China"s Opening to the Outside World andSocial Changes
The Yi He Tuan Movement was crushed by the eight-powerallied forces， which invaded China and forced the Qinggovernment to sign the unequal Xinchou Treaty in 1901. Beforethe treaty was signed， the Western powers clinched an agreementon the U.S. proposal that although they would not raise demandsfor land concessions， China must practice an open-door policyto guarantee their interests in China. The Qing governmentacceded to their request in exchange for the maintenance of itsrule over the country. Although the Xinchou Treaty did not include any claim for land concessions and China was still anindependent and unified country in the formal sense， as a matterof fact， the aggressive powers had obtained the right to garrison，the right of political control and the right of economicexploitation， leaving China no more than a semi-colonial countryunder the mandate of the powers.
In addition to huge reparations as well as social anddiplomatic privileges， to prevent the Chinese people"s resistancemovements similar to Yi He Tuan from happening again， theaggressive powers specially defined in the Xinchou Treaty that"the Chinese people are for ever forbidden to establish or join any anti-imperialism organization. All perpetrators will beexecuted. The local officials are responsible for banning suchactivities， and those who fail the work will be dismissed.‘ Thisregulation paved the way for the development of Christianity inChina. With a strong political and economic backup， as well asthe protection from the Qing governments at both central andlocal levels， the missionaries could freely enter China"s hinterlandunchecked， putting aside their worries about resistance andopposition.
All these developments brought great losses to China andmade the Chinese people understand that， when facing the impactof the Western civilization， blind arrogance and refusal to changewould only lead to defeat， neither could such backward meansas superstition， martial arts or an exclusivist attitude to gainvictory. The sole way out was to change and reform. Some peoplebegan to turn their attention to the ills of society and search foran effective therapy for social reform. The anti-religion moodamong the Chinese people had not dimmed， but they adopted adifferent approach than before. People did not simply reject allforeign cultures， but sought to absorb the advanced and scientificparts in order to promote national development. After the Yi HeTuan Movement was defeated， the conservative forces in the Qing government received a heavy blow， while the advocates ofWesternization gained some concrete power. They tried to imitatethe Western modernization process and seek a new way out bypracticing new policies and establishing a modern constitution.
The revolution never ended despite many failures. The capitalistdemocrats headed by Sun Yat-sen continued to resort to revolutionto change society. The American missionary F. Rawlinson， whensummarizing the obvious revolutionary trend in China in the 20 years after 1900， pointed out： "This revolutionary trend did notaim at reforming old ideas or removing some people in power，but at replacing all old principles and systems with new ones.‘Of all the changes at the beginning of the 20th century， theXin Hai Revolution in 1911 was one that caused the deepestsocial changes. It overturned the corrupted feudal imperialismand founded a new democratic republic country. It was not simplya replacement of the old regime by a new one， but the completeburial of the old system. On 1st Jan. 1912， Sun Yat-sen， wassworn in as provisional president of the Republic of China inNanjing. Soon afterwards he announced The Proclamation ofProvisional President and A Letter to All compatriots， expressinghis determination to "eliminate the toxin of dictatorship andestablish the republic system to achieve the objectives of therevolution‘。 The Provisional Law of the Republic of Chinapromulgated on Mar. 11 clearly stipulated that "all people areequal and there is no discrimination in races， classes andreligions‘， "people have the freedom of person， residence，possessions， speech， the press， assembly， association and religiousbelief‘， and the legal rights of Christianity were protected. Inhandling the relationship between the state and religion， the newgovernment pursued the model of "separation of religion from politics‘ advocated by Western countries： all religions are equal;religion does not interfere in political affairs; and， the Stateprotects the freedom of belief. The improvement of therelationship between the State and the churches laid a solid socialfoundation for the development of Christianity in China. Later，despite the attempts by Yuan Shikai， who usurped power to setup Confucianism as the state religion， but failed due to theopposition of all Chinese people and religious groups， the ideaof separation of religion from politics and freedom in religiousbelief had been well received by the majority of Chinese peopleand had become a symbol of modern society.