History is Key to The Spiritual Mapping of The Walled City.
I could not Help but unravel the spiritual mapping of Hong Kong and specifically ‘The walled City’ that Pullinger refers to in her book, Chasing the Dragon as I read the book, Modern History of Hong Kong by Tsang, Steve. All the challenges that were faced by the families living in the squalid conditions of the walled city and the spiritual darkness are clearly rooted in history of Hong Kong. The selfish pursuit of trade interests of the British empire, the defiant and condescending response of the Chinese empire towards the British, the imperialistic pursuits of other powers and the impartial application of the law are some of the key historical human disasters that were the clear causes of the mess in the walled city.
The British had vested interests in their trade with the Chinese empire that constituted a significant source of the national revenue while the Chinese empire felt self sufficient and their attempt at banning opium use, was a threat to a key source of revenue to the British. This eventually led to the first Anglo-China war that led to takeover of Hong Kong by the British empire and later to the second Anglo-China war. The British main interest was to protect their trade with China as opposed to imperialistic pursuit in taking over Hong Kong and later the Kowloon area, which led to a chaotic impartial application of the English law over Hong Kong. There was discrimination in the application of justice against the local Chinese population and permissiveness of corruption and lawlessness by the local Chinese population. This state of affairs are the chaos that prevailed in the walled city where: there was no respect for the rule of law; truth was not valued; the local population were and felt destitute and thus resorted to crime and other anti-social activities out of desperation; the local Chinese population resented the British and other westerners; the local population resented Christianity and saw it as a religion for ‘others’ and not for the ‘destitute’ that they considered themselves; and the selfish pursuit of opium trade by the British and the lax application of law and order must have encouraged the prevalence of drug abuse of opium and eventually other drugs like cocaine.
Hong Kong was made a free port to promote trade and informed the rapid growth of the city as a commercial and financial hub where both expatriates and local Chinese established themselves in business. There was immigration of the Chinese from mainland china who maintained their Chinese cultural identity and practices and emigration of the Chinese to the US and other places where gold was discovered. This state of affairs promoted human and sex trafficking that was still prevailing even as Jackie Pullinger came to the ‘Walled city’ for ministry.
There was interest to save the Chinese through the Gospel by the British and the Germans but this was not pursued due to the selfish pursuit of their trade interest and their hesitation at imperialism in China and spread of Christianity. This was also informed by the intentional policies of the Chinese empire to protect their population from being influenced or changed by other cultures and especially Christianity. This informed the resentment of Christianity by the local Chinese population and low prevalence of morality in the ‘walled city’ in particular.
Spiritual mapping to identify the main challenges that influence the spiritual conditions of an area are informed by the historical events and cultural influences. It becomes important to pay attention to the history of the area if you are to understand the spiritual condition which, is very helpful to a minister of the Gospel in laying strategies for reaching the community. Steve Tsang’s work in putting together the history of Hong Kong is a valuable tool for those with successful ministry in Hong Kong, and is a good guide to on how to understand any area in future to establish the spiritual mapping.
About the Author
Wallace Kamau
Wallace is a believer in Christ, Married to Mary Kamau (Founder and Executive Director of Missions of Hope International) and father to 3 Wonderful children, Imani Kamau (Graduate student at London School of Economics, UK), Victory Kamau (Undergraduate student at Portland state University, Oregon, USA) and David Kamau ( Grade student at Rosslyn Academy). Founder and Director, Missions of Hope International (www.mohiafrica.org), CPA, BAchelor of Commerce (Accounting) from University of Nairobi, Masters of Arts (Leadership) from Pan African Christian University.8 responses to “History is Key to The Spiritual Mapping of The Walled City.”
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I appreciate your point that understanding the history of an area is useful for strategic mission. I also agree that mission did not seem to be a priority to the British delegation to Hong Kong, but rather trade and self-interest. I am curious about your suggestion that there was “hesitation about imperialism in China and spread of Christianity.” How would you describe Britain’s presence in Hong Kong if not imperialistic? I’m also interested in your connection of imperialism with the spread of Christianity. In my reading of various histories, I would agree that in the 18th and 19th century in particular, imperialism and mission were frequently tied together. In the modern era, we seem to be repenting of our imperialist attitudes. How do you think this is changing our attitude towards mission?
Thank you Jenn, from the account of Tsang Steve, its clear that the British interest was solely to protect their trade interest. While they took over Hong Kong in the first Anglo-China war, they later overrun China all the way to Beijing and took over the palace in the second Anglo-China war and could have taken over the empire for colonization but they chose to dictate a new trade agreement with China and to only extend the area of occupation to the Kowloon peninsula. Even in Hong area that they occupied they allowed the local population to continue with the local chinese laws and traditions as opposed to other colonies where they fully imposed the British laws and brought those colonies under the full control of the crown government. It is also clear that their trade interests was their sole pursuit while we know that the Gospel mission pursuit was a key driver in many of the British colonies and missionaries often went ahead and by default opened the way for the imperialistic pursuit of the British empire. It is regrettable however that there was always a very negative effect of their imperialistic pursuits on the success of the spread of Christianity in the other British colonies. This has particularly been mention by Digby Wilkinsin in reply to my blog that the imperialist attitude that came with settlers in New Zealand with their denominations upset the spread of the Gospel by the local Maori.
I can say for sure that there was always a very close link albeit indirectly related, of the Gospel mission with the imperialism pursuit of the British empire.
Interesting reflection, Wallace. I hadn’t considered the Spiritual Mapping of Hong Kong because it wasn’t a significant feature of Tsang’s book. However, China has a unique Christian history dating back to the 7th Century. I’m by no means an expert and have only really heard the story through Chinese Colleagues. But my understanding is that before the Chinese war in the 1940’s Christianity had a presence in China, even though it was small. Mission in the dynastic era faced long-term complications due to the cultural attachments of communities loyalty to tradition. They were also sensitive to the invasion of others at a local level, and Christian missionaries from Italy, Russia and Portugal represented just such a threat. Ironically, the post-reformation mission didn’t get underway until the Brits finally acknowledged new missions through the work of William Carey and his bullying of the English Baptists out of their faithless version of Calvinism. The famous quote by a church leader at the end of Carey’s impassioned plea to undertake overseas mission is stunning even today, “Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting you or me.” By the time Communists segregated China in 1949, religious expression was banned, and only the hardiest of missionaries endeavoured to enter the country. As always, in God’s grace and time, the Christian church has flourished, though numbers are hard to pin down. At a previous church, we had a Chinese immigrant congregation, all of whom found faith through the church community. In any one year, the church would baptise 35+ brand new believers – they were very open to Christ. It would be interesting to know what role the churches had in Hong Kong at the time, that went under the political and traditional Anglican radar.
As an addition, I think it’s worth remembering that gospel mission can be upset by traditional church practice, especially when that faith is attached to the state, as was the case with the Anglican church. It’s not covered in Tsang’s book. New Zealand has a history about as long as Hong Kong’s. Interestingly, the Anglican Mission board sent people to New Zealand to convert the indigenous population of Maori. In the pioneer days, the mission was so successful there were more indigenous Christians than there were pioneers. Maori were being ordained to continue that mission and it was overwhelmingly successful. However, once the wealthy settlers began to arrive, and with them denominational flag bearers and Bishops, everything changed. The church often sided with the settlers confiscating land for the crown, and the fledgeling church declined rapidly. It wasn’t helped when the new and very English, Bishop Selwyn arrived, demanding all priests learn Greek and Hebrew. 150 years later, our country is littered with Maori mission outpost churches, and they are empty. Few Maori are left in our church. It would be fair to say our missiology is vastly better these days, but our imperial attitudes still exist and need constant confrontation.
Wallace,
Thank you for your unique perspective on linking Tsang’s historical account with spiritual mapping of a given locale. As you have reviewed the history of Hong Kong, in your view, what would have been the most impactful change in Hong Kong’s if its influencers had done things differently? Thanks again for your perspective and your thoughts, H
Thank you Harry, Man lives in the fallen state and without reconciliation to God, he can only self destruct. If the British would have facilitated the Gospel mission and treated the local Chinese population justly and with equity, many lives would have been saved and opened the door for the Gospel in China. The selfish pursuit of the British trade interests, essentially blocked the spreading of the Gospel.
I personally am from Kenya that was a British colony and while I resent their imperialistic attitude and discriminative treatment of indigenous Kenyans, Our country is said 82% christian (though probably only 30% or lower are committed believers) because British and other European missionaries got the opportunity to spread Christianity, a fact that is undeniable.
Wallace, the spiritual mapping between what happened in the history of Hong Kong by Tsang, and Pullinger’s book is “on point”. Many times we cannot see the impact of what is done in the name of the love of country and God. Clearly, the opium trade of the early British traders destroyed the community of Chinese who lived in Hong Kong. I am sure if we did enough digging, we would find many British lives were also lost to this insidious drug. Many times, we can map the outcomes in our lives to the selfish decisions we have made. Obviously, the same thing happens with many countries.
Hi Wallace. I enjoyed your post. I especially enjoyed your beginning sentence: ‘…we cannot be effective without the Holy Spirit.’ I completely agree. I also appreciated your story about being in your prayer room when the Holy Spirit interceded. Thank you for sharing!