The number of believers in the entire Hangzhou church is approximately 1,400 to 5,000. [No pop-up novel website] Guo Jujing baptizes an average of 200 people every year.
He talked about the difficulties and peculiarities of preaching here. He believed that when preaching in the Ming Dynasty, it was most important to gain support from the gentry class. Because their influence is very wide, not only can they protect the safety of the church, but the people often regard them as role models. Often the baptism of a local gentry will lead to the baptism of many people around them. Many scholar-official believers were baptized as a whole family. Not only themselves and their family members, but also the servants at home would also be baptized.
When Dr. Jin was baptized, he first solved the problem of church funding and housing at the missionary site. If there were no donations from the Jin Gentry believers, the poor believers would not be able to donate, and there would not be enough people to "gather the sand into a tower." The church must rely on remittances from Macau to survive, and it is difficult to purchase houses and land.
The Catholic Church in Hangzhou was supported by a group of Catholic gentry represented by the Yang and Li families. It could always maintain a stable state in Hangzhou, and its missionary work was rarely disturbed, so it developed rapidly.
Starting from Confucian scholars and scholar-bureaucrats, Matteo Ricci formulated the missionary strategy after he entered China. In Zhao Yingong’s view, Matteo Ricci was indeed the first person in Europe to understand the social status of China. The Europeans, including Marco Polo, who didn't know if he had ever been to China, were just a group of curiosity seekers.
However, Zhao Yingong believed that this policy was too "upper-class", even though many people from the poor class were baptized into Christianity and many were "martyred" in the teaching plans. The first martyr of Catholicism in China was the cake vendor in the "Nanjing Mission Case". But in general, the Catholic Church lacked a social foundation to "float above" in the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Yongzheng banned Christianity and quickly eliminated the small Catholic faith across the country.
After Er Ya opened the ban on Christianity, Protestant Christianity caught up with them in missionary work, which was closely related to their "popularization" route. The new church opened hospitals and schools, adopted orphans,
Organized various charities with extraordinary results.
However, Zhao Yingong would not say to Guo Jujing that the "lower-level line" is the magic weapon of the Senate. Of course, Guo Jujing may not be unaware of the shortcomings of the "upper-class route", but in the social environment at that time, taking the "upper-class route" was a last resort. Without the "lower-class line" of "accumulating prestige" of Protestantism in Britain and France after the Second Crow, it may not have been possible.
Although Guo Jujing is in Hangzhou, she does not keep the news from the church at bay. The Catholic Church in Macau sends couriers to various churches in mainland China every few months to deliver letters. Churches in various places will also deliver the letters to the recipients. Some letters destined for Europe are shipped in Macau. Although the letters traveled for many years, the church's contact was never interrupted from beginning to end.
Even during the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties when missionary affairs were completely stagnant, missionaries in Beijing were still able to maintain contact with the churches in Loumen and Europe.
He read the letter from the Jesuit Society to Guo Jujing carefully. This old missionary who had experienced many ups and downs had a very thorough understanding of China's national conditions. He learned it through the believers in the Hangzhou church and the missionaries in Beijing. According to the news, he knew the true identity of this Chinese from "Guangdong": they were the "Australians" on whom the president had high hopes.
The war between the Australians and the Ming Dynasty in Qiongzhou and their efforts to promote the holy religion in Qiongzhou surprised and delighted Guo Jujing. The three years of pastoral work of his brothers, Lu Ruohua and others in Qiongzhou exceeded what they had achieved in forty years of hardship and danger.
He did not quite understand why Australians were interested in the Jesuits and missionary affairs. Letters from Macau indicate that although there are a small number of Catholics among them, the Australians do not come from a Catholic country. They can't talk about any religious beliefs. The letters specifically state their atheistic tendencies. At the same time, the head of the Australian church in Lingao is obviously not a qualified clergy. Obviously, they helped the church to preach in Qiongzhou not out of religious fervor, but out of some practical interests.
Now, this mysterious Australian appeared in front of him, and he was very interested in what his purpose was.
Zhao Yingong did not shy away from his intentions, and verbal flickers or paradoxes were of no value. The Jesuits' willingness to help the Senate was a reflection of the strength of the Senate. As long as the Jesuits still planned to preach in Qiongzhou, Guo Jujing had to help him.
"What do you mean: use the power of our Hangzhou church members to protect your business interests?" the Italian said after listening to his explanation quietly.
Zhao Yinzi said: "Yes, you have been in the Ming Dynasty for many years, and you should understand the difficulties and interference I have to face as an outsider to experience business here. And you must know the influence of a gentleman in the Ming Dynasty society." Guo Jujing He pondered and nodded. You are right. "
"So I must ask the church in Hangzhou to help me." Zhao Yingong looked into the eyes of this dignified old Italian man.
"What business events do you want to hold in Hangzhou?" Guo Jujing was very interested in this. He knew from letters from Macau that Australians are a group of skilled craftsmen who can produce many novel and cheap products.
"There are many." Zhao Yingling said, "For example, raw silk."
Guo Jujing didn't speak anymore, but nodded slightly. The raw silk trade is an important source of income for the Macau Yabi Association. Before the trade with Japan was cut off, the Jesuits would buy "Nanjing Silk" through merchants every year and resell it to Japan, making huge profits. Of course the priest knew: the so-called Nanjing silk is actually "Lake silk" from Zhejiang and Nanzhi.
It was not surprising to him that Australians came to Zhejiang to intervene in the production and trade of raw silk. They asked the church to use its influence to provide shelter. This was also expected - no matter how powerful the Australian warships and cannons were, they would not appear at the Yangtze Estuary.
This is not only an obligation as a Jesuit, but also necessary to spread the gospel in China.
He made a sign of the cross and murmured: "Let God's will be realized." In the subsequent chat, Zhao Yingong mentioned Sun Yuanhua. Guo Jujing greatly praised Sun Yuanhua and considered him to be the future backbone of the Ming Dynasty Church, Li and Yang. Xu Guangqi, who has passed away, is old, and only Sun Yuanhua is young and powerful. He is already the governor of Denglai, and besides Xu Guangqi, he is the highest-ranking official among the Chinese state believers.
Sun Yuanhua's home is in Jiaxing, not far from Hangzhou. He prepared a quiet and comfortable villa for the missionaries in Jiaxing. Guo Jujing once lived and wrote there for a period of time, and the two had a very good friendship.
Without much effort, he got Guo Jujing's promise to write a letter of introduction to Sun Yuanhua for them. The reason why Zhao Yingong asked to see Sun Yuanhua was quite good. He wanted to sell arms to this local official who was the most deeply immersed in Western military theory and technology at that time.
He got all the support he wanted from Guo Jujing.
Therefore, when Zhao Yingong later visited the main gentry believers of the Hangzhou Church, he received cordial hospitality. The heads of the Li and Yang families both held family banquets in honor of this "seeker".
Zhao Yingong knew that he could gain the trust of the main personnel of the Hangzhou church by relying on the Jesuit letter of introduction and Guo Jujing's introduction. But the necessary human etiquette must also be fulfilled. Therefore, a large number of gifts have been prepared for a long time.
Considering that newly baptized believers and church organizations are always more fundamentalist, it is not appropriate to give gifts that are too luxurious to avoid causing resentment to the other party. So the bulk of the gifts are religious books. Therefore, he asked the Jiangnan inspection team to bring a large box of Chinese religious books printed in Lingao from Lingao. Most of these Chinese-language books are originally from religious pamphlets compiled by the Catholic Church in the old time and space, including commonly used books such as "Doctrine of Doctrine" and "Sutra Collection". This is like providing help in times of need for believers who are in desperate need of high-quality Chinese Catholic books. At the same time, he also donated three hundred taels of silver to the church in Delong's notes, and also promised to bring plate glass to decorate the windows of the church.
He also presented a batch of simple and practical "Australian goods": matches, a pocket knife, windproof oil lamps with glass lampshades, etc. to prominent figures and ordinary believers in the church respectively. These things have actually appeared on the market in small quantities recently, but because of their high prices, most people are afraid to buy them.
This gift indeed won great favor from the Hangzhou church. Guo Jujing did not say anything, but even ordinary believers were impressed by the generosity of this "catechumen" who came from afar. Zhao Yingong was quite modest in his speech, and from time to time he expressed his "admiration for the Holy Religion". He increasingly won the favor of powerful figures in the church.
The arrival of a new priest also caused some ripples in the peaceful church - everyone always prefers new things. On the first Sunday after arriving at the church in Hangzhou, Jin Lige held a mass for everyone. Because they heard about the arrival of new missionaries, many Catholics from Hangzhou came. Four to five hundred people came to the small church. Jin Lige's eyes filled with tears when he was preaching. Zhao Yingong found it boring, but in order to win the favor of the local church, he still behaved respectfully.
In the end, his action was a complete success. Although Zhao Yingong was not a believer, his status as a "catechumen" was recognized by the Hangzhou Church. He easily won the support of some gentry in the church, especially the Li and Yang families. I received several greetings and letters of introduction written by Guo Jujing to Sun Yuanhua. @.
