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David Aikman. Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2003. Pp. 344. $27.95.
Zhou, Jinghao
Zhou, Jinghao
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"Christianity began its mission in China in the seventh century, but the Western missionaries had limited success before the mid-nineteenth. Western missionaries in China were relatively successful in the second half of the nineteenth century through the era of the Republic. The situation of Chinese Christians is not clear to Western societies. What has happened after the Chinese communist government expelled Western missionaries in 1950? How has the Chinese government treated Christians? What role will Chinese Christians play in China‟s modernization and democratization? David Aikman seeks to answer these questions in an introduction and fifteen chapters. [2] The first two chapters cover the Western missionary movement in China from the Nestorians through the Jesuits, Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci, to Anglo-Saxon Protestant missionary movement. Aikman presents lively accounts of Chinese Christians, including peasants, workers, soldiers, artists, writers, political dissidents, and church leaders. In Chapter 3 he presents stories of prominent house Church leaders, Wang Mingdao, Allen Yan, Samuel Lamb, Moses Xie, and Li Tianen. Chapter 4 focuses on common Chinese Christians and Christian leaders in villages and urban areas. Chapter 6 is the story of professional Chinese Christian leaders in seminaries. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss Chinese state church from its early years to the period after the Cultural Revolution. Chapters 9 and 10 analyze the center of Chinese Christianity in Beijing, China‟s “Jerusalem.” Chapter 11 covers Chinese Catholics under communism. Chapter 12 reveals the records of the communist government in persecuting Chinese Christians. Chapter 13 presents the story of Christian artists, writers, and academics. Chapter 14 examines foreign Christian activities in communist China. Finally, Chapter 15 predicts the role and future of China‟s Christians. [3] Through captivating stories, readers can see that Jesus is not only in Beijing, but practically everywhere in China, including the most prosperous urban areas, such as Beijing and Shanghai, and in the poor areas and villages, such as those in Henan province. The Chinese Christian movement is vigorously developing. Aikman does especially well in describing the officially recognized, government sponsored, “Three-Self Church” and the illegal “house church.” The Three-Self Church, which is sponsored by the government and affiliated with the China Christian Council (hereinafter: CCC), is “a sort of organizational umbrella for China‟s officially approved Protestant churches” (7) and “the organizational twin of the Three Self Patriotic Movement, authorized by the government to operate Protestant church services across the country” (136). The leader of the CCC and the Three-Self Movement are appointed by the Chinese government. K. H. Ting was the chairman of the CCC and secretary general of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement for more than forty years, but many Chinese Christians have suspected that Ting “may never have been a real Christian believer but rather a secret member of China‟s Communist Party” (145). Aikman sees the benefit of the Three-Self Church to be that in it the Chinese people “can attend, without fear of the consequences, any officially approved Protestant or Catholic church” (13-14)."(pg 1)
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2005
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With permission of the license/copyright holder