Presbyterian News Service: Christianity’s growth is reshaping China
LONDON — Increasing interest in Christianity among Chinese intellectuals is transforming the country’s religious landscape, says Edmond Tang, an academic and consultant on China for British and Irish churches.
“Today it is an open secret that Christian fellowships, a new kind of ‘house church,’ run by Chinese professors and students, are active in most Chinese universities,” said Tang in comments marking the relaunch of the China Study Journal, a publication analyzing religious policy in China.
More than 30 academic faculties and research centers in China are now dedicated to the study of a “once maligned religion,” whereas a few years ago there were only three, Tang noted at a March 26 media conference in London. He said he was optimistic about the
prospects for faith in China.
Chinese government figures put the number of Protestants at 16 million and Roman Catholics at five million, although it is likely that there are actually three times that number of Christians, said Tang, who heads the Center for East Asian Christianity at the University of Birmingham. …
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