Global China Center provides in-depth analysis and provocative commentary on issues relating to Chinese history & culture, Chinese society & politics, and Christianity in China.
The important role of religion in civil society is often overlooked by both Westerners and Chinese. And yet religious organizations, including the church, seminaries, “para-church” organizations, faith-based schools, and charities form a huge and even predominant part of American civil society, and they definitely are part of China’s remerging civil society today.
Read MoreReligion is an important part of Chinese society, but often neglected by scholars and media commentators. The buds of civil society in China today include religious organizations and their offshoots—charitable, educational, and medical institutions.
Read MoreThrough a century of political turmoil and disillusionment, waves of Chinese intellectuals have come to Christ.
Read MoreThe answer to this question would seem to be obvious, at least to some. On the other hand, a growing number of scholars and other observers are pointing to the rapid growth of Christianity in China and amassing impressive reasons for regarding Christianity – in one form or another – as an authentically indigenous, Chinese faith.
Read MoreThe number of religious believers in China continues to grow almost exponentially.
Read MoreToday’s Chinese Christians have roots that go back over 200 years for Protestants and 400 years for Catholics. In my view a grasp of the essentials of that history, at least for the 20th century, is crucial for us to understand the Chinese church under Communist rule.
Read MoreThis paper will focus on how Christian colleges were affected by the May Thirtieth Incident in 1925, an infamous massacre in which British troops killed eleven Chinese student protesters in Shanghai. In particular, it will consider how this event shifted the boundaries of identity and power between missionaries and Chinese at three of the Christian colleges—Yenching University in Beijing, St. John’s University in Shanghai, and Lingnan University in Guangzhou.
Read MoreAdvocates for religious freedom—and perhaps especially American advocates—need a fresh approach to their engagement of countries like China that have records of egregious abuses of human rights.
Read MoreBy common consent, development of leaders is the most urgent need for the Chinese church. With explosive growth over the past few decades, there are not enough shepherds for the flock.
Read MoreWashington should pursue additional ways to support and engage the thickening web of private social and cultural ties that will introduce new ideas and values, as well as institutional experience and techniques, to promote sociopolitical progress in China.
Read MoreDeveloping the third sector is essential for addressing the difficult challenges China now faces, and in turn could ease the transition to more democratic political institutions, increasing the chances for peaceful change as nonprofits play a stronger role in mediating between state and society.
Read MoreAlmost all observers agree that there is a serious gender imbalance in the Chinese church. David Aikman, in Jesus In Beijing, states that the average ratio is 60-80% women in churches on the Mainland. In Taiwan and elsewhere, the ratio may be less extreme, but there are usually many more women than men attending church on any Sunday morning. The proportion of women serving in the church may be even greater.
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