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Christianity in China has developed since at least the 7th century AD. The introduction of Nestorianism, a Christian sect, around 635 is considered by some to be the first entry of the Christian religion into China. While the government claims that 16 million Chinese are Christian, it is estimated that between 40 million [1] to 100 million [2] Chinese are Christian (out of a population of at least 1.3 billion people). Christianity is also the fastest growing religion in China^{[citation needed]}. The Christian population in China comprises Protestants, Catholics, and a very small number of Orthodox Christians.

History

Earliest period

For a fuller account see Nestorianism in China

Traditional Christian thought suggested that St. Thomas, known as "the Apostle of India" or possibly St. Bartholomew were the first to spread the Christian gospel in China. Third century Christian writer Arnobius mentions in a text a people known as the "Seres" as being among the groups (he enumerates also the Persians and Medes) which had been evangelized at that time. While there is evidence that Christianity existed in Mesopotamia and Persia by the early fourth century, there is no documentation that it had entered China.

Nestorianism, or perhaps more accurately Syrian Orthodox Christianity, was introduced by Middle Eastern Christians who arrived in the seventh century AD or earlier, as documented by the Nestorian Stone of Xi'an (then called Chang'an), dating from 635. This form of Christianity survived until the end of the Yuan dynasty when many Nestorians were in prominent administrative and government positions. It did not attract a significant number of Chinese converts, and was generally limited to foreigners living in Tang China.

Medieval period

For a fuller account see Medieval Roman Catholic Missions in China The 13th century saw a Franco-Mongol alliance with exchange of ambassadors and even military collaboration in the Holy Land. The Christian Chinese Mongol Rabban Bar Sauma, born in Beijing, visited the courts of Europe in 1287-1288. In 1289, Franciscan friars from Europe initiated mission work in China. For about a century they worked in parallel with the Nestorian Christians. The Franciscan mission collapsed in 1368, as the Ming Dynasty set out to abolish Christianity (Nestorian and Catholic) in China.

Post-Reformation

For a fuller account see Jesuit pre-modern China missions

The first Jesuit attempt to reach China was made in 1552 by Francis Xavier, but he died the same year on the Chinese island of Shangchuan, without having reached the mainland. In 1582, Jesuits once again initiated mission work in China, introducing Western science, mathematics, and astronomy. One of these missionaries was Matteo Ricci.

In the early 18th century, the Chinese Rites controversy, a dispute within the Catholic Church, arose over whether Chinese folk religion rituals and offerings to the emperor constituted idolatry. The Pope ultimately ruled against tolerating the continuation of these practices among Chinese Catholic converts. Prior to this, the Jesuits had enjoyed considerable influence at court, but with the issuing of the papal bull, the emperor circulated edicts banning Christianity.

Modern Age

Missionary Expansion (1807-1900)

For a fuller account see 19th Century Protestant Missions in China

Robert Morrison, regarded among some Protestants as being the first Christian missionary to China arrived in Macao on 4 September, 1807. Morrison produced a Chinese translation of the Bible. He also compiled a Chinese dictionary for the use of westerners. The Bible translation took twelve years and the compilation of the dictionary, sixteen years.

During the 1840s, Western missionaries spread Christianity rapidly through the coastal cities that were open to foreign trade; the Taiping Rebellion was connected in its origins to the missionary activity.

The missionary Hudson Taylor has been called one of the significant figures in Chinese history in the 1800s

"Hudson Taylor was, ...one of the greatest missionaries of all time, and ... one of the four or five most influential foreigners who came to China in the nineteenth century for any purpose..." - Kenneth Scott Latourette

The China Inland Mission was the largest mission agency in China and it is estimated that Taylor was responsible for more people being converted to Christianity than at any other time since Paul the Apostle brought Christian teaching to Europe. It was Dixon Edward Hoste, the successor to Hudson Taylor, who originally expressed the self-governing principles of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, at the time he was articulating the goal of the China Inland Mission to establish an indigenous Chinese church that was free from foreign control.

British and American denominations, such as the British Methodist Church, continued to send missionaries until they were prevented from doing so following the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Protestant missionaries played an extremely important role in introducing knowledge of China to the United States and the United States to China. The book The Small Woman and film Inn of the Sixth Happiness tell the story of one such missionary, Gladys Aylward.

It is recorded that the first martyrdom of a Protestant Christian Chinese occurred in 1871 in Poklo, Guangdong. Che Kam Kong (or Chea Kunkong) visited Hong Kong in 1865, and in 1866 became a Christian. He proselytized extensively over the next five years, allegedly bringing about the conversion of over a hundred people in Poklo. Town elders, concerned with this abandonment of tradition, warned Che to stop, yet he refused. He was kidnapped and tortured in 1871 in an attempt to force him to give up his beliefs. He is said to have declared, "You may kill my body but you cannot destroy my soul". He was taken outside the city gates and killed; his body was cut up and thrown into a nearby river.

One of the most well-known Protestant missionaries in China was The Rev. Young John Allen, a Methodist missionary from the United States. Allen helped to spread knowledge of the West and for the need for Chinese reforms through his various Chinese-language newspapers. His publications, including 'The Church News', ran from 1868-1907. His most famous paper was the monthly 'Wan Guo Gong Bao', or 'A Review of the Times,' which discussed international politics, economic theory, the possibilities for reform in China and the repercussions of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Contributors to the 'Review' included Western missionaries, Chinese converts and Allen himself. Although much of his papers' subject matter was secular, the writings had a decidedly Protestant Christian slant as it was his goal to convert China to Christianity.

One of the major points of contention about the Chinese missions, and about the missionary movement in general, regards the development of independent native churches. Since the beginning, Chinese and foreign critics have accused the 19th-century Christian missionaries of keeping the native churches dependent on the mission boards in Britain and the U.S. for financial support and clerical leadership alike. In some cases, the criticism is warranted, but much can be attributed to jingoism and xenophobia on the part of succeeding Chinese governments, and in the West to ideological rejection of perceived Victorian era priggishness and paternalism. The survival of the Christian movement through such upheavals as the Boxer Rebellion, the Japanese occupation, and the Cultural Revolution suggests that most of this criticism is unfounded. This topic is addressed repeatedly in the journal of Dr. Nathan Sites, a missionary who served in Fukien (Fujian) province from 1861 until his death in 1895. Dr. Sites, like many other missionaries, argued and labored for the creation of a strong and independent Chinese church. In this effort, he ordained many of the earliest native Christian ministers, most famously a former Confucian scholar by the name of Sia Sek Ong. After his ordination, Rev. Sia toured the United States, where he was feted with honorary degrees and an audience with President Grover Cleveland.

(Sites, Sarah Moore (1912). "Nathan Sites: An Epic of the East." New York: Revell.)

Popularity and Indigenous Growth (1900-1925)

The opening of the twentieth century ushered in what has been called Christianity’s Golden age in China. It was a period of transition for both the church and the nation. China moved from Qing dynastic rule to a warlord-dominated republic to a united front of the Guomindang and Chinese Communist party in league against warlords and imperialism. Christianity enjoyed unprecedented popularity for two decades. Variety within the Protestant community increased; conservative, evangelical societies strengthened their presence; the social gospel approach gained momentum, and Chinese formed their own faith sects and autonomous churches.

Reaction to the failures of nineteenth century reform movements and to international humiliation subsequent to the Boxer Uprising helped create a readiness for change in China. Many Chinese assumed that to modernize, China would have to import and adapt from the West. Since missionaries contended that Western progress derived from its Christian heritage, Christianity gained new favour. The missionaries, their writings and Christian schools were accessible sources of information; parochial schools filled to overflowing. Church membership expanded and Christian movements like the YMCA and YWCA became popular.

The number of Protestant missionaries had surpassed 8000 by 1925 and in the process, the nature of the community had altered. Estimates for the Chinese Protestant community ranged around 500,000.

There were also growing numbers of conservative evangelicals. Some came from traditional denomination, but others worked independently with minimal support, and many were sponsored by fundamentalist and faith groups like the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Christian Missionary Alliance, and the Assemblies of God. Pentecostal, charismatic and Millenarian preachers brought a new zeal to the drive to evangelize the world.

Parochial schools also nurtured a corps of Christian leaders who acquired influential positions in education, diplomatic service and other government bureaus, medicine, business, the Christian church and Christian movements. In the Christian community, individuals like Yu Rizhang (David Yui 1882 - 1936), Zhao Zichen (趙紫宸, 1888-1989), Xu Baoqian (徐寶謙, 1892-1944), and Liu Tingfang (Timothy Liu/劉廷芳, 1890-1947) stand out. Most were characterized with liberal theology, commitment to social reform, deep Chinese patriotism, and acquaintance with Western learning. Many of these leaders held popular revival meetings in Christian schools throughout China and, along with conservative churchmen like Cheng Jingyi (1881-1939), sparked the drive for greater Chinese autonomy and leadership in the church.

They became Chinese spokesmen in the National Christian Council, a liaison committee for Protestant churches, and the Church of Christ in China (CCC), established in 1927 to work toward independence. Even so, progress toward autonomy proved to be slow, for Western mission boards were reluctant to relinquish the power of the pocket book, which gave them a decisive voice in most matters of importance.

Adding to the diversity and also to the conservative trend was the proliferation of completely autonomous Chinese Christian churches and communities, a new phenomenon in Chinese Protestantism. Noteworthy was the China Christian Independent Church (Zhōngguó Yēsūjiào Zìlìhuì), a federation which by 1920 had over 100 member churches, drawn mostly from the Chinese urban class. In contrast was the True Jesus Church (Zhēn Yēsū Jiàohuì), founded in 1917; Pentecostal, millenarian and exclusivist, it was concentrated in the central interior provinces.

Sometimes independence derived not so much from a desire to indigenize Christianity as from the nature of leadership. Wang Mingdao (1900-1991) and Song Shangjie (John Sung, 1900-1944) were zealous, confident of possessing the truth, and critical of what they peceived as lukewarm formalism in the Protestant establishments. They drew on the revivalism and mysticism of Western “faith sects” and the Pentecostalism of the True Jesus Church. During the 1920s and 1930s both Wang and Song worked as independent itinerant preachers, holding highly successful and emotional meetings in established churches and other venues. Their message was simple: “today’s evil world demands repentance; otherwise hell is our destiny”. To this doomsday prophecy, Song added faith healing. Their premillenial eschatology attracted tens of thousands of followers set adrift in an environment of political chaos, civil war, and personal hardship.

(Further Reading: Christianity and China (2001): Burdened Past, Hopeful Future - Stephen Uhalley and Xiaoxin Wu )

Early Chinese Christian Evangelists

Church education

Both Catholics and Protestants founded numerous educational institutions in China from the primary to the university level. Some of the most prominent Chinese universities began as religious-founded institutions.

Era of National and social change, the Japanese Occupation Period (1925-1949)

In the aftermath of World War I, many westerners experienced a crisis of confidence. How could western nations, which had just emerged from one of the most destructive war of modern times, justify preaching morality to others? Volunteers, financial and intellectual support began a steady decline. The 1929 depression soon compounded the economic troubles. Yet the difficulties accelerated indigenization.

Since many Chinese Christian leaders were internationalists and pacifists, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 presented a dilemma. Most abandoned their pacifism, and many joined the National Salvation Movement. After the December 1941 Pearl Harbour incident, Japan shortly invaded much of China and the Pacific region, with the evacuation or internment of most Westerners. As a result of being separated due to World War II, Christian churches and organizations had their first experience with autonomy from the Western-guided structures of the missionary church organizations. Once again Chinese were left to carry on and once again the Chinese Protestant church moved toward independence, union, or Chinese control. Some scholars suggest this helped lay the foundation for the independent denominations and churches of the post-war period and the eventual development of the Three-Self Church and the CCPA. After the end of the war, the Chinese Civil War began in earnest, which had an effect on the rebuilding and development of the churches after the close of Japanese occupation.

The chaos that was China during the 1930s and 1940s spawned religious movements that emphasized direct spiritual experience and an eschatology offering hope and comfort beyond this cruel world. In opposition to the "Y" and the Student Christian Movement, conservatives organized the Intervarsity Christian fellowship in 1945; for them, Social Gospel theology was not simply impotent; it had lost site of the centrality of a personal relationship with the divine. The Jesus Family (Yēsū Jiātíng), founded about 1927, expanded in rural north and central China. Communitarian, pentecostal, and millenarian, its family communities lived, worked and held property jointly; worship often included speaking in tongues and revelations from the Holy Spirit.

The salvationist promise of Wang Mingdao, John Sung, and Ji Zhiwen (Andrew Gih/計志文, 1901-1985) continued to attract throngs of followers, many of them already Christians. Ni Tuosheng (Watchman Nee, 1903-1972), founder of the Church Assembly Hall (nicknamed as "Little Flock"), drew adherents with its assurances of a glorious New Jeruslaem in the next life for those who experienced rebirth and adhered to a strict morality. By 1945, Ni's hierarchically controlled and sectarian movement claimed a membership of over 70,000, organized into some 700 assemblies. The independent churches altogether accounted for well over 200,000 Protestants.

The Chinese Protestant church entered the communist era having made significant progress toward self-support and self-government. Though Chinese rulers had traditionally sought to regulate organized religion and the CCP would continue the practise, Chinese Christians had gained experience in the art of accommodation in order to protect its members. Independent churches and a variety of evangelical sects broadened the appeal of Protestantism, especially in rural China. More than was realized at the time, Christianity in all its variety had taken root in China and possessed the strength and techniques to survive decades of hostility and persecution. Between 1949-1952 all foreign missionaries left the country in what was described by Phyllis Thompson of the China Inland Mission as a "reluctant exodus", leaving the indigenous churches to do their own administration, support, and propagation of the faith.

Christianity in the contemporary PRC

Today, the Chinese language typically divides Christians into two groups, members of Jidu jiao, (literally, Christianity) Protestantism, and members of Tianzhu jiao (literally "Lord of Heaven" religion), Catholicism (see Protestantism in China and Catholicism in China.)

Some informal groups have emerged in the 1970s that seem to have been wholly new in origin, or perhaps to have sprouted from earlier seeds but grown into distinctly new movements. One of the best documented of these groups was founded by Peter Xu Zongze, an independent evangelist who began preaching in Henan in 1968. his organization, variously called the New Birth Sect (重生派), the Full Scope Church (全范围教会), or the Criers, is accused by some as being heretical. It is distinguished by a strong emphasis on a definitive experience of conversion, usually during an intensive three-day "life meeting", and by an emphasis (some say a requirement) on a confession of sins with tears. Xu has claimed that his organization consists of over 3500 congregations and has sent evangelists to more than twenty of China's provinces. These numbers cannot be independently verified, but it is evident that there are several other organized networks claiming a similarly large number of adherents, and many other groups of smaller scope.

Official Christian organizations

Since loosening of restrictions on religion after the 1970s, Christianity has grown significantly within the People's Republic. It is still, however, tightly controlled by government authorities. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council (Protestant) and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which has disavowed the Pope and is considered schismatic by other Roman Catholics, have affiliations with government and must follow the regulations imposed upon them.

House churches

Many Christians choose however to meet independently of these organizations, typically in house churches. These fellowships are not officially registered and are seen as illegal entities and are often persecuted heavily. For this reason some meetings take place underground, coining the term "underground church". These Christians have been persecuted throughout the 20th century, especially during the Cultural Revolution, and there remains some official harassment in the form of arrests and interrogations of Chinese Christians. At the same time, there has been increasing tolerance of house churches since the late 1970s.

Contemporary trends

Chinese Christian Brother Yun's book "The Heavenly Man" achieved the Christian Book of the Year award in the USA in 2003. The book describes Yun's life from his call to preach the gospel across China and the enlargement of the house church movement.

Estimates of Christians in China are difficult to obtain because of the numbers of Christians unwilling to reveal their beliefs, the hostility of the national government towards some Christian sects, and difficulties in obtaining accurate statistics on house churches.

Recent estimated figures of the number of Christians in China are varying. The official figure in 2002, which consists of members from Official Protestant churches, is about 15 million, while some estimates on members of Chinese house church vary from 50 million to 100 million. Kiven Choy stated, in a Chinese weekly newspaper in Hong Kong, that the correct number of Protestants in China should be at around 20 million, while Time Magazine recently reported 65 million. [3]

There are 4 million members of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and an estimated 12 million members of the underground Roman Catholic Church in China as of 2006. [4]

International visitors and Christianity

In large, international cities such as Beijing[5], foreign visitors have established Christian church communities which meet in public establishments such as hotels. These churches and fellowships, however, are typically restricted only to holders of non-Chinese passports.

American officials visiting China have on multiple occasions visited Chinese churches, including President George W. Bush, who attended one of Beijing's five officially-recognized Protestant churches during a November 2005 Asia tour. [6] [7]. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended Palm Sunday services in Beijing in 2005.

Demographics/Geography

It is not exactly known how many Chinese consider themselves Christian. Estimates vary between 3% to more than 5% [8] of the population (40 million to 65 million), while the Chinese government states that only 1% of the population is Christian (or about 16 million Chinese). [9]

The numbers differ because Christian demographers in the West estimate the Christian population numbers 80 million to 100 million because they claim that there are many "underground houses" of worship. [10] [11]

A recent Chinese poll revealed by the BBC showed that approximately 40 million Christians live in China [12] and is currently the fastest growing religion in China.

A relatively large proportion of Christians are concentrated in Hebei province, in particular Catholics. Many internationally-reported arrests of Catholic leaders have occurred in that province. Hebei is also home to the town of Donglu, site of an alleged Marian apparition and pilgrimage center.

The magazine Christianity Today, brought out that demographers estimate that an average 200,000 Chinese people convert to Christianity every year, meaning that it is the fastest growing religion in the nation, and has outpaced the Communist Party's population of 70 million people.

Orthodox Christianity in China

There are a small number of adherents of Russian Orthodoxy in northern China, predominantly in Harbin. The first mission was undertaken by Russians in the 17th century. Orthodox Christianity is also practiced by the small Russian ethnic minority in China.

Some Chinese terms in Christianity

For full coverage see Chinese terms for God

Names of God in Chinese:

Shangdi (上帝, literally, "Sovereign King Above") is one of the most prevalent terms for God in modern Chinese, used by non-Christians in conversations as well as Christians. The Catholic Church historically favored Tianzhu (天主, literally, Lord of Heaven) over Shangdi, more commonly by Protestant Christians. 基利斯督 was an old term for Christ pronounced "gaylayseedok" in Cantonese, which tries to capture the Greek (Χριστός, Christos) or Latin (Christus) pronunciation. The shortened form 基督 (Pinyin is "Jidu") is used more commonly in both Catholic and Protestant circles. In most modern Protestant Chinese Bibles, the word 神 (Shen, a reference to a godly supreme being or a spirit or spirit generally) is used widely as well as Shangdi. The space used before the character "神" is intentional, in order to demonstrate reverence. The Protestant version of the Chinese Bibles use 靈(Ling, which means "spirit") to refer to the Spirit. The Catholic version, in contrast, uses 神 ("sheng", or spirit). When it is referring to the Holy Spirit, a word 聖(sheng, holy) is used before the word spirit to refer to the Holy Spirit. An evil spirit will have a modifier "evil" before the spirit. In addition, the Hebrew word "YHWH" is translated into 雅威 "yǎwēi" by Catholics (This translation is used only in the Catholic Church. It is only to capture the most sacred Hebrew pronunciation of the name of God, but 雅 means refined or graceful while 威 means might.) and "Jehovah" into 耶和華 (yēhéhuá) by Chinese Protestants (Similarly, the term is used only in Chinese-speaking Protestant circle). Originally, 爺火華 (yéhuǒhuá) was used, which had a much more violent connotation than the modern translation. Some versions translate this term as 上主 (shang zhu, Above Lord), similar to the translation decision made as capitalized "LORD", used by both Catholics and traditional Protestants like Anglicans and Lutherans, specially in the prayers in the Eucharist. However, the term 主 (zhu, Lord) is used by both Catholics and traditional Protestants in list formal prayers, and always by contemporary Protestants.

Chinese-language terms for God have, since the introduction of Christianity to China, proved a point of contention for Chinese Christians and non-Chinese Christians in China, especially missionaries.

Chinese for Three Main Types of Christians:

The modern Chinese language typically divides Christians into two groups, believers of Protestantism Jidu jiaotu (基督教徒, a term that sometimes refers to Christianity), and believers of CatholicismTianzhu jiaotu (天主教徒). Orthodox are referred to as 東正教徒"dongzheng jiaotu", but more correctly 正教徒"zhengjiaotu", because there is only one Chinese term for both Eastern and Oriental which is 東 "dong" and simply means the east. The latter term is more correct also because Eastern Orthodox churches are not in communion with and thus differ from the Oriental Orthodox churches.

Chinese for Christianity:

基督教 has traditionally referred to Christianity; however, to reduce confusion and for ecumenical movement, 基督新教 is used to denote Protestant churches, while 基督宗教 represents the religion of Christianity.

Christianity In Tibet

Nestorian
Patriarch Timothy of the Church of the East mentioned Christians in greater Tibet in the eighth Century.

Catholic
Capuchin friars settled in Lhasa between approximately 1719 and 1745.

Francisco Orazio della Penna, well known from his description of Tibet.
Cassian di Macerata, also studied Tibetan.
Petrus and Susie Rijnhart, Canadian missionaries around late 19th century and early 20th century.

External links

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 ===Medieval period===
 ''For a fuller account see [[Medieval Roman Catholic Missions in China]]''
+The 13th century saw a  [[Franco-Mongol alliance]] with exchange of ambassadors and even military collaboration in the [[Holy Land]]. The Christian Chinese Mongol [[Rabban Bar Sauma]], born in Beijing, visited the courts of Europe in 1287-1288.
 In 1289, [[Franciscan]] friars from Europe initiated mission work in China. For about a century they worked in parallel with the Nestorian Christians.  The Franciscan mission collapsed in 1368, as the [[Ming Dynasty]] set out to abolish Christianity (Nestorian and Catholic) in China.

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