1. Introduction
Wu Jingxiong was a well-known figure in modern Chinese
politics and jurisprudence, and was the leading philosopher and law maker
during the Republican of China era. Appointed as a judge of the International
Court of Justice in the Shanghai Concession in 1931, Wu became a member of the
Legislative Council of the Nationalist Government of Nanjing in 1933. In 1934
Wu headed the Constitutional Drafting Committee and was responsible for writing
the first draft of the constitution, the "Wu Draft".
When Japan occupied Shanghai in 1937, he took refuge to a
friend's home in the French Concession with his family. In this friend's house,
he heard the Rosary recited for the first time, and also inadvertently read the
“The Story of a Soul” of St Therese that night. The next morning, he decided to
convert to Catholicism.
How did a young French cloistered nun who did not leave her
home influence this learned intellectual? And with such a completely different
cultural background, with nothing in common! This is what I would like to know
more about. I believe that the encounter between Wu Jingxiong and St Therese
has great significance for the evangelization of China, illuminating the path
of dialogue between Christian religion and Chinese culture. I would like to
share it briefly in the hope of attracting more studies on the conversion of
this person and thus throwing light to the evangelization of the Chinese
culture.
2. Wu's education in traditional Chinese culture: his family
and educational background
Wu Jingxiong was born on February 17, 1899 in Ningbo,
Zhejiang Province, and began studying the Chinese literature, namely the Four
Books and Five Classics at home with a private tutor at the age of 6. He
entered the local junior high school at the age of 12, where, in addition to
continuing his study of classical Chinese books, he was introduced to the
natural sciences and became particularly interested in English, thus laid the
foundation of aptitude towards foreign language.
Wu's family was typical of a traditional Chinese family. His
father had only three years of private schooling and later became a rice
merchant. By the age of 40, he became a banker. Wu had two mothers. The elder
mother never had any children, so her father married another poor peasant girl
as a concubine and had three children. Wu Jingxiong was the youngest of them.
His biological mother died when Wu was 4 years old. Wu was raised by his elder
mother who treated him as if he were her own child and loved him very much.
Wu grew up in an atmosphere of traditional Chinese folk
beliefs. After his conversion, he continued to respect and be grateful for such
traditional families, believing that these traditional beliefs formed an intrinsic
part of his spiritual development by forming a moral and religious background,
and were an important part of the natural dowry prepared by the Lord for his
marriage with Christ. Wu's thought is similar to that of the early Fathers, as
well as to that of St. Austin and St. Thomas. The Christian religion reached
out to and "baptized" ancient Greek philosophy. So does traditional
Chinese culture, which needed to be nourished by the Christian religion, rather
than be rejected altogether.
3. Wu's encounter with Christ
In 1917 Wu entered the famous law school of "Soochow
University" in Shanghai. This was a high standard university, run by the
American Methodist Mission and directly supported by the University of Michigan
and Harvard University. It was at this university that he had his first
encounter with the Christian faith. Charles W. Rankin, dean of the university's
law school, offered religion courses to introduce the Bible and explain the
influence of Christian thought on the development of Western culture. But what
touched Wu most was Rankin's example of selflessness and love. Within a year,
10 students asked to be baptized. Wu wanted to seek the "living source of
purity of spirit and love" of Rankin.
After graduating from law school in 1920, Wu took a ship to
the University of Michigan in the fall of the same year to continue his
studies. During his 15-days voyage on the ship, he would sneak out to the aft
deck alone for an hour of prayer late each night. In the Pacific Ocean, he
prayed for the rendezvous of East and West and for world peace. He felt that
his maiden voyage "was like a honeymoon with Jesus"!
Unfortunately, the honeymoon didn't last long! When he
arrived in America, he was surprised to find that the Lord of America was the
almighty dollar! In addition, during his studies in law and philosophy, he
slowly diluted his little religious feelings.
Upon his return, his career prospered, he became financially
wealthy, and gradually became a playboy! But he was not happy. The more unhappy
he became, the more eager he would search for fun! He was thus "caught in
a terrible whirlpool and became a victim of despair". When Wu's life was
at its lowest point, he began to read some books to find the meaning of life.
As Wu himself said, "To be converted, one must first realize that one is
in the midst of rebellion. The first step in looking down on oneself is the
first step toward the Lord."
In November 1937, he was invited by his old classmate Yuan
Jia Juan to take refuge in his house. Yuan gave him the French copy of the
"The Story of a Soul" by St Therese. He read it thoroughly. After
that, he decided to become a Catholic. He said: "Grace has touched my
heart".
4. How Wu Jingxiong interpreted Chinese culture in the light
of his Christian faith
After his conversion, Wu devoted his life to "putting
Christ in Chinese clothes". His intention was not to equate Jesus with the
Chinese sages, nor making a syncretism, turning the Christian faith into
"neither-Christianism nor-Confucianism", but rather he was convinced
of the workings of the Holy Spirit in Chinese culture. He believed that the
Christian religion could elevate ancient Chinese culture in the same way that
Christ turned water into wine. This gave him a prophetic vision, because it was
confirmed much later during Vatican II Council which held that " Nor is
God far distant from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, for
it is He who gives to all men life and breath and all things …… Whatever good
or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation
for the Gospel" (Lumen Gentium 16).
« Et même
des autres, qui cherchent encore dans les ombres et sous des images un Dieu
qu’ils ignorent, de ceux-là mêmes Dieu n’est pas loin, puisque c’est lui qui
donne à tous vie, souffle et toutes choses...... En effet, tout ce qui, chez
eux, peut se trouver de bon et de vrai, l’Église le considère comme une
préparation évangélique et comme un don de Celui qui illumine tout homme pour
que, finalement, il ait la vie. » (LG 16)
Fan Jianghui（樊江輝） says this about Wu's
philosophical thought: "His thought can be understood as following Chinese
thought toward Christianity and using Christianity to enhance Chinese culture. He
stands for a new interpretation of Chinese culture from the standpoint of
Christianity and gives a Chinese expression to Christianity".
Chinese culture is a large subject, generally represented by
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. And these three ideas have evolved over
thousands of years and have been interpreted in different ways. The following
is only a brief introduction to the views of Wu Jingxiong, a Chinese Catholic,
especially through his autobiography "Beyond East and West".
4.1 Harmony
For Wu Jingxiong, the spirit of harmony and joy is common to
all Chinese philosophy. The harmony of yin and yang, as discussed in the
earliest Chinese "I Ching", is fully embedded in Chinese thought and
life. The idea of "unity of heaven and man" is not only elaborated in
Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, but is also deeply rooted in the Chinese daily
expressions. Confucianism seeks harmony in human relationships; Taoism seeks
harmony between human beings and the universe. Chinese Buddhism seeks harmony
between the present world and the afterlife. Due to this quest for harmony, Wu
had no doubt that the truth was in the Christian faith when he saw how Saint
Therese had lived out this "unity of heaven and man". He explained
his conversion thus: "In this book I see a living synthesis of all
opposites: humility and boldness, freedom and discipline, joy and sorrow, duty
and love, strength and gentleness, grace and nature, foolishness and wisdom,
wealth and poverty, the collective and the individual. She (Little Therese)
seems to me to synthesize the heart of Buddha, the virtues of Confucius, and
the wise transcendence of Laozi." For Wu Jingxiong, the fact that a young
24-year-old nun could reach such a state of wisdom affirms that
"Christianity is transcendent. ...... It transcends East and West, new and
old. ...... It is more Chinese than Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. ".
Wu Jingxiong believed that he became more Chinese because he was a Christian!
4.2 The spirit of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism that Wu
Jingxiong sees in Saint Therese
First, Wu Jingxiong does not agree that Confucius is an
agnostic. He believes that the 'heaven' used by Confucius in the Analects is
willful, rational, creative, and protective love . Wu Jingxiong, on the other
hand, saw in Saint Therese the Confucian scholar who consistently pursued high
moral character, and even before her death, still strictly adhered to the rules
and regulations of the monastery. However, her attitude was again very casual.
Previously, she would weep because others did not see her good deeds, but
because of her exclusive attachment to God, she achieved what Confucius said:
" Not being well understood, but I neither complain nor get angry".
Therese taught her novices to go to the altar of God
"with empty hands”. She believed that one should not only distance oneself
from the possessions one has, but also from all our religious practices, in
order to achieve perfect spiritual freedom. This is very similar to what Lao
Tzu called "Wu Wei"(Non-doing) (ps: letting things take their own
course, a taoist concept of human conduct). Wu Jingxiong believes that St
Therese is a good illustration of the mysterious words of Laozi: "Tao
normally seems idle, But, in fact, he is in the doing of everything.” (Translated by Daniel Baida Su and Chen
Shangyu)
« Le Tao
pratique constamment le non-agir et (pourtant) il n'y a rien qu'il ne fasse ».
(Stanislas Julien, 1842 http://taoteking.free.fr/)
St Therese spirit of inaction comes from her blind trust in
her Heavenly Father. Love made her completely free, and the judgement from people,
the success or failure of her personal efforts, and even her spiritual
achievements were no longer important to her.
In a letter to the American spiritual master Thomas Mertan,
Wu Jingxiong wrote: "Only when we are fully united with the Tao, which has
descended into manhood, can we become both a mature Confucian and a complete
Taoist" (March 20, 1961). 20).
Wu Jingxiong believed that every Chinese, at least up to his
generation, was an implicit Buddhist. Buddhism's interpretation of life's
sufferings deeply influenced the average Chinese. The Buddha chose to look
beyond the world because he saw that life cannot be separated from sufferings :
old age, sickness and death. Jesus, however, chose to be born as a man
precisely because he saw the suffering of human beings. Before she died, little
Therese told her sister, "I have suffered much in my life. But as a child,
I suffered sadly. Now I no longer suffer so much. I suffer with joy and peace.
I really enjoy suffering." This attitude of Therese enlightened Wu
understanding what the Tao Te Ching says in chapter 78: Thus, the Holy One
says: He who is humiliated is the lord of the society; He who is sacrificed is
the king of the world. From this saying, Wu understand more about the love of
the cross of Jesus.
5. Summary
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, speaking of faith and culture,
said this: " faith itself is cultural. It does not exist in a naked state,
as sheer religion that can be possessed by a culture, such as that of the West”. Buddhism is also a
foreign religion, but it has taken root in China by integrating well with the
local culture, especially Taoism. According to Wu, if Matteo Ricci's policy of
cultural exchange had been supported, the Christian religion might have been
integrated into Chinese culture and Chinese history or even world history would
have been very different.
Therefore, the evangelization of China needs people like
Matteo Ricci and Wu Jingxiong, who, in addition to having a strong foundation
in Chinese studies, also have a deep understanding of Western culture and the
Christian faith. Wu Jingxiong's translation of the Psalms became a national
best-seller at the time and received many reviews. Some of the quotations from
the psalms even appeared at the front-page of some secular newspapers. This
shows how the art and literature can move people's hearts!
Wu believes that "to call the Christian religion
'Western' is unfair to it. The Christian religion is universal. ...... As a
whole, the East has gone further in natural contemplation than the West has in
transcendental contemplation. Thus, Wu argues that the failure to bring China
(the East) before Christ is due to the neglect of the rich 'mysticism' within
the Christian religion. Without a good grasp of the 'mysticism' within the
Christian religion, how can one understand the natural mysticism and
pantheistic mysticism of the East? Thankfully, the importance of mystical
theology is increasingly being recognized in the West. It is when East and West
are united in the bosom of Christ that they will love one another with the love
of Christ. Such a union of East and West will produce a new humanity!
Sr Delai of the Trinity, CB
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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