And the rate would be even higher if the graduates had beenincluded. Because most of the admitted Christians came fromchurch schools， the quality of the Christian church membershipwas improved. As far as the educational level was concerned， inevery 75 people in the country there was only one student， whileone out of three Christians was a student. Quite a number ofChristians could read and write， especially in Jiangsu，Guangdong， Shandong， and Zhili provinces. The compositionof the Chinese Christians changed and the social status of theChristians was enhanced. Sun Yat-sen， who led the Xin HaiRevolution， was just a believer， as were many of his colleagues，such as Chen Haodong， Chen Shaobai， etc. Among all thecongressmen in the government of the Republic of China，Christians numbered as many as 60. They accounted for 65% ofstaff members of the Guangdong provincial government. At thattime， China"s ambassador to Germany， the Minister of Agricultureand Forestry， and the Vice commander of the Navy， etc were allChristians. And many experts in education and medical sciencewere also Christians.
With the growth of the Chinese churches， indigenous Chinesemissionaries gradually emerged， especially after 1907 when moreand more Chinese missionaries were accorded Christian titles.
In 1906， there were altogether 345 Chinese priests， whichincreased to 1，065 in 1919， up approximately threefold. To fosterpriests， the foreign missions established many theologicalcolleges and bible schools. According to statistics contained in abook entitled China For Christ， there had been 13 theologicalcolleges， 48 men"s and 52 women"s bibles schools around thecountry by 1920. The theological colleges cultivated many priests，clergymen and high-level Chinese leaders for the Churches，among whom about 7% had bachelor"s degrees， 25% hadgraduated from middle schools， and all the remainder hadreceived some degree of education. In 1907， when the MissionaryCentury Conference was held， the Chinese representatives onlyaccounted for one third of the 115 representatives. However， whenthe China For Christ Conference was held in 1919， Chineserepresentatives accounted for half of all the attendees. TheChinese church leaders had become an indispensable force inthe cause of disseminating Christianity.
Besides such indirect means as establishing schools， hospitalsand publishing houses， the more effective way to carry out missionary work was to preach directly to the people. Since theRepublic of China was founded， the social environment of Chinahad changed greatly. The Chinese people no longer felt strangeabout foreigners， especially those students who had goodcommand of English and could communicate with foreignersdirectly. The missionary work conducted by the Chinese clergyhad become more acceptable to the people and had achievedgood results. Therefore， basic missionary work was highlightedagain and became an important means to revitalize the churches.
Missionary work in academic circles was mainly organizedand carried out by the Young Men"s Christian Association. In1911， it began inviting some famous American missionaries likeJ.R. Mott and S. Eddy many times to preach to the masses inlarge and medium sized cities around China. Each time， thenumber of attendees reached several thousand. The audienceswere mainly young students and intellectuals. To cater to studenttastes， they applied specific tactics by starting their speeches withscientific and philosophical problems， which made the speechesfull of academic meaning. They also gave speeches on issuesthat were of the greatest concern of the young students at thattime， such as social problems and the ways to save the country.
Since their speeches attached great importance to the current situation of China and the specific characteristics of the youngstudents， they were well received. After their preaching， somepeople converted to Christianity on the spot， some expressedtheir willingness to learn more about Christianity and some signedup for study courses.
During this period， there appeared different types ofpreaching associations that launched an extensive revitalizationmovement. In terms of location， the preaching work could becarried out in churches， villages， streets， schools or open-airgrounds; in terms of time， it could last a week， a day， or be heldon Lord"s day， or in the Spring Festival or Christmas; in terms offormality， it could be personal preaching， family preaching orword preaching; there were also preaching activities for differentwalks of life， including some special groups like soldiers，rickshaw men， prisoners， etc. Missionaries from the Americanchurches that were theologically conservative laid great stresson working people who lived at the bottom of society andwhipped them into a religious frenzy through their preaching.
On many occasions， the audiences became extremely excited.
They cried for remission and confessed their sins. Many in theaudience were converted to Christianity. After they repented，these people were even more warmhearted in doing their missionary work and leading people around them to believe inChristianity. The cause of Christianity saw great development.
