Chinese Christian History Issues - Research Paper Example

? Chinese Christian History Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Chinese Christian History 4 A. How Chinese Christianity Developed 4 B. Impact of Chinese Christianity on Chinese Culture and Society 6 C. Impact of Chinese Christianity on the Daily Lives of the Chinese 8 D. Chinese Christianity- Distribution 9 E. Present State of Chinese Christianity 9 Works Cited 10 I. Introduction This paper discusses the history of Christianity in China, with particular focus on the beginnings of the religion and its upswing in popularity through time; the impacts of Christianity to Chinese culture and society; the effects of Christianity to the daily lives of the Chinese; how Christianity has come to be distributed in China; and the present state of Chinese Christianity. There is a current interest in Chinese Christianity studies owing to what many quarters see as an upsurge in the number of Christians in the country in recent times, with some estimates putting the number of Chinese Christians at anywhere between 25 million to 200 million, said to be the highest those numbers have ever been in China, with prospects for more growth in the number of new entrants to Christianity moving forward. This, in spite of a history of Christian persecution and persecution and suppression of religious expression by the government authorities in China through time, making it difficult to come up with accurate assessments of the state of Christianity in the country at any given time. The implication is that the persecution must drive some of the Christian activities underground, so that at any given time in history, one can say that the official numbers belie an even larger underground population of Chinese Christians who choose to remain incognito rather than face the wrath of the Chinese bureaucratic machine. That said, the history of Chinese Christians is interesting, given that at even today’s conservative estimates, the number of Chinese Christians attending Sunday service now dwarf the total number of European Christians, with a large potential upside. This paper basically traces the historical roots of this present-day phenomenon of the meteoric rise in the numbers of Christians in China (Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org; Liqiang and Yinan; Christians in China; Moll; Orso; Yao). II. Chinese Christian History A. How Chinese Christianity Developed The earliest form of Christianity that took root in China had its origins in what is called Nestorian Christianity, which is a form of Christianity introduced by Alopen, a Nestorian \Christian from Syria, who came into China in 635 during the time of the Tang Dynasty. The religion was perceived and received by the local Chinese Buddhists as a variant of Buddhism itself, and via this association was received positively by the Chinese at the time, calling the religion of Alopen a brilliant religion worthy of admiration. The Chinese from the Tang period had a curious stance towards Western religion at the time, and this version gained some traction and toleration for some period of time, before it was rooted out of mainland China during the purge of the 9th century, when its perceived association with Buddhist precepts made it a candidate for purging. Several other waves of Christianity met with some mild success but failed to take root as well, from the 13th all the way to the 18th centuries, before a fourth Christianity wave that occurred during the 19th century developed sturdier roots in Chinese society. During this time, coercion on the part of the western powers allowed Christianity as advanced by missionaries to gain ground even with the corresponding advance of western economic and political interests resulted in Christianity being perceived as part of this drive, and so was resisted in some measure by the Chinese. The backlash from all this was the targeting of Christian groups in China in 1919, and the further withering of the roots of Chinese Christianity in the ensuing years due to the pressures exerted on it by the budding Communist Party. During this time too, from the 1950’s onwards, Chinese Christians were forced to go underground, as the Chinese Christian churches were unmoored from their western connections and basically isolated from the rest of the world by the Communist government. The beginning of the 1970’s, on the other hand, saw a reversal of this trend, with Chinese Christian groups gaining some ground and tolerance that extends to this day, when the numbers have reached anywhere from 20 million to 200 million, depending on the source. Where before, what worked was the close affinity of earlier forms of Christianity to Buddhism as perceived by the earlier Chinese, the modern version of Christianity and this current wave of Christianity sweeping through China is said to be powered by the association of the Chinese between western Christian religion on the one hand and modernity and the embrace of progress on different fronts of Chinese life, from cultural to economic to religious, on the other (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org). On the other hand, there are aspects of the development of Christianity in China that relate to the divisions that have been developing and continue to develop among the different variants of Christianity there, from the Protestant Christianity espoused by earlier Christian missionary waves to the Catholic form of Christianity likewise planted by counterpart Catholic missionaries from the different religious orders. The take here is that these divisions are reflections of divisions within Christianity in other parts of the world, and that the relative freedom that have been given to Christianity as a whole and the proponents of the Christian faiths in China have given the different Christian groups free rein to pursue their own missionary agendas, further deepening already existing divisions and in their wake also fomenting divisions among adherents to their own faiths from the local Chinese population (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org). That said, while the religious environment is relaxed at present, there is no telling where the government will take the environment moving forward, and judging from past waves in history, there is no certainty that this current wave and this current environment of tolerance will continue indefinitely (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org). B. Impact of Chinese Christianity on Chinese Culture and Society There is the current widespread notion among those who are educated and who want to progress economically and socially in China that Christianity is on the side of the modern and of the progressive, being part of the western model of being, and so is viewed as a step up in that regard. To be Christian is to embrace the modern wave and progress. This social view of Christianity, in its current wave, is said to be part of the reason that Christianity is gaining traction in a very big way in the country, even as there are some uncertainties associated with the permanence of the current environment of tolerance. Christianity as it is currently perceived is bringing along with it a new worldview too, one that is removed from traditional Chinese conceptions of how the world is. It brings a foreign element into wide swaths of the Chinese mainland, who in some cases are encountering Christianity for the first time, as a foreign religion (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org). There are aspects too, of the social impact of Chinese Christianity including the divisional tendencies of the religion, or the tendency of the new wave of Christianity to divide Chinese society along religious lines, with portions of the population adhering to traditional religions, and portions adhering or converting to Christianity. Within the Christian fold too, as has been discussed above, there are forces that are dividing Chinese society into various Christian denominational lines, for instance along a Protestant and Catholic divide, and among Chinese Protestants, along Protestant sect divides (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org). Meanwhile, the presence of both above-ground or state-sanctioned Christianity and underground churches that practice more conventional forms of Christianity are bringing about wide changes in the way Christianity is perceived in Chinese culture and society too, with the official version getting wide press and tolerance from the state, and underground churches swelling though with neither official sanction. The implications for Chinese culture and society cannot be easily foretold, given that the dynamic is not something that is seen in other parts of the Christian world, and the situation in China continues to evolve (Orso; Christians in China). Another social impact of Chinese Christianity at a time when the religion and religions in general is being tolerated and allowed to flourish to some extent is the transformation of the way religion is practiced in China, from one where institutions play a large role, to one where individuals and communities, bonded by shared interests and even similar socio-economic status, are forming their own Christian communities and founding new churches based on their own interpretations of Scripture. This is the effect of the lack of alternative churches in the past, where people could join, due to more restrictive government and social conditions then. On the other hand, the freer regime for Christianity in China at present, together with more access to Christian practices and theology in other parts of the world, via the Internet and via advances in communication, are allowing more and more middle class Chinese for instance to craft their own Christian communities and found their own Christian churches. These churches have come to form their own networks over time, and are now in constant dialog (Moll; Gardam). C. Impact of Chinese Christianity on the Daily Lives of the Chinese In places where Christianity has come to have deep roots, such as in parts of Mongolia and more remote rural mountains outside of cities, Christianity permeates very large tracts of the personal lives of the Chinese, with some Chinese Christians being bastions of health care and spiritual guidance in those areas where missionaries and nuns man the health clinics, for instance. This is the tip of the iceberg as far as the great extent by which Christianity has come to be embedded into the fabric of everyday existence of Christian Chinese (Gardam). In the official Protestant and Catholic churches too, the sanctioned versions of the religions, having been given more liberties and being more visible, Chinese Christianity is seen not just as a tool for the state machinery to continue to wield control over its population, but something that has a sincere underlying thread, and the following that the official churches have been able to attract through the years is said to be substantial and have deep implications for the daily lives of the Chinese Christians in their folds (Liqiang and Yinan). Another aspect of the impact of Chinese Christianity on Chinese daily life is said to be a fundamental shift in the way ordinary peasant Chinese who are left out of the economic progress enjoyed by the middle class, have come to embrace the religion, and in the process altering the conduct and trajectories of their lives. This is important because in the earlier discussion here, Christianity is something that has traditionally been the enclave of the more economically and socially advantaged Chinese. This is changing, with more and more of the working class said to be embracing Christianity too (Kelman; Liqiang and Yinan). D. Chinese Christianity- Distribution The penetration of Christianity in China is uneven geographically, with basically the western part of the country having greater concentrations than others. In the middle eastern part of the country, in Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan and Shaanxi, there are greater numbers of Christians as a percentage of the population, than in other parts of the country, especially compared to Tibet, where Christians make up a very negligible portion of the population percentage wise. In some isolated pockets in eastern China, concentrations reach as much as 50-89 percent of the population, but larger areas of the region have anywhere between 20 and 50 percent concentrations (Global Mapping International). E. Present State of Chinese Christianity As discussed, the current wave of Christianity that began in the 1980’s have had favorable traction in China, and this has resulted in the official and unofficial numbers of Chinese Christians swelling in recent estimates. This wave, moreover, is characterized by the blossoming of many churches, some underground, even as the state-sanctioned official churches have also thrived relatively under this more tolerant regime and period. This period is characterized too by the embrace of Christianity not just among the middle class, but increasingly by the working class too, identifying Christianity with progress and a break from the past (Yao; Gardam; Kelman; BillionBibles.org; Liqiang and Yinan; Christians in China; Moll; Orso). Works Cited BillionBibles.org. “How Many Christians in China”. Billion Bibles. 2013. Web. 9 December 2013 < http://www.billionbibles.org/china/how-many-christians-in-china.html> Christians in China. “The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing, or Beijing Xuanwumen Catholic Church”. ChristiansinChina.com. 2013. Web. 9 December 2013. Gardam, Tim. “Christians in China: Is the country in spiritual crisis?” BBC News Magazine. 11 September 2011. Web. 9 December 2013. Global Mapping International. “Map showing distribution of Christians in China”. EPM. 2013. Web. 9 December 2013. Kalman, Steve. “Christianity Grows in China”. The Lectern, FCW. 20 September 2013. Web. 9 December 2013. < http://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2013/09/china-christians.aspx> Liqiang, Hou and Zhao Yinan. “Tailored sermons proposed”. China Daily USA. 12 September 2013. Web. 9 December 2013. Moll, Rob. “Great Leap Forward”. Christianity Today. 9 May 2008. Web. 9 December 2013. < http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/19.22.html?paging=off> Orso, Anna. “Christianity discreetly grows in China”. The Columbian. 13 July 2013. Web. 9 December 2013. Yao, Xinzhong. “Success or Failure? Christianity in China”. History Today 44 (9). 1994. Web. 9 December 2013. Read More