China’s “Christianity Fever” Revisited: Towards a Community-Oriented Reading of Christian Conversions in China

• Main Author: Katrin Fiedler
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2010-01-01
• Series: Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
• Subjects: Social sciences; China; Christianity; Protestantism; community; Christianity Fever; 200; 300; 305; contemporary
• Online Access: http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jcca/article/view/358

Chinese Protestant Christianity has been continually growing over the past three decades, with an estimated one million converts per year. A number of studies have sought to explain this phenomenon. This paper critically reviews existing studies of China’s “Christianity Fever” and then outlines the role of the community as one crucial factor in the conversion process. With its emphasis on communality, as a central element of both Christian theology and the fellowship activities that are part of Christian practice, Protestant Christianity fills a gap opened up by the change in traditional familial and social structures. By discussing specific aspects relating to the communal nature of Christianity, such as familism, elitism, and dynamics at work in face-to-face evangelism, this paper offers an alternative reading of existing studies.