Mission and Revolution in Central Asia - Svenska Missionskyrkan

give a lengthy speech to warn the schoolboys. Once he described in detail how dangerous
these festivals could be. He told them about boys turning completely corrupt during those
weeks. And, he added, it was much more tempting to act “off limits” while the festival was
on, since nobody was punished during these celebrations. “Don’t take part in the divinity
processions. That ghastly dummy, the Fire God with those extra eyes painted bright red is
nothing but an image made of strips of wood, rags and plaster painted red and given eyes
made of pieces of looking-glass. How do you expect something like that to actually protect
the town from fire? Don’t take part in carrying that scare-crow through, the town!” He went
on to say that he thought it a shame, that nearly twenty years after the Republic had been
introduced, there were still “fools believing in this”. 134
The missionaries complain of uninhibited “hell of gambling” during the festivals. Even the
normally haughty Muslims accepted to sit down at the gambling table of the despised
Chinese. 135 The missionaries point out that during the Festival weeks, people were totally
unable to do any useful work. 136
But if the Chinese national festivals were experienced by the Swedes as superficial and
repellent representing one extreme of the religion, they were also to learn about the other
extreme, where people took their religious beliefs extremely seriously. One day a Chinese
man came to Raquette with a problem. The man knew that Raquette had medical skills and
now he asked him to cut one opening under each of his two collarbones. In these openings
this pious Chinese wanted to put in wooden pegs, and then, his idea was to walk, in this
condition, all the way to Beijing, a walk of six months. As a result he hoped to become
righteous and to find peace. 137
Ancestor worship occupies an important place in the Chinese religious cult. It is the
dominating form of religion in the homes where the ancestor altar is to be found. The depth of
the attachment of the Chinese to their deceased relations is shown by the fact that they never
feel quite at home in any other province than the one where their ancestors are buried. As has
been suggested above they wanted to return there when they themselves were approaching
death. 138 Ancestor worship is probably the one aspect of the cult that has best survived all the
many radical changes of China in modern times. 139 The reason why the Mission had so little
success among the Chinese was probably partly due to their feeling of alienation and rootlessness
in Eastern Turkestan, being so far away from home.
After the Revolution of 1911 it became more and more common, according to the
missionaries, that the Chinese from China proper were atheists. If these immigrants still
worshipped their old gods, they did it secretly in their homes.
The Chinese religions were characterized by syncretism. This blend of religions had been
going on for thousands of years. The Chinese themselves did not mind what temple they
worshipped in or which divinities were honoured. In Confucian temples both Taoist and
Buddhist divinities were worshipped. In Hancheng for instance the Buddhists had several
temples but the Taoists none. They were however allowed to rent temples from the
Buddhists. 140 Törnquist has the following to say about the Chinese religions:
134 Hem Hem, 1929, p. 18 ff.
135 Lundahl, 1917, p. 141 f.
136 Törnquist to the Board, July 6th, 1915.
137 The Missionsförbundet 1898, number 1, p. 22 f.
138 Lundahl, 1917, p. 100.
139 Ringgren-Ström, 1968, p. 408.
140 Lundahl, 1917, p. 140.
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