Chinese Christianity

Poceski, Mario. Introducing Chinese Religions. New York and London: Routledge, 2009. Also available in an e-book format, as Chinese Religions: The eBook (published by JBE Online Books), and in a Portuguese translation: Introdução às religiões chinesas, published by Fundação Editora da UNESP, Brazil, 2013.

How might Christians from one honor-shame culture effectively serve as missionaries in another honor-shame culture? By answering this question, churches and mission organizations can better train cross-cultural workers whose cultural backgrounds offer advantages not enjoyed by many Western missionaries. Due to the sheer scope of the topic, his essay sketches only a preliminary proposal.

Christians have not been a major part of the mainstream debates in studies on Chinese diaspora and transnationalism. This chapter attempts to move Christianity into the centre of such conversations through the theme of identity. Specifically, it proposes that the diasporic Chinese Protestants were an integral part of the transnational Chinese communities that settled across the globe from the late nineteenth century to the present day by demonstrating how they synthesized their faith and various types of Chinese identities in order to form three dominant global Chinese Christian identities: evangelical identity, religious nationalism and religious ethnocentrism. In terms of evangelical identity, the chapter demonstrates how Protestants were motivated by their particular historical circumstances to appropriate evangelicalism as the primary means for shaping their respective diasporic cultures. For religious nationalism, I show how Protestant communities became transnational participants in China’s national salvation discourse. Such participation was seen by synthesizing their evangelical faith with nationalism and delimiting the projections of their identity within the bounds of the modern Chinese nation. Lastly, the study outlines the process of synthesis between faith and ethnic concern after World War II. It shows how different independent Chinese Protestant organizations constructed ethno-religious discourses as part of the process of forming the global Chinese Christian industry. These discourses include the unique ‘chosen’ status of Chinese Christians and their special concern for evangelizing the transnational Chinese communities. In all, the study suggests that the multiplicity of global Chinese Christianity affirms mainstream calls to examine the Chinese diaspora in all its diversity.

The 1890s saw a rapid expansion of mission schools in China, among which a number of theological seminaries were established or enlarged in order to provide Chinese Christian workers with a systematic education, rather than traditional short-term training courses. This article uses the Theological Institute of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in Tianjin 天津養正聖經學院 (which developed into the Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College 天津新學書院 (TACC) in 1902) as a case study, examining the shift in its educational intentions, perspectives and approaches from 1863 to 1902, in order to explore the factors that caused this shift and the possible impact it had on the students and the nature of mission education, as well as on the evolution of Christianity in China during this period.

The University of Shanghai (滬江大學) was founded in 1906 as a co-operative effort between the Southern Baptist Convention [SBC] and the American Baptist Missionary Union [ABMU]. Herman C. E. Liu (劉湛恩) was appointed its first Chinese president in 1928 and had been highly esteemed in both Christian and Chinese educational circles. Although this article focuses on the history of the University of Shanghai during the period of 1928-1938, it firstly gives a brief account of the early history of the university, as well as the nationwide Anti-Christian Movement (1922-27), which resulted in the transition of the university leadership from foreign to Chinese. This article then examines how the university, under Liu’s leadership from 1928 to 1938, attempted to achieve the goal of ‘more Christian, more Chinese, and more efficient.’ It aims to explore the complexity of the interaction between a Christian institute and Chinese society, particularly in the face of fierce nationalist tensions. The history of the University of Shanghai reflects the trend of the evolution of a Christian establishment from its denominational (Baptist) background to a more general and diverse character, and from western to Chinese. This article argues that it was a natural step during the course of the growth of the ‘selfhood’ of Christianity in early twentieth-century China; meanwhile, however, it reveals an obliged response to a politically hostile environment. In addition, this paper argues that, while making itself more indigenous and relevant to Chinese society, the university was quite exceptional by keeping and emphasising its Christian essence. This owed much to Herman Liu’s own vision and practice in Christian education in China, which reflects a contextual understanding of the Christian message and its social application.

This paper attempts to analyze how Robert Morrison and Karl Gützlaff
incorporated the life of Napoleon into their Chinese biographical and historical
writings to preach the gospel, and how their writings influenced the late-Qing Chinese
intellectuals’ works on world geography and history. The Evangelical Movement
prompted Morrison and Gützlaff to propagate the gospel in China, and the downfall of
Napoleon, a common theme used by European preachers to glorify God’s almighty
power, naturally appeared in Morrison’s and Gützlaff’s writings. In an attempt to
integrate evangelism and Confucianism, they interpreted the French Revolution as
both a divine visitation and a secular rebellion, and Napoleon was depicted as both a
personification of Satan and a Chinese-style usurper. After the Opium War, Chinese
intellectuals like Wei Yuan 魏源 and Xu Jiyu 徐繼畬 composed their works on
world geography and history mainly based on such Protestant missionary writings.
Being Confucian scholars, they eliminated the undesirable elements of Christianity
and portrayed Napoleon solely as a Chinese-style usurper.

Known as one of the earliest hymnals that used indigenous Chinese elements to develop a Chinese hymnody, Hymns of Universal Praise (HUP) published in 1937 symbolises the beginning of contextualisation of Chinese worship music in the early twentieth century, and the successful attempt of unifying the Church in China to produce a hymnal across denominations, regions and languages. Since then, HUP has been updated in 1977 and in 2006, with the addition of newer hymns in a variety of sources and the update of theology from ecumenical sources. This paper aims to explore the contextualised issues of Chinese hymnology in the last century, focusing on the evolution of HUP. To begin with, this presentation will briefly summarise the development of Chinese hymnology since the twentieth century, highlighting the urge of indigenising Christianity in China in the 1920s. The paper will investigate the contextualisation issues in HUP, including the use of languages, hymn tunes, and the theme of the hymns. Reflecting the flourishing of Chinese hymnals in the last century and the challenges of editing hymnals, for both HUP and the other hymnals from different denominations, the paper will conclude with a perspective from world Christianity.

In Professor Alexander Chow’s book Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment (2013), he criticizes theological classifications, such as Ralph R. Covell’s. In response, Chow proposes a tripartite classification to help scholars to understand the different theological trajectories in twentieth-century China. However, Chow’s classification is not helpful in distinguishing the differences among theologians of the same theological type. This is especially so in the case of Jia Yuming (1880–1964), who was considered the “Dean of China’s Theological Academy.” Jia made significant theological contributions—particularly his publication of the first Chinese systematic theology. Though Jia’s theology falls under Chow’s type-A theology, this paper argues that it was Jia’s spirituality that distinguishes him from other conservative pastor-theologians, such as Wáng Mingdao (1900–1991), John Sung (1901–1944) and Watchman Nee (1903–1972). Using a theological-spiritual approach (which complements Chow’s classification), this article demonstrates that Jia is a Chinese Keswick-style theologian.

This article explores the ways in which Christians are building churches
in contemporary Nanping, China. At first glance, their architectural style
appears simply neo-Gothic, but these buildings indeed enact a rich web of
significances that acts upon local Christians and beyond. Building on
Actor-Network Theory and exploring the multiple ties in which they are
embedded, I argue that these buildings are agents acting in their own
right, which take an active part in the process of making the presence of
the Christian God tangible.

This sweeping survey is the first complete account of nearly 150 years of Protestant missions in Shanxi Province, China.
    Beginning with the arrival of the Protestant missionaries during the 1878 North China Famine and the fiery test of the 1900 Boxer Uprising and subsequent martyrdom of hundreds of Shanxi Christians, this important book brings together the historical accounts of the spread of Christianity in the province all the way up to the present. From the personal papers and contemporary records of the missionaries, Kaiser draws a vivid picture of the women and men who devoted their lives to advancing the cause of the gospel in Shanxi. He weaves the stories of bold local Christians like Pastor Hsi and such notable missionaries as Gladys Aylward, Timothy Richard, Hudson Taylor, and the Cambridge Seven into the broader tapestry of China missions, tracing the birth and development of a thriving and dynamic Shanxi church.
    Drawing on mission archives, academic studies, and firsthand knowledge, this fusion of scholarly inquiry with missionary biography aims to both inspire and inform, making the lessons of the missionary past available to a new generation of readers.

This chapter uses the Chinese Home Missionary Society (CHMS) – the first nationwide native evangelistic missionary society – as a case study. By examining the process in which mainline Chinese Protestant churches and individuals endeavoured to realise native evangelism and an indigenised Christianity through the CHMS and its mission work, this chapter intends to explore how the conviction of Chinese Christians towards an indigenised and interdenominational Christianity was applied in the specific local context, as well as the legacy and lessons of the CHMS, which reflected during the course of its missionary movement and church indigenisation. It argues that the indigenous and interdenominational features of the CHMS revealed what is a two-fold theme throughout the history of Chinese Christianity during the twentieth century, that is, the pursuit of church indigeneity and unity. On the other hand, the case of the CHMS discloses the common challenges that emerged during the cross-cultural process when global Christianity encounters indigenous societies.

This paper examines the ecumenical perspectives of Cheng Jingyi, one of the key figures during the church unity movement in early twentieth-century China, the formation of the Church of Christ in China (CCC) and its legacy, as well as Cheng's role in its development. It aims to explore the continuity between the CCC and the desire of Chinese Christians for a united independent Chinese church, and argues that the church unity movement in early twentieth-century China, with the CCC as an example, was driven by both the native demand for church independence and theological motivations of ecumenism.

This paper explores recent developments in the regulation and repression of religion by the Chinese state under Xi Jinping. It argues that the “three rectifications and one demolition” campaign launched in Zhejiang province was not an isolated local effort, but rather is rooted in a particular ideological agenda being promoted by the Chinese Communist Party. Further, it asserts that this ideological agenda is foundational to the CCP’s drive to establish itself as a credible alternative to Western hegemonic power. This is demonstrated by a thorough examination of primary sources, including CCP media, speeches, and official documents, especially pertaining to the anti-Western ideology campaign, the demolition campaign in Zhejiang, and most significantly, Xi Jinping’s promotion of “Chinese traditional culture” in the domestic and international spheres. By illustrating a specific and coordinated program of suppressing foreign religion on the one hand, and promoting Chinese or “Sinicized” religion on the other, this paper places these efforts at the center of China’s revisionist power agenda.

LIAN Xi's latest published monograph, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China, has been widely appreciated by many scholars, including some renowned historians of Chinese Christianity. Focusing on two key words of the title of the book, "redeemed" and "popular" respectively, this review article attempts to summarize and critically comment on the author's thesis. Taking "redeemed" as a lively imagery, on the one hand, the author argues that: (1) the Christianity this book specifically articulates is to "redeem" the "masses", the grassroots Christians in China; (2) the reasons why these "masses" in modern China are vastly converted to Christianity have a lot to do with the "natural disasters" and "man-made calamities" from the late Qing dynasty through Republican China to Post-Cultural Revolution China; (3) meanwhile, the version of Christianity to "redeem" the "masses" is one with the "fire of Pentecostalism" and "fire of Premillennialism". On the other hand, using the terminology of so-called "popular" Christianity, the author must want to distinguish it from "non-popular" Christianity; otherwise the prefix "popular" would not make any sense. On the whole, however, the subject-matter the author tries to probe into is not easily categorized as "popular" Christianity, no matter how we define the word "popular", whether from the perspective of (1) different types of churches, (2) different classes of Christian leaders and their followers, or (3) the content of the "popular" Christianity. The only core element relating every chapter of the book may be that of "premillennialist eschatology."

連曦教授的《浴火得救：現代中國民間基督教的興起》一書從2010年出版以來，就廣受好評。本文主要圍繞「救贖」和「民間」這兩個關鍵詞評論該書。從「救贖」一詞來看：（1）基督教要「救贖」的是作為「普羅大眾」的中國基督徒；（2）近代中國的「普羅大眾」之所以大規模地皈依基督教，主要被認為是由於晚清、民國以及「文革」後中國的「天災」與「人禍」；（3）同時，「救贖」這些「普羅大眾」的是「五旬節之火」與「前千禧年之火」的基督教。從「民間」一詞來看，「民間基督教」被區別於其他「非民間基督教」。但是，總體而言，無論從「場域」、「對象」或「內容」的角度，「民間」一詞均無法完全地涵括書中每一個論述對象。唯一串連起本書處理的每一個研究對象的元素，只有「前千禧年末世論」。

The question of which name to use to translate biblical words for “God” has vexed both Roman Catholics and Protestants for a long time. In Protestant Bibles, “Shen” and “Shangdi” have been used. This paper reviews the case for each of these terms. The ancient Chinese understanding of “Shangdi” bears some resemblance to the Biblical “Elohim,” and “Theos,” but has serious problems. These include: Major differences between the ancient Chinese “Shangdi” and the biblical “Elohim” or “Theos,” and the inability of “Shangdi” to express the plurality of “Elohim” and of the New Testament’s expression of “God” as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “Shen,” on the other hand, most closely translates the Greek “Theos,” and allows for the plurality involved in the biblical presentation of the Trinity.

1920年代，余日章策動之下，中華基督教青年會以「人格救國」為口號。學者大多探討余日章人格救國論的緣起、發展、實踐、影響或爭議，而非內容與意義。本文探討此口號的內容與意義，並論證此主張是一種基督教救國方案。余日章把基督教教育從宗教領域延伸至政治領域，認為中國基督教應藉着培養國人的基督人格，形成符合基督教原則的民意輿論，從而革新政治。

In the 1920s, through the advocacy and leadership of David Z. T. Yui, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in China adopted “saving the nation through character development” as its slogan. Scholars tend to discuss the origin, development, practice or influence of Yui’s idea of national salvation through character development, or the controversy about it. This article, instead, examines the content and implications of the abovementioned slogan and argues that it constituted a Christian approach to national salvation. Yui extended the scope of Christian education from the religious aspect to the political aspect. He advocated that Chinese Christianity should inculcate Christ’s character in the Chinese public so that a public opinion based on Christian principles would be formed to achieve political reformation.

How does Jesus relate to the poet as well as poems? From a perspective of cultural history of Christianity in Republican China (1912-1949), on the one hand, Jesus becomes a poet (or the Poet) in the eyes of some Republican Christians; on the other hand, Chinese Christians begin to shape their images of Jesus in the form of poetry. And both aspects involve not only the interpretation and use of Gospel texts, but also the intellectual ethos, religio-cultural environments and socio-political contexts at that time. In short, “Jesus the Poet” in Republican China is just similar to the Jesus constructed by Western Romanticism from the late 18 century, while “Jesus in poems” written by Republican Christians is more indigenized and contextualized, albeit still with some characteristics from Western Christian traditions.

耶稣、诗人与诗，这三者有什么样的关系？从民国基督教文化史的角度出发，一方面，耶稣在一些民国基督徒的笔下成为一位诗人，即“诗人耶稣”；另一方面，民国基督徒也以诗歌的形式，塑造他们眼中的耶稣形象，即“诗中耶稣”。而无论是“诗人耶稣”，还是“诗中耶稣”，都既涉及民国基督徒对福音书文本的诠释和使用，又与他们所身处的思想氛围、宗教-文化处境以及社会-政治处境紧密相关。民国基督徒笔下的“诗人耶稣”，主要延续了18世纪末以降西方的浪漫主义思想氛围，而民国基督徒笔下的“诗中耶稣”，则在延续西方传统的同时，拥有更多本色化或处境化的特质。

本文梳理趙紫宸在一十年代末至二十年代的神學論述，從普世基督教的研究視野，重新解讀其早期本色神學。本文論證，趙紫宸的本色神學與普世願景之間關係密切。他倡議基督教中國化，旨在推動基督教普世化。他重視基督教的普世性，中西基督教皆是普世基督教的一部分，且有合作、互補的關係。雖然他致力融通基督教與中國文化，但是基督教始終是融通的主體。他構想的中國基督教將是「基督為體，儒學為用」。

This article reinterprets T. C. Chao's early indigenous theology from the World Christianity perspective based on his writing from the late 1910s to 1920s. This article argues that his indigenous theology and ecumenical vision were closely related. Chao advocated Christianity's sinicisation to contribute to its catholicisation. He emphasised the catholicity of Christianity. Both Chinese and Western Christianity are parts of World Christianity with a cooperative and complementary relationship. Although he advanced the reconciliation between Christianity and Chinese Confucian culture, Christianity should be the essence. In his mind, Chinese Christianity ought to be "Christian Essence and Confucian Utility".

According to the best estimates, as of September 2020 there was a minimum of 70 million Christians in China (aka mainland China aka People's Republic of China) with perhaps another 1.5 million in Taiwan (aka Republic of China). Chinese churches are sending missionaries to places that are sometimes impossible for European and American missionaries to access, including parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. The story of Chinese Christianity is an increasingly important part of the story of World Christianity.

[latest revision:  4 March 2024]

CSSCI集刊《基督宗教研究》【作者：应焕强，复旦大学国际关系与公共事务学院博士研究生、上海高校智库复旦大学宗教与中国国家安全研究中心助理研究员】明清以来，基督宗教传教士借由圣经故事版画在华传经布道。在跨文化传播过程中，圣经故事版画及其蕴含教义的宣介在传教士群体和明清中国社会各阶层中极具争议。本文透过耶稣受难故事版画及其有关档案、笔记、报章、榜文和揭帖等，论述基督宗教视觉艺术与明清社会之间的角力，希冀对深入理解圣经艺术在中国的政治与社会文化际遇有所助益。
中国社会科学院世界宗教研究所CSSCI（2021-2022）年来源集刊《基督宗教研究》（北京：宗教文化出版社，2021年10月）。本文提交2012年12月香港中文大学第六届基督教与中国社会文化国际年青学者学术研讨会宣读，会上香港浸会大学费乐仁（Lauren F. Pfister）教授、复旦大学范丽珠教授，陈方中教授、香港浸会大学李金强教授和其他师友惠赐修订意见，谨致谢忱。

In Republican Era China, Catholic clergy in Beijing and Shanghai hoped to rally the Church as an indigenous and interconnected network for the task of evangelization. The task was two-fold, to both indigenize the faith and to convert lives. Thus, Catholic leaders of the time promoted sometimes contradictory priorities in the hopes of infusing Chinese modernity with Catholic values. On the one hand, the apostolic delegate Celso Costantini hoped to present the Church with a Chinese face. He commissioned artists from Furen University and elsewhere to produce Chinese Catholic fine art to demonstrate the indigeneity and value of the Church in modern society. Missionaries designed Chinese-style catechism aides to depict faith as a form of the Chinese good life. On the other hand, these evangelistic works inculcated a conservative set of traditional Catholic teachings and moral norms more in keeping with the China that was passing away. In the face of the New Culture Movement of the 1920s, which was obsessed with making China new, Catholic posters used indigenization to reaffirm traditional moral norms and duties while representing them in indigenous language and imagery.

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Jérôme PACE, Missions  chrétiennes  en  Asie  (Ve-XXIe  siècle),  Découvrir  Autrement,  Le  Monde  de la  Bible/Bayard,  Paris,  2018, 73 p.

[Évoquer les relations entre la religion chrétienne et le continent asiatique est l’occasion de révéler un monde connecté : une invitation au voyage qui, de l’Antiquité jusqu’à nos jours, esquisse le portrait d’une région du monde complexe et souvent mal comprise.]

The Chinese revivalist, John Sung [Song Shangjie], forged a powerful conversion narrative that shifted and adapted to changing circumstances. Its malleability has been one of the secrets of Sung's continuing relevance to Chinese and world Christianity.

韓琦：《康熙時代的江南天主教徒與“禮儀之爭”》，《國際漢學》2021年第3期（總第28期），頁83-93。

The Chinese Rites Controversy was an important event in the history of Sino-Western relation in the Qing dynasty, in which Chinese Christians played an important role. Based on the new historical documents found in the Jesuit Archive in Rome, this article discusses in detail the religious activities of Chinese Catholics in Jiangnan, their views on the worship of Confucius and ancestors, and their relationship with the Jesuit missionaries, thus revealing the network of Catholic communication in the Kangxi reign.

“禮儀之爭”是清代中西關係史上重要事件，中國教徒在其中扮演了重要角色。本文根據歐洲所藏第一手史料，深入探討了康熙時代江南教徒的宗教活動，特別是 1700—1702年間他們在“禮儀之爭”中扮演的角色，對祭孔、祭祖的看法，與耶穌會士的關係，進而揭示了康熙時代天主教傳播的關係網絡。

The article offers an overview of the research on Christian intellectuals’ images of Jesus in Republican China before 1949. First, concerning the primary sources, existing scholarship has utilized many articles related to images of Jesus in various Republican-era Christian journals and monographs written at that time by such renowned Christian writers as T. C. Chao, L. C. Wu, Y. T. Wu and S. C. Chang. Furthermore, Y. T. Wu in the 1920s, Wing-hung Lam in the 1980s, and Ken-pa Chin in the 2010s have also compiled collections of relevant primary sources. More primary sources may be obtained through: 1) comprehensively reading through Christian journals of the time; 2) taking into consideration translated works from the West; and 3) relying on “e-research” of several online databases. Second, regarding research approaches, most previous research took either a literary or a theological perspective. The former, focusing on literary sources, has dealt with those works written by Bingxin, Wei-chih Chu, Jiaowo Wang, and T. C. Chao, as well as S. C. Chang. The latter has mostly emphasized theology in a narrow sense. The theological conceptual frames of Christology and Soteriology, for instance, were utilized to analyze the remaking of Jesus by T. C. Chao, L. C. Wu, Y. T. Wu, or Yuming Jia. Or researchers adopted contemporary theories of political theology and public theology in order to interpret Republican Christian intellectuals’ images of Jesus. Most of the previous research, however, neglects the approach of biblical studies as one of the disciplines of theology in a broad sense. Recently, many efforts have been put into the reception history of the Bible, and biblical scholars such as Sze-kar Wan and John Yueh-Han Yieh have introduced this approach to the history of Chinese Christianity. Lastly, scholars often focus on these three types of images of Jesus: a soul savior, a character builder, and a social revolutionary.

In the interest of providing historical context for recent studies of Chinese evangelical youth, this paper examines Christianity’s impact on identity, generational consciousness, and socio-political engagement among Chinese youth in early-20th-century North America. Bringing historical sources into conversation with current research reveals striking continuities in how Chinese youth – then and now – have used Christian identities and institutions to mediate between the cultural, social, and moral space of home and that of the Western society around them.

This paper explores the history of the evangelistic bands which John Sung established in Singapore. It also examines the formation of Chin Lien Bible Seminary, the first Chinese Protestant seminary to be established in Singapore in 1937. The establishment of the seminary was inspired by the Sung’s Singapore revivals and the subsequent work of the bands. Importantly, it looks at the role of the much-neglected Leona Wu in leading the bands and founding Chin Lien in Singapore. The paper demonstrates that local agents like Wu and the Chinese church leaders played an important role in shaping the ecclesiastical scene in Singapore through their usage of Sung’s institutional model to meet local needs. It also shows that we cannot merely understand the influence and impact of John Sung through an “impact-response” framework which over-exaggerates the results of his work; rather a more balanced approach needs to be taken in order to comprehend how local agents like Wu were crucial in mediating and adapting Sung’s work for their own agendas and purposes.

(1827-1916) was one of the most influential missionaries in China from the 1850s to the early years of the nineteenth century. His almost-continuous residence in China, varied activities, and many publications earned the respect of missionaries and Chinese leaders alike. Here we shall focus on his views of Confucius and Confucianism, which reflect a moderate accommodationist approach. An Evaluation at the end finds fault with some of Martin's ideas.

In this paper, I will propose an intertextual theology of religions from a non-Western cultural perspective through the works in The True Light Review, an official magazine of Chinese Baptist churches, and Yue Hua, a prominent and long-lived Muslim magazine. My aim is to show that the religious discourses in these Chinese religious periodicals inform us of an alternative understanding of literary construction of religious plurality and challenge the current versions of theology of religions. With the concept of intertextuality, the differentiation and integration of religious identities indicates that language-constituted realities are multi-dimensional and multi-directional. In some respects, religious believers would like to differentiate themselves in the search for an authentic and meaningful life, but, they are nonetheless already interconnected and interrelated. In some other respects, they approach and embrace each other for integration to assert a common identity among religions in that area, but that could transform their religions with new meaning. Our case study will also further theological reflection of the nature of Christian life in predominantly non-Christian societies as an intertextual religious reality.

This article deals with the convergence of ethnicity and faith in the context of Christian Yunnan. Contemporary Evangelical missionaries working in Yunnan encourage the preservation of ethnic markers while attempting to create a form of "pristine faith": a religiosity that severely limits the role of ethnicity in identity construction, rather emphasizing individualism and globalism, process that may be beneficial for the Chinese state. My discussion here revolves around the distinction made by many Evangelical Christians in China between "true" faith, based on an individual experience of salvation and rebirth, and "nominal" faith-a traditional understanding of religion as an identity acquired at birth. Thus, minority Christians whose ancestors converted en-masse prior to the 1949 revolution and retain a distinctly ethnic form of religiosity, are often labeled "nominal" by contemporary missionaries and converts. In contrast, the missionaries themselves as well as more recent converts, represent a faith that stems from personal experience and belong to a global and trans-national community, transcending the narrow limits of ethnic culture. The information presented in this article is based on 15 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Southwest China, among foreign missionaries and local minority and Han Christians 1. Since the beginning of the reform era, Evangelical Christianity in China has experienced a significant resurgence and the emergence of a large foreign missionary community. This trend is particularly pronounced in the Province of Yunnan, where missionaries met with considerable success among ethnic minorities prior to the 1949 revolution. As a result, several ethnic groups living in Yunnan, such as the Lisu, Miao, Jingpo and Lahu contain significant numbers of Protestant Christians. Indeed, the mass conversions of ethnic groups in the Chinese Southwestern 1 This article will be published in Modern Asian Studies in 2018.

An astonishingly large Christian coalition has emerged to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, an alleged beacon for the promotion of gay rights in Asia. This article investigates how Taiwanese conservative Christianity, which had been politically inactive for decades, has publically mobilized itself since the early 2010s, particularly in reaction to the gay-rights movement. I examine how the shifting role of the state in Taiwan encouraged conservative Christians to stand up and speak against gay-rights issues. Transnational religious networks in East Asia facilitated Tai-wanese conservative Christianity's affiliation with a united and well-organized cross-denominational force targeting gay rights. Lately, religious entrepreneurs have emerged to integrate resources from business, politics, and academia that are necessary for political engagement. All these factors have contribute to this religious movement in the public sphere, a rarity in the Chinese world. I also analyze the ensuing secularist backlash: the anti-gay-rights movement is described as an anti-human-civilization movement in which charismatic leaders, portrayed as evil magicians, utilize a variety of strategies to deceive naive, ignorant believers. Keywords Conservative Christianity in Taiwan – public religion – same-sex marriage – secularism – transnational religious networks