To mark the Chinese New Year, Disciples Today is publishing a series of articles written by our correspondent in mainland China. For the previous articles in this series, see Part 1: Good News from China and Part 2: What’s It Like to Be a Christian in China?
Although members of the International Churches of Christ would not agree with all the doctrines and practices of those mentioned in the below article, we can appreciate their contributions to the spread of Christian faith, and admire their legacy of sacrifice for the mission.
The inscription on a stone monument unearthed in China in 1623 shocked local Jesuit missionaries: the text contained references to Genesis, baptism, the trinity and the incarnation. At its top, sitting above over 1,700 characters that document the first know contact between Christianity and China, was a clear representation of a cross. The monument was erected in A.D. 781 and commemorates the Syrian missionary Alopen, who arrived in the Chinese capital Chang-An in 635. At the time, Chang-An was possibly the largest city in the world, and Alopen was welcomed by Emperor Taizhong.
Alopen’s converts multiplied, but about 200 years later, they were virtually wiped out in an all-encompassing persecution that Buddhism in China suffered under as well. The faith Alopen carried to China survived, ironically, among the Mongols to the north. As several Mongol tribes carried on the legacy of Alopen’s missionary efforts, in this way Christianity was reintroduced to China hundreds of years later with the establishment of the Yuan dynasty.
One of the most impressive missionaries to China, Matteo Ricci, arrived at Macau in 1582. Ricci was a brilliant scholar in mathematics and astronomy. He made extraordinary efforts for the time to adapt himself to the Chinese, adopting the clothing style of a Confucian scholar and learning to speak Chinese, but to read and even write in classical Chinese. He was the first Westerner to be invited to live in the Forbidden City, where the Emperor lived in Beijing. There he converted a number of officials and prominent citizens of Beijing. Ricci died and was buried in Beijing.
Of the hundreds of Protestant missionaries who arrived in China in the 1800s, few could compare with Hudson Taylor. He founded a mission society that mobilized over 800 missionaries, who themselves started some 125 schools. He learned not only Chinese but several dialects of Chinese, buried a wife and several children who died in China, and himself died and was buried in China. He was widely criticized by contemporary missionaries for dressing in Chinese style and for his unapologetic use of single women in the mission, but is now recognized as one of the greatest missionaries of all time.
Christians started the first modern hospitals and clinics in China, and Christianity spread rapidly among both intellectuals and rural people. The revolutionary Sun Yat Sen, who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and is recognized, to this day, as the founding father of modern China, was baptized in Hong Kong and attended a church as a medical student.
Christianity again fell under persecution after 1949. All missionaries were eventually expelled. The Cultural Revolution brought more suffering, but the spread of Christianity continued—though largely driven underground—and some believe, at an even faster pace that it had grown in the years before. Thousands of Chinese went from village to village, preaching and organizing house churches. Today, if one includes all the Christian traditions—Catholic and Protestant, underground and government-sanctioned—researchers believe there may be as many as 80 million (some say more) Chinese who call themselves Christians.
Still, in most provinces, Christians of any tradition number less than 1% of the population. Christianity may have a 1,000+ plus year history here, but the work left to do is daunting. However, the history of Christianity in China leaves us with hope that there are untold millions of Chinese who would come to Christ if only given the opportunity.
Next in this series: The International Churches of Christ in China
