Christianity in Contemporary China: An Update

Abstract

the early 1980s. The Chinese people are caught in the space between collapsed traditions and discredited Communist ideology on the one hana, and the pursuit of wealth and the Western lifestyle on the other. They are struggling in an exciting, yet highly competitive, free market economy, but are disillusioned with repressive politics and bewildered by conflicting values. This raises the level of social anxieties and drives many to seek solace within these confusions and ambiguities. Some people are returning to Chinese traditional religions, and others are seeking salvation in Christianity. The reasons for this popular con version to Christianity are extremely complex. Explanations for the resurgence of religious fervor vary, such as the crisis of faith (xintjang weiji) that resulted from the collapse of Maoism as a compelling ideology and the human inclination for meaning that manifests itself as a desire for salvation in times of uncertainty. But it remains unclear why people choose specifically to subscribe to Christianity, and why Chinese converts in urban and rural areas actively proselytize and plant churches. This article explores the growth of Christianity and its integration into the fabric of Chinese society during the Reform Era (1978 present), focusing on two parallel phenomena. The first is the transfor mation of Christianity from a heavily persecuted and marginalized religion in Maoist China into a fast-growing indigenous religious movement. Both Catholics and Protestants did not merely survive religious persecution throughout the turbulent period of Mao's rule