first Christian emperor of the Mongolian race. On his death the mandarins, holding the reins of government during the youth of his son, turned against the Jesuits, of whose privileges they had become very jealous, and commenced a persecution (a.d. 1664). The chief of the Jesuits, John Adam Schaal, then an old man, who had held an honourable place at court, was flung into prison and ultimately executed, while the other missionaries were driven into exile. About five years later, the young heir, Kang-hsi, assumed the government and at once reversed this policy of the regency, and recalled the Jesuits. The new emperor proved to be a man of noble and generous spirit. He valued the Jesuits so greatly that he sent to Europe for more of the order, and set these men in the highest positions in the State. Thus the awakening of China under the influence of Europe which we are witnessing to-day seemed to be promised more than two hundred years ago.
The famous Emperor Kang-hsi continued to favour the Jesuits during the whole of his long reign of sixty years, and built them their magnificent church at Pekin. At the death of this emperor in the year 1722, the imperial favour ceased, and the Jesuit influence declined. But the Roman Catholics have ever since claimed a political status in the empire.
Protestant missions in China were begun in the year 1807 by Dr. Morrison. In the year 1907 there were 3,719 Protestant missionaries in the empire, with 9,998 native helpers, 154,142 communicants, 706 stations and 3,794 out-stations, 366 hospitals and dispensaries, 2,139 day schools, 42,73 8 pupils, 255 boarding and higher schools, containing 10,227 pupils.[1]
- ↑ Broomhall, p. 40.
