The Rural Reconstruction Models of American Christianity in China: A Perspective of Sino-American Transnational Cultural Exchange, 1907–1950

In the context of global modernization, both the United States and China faced major challenges in rural social development. In the early twentieth century, the American federal government launched the Country Life Movement, during which Christianity addressed the rural crisis through rural church reforms. Meanwhile, influenced by the American-led World Agricultural Mission Movement, the Christian churches applied the experiences and insights gained from the U.S. rural church reforms to China’s rural reconstruction movement. During the first half of the twentieth century, the Christian rural reconstruction models in China evolved to become increasingly comprehensive and targeted. In the early decades, Christian missions promoted the establishment of an agricultural education system to cultivate rural talents. By the 1920s, churches in China had developed a comprehensive rural social reform program. After the 1928 Jerusalem Meeting of the International Missionary Council (IMC), the concept of “Rural Community Parish” emerged as the guiding principle for the comprehensive rural reconstruction program in China. The Christian church further clarified its ultimate goal: to build a “Christian rural civilization in China.” Based on this, Christian rural work in China developed steadily until 1950, when the withdrawal of Christian forces brought an end to their rural influence in China.