When Americans think of religion in China, they often think of total lack of freedom of religion, underground services, persecution of churchgoers by the Chinese government and the absence of any churches, seminaries, Bibles and other religious materials. But these impressions are dated.

Christianity in China is allowed by the government within certain guidelines, and the China Christian Council (CCC) is the organization of the post-denominational Protestant Church in China. The CCC invited Bishop Mark Sisk and representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of New York to visit various cities in China in order to further a relationship between the two Churches and to introduce the Episcopal Diocese of New York to the thriving ministry and mission the Christian Church in China is carrying out and to the freedom of religion.

These common-held conceptions about lack of religious freedom in present-day China reflect the state of religion in China from during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 through 1976. No religion was tolerated by the governing Communist Party led by Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Religion was thought not to be compatible with communism, the political system used to govern China since the victory of Mao and his army in the civil war that ended in 1949. Not only did classic communist thought consider religion to be the “opiate of the people,” as Karl Marx called it, but religion in China, Christianity in particular, also meant influence and control by Westerners and Western organizations within the country.

The pseudo-colonialism of China by a number of Western nations, notably Britain, France and the United States, deeply affected China and its people. The Chinese fought the encroaching control of trade and importation of opium by the British in the Opium Wars during the middle of the 19th century, but European military power was too great, and China lost both wars, which led to European control of important Chinese ports, the legalization of opium importation and the complete takeover of Hong Kong by Britain. Further European meddling in Chinese affairs led to “spheres of influence” held by various European countries in major areas throughout China. The anti-foreigner Boxer Rebellion by the Chinese in 1900 was crushed by United States’ forces, further weakening Chinese rule throughout the country and increasing the U.S. role in China.

The history of Christianity in China, however, begins much earlier. Nestorian missionaries came to China in the early seventh century, but their influence was limited and temporary. The first major contact with Europe began in the 13th century, and Franciscan friars set up missions in the 14th century. Shortly thereafter, however, the first Ming emperor prohibited all Christian missionary work. Christian missionaries re-entered China again during the 17th century, but the emperor under the then-ruling Manchu Dynasty also rejected Christian missions.

Protestant missionaries first came to China in the beginning of the 19th century. Following the second Opium War, more missioners came to China and moved to the interior, since the treaties of Tianjin forced China to allow missionary work. The National Episcopal Church established the American Church Mission in Shanghai in 1845, with the Rt. Rev. William J. Boone as Bishop of China. The Mission Church organized a boys’ school and also a girls’ school, one of the few in the country. As the Mission Church grew, more schools, universities and hospitals were founded around Shanghai and later along the Yangtze River into the interior of China. Mission schools and hospitals provided much needed services in China, including education, which was unusual in China, and providing medical services for women, including servant girls.

In 1911, a republic was declared in Nanjing with Dr. Sun Yat-sen as provisional president. Around the same time, an autonomous Chinese Church was established within the Anglican Communion with 11 dioceses covering nearly all of China. The Church’s Constitution and Canons were adopted in 1912. Political unrest continued under Dr. Sun’s rule, as opposition from Northern China grew.

After Dr. Sun’s death in 1925, political stability continued to waver, and the Chinese Communist Party established a political platform focused on removing foreign influence from the country. In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek created a Nationalist Government and ended all cooperation with the Communist Party, thereby beginning a civil war between Chiang’s Kuomintang Party and the Communist Party, which only ended in 1949 with the Kuomintang forced from mainland China and establishing itself as the ruling party of Taiwan.

During the tumultuous years from the 1920s through the 1940s, missioners were forced to close schools, hospitals and churches when nearby fighting erupted. Anti-foreign sentiment also contributed to demonstrations and violence against the missionaries and the Church.With its victory over the Kuomintang in 1949, the Communist Party began limiting foreign influence in China, and by the early 1950s nearly all missionaries and foreigners had left or been expelled from the country.

The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) was officially organized in 1954 in order to create a Chinese Protestant Church that was free from foreign influence and control. The TSPM was designed to create an indigenous Church that united all Chinese Protestants and supported the work of the Chinese government. The principles of the TSPM are self-government, self-support and self-propagation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Chairman Mao carried out a radical plan for restructuring Chinese society and economy, and during the Cultural Revolution, in addition to the re-education and persecution of landowners and the intelligentsia, religion was banned, all churches were forced to close and worship was prohibited.

In the late 1970s, as the policies and restrictions of the past several decades were changing, religions again began to unite as organizations. Representatives of the Christian Church held a conference in 1980, at which time the current Church organization, the China Christian Council, was founded. The government created the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), which makes official policy in regard to religion in China. SARA recognizes officially five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism when practiced through officially sanctioned organizations and registered churches. The CCC and TSPM are the official organizations for the Protestant Church in China.