Protestantism in China

Protestant Christianity (Chinese: 基督敎新敎; pinyin: Jīdūjiào xīnjiào; lit. 'New teachings of Christianity', in comparison to earlier Roman Catholicism) entered China in the early 19th century, taking root in a significant way during the Qing dynasty. Some historians consider the Taiping Rebellion to have been influenced by Protestant teachings.[1] Since the mid-20th century, there has been an increase in the number of Christian practitioners in China. According to a survey published in 2010 there are approximately 40 million Protestants in China.[2] As of 2019, Fenggang Yang, a sociologist of religion at Purdue University, estimated that there are around 100 million Protestant Christians in China.[3] Other estimates place the number of Protestant Christians at around 40–60 million[4]

Much of this growth has occurred in informal networks referred to as house churches, the proliferation of which began in the 1950s when many Chinese Catholics and Protestants began to reject state-controlled structures purported to represent them.[5] Members of such groups are now said to represent the "silent majority" of Chinese Christians and represent many diverse theological traditions.[6]

  1. ^ Dr. G. Wright Doyle (2010). How Dangerous are Chinese House Churches. A review of "Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China", a book of Lian Xi. Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-12339-5.
  2. ^ 2010 Chinese Spiritual Life Survey conducted by Dr. Yang Fenggang, Purdue University’s Center on Religion and Chinese Society. Statistics published in: Katharina Wenzel-Teuber, David Strait. People’s Republic of China: Religions and Churches Statistical Overview 2011 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Religions & Christianity in Today's China, Vol. II, 2012, No. 3, pp. 29–54, ISSN 2192-9289.
  3. ^ Paul, Joseph. "One year after Chinese pastor was first detained, Christianity still growing". Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  4. ^ Koesel, Karrie J.; Hu, Yizhi; Pine, Joshua (April 1, 2019). "Official Protestantism in China". Review of Religion and Chinese Society. 6 (1): 71–98. doi:10.1163/22143955-00601005. ISSN 2214-3947. S2CID 159285266.
  5. ^ Goossaert, Vincent and David A. Palmer. The Religious Question in Modern China. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press (2011), pp. 380–87.
  6. ^ Hunter, Alan and Kim-Kwong Chan. Protestantism in Contemporary China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1993), p. 178.