Christianity in Sichuan
[2] A report by the 9th-century writer Li Deyu included in A Complete Collection of Tang-era Prose Literature [zh] states that a certain Daqin cleric proficient in ophthalmology was present in the Chengdu area.
[3] According to the 12th-century biji collection Loose Records from the Studio of Possible Change by Wu Zeng, during the Tang dynasty, "Hu" missionaries built a Daqin temple [ja] (i.e., an East Syriac church) into the existing ruins of the former Castle of Seven Treasures[b] at Chengdu, which was constructed by ancient Shu kings of the Kaiming dynasty (666 BC – 316 BC), with pearl curtains installed as decorative applications.
[7] According to local testimonies, his name was carved on the no-longer-extant Nestorian stele at Wangxiangtai (Wang Hsiang T'ai) Temple.
[9] The name Bakos, of a priest from Chongqing, is recorded on the left side, second row, at the very top of the "Nestorian" Xi'an Stele.
[13] The rest are crosses within Bodhi leaves carved on a round granite stone base sitting in front of a curio shop on a side street in Ciqikou.
[14] According to David Crockett Graham, Marco Polo found East Syriac monasteries which still existed in Sichuan and Yunnan during the 13th century.
[15] The first Roman Catholic mission in Sichuan was carried out by the Jesuits Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães, during the 1640s.
They found a considerable number of converts in Baoning, Candida then invited the priest Claudius Motel to serve the congregation.
In 1803, the first synod ever celebrated in China took place in Chongqingzhou, convened by Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse.
[24] In 2000, Lucy Yi Zhenmei, a 19th-century virgin martyr from Mianzhou (now Mianyang), was canonised a saint by Pope John Paul II.
John McCarthy of the China Inland Mission (CIM), after landing at Wanxian, travelled via Shunqing to Chongqing, where he arrived on 1 May.
[30] In 1888, the London Missionary Society began work in Sichuan, taking Chongqing as their center, a city in the east of the province.
[33] Robert John and Mary Jane Davidson of Friends' Foreign Mission Association introduced Quakerism into Tongchuan (Tungchwan) in 1889.
Within 19 years five monthly meetings were successively established in Chengdu, Chongqing, Tongchuan, Tongliang (Tungliang) and Suining.
[35] By 1894, CMS work had started in Mianzhou (Mienchow), Zhongba (Chungpa), Anhsien, Mianzhu (Mienchu) and Xindu (Sintu).
Due to the constitution of Sichuan at the time, Bathang fell outside the western boundary and belonged to the special territory of Xikang (Chwanpien).
This movement had a marked character of Social Gospel, with the aim of spreading Christianity to the Tibetan, Qiang and Yi peoples.
[55] Some missionaries were arrested and sent to "thought reform centers" in which they underwent disturbing re-education process in a vindictive prison setting.
[57] In 2018, Wang Yi, a well-known pastor from Chengdu and founder of the Early Rain Covenant Church, along with 100 Christians, was detained by authorities.
[60] On 14 August 2022, police in Chengdu raided a Sunday gathering of the Early Rain Covenant Church and detained a leader.
