Christianity in China

"[12] His virtues have been made manifest to you, and that unheard-of power over things, whether that which was openly exercised by Him or that which was used over the whole world by those who proclaimed Him: it has subdued the fires of passion, and caused races, and peoples, and nations most diverse in character to hasten with one accord to accept the same faith.

For the deeds can be reckoned up and numbered which have been done in India, among the Seres [China], Persians, and Medes; in Arabia, Egypt, in Asia, Syria; among the Galatians, Parthians, Phrygians; in Achaia, Macedonia, Epirus; in all islands and provinces on which the rising and setting sun shines.The Christian apologist Arnobius (died c. 330) claimed in his work Against the Heathen: Book II, that Christianity had reached the land of "Serica"—an ancient Roman name for northern China.

[18] Despite inaccuracies by Tang historians regarding Christian history and doctrine,[19] there was a significant community of scholars who translated the Old and New Testaments into Literary Chinese, and understood them fully.

[20] In 845, at the height of the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, Emperor Wuzong of Tang decreed that Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism be banned, and their very considerable assets forfeited to the state.

Marcos was elected as Patriarch of the Church of the East, and Bar Sauma went as far as visiting the courts of Europe in 1287–1288, where he told Western monarchs about Christianity among the Mongols.

Alessandro Valignano, the new regional manager ("Visitor") of the order, came to Macao in 1578–1579 and established St. Paul's College to begin training the missionaries in Chinese language and culture.

Missionaries such as Matteo Ricci and Johann Adam Schall von Bell wrote Chinese catechisms[28] and made influential converts like Xu Guangqi, establishing Christian settlements throughout the country and becoming close to the imperial court, particularly its Ministry of Rites, which oversaw official astronomy and astrology.

[29] The introduction of the Franciscans (the first round of Catholic Church clergy to have come during this era)[30] and other orders of missionaries, however, led to a long-running controversy over Chinese customs and names for God.

Acting on the complaint of the Bishop of Fujian,[31][32] Pope Clement XI finally ended the dispute with a decisive ban in 1704;[33] his legate Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon issued summary and automatic excommunication of any Christian permitting Confucian rituals as soon as word reached him in 1707.

[34] By that time, however, Tournon and Bishop Maigrot had displayed such extreme ignorance in questioning before the throne that the Kangxi Emperor mandated the expulsion of Christian missionaries unable to abide by the terms of Ricci's Chinese catechism.

[31][35][36] Tournon's policies, confirmed by Clement's 1715 bull Ex illa die led to the swift collapse of all of the missions across China,[35] with the last Jesuits—obliged to maintain allegiance to the papal rulings—finally being expelled after 1721.

[41] It is difficult to determine an exact number, but historian Kathleen Lodwick estimates that some 50,000 foreigners served in mission work in China between 1809 and 1949, including both Protestants and Catholics.

The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) originated in the influence of missionaries on its leader Hong Xiuquan, who called himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ, but he was denounced as a heretic by mainstream Christian groups.

This transformation can be traced to the unequal treaties which forced the Chinese government to admit Western missionaries into the interior of the country, the excitement caused by the 1859 Great Awakening in Britain.

Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette wrote that 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.

[53] In addition to the publication and distribution of Christian literature and Bibles, the Protestant missionary movement in China furthered the dispersion of knowledge with other printed works of history and science.

One tract featured foreign missionaries praying to crucified pigs—the Catholic term for God was Tianzhu (Heavenly Lord), in which the Chinese character "zhu" had the same pronunciation as the word for "pig".

The pamphlet also showed Christian clergy engaging in orgies following Sunday services and removing the placentas, breasts, and testicles from kidnapped Chinese.

[61] In Pingyuan, the site of another insurrection and major religious disputes, the county magistrate noted that Chinese converts to Christianity were taking advantage of their bishop's power to file false lawsuits which, upon investigation, were found groundless.

[63] Many scholars see the historical period between the Boxer Uprising and the Second Sino-Japanese War as a golden age of Chinese Christianity, as converts grew rapidly and churches were built in many regions of China.

[citation needed] Several political leaders of the Republican period were Protestant Christians, including Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, and Wang Zhengting.

The Chinese state indeed continues to appoint bishops and intervene in the church's policy (most notably on abortion and artificial contraception) without consulting the Vatican and punishing outspoken dissenters.

[83] In recent years, however, the Communist Party has looked with distrust on organizations with international ties; it tends to associate Christianity with what it deems to be subversive Western values, and has closed churches and schools.

[85] Local authorities continued to harass and detain bishops, including Guo Xijin and Cui Tai, who refused to join the state-affiliated Catholic association.

In addition, authorities across the country have removed crosses from churches, banned youth under the age of 18 from participating in religious services, and replaced images of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with pictures of Xi Jinping.

Around 1552–1553, they obtained temporary permission to erect storage sheds onshore, in order to dry out goods drenched by sea water; they soon built rudimentary stone houses around the area now called Nam Van.

In 1583, the Portuguese in Macau were permitted to form a Senate to handle various issues concerning their social and economic affairs under strict supervision of the Chinese authority, but there was no transfer of sovereignty.

[143][144] Pope Benedict XVI urged China to be open to Christianity, and said that he hoped the Olympic Games would offer an example of coexistence among people from different countries.

Unregistered Catholic clergy has faced political repression, in large part due to its avowed loyalty to the Vatican, which the Chinese government has claimed interferes in the country's internal affairs.

[8] In April 2020, local authorities visited Christian homes in Linfen and informed welfare recipients that their benefits would be stopped unless they removed all crosses and replaced any displays of Jesus with portraits of Mao and General Secretary Xi Jinping.