Transnational, National, and Local

Abstract

Abstract This chapter highlights the significance of China’s semi-colonized status as the Catholics launched their indigenization campaign. It surveys the complex contextual factors that not only informed the Church’s position in China as the Qing Dynasty fell and the Republic of China was founded, but also shaped these leaders’ sense of what changes would be necessary to offer an authentically Chinese and modern witness in the new nation. These factors included international exercises of power like European foreign imperialism and the rise of papal diplomacy, national developments like the emergence of multiple strains of Chinese nationalism, and local dynamics such as long-standing tensions between local religious groups and government officials.