The attitude of the Chinese in Tongchuan towards the Christian missionary is one of perfect friendliness towards the missionary, combined with perfect apathy towards his religion.

Like any other trader, the missionary has a perfect right to offer his goods, but he must not be surprised, the Chinese thinks, if he finds difficulty in securing a purchaser for wares as much inferior to the home production as is the foreign barbarian to the subject of the Son of Heaven.
There is a Catholic Mission in Tongchuan, but the priest does not associate with the Protestant.

How indeed can the two associate when they worship different Gods! The difficulty is one which cannot be easily overcome while there exists in China that bone of contention among missionaries which is known as the "Term Question." The Chinese recognise a supreme God, or are believed by some to recognise a supreme God--"High Heaven's ruler" (_Shangtien hou_), who is "probably intended," says Williams, "for the true God." The Mohammedans, when they entered China, could not recognise this god as identical with the only one God, to whom they accordingly gave the Chinese name of "true Lord" (_Chen Chu_).

The Jesuits, when they entered China, could not recognise either of these gods as identical with the God of the Hebrews, whom they accordingly represented in Chinese first by the characters for "Supreme Ruler" (_Shang ti_), and subsequently by the characters for "Lord of Heaven" (_Tien Chu_).

The Protestants naturally could not be identified with the Catholics, and invented another Chinese name, or other Chinese names, for the true God; while the Americans, superior to all other considerations, discovered a different name still for the true God to whom they assigned the Chinese characters for "the true Spirit" (_Chen Shen_), thereby suggesting by implication, as Little observes, that the other spirits were false.