教化不行，遂造成教会势力”[45]，建设共同的文化，关键是发展边疆教育，“唯有普及边民教育，可以促进全民族休戚相关的精神与生活协作。”[46]为此，学界就边疆教育的内容、人员、经费、教材的使用等问题展开深入讨论，就基督教带来的分离问题，他们认为应采取以下措施。

First, emphasize Mandarin education, prohibit the use of scripts created by the churches, and expand the use of phonetic symbols for use in borderland dialects. [47] As a symbolic system, language is not only an important medium of social communication but also a shaper of concepts. The Yunnan borderland had many ethnic groups and complex languages; apart from the Dai people, most had no written script. Thus, “if outsiders want to enter their territory, they must learn this language, otherwise they cannot enter, and because there is no written script, it is not easy for outsiders to learn” [48]. This also made it difficult for the National Government’s decrees to be implemented in the southwestern borderland, affecting normal interactions between ethnic groups, and creating “a deep chasm between the Yi and the Han, making these peoples who belong to the same family seem like two opposing entities” [49]. Therefore, academia suggested that the National Government expand the use of phonetic symbols, annotating them to the left or below the Chinese characters, thereby improving the efficiency of Mandarin education, achieving the unification of language and script, enhancing ethnic communication, and reaching the goal of “unifying culture through a common national language and script” [50].

首先，着重国语教育，禁止使用教会所创造的文字，扩充拼音符号，供边地方言使用。[47] 作为一种符号体系，语言不仅仅是重要社会交往媒介，也是观念的塑造者。滇边族群繁多，语言复杂，除傣族之外，大多没有文字。于是“外人欲入其境，非学此种语言，不能入境，又因没有文字的产生，外人多不易学习”[48]。这也造成国民政府的政令难以在西南边疆推行，影响了民族间正常的交往，夷汉之间“隔了一道深深的鸿沟，使此同属一家的民族，似乎成了两个对立的个体”[49]。故此，学界建议国民政府扩充注音符号，注于国文之左或下，以此提高国语教育效率，从而达到统一语言、文字，增进民族交流，达到“以国语国文统一文化”的效果[50]。

Second, compile textbooks and reading materials suitable for the borderland. Before missionaries entered the China-Burma border region, the ethnic groups in the area mostly preserved their own history and legends through oral transmission. Due to factors such as language and culture, textbooks and reading materials published domestically were not suitable for the borderland and thus did not circulate widely. The churches, however, printed religious stories in the Yi languages (scripts created by the missionaries), and everyone vied to read them. In response, researchers suggested compiling suitable textbooks and reading materials. In terms of content, these should elucidate China’s history, appropriately incorporate the orally transmitted stories of the borderland compatriots, thereby enhancing the feelings between the borderland compatriots and the interior, and instill a “national consciousness”; further, they should introduce knowledge of nature, science, and medicine, such as explaining the origins of diseases and the phenomena of thunder, lightning, rain, and dew, in order to counteract religious influence and break the authority of the clergy.

其次，编纂适用于边地的教科书及读物。传教士进入中缅边区之前，该区域族群大多以口头相传的形式保留本民族历史、传说。受语言、文化等因素的制约，国内出版的教材和读物不适合边地，故没有广泛流传，教会则将宗教故事以夷语（传教士创制的文字）印出，大家争相阅读。对此，研究人员建议编纂合适的教材、读物，在内容方面阐明我国之历史，适当融入边胞口传之故事，以此增进边胞与内地的感情，灌输“国族”意识；进而介绍自然、科学、医药常识，如说明病疾之来源、雷电雨露之现象，抵消宗教影响，打破神职人员的权威。

Third, cultivate teaching staff in border-area schools. After Li Yuegai and Ke Shuxun founded several schools in the Yunnan border region, local education basically stagnated, one reason being “the difficulty of recruiting teachers” [51]. The investigators believed that ideal teaching staff for border-area schools should be hardworking, rich in a spirit of service, and familiar with the local dialect [52]. Those who met the above conditions were ultimately few; many went to work in the borderlands out of curiosity, “but most could not settle in their posts” [53]. People at the time on the one hand called on border-area teaching staff to have “none of the habits of officials in government posts, but the spirit of missionaries spreading the faith” [54]; on the other hand they recommended raising the treatment of border-area personnel, strengthening vocational training, and especially enhancing the staff’s ability to use the national language and script.

第三，培养边地学校教职人员。李曰垓、柯树勋在滇边创办了数座学校后，当地的教育事业基本停滞不前，原因之一是“教员之不易罗致”[51]。考察人员认为理想之边地学校教职员，应为刻苦耐劳，富有服务精神，并熟谙当地方言之人[52]。而符合上述条件的人员终属少数，多出于好奇前往边疆工作，“然多不能安于位”[53]，时人一方面呼吁边地教职人员“无官场做官之习气，有教士传教之精神”[54]；另一方面建议提高边地人员待遇，加强职业训练，尤其加强教职人员国语国文运用能力。

Fourth, strictly restrict the scale and teaching content of church schools. It was recommended that in the southwestern borderlands, especially in defense-important zones, administrative means should be used to restrict hospitals and schools run by churches, and that the state should supplement funding, replace principals, and gradually free them from church control, so that the authorities or directly supervising organs could exercise complete control [55]. The Lancang county government and others took measures to restrict the activities of William Young and his associates; the Shuangjiang Normal School took the opportunity to reclaim the Mengmeng church grounds.

第四，严格限制教会学校的规模和教学内容。建议西南边疆尤其是国防要塞地带应依靠行政手段限制教会所办的医院、学校，建议国家补充经费、更调校长，令其逐渐脱离教会之羁绊，以便当局或直属督促机关能完全控制[55]。澜沧县府等借此采取措施限制永伟里等人的活动，双江师范学校趁机收回猛猛教堂地盘。

2. Awaken historical memory, strengthen the construction of a common psychology

2.唤醒历史记忆，加强共同心理之建设

First, the various southwestern peoples all worshipped Zhuge Liang. As mentioned earlier, missionaries cleverly exploited this for their own purposes. People at the time noticed this; although they considered the missionaries’ methods fanciful and almost absurd, they had achieved good missionary results and were worth referencing. Zhuge Liang was an important link between the Central Plains and the southwestern border compatriots, an important foundation for “the ‘wild barbarians’ who consider themselves descendants of the Great Han dynasty” [56]. Therefore it was recommended that he be included in textbooks and that various commemorative activities be carried out, such as building Zhuge Liang temples and erecting steles, to strengthen ties between border residents and the interior, achieving the goal of transmitting and shaping the people’s collective memory through “material images,” and creating members of society with a shared memory [57].

首先，西南诸族崇拜诸孔明，前文提到传教士巧妙利用这点，为其所用。时人注意到这点，虽认为传教士的做法异想天开，几近荒唐，但收到了良好传教效果，值得参考。诸葛亮是维系中原与西南边胞的重要纽带，是“一般野夷自认为大汉朝子孙者”的重要基础。[56]故建议将其编入教科书中，开展多种纪念活动，如建立诸葛亮立祠堂，刻碑，密切边民与内地的联系，达到以“物像”来传递及塑造民众集体记忆的目的，塑造有共同记忆之社会成员[57]。

Second, history textbooks should propagate the deeds of mutual integration among the various peoples, explain the history of ethnic fusion and the close geographical and economic relations between the borderlands and the interior, emphasize that the present-day Chinese nation is not a single ethnic group but is formed by the mixing of many ethnic groups, and make clear that the various southwestern border peoples are members of the Chinese nation, so that they are not deceived and lured by outsiders into self-division [58]. It was also necessary to study the common origin and common ancestry of the Chinese nation from the perspectives of history, archaeology, and linguistics. People at the time believed this was not only historical fact but should become national policy, requiring designated specialists to study the issue. This coincided with the great debate on “the Chinese nation is one” [59] [n8]. Under this influence, scholars studying the southwestern borderlands wrote articles emphasizing that Yunnan had only one Chinese nation and no other ethnic groups [60]; some scholars also specialized in researching and writing articles on the common ancestry of the Han and southwestern peoples, such as Zhang Tingsiu’s “On the Common Origin of the Miao, Yi, and Han” and “Further Discussion on the Common Origin of the Yi and Han,” which elicited positive responses from academia [61].

其次，历史教科书中宣传各民族相互融洽之事迹，讲解民族融合史及边疆与内地地理、经济的密切关系，强调现今中华民族，并非一族，而是由多数民族混合而成的，明了西南边疆诸族为中华民族之一份子，不为外人欺骗利诱，而自行分化[58]。并从历史、考古、语言学角度研究中华民族同种同源。时人认为这不仅是史实，更应成为国策，需指定专门学者研究该问题。当时适逢“中华民族是一个”的大讨论[59]，在这种氛围影响下，研究西南边疆的学者撰文强调云南只有一个中华民族，没有别的民族[60] ，也有学者专门研究、撰写汉族与西南诸族同宗同源的文章，如张廷休的《苗夷汉同源论》、《再论夷汉同源》等文章，并引起学界积极回应[61]。

3. Strengthen the management of Christianity, promote the indigenization of the church

3.加强基督教的管理，促进教会本土化

“Although the nature of foreign missionary work is not necessarily that every one harbors imperialist ambitions” [62], the result was to increase the centrifugal force among the southwestern border peoples. All sectors of society began to pay attention to, think about, and coordinate the issues of religion and the borderlands. Overall, during this period people advocated the indigenization of Christianity. First, it was recommended that religious organizations and doctrines be made public, and that missionaries should exercise self-restraint and avoid involvement with politics, military affairs, etc. Second, the government should encourage and support domestic churches, providing some financial support to prevent them from turning to foreign sources [63]. Domestic churches and believers could organize themselves to replace Western missionaries in preaching in the borderlands [64]; for any denominations that promoted Chinese culture and preached in Yunnan, Guizhou, Xikang, and other provinces, governments at all levels should provide assistance. Third, guide border churches to serve the borderlands, thereby eliminating the negative effects brought by individual foreign missionaries’ improper missionary methods. Fourth, for all denominations receiving government assistance, their organizations must follow the organizational forms of European and American churches, and missionaries were required to receive a university education and obtain formal diplomas; people at the time attempted thereby to standardize the content of preaching, making missionary activities rational and intellectual, not engaging in crooked ways. Fifth, for any missionary organizations with secret rituals, doctrines, or practices such as spirit possession, planchette writing, or chanting spells, the denomination should be dissolved and the local public security authorities held legally responsible [65].

“外国人传教的本质，虽不见得个个抱着帝国主义的野心”[62]，但结果却是增加了西南边疆诸族的离心力。社会各界开始关注、思考、协调宗教与边疆的问题。总体而言，这个时期人们主张基督教本土化。第一，建议公开宗教组织和教义，传教士应自我约束，避免与政治、军事等牵连。第二，政府应鼓励、扶植本国教会，给予一定经费支持，避免其转而谋诸国外[63]。本国教会、信徒可自行组织代替西方传教士前往边疆传教[64]；凡发扬中国文化的优良教派，到云南、贵州、西康等省传教时，各级政府应给予援助。第三，引导边疆教会，让其服务边疆，从而消除个别外籍传教士因传教不当所带来的消极影响。第四，凡接受政府协助的各教派，其组织须依照欧美教会的组织形式，并要求传教士接受大学教育，获正式文凭，时人试图以此规范传教内容，使传教活动富有理性、智识，不搞歪门邪道。第五，凡有秘密教仪、教义及降神、扶乩、诵咒等行为的传教组织，应解散该教派，并按照法律惩处当地治安机关负责人。[65]

4. Strengthen the state’s political propaganda

4．加强国家的政治宣传

At the time, academia advocated and vigorously propagated that “the Chinese nation is one,” to instill new knowledge, forge a new people, cultivate sound citizens of the state [66], and promote and strengthen the “nationalization” of the southwestern border groups and “the recognition of one state, one government, and one leader” [67]. In the process of gradually advancing border-area education in the southwestern borderlands, in response to the severe miasma in the China-Burma border region, which was too remote to establish schools, “itinerant teaching teams” were organized to conduct mobile teaching. These “itinerant teaching teams” were responsible not only for teaching activities but also for surveying mountains, rivers, terrain, popular sentiment, customs, transportation, and products, and for propagating national consciousness. The teaching teams’ pack mules had a national flag inserted on their heads, and they also carried national flags and presidential portraits to distribute to border compatriots at any time. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, they mainly propagated the significance of resisting Japan and building the nation, and of national unity, eliminating the barriers arising from localist concepts and narrow ethnic concepts [68]. In addition, the Three People’s Principles, important speeches of the leader, and pamphlets on resisting Japan and building the nation were translated into Yi and Dai scripts and annotated with phonetic notation, distributed in the China-Burma border region, thereby conducting national propaganda, enhancing border residents’ national and ethnic consciousness, consolidating their national identity, and fostering the sense of community for the Chinese nation.

当时学界主张并大力宣传“中华民族是一个”，输新知识，陶铸新民，养成国家之健全的公民[66]，推动、强化西南边疆族群的“国族化”和“一个国家、一个政府与一个领袖之认识”[67]。西南边疆逐步推进边地教育的过程中，针对中缅边区瘴疫太盛，过于偏远，没有条件建立学校，组织“巡回施教队”前去流动教学。“巡回施教队”不仅负责相应的教学活动，还负责调查山川、地形、民情、风俗、交通、物产，宣传国家意识。施教队的骡马头上插一面国旗，同时携带国旗、总统相以便随时向边胞分发。抗日战争期间则主要宣传抗战建国，民族团结之意义，泯除其地域观念，狭义的民族观念所生隔阂[68]。此外，将三民主义、领袖重要言论、抗战建国小册编译成彝文、傣文并以注音标注，在中缅边区发行，以此进行国家宣传，增强边民国家、民族意识，凝聚其国家认同，中华民族共同体意识。

In the 1930s, the various measures taken by Chinese governments at all levels, officials, and intellectuals to a certain extent resisted the differentiation and disintegration of the Chinese nation by Christianity in the China-Burma border region. They also prompted all sectors of society to think about and explore the “Sinification” of Christianity, and Christian thinkers began, as Christians, to reflect on “what contribution Christians can make to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” [69].

20世纪初30年代，中国各级政府、官员、知识分子采取的种种措施，在一定程度上抵制了中缅边区基督教对中华民族的分化、瓦解。并促使社会各界思考和探索基督教的“中国化”，基督教思想家也开始以基督教徒的身份思路“基督徒对于中华民族复兴能有什么贡献”[69]。

IV. Contemporary Lessons from Christian Propagation in the China-Burma Border Region in the 1930s

四、20世纪30年代中缅边境地区基督教传播的当代启示

Yunnan is a border province with multiple ethnic groups and multiple religions, with a long border line and numerous cross-border ethnic groups. It is a main channel for hostile foreign forces to infiltrate China by land, and the situation of infiltration and counter-infiltration is severe. Especially since the 1980s, the state has adjusted its religious policy, and churches have been restored and developed in border areas. With China’s comprehensive opening up, especially in recent years, many foreign religious forces and hostile forces, using modern information technology and under slogans such as “Border Project” and “Sowing Plan,” have been carrying out large-scale religious infiltration along the Yunnan border [70]. Drawing on the responses of all sectors of society to the Christian issue in the China-Burma border region in the 1930s, resisting foreign religious infiltration and maintaining security and stability in border ethnic areas requires adhering to “the Sinification of religion” and “forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.” These are also the main lines of China’s current work on ethnic and religious affairs, and the core issues of research on ethnicity and religion.

云南是一个多民族多宗教的边疆省份，边境线长，跨境民族众多，是境外敌对势力对我国进行陆地渗透的主要通道，渗透和反渗透形势严峻。尤其20世纪80年代以来，国家调整宗教政策，教会重新在边境地区得到恢复和发展。随着中国的全面开放，尤其是近年来，很多境外宗教势力和敌对势力借助现代信息技术，打着“边疆工程”、“播种计划”等宣传口号，大肆在云南边境进行宗教渗透[70]。借鉴20世纪30年代社会各界对中缅边区基督教问题的因应，抵制境外宗教渗透，维护边疆民族地区的安全和稳定需要坚持“宗教中国化”和“铸牢中华民族共同体意识”，这也是当前我国民族、宗教工作的主线，更是民族、宗教研究的核心问题。

(A) Promote the Sinification of Christianity in border ethnic areas

（一）推动边疆民族地区的基督教中国化工作

The core elements of the Sinification of Christianity are its identification with China’s politics, its adaptation to Chinese society, and its expression of Chinese culture. Christianity in China must identify with our basic political system and related policies. To this end, the central authorities continuously emphasize upholding the principle of independence and self-management, actively guiding Christianity to adapt to socialist society, and guiding religion to serve economic development, social harmony, cultural prosperity, national unity, and the unification of the motherland [71]. In addition, the organizational functions of the national “Two Committees” of Christianity in China (the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches in China and the China Christian Council) should be improved and developed, especially the political, religious, and social functions of the grassroots “Two Committees”; culturally, they must integrate with China’s ideological and cultural traditions to articulate and construct their own Christian theological discourse system; the daily life of the church and religious rituals should also adapt to the times and Chinese culture, forming a Christian life with Chinese characteristics.

基督教中国化的核心要素就是其对中国政治的认同、对中国社会的适应，以及对中国文化的表达。中国的基督教要认同我们的基本政治制度及相关政策。为此，中央不断强调坚持独立自主自办原则，积极引导基督教与社会主义社会相适应，引导宗教努力为促进经济发展、社会和谐、文化繁荣、民族团结、祖国统一服务。[71]此外，应完善和发展中国基督教全国“两会”的组织功能（中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会与中国基督教协会），尤其发挥基层“两会”的政治、宗教、社会功能；文化上则需与中国的思想文化传统相结合，表述、构建自己的基督教神学话语体系；教会的日常生活、宗教礼仪也应与时代、中国文化相适应，形成中国特色的基督教生活。

After more than a century of propagation and development in the border ethnic regions of Yunnan, Christianity has combined with local multi-ethnic cultures, reconstructing a “cross-border ethnic Christian culture” that merges Christian culture with borderland culture, gradually transforming it from a “foreign religion” into “the Christianity of Yunnan’s cross-border ethnic groups” [72]. Although the national identity awareness of Christian believers in the Yunnan borderlands has generally improved significantly, in certain localities the influence of foreign Christian forces still exists. For example, the development of Christianity among cross-border ethnic groups of the same origin in northern Myanmar and the infiltration of foreign religious forces have, to some extent, affected the national and ethnic identity of cross-border ethnic groups in western Yunnan. In response, the Sinicization of Christianity in the China-Myanmar border region should cause ethnicity and Christianity, after being imbued with national attributes, to return and be integrated into the daily social life of borderland minority nationalities, ultimately completing a cross-border severance of the religious identity and ethnic identity of China-Myanmar cross-border ethnic groups at both the institutional-normative and psychological-identity levels [73].

基督教在云南边疆民族地区经过一百多年的传播和发展，已与当地多民族文化相结合，重构出基督教文化与边地文化相结合的“跨境民族基督教文化”，使其逐步从“洋教”变为“云南跨境民族的基督教”[72]。虽然总体上云南边疆基督教信徒的国家认同意识大为提高，但在局部地区，境外基督教势力的影响仍然存在，如缅北地区同源跨境民族基督教的发展、境外宗教势力的渗透，在一定程度上影响了滇西跨境民族的国家、民族认同。对此，中缅边区基督教的中国化应使民族和基督教在浸染上国家属性后重新回归，并整合进入边疆少数民族日常的社会生活中，最终从制度规范和心理认同两个层面对中缅跨境民族的宗教认同和民族认同完成跨境切割[73]。

(2) Promoting and Popularizing the National Common Language and Script

（二）推广普及国家通用语言文字

Language and script are tools of human communication and important carriers of civilization and cultural inheritance. Using the national common language and script is not only the responsibility and obligation conferred on all citizens by the Constitution and laws, but also a political bond that unites the Chinese nation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “Cultural identity is the deepest form of identity, the root of ethnic unity and the soul of ethnic harmony. We must earnestly promote and popularize the national common language and script, and fully implement the use of nationally unified textbooks.” [74]

语言和文字是人类交流工具，是文明和文化传承的重要载体。使用国家通用语言文字既是宪法和法律赋予全体公民的责任和义务，也是凝聚中华民族的政治纽带。习近平总书记指出：“文化认同是最深层次的认同，是民族团结之根、民族和睦之魂，要认真做好推广普及国家通用语言文字工作，全面推行使用国家统编教材”。[74]

From the perspective of the development of the state, the region, and local minority nationalities, promoting and popularizing the national common language and script is an important tool for minority nationalities to learn modern science and technology and to realize modern information exchange. It can promote the economic, political, and cultural development of the state and border ethnic regions, and is a sharp instrument for strengthening the economic interest bond of the Chinese nation [75]. From the perspective of ethnic exchange, the national common language and script is a language tool shared by all ethnic groups. For borderland minority nationalities to adapt to modern society and to exchange, interact, and integrate with other ethnic groups within the country, they need to master the “inter-ethnic common language” of the Chinese nation — the national common language and script [76]. From the perspective of national and ethnic identity, the national common language and script is an important carrier of Chinese civilization and a cultural symbol of the community with a shared future for the Chinese nation. Promoting and popularizing the national common language and script is conducive to borderland ethnic groups participating in national construction, establishing and strengthening their emotional identity, ideological identity, and cultural identity, and enhancing their identification with Chinese culture and the identity of the Chinese nation.

从国家、地区和当地少数民族发展的角度，推广和普及国家通用语言文字是少数民族学习现代科学技术、实现现代信息交换的重要工具，能促进国家、边疆民族地区经济、政治、文化的发展，是强化中华民族经济利益纽带的利器[75]；从民族交流的角度，国家通用语言文字是各民族共享的语言工具，边疆少数民族要与现代社会相适应，与境内其他民族交流、交往、交融，需要掌握中华民族“族际共同语”——国家通用语言文字[76]；从国家、民族认同的角度，国家通用语言文字是中华文明的重要载体，是中华民族命运共同体的文化符号。推广普及国家通用语言文字，利于边疆民族参与国家建设，建立和加强各民族的情感认同、思想认同和文化认同，增进中华文化、中华民族身份的认同。

In summary, to resist foreign religious infiltration, maintain borderland stability and national security, and strengthen the sense of community for the Chinese nation, it is necessary to raise the requirements for promoting the national common language and script, standardize its writing and expression. Especially in border ethnic regions, multiple methods and modern information technology should be employed to comprehensively promote and popularize the national common language and script.

总之，抵制境外宗教渗透，维护边疆稳定，国家安全，增强中华民族共同体意识，理应提高国家通用语言文字推广的要求，规范其书写、表达方式，尤其在边疆民族地区，需采取多种方式、借助现代信息技术全方位推广普及国家通用语言文字。

(3) Strengthening the Historical Memory of the Chinese Nation

（三）强化中华民族历史记忆

Historical memory is not a simple sum of individual memories, but rather “the process and result of community members sharing the past” [77]. It emphasizes the foundational emotional connection of a nation, ethnic group, or social group, and is also called “foundational history,” possessing the function of shaping ethnic identity [78].

历史记忆不是个人记忆简单相加，而是共同体成员“共享往事的过程和结果”[77]，强调一民族、族群或社会群体的根基性情感联系，也被称之为“根基历史”，具有塑造族群认同的功能[78]。

A history of China is a history of the integration and convergence of various ethnic groups into the pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation, a history of all ethnic groups jointly creating, developing, and consolidating the unified great motherland [79]. Over the long course of historical development, the Chinese nation has formed a rich and vivid historical memory, which is constantly enriched, developed, and continued. The Chinese nation possesses a vast number of historical documents and materials recording the exchanges, interactions, and integration among ethnic groups, such as the connection between the Southwestern Yi [9]9 The Southwestern Yi (西南夷) refers to a collection of ancient non-Han peoples and polities in what is now Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, recorded in Chinese historical texts such as the *Records of the Grand Historian*. and the Yellow Emperor, and the worship of Zhuge Liang [10]10 Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, 181–234) was a chancellor and military strategist of the Shu Han state during the Three Kingdoms period. Among some ethnic groups in southwest China, he is venerated as a cultural hero associated with the introduction of agriculture and civilization.. These historical memories are precious carriers for us to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. In modern times, facing foreign invasion and oppression, the Chinese nation coalesced to resist foreign aggression. For example, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, borderland minority nationalities in Yunnan actively participated in various anti-Japanese and national salvation activities such as building the Burma Road, joining battlefield service corps, launching fundraising drives, seeing off new recruits, and comforting military families. This not only reflects that the sense of community for the Chinese nation was widely recognized by all ethnic groups in the Yunnan borderlands during the War of Resistance period, but also formed new historical memories, which can further enhance the solidarity of community members.

一部中国史，就是各民族交融汇聚成多元一体中华民族的历史，就是各民族共同缔造、发展、巩固统一的伟大祖国的历史[79]。在长期的历史发展中，中华民族形成了丰富而生动的历史记忆，并不断丰富、发展和延续。中华民族拥有大量的历史文献资料，记载着各民族间的交流、交往、交融，如西南夷与黄帝的联系，孔明的崇拜等，这些历史记忆都是我们铸牢中华民族共同体意识的宝贵载体。近代，面对外来侵略和压迫，中华民族凝聚一起抵抗外来侵略，如抗日战争期间，云南边疆少数民族积极参加修筑滇缅公路、战地服务团、发动募捐、欢送新兵，慰劳军属等抗日救亡各种活动。这不仅反映抗战时期中华民族共同体意识得到云南边疆各族的广泛认同，也形成了新的历史记忆，并能进一步增强共同体成员的团结性。

Besides documents and historical materials, historical memory also includes “material images” such as museums, cultural sites, exhibition halls, and ethnic cultural relic halls, as well as “social behavioral spectacles” such as public festivals and ritual commemorations. These can all transmit and shape historical memory. Guarding and inheriting historical memory, deeply exploring the spiritual connotation of historical resources, and using culture to nourish the borderlands [11]11 “Using culture to nourish the borderlands” (文化润疆) is a policy formulation originally applied to Xinjiang, here extended to Yunnan, meaning the use of cultural work to strengthen national identity and social stability in border regions. can internalize them as a driving force for forging deep-level identification with the Chinese nation.

历史记忆除了文献和史料，还包括博物馆、文化遗址、展览馆、民族文物馆等“物像”，以及公共节日、仪式纪念日等“社会行为景象”，这些都能传递、塑造历史记忆。守护、传承历史记忆，深入发掘历史资源的精神内涵，文化润疆，使其内化为凝聚中华民族深层次认同的动力源泉。

The world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and China is at a critical period of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Ethnic and religious work faces new situations and tasks. In the New Era, to maintain the stability and development of border ethnic regions, we must take forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main line, promote high-quality development of the Party’s ethnic work in the New Era [80], and guide people of all ethnic groups to firmly establish the common concept of sharing weal and woe, honor and disgrace, life and death, and destiny. Facing the infiltration of foreign Christian forces, we should actively guide religion to adapt to the socialist society, improve the self-management level of religious circles, raise the legalization level of religious affairs governance, and strive to open up a new situation in religious work [81].

当今世界正经历百年未有之大变局，我国正处于实现中华民族复兴的关键时期，民族、宗教工作面临着新的形势和任务。新时代维护边疆民族地区的稳定和发展，必须以铸牢中华民族共同体为主线，推动新时代党的民族工作高质量发展[80]，引导各族人民牢固树立休戚与共、荣辱与共、生死与共、命运与共的共同理念。面对境外基督教势力的渗透，应积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应，提高宗教界自我管理水平，提高宗教事务治理法制化水平，努力开创宗教工作新局面[81]。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心