Christianity， evolving out of existing Judaism， is based on theteachings of Jesus Christ at the height of the Roman Empire sometwo thousand years ago. It has developed into three majorbranches： Catholicism， Eastern Orthodox Church andProtestantism. What Chinese Christianity means in this book isrelated to the history of the dissemination and development ofthe Protestant faith in China.
Protestantism was the result of European religious reformin the 16th century when the German Martin Luther vehementlydenounced claim of absolute divine power made by the CatholicChurch and openly broke with the Vatican in Rome.
Consequently， Protestantism emerged from the fetters ofCatholicism and came into separate existence. From the 18thcentury， with the capitalist countries starting to establish overseasmarkets and strengthening their colonial rule， Christianitylaunched a worldwide missionary campaign. All the religiousgroups began to set up their own missions and sent missionariesabroad to conduct proselytizing activities. The overseas Christianforces grew accordingly.
The history of Chinese Protestantism began in September1807 when an English missionary named Morrison came toChina. In the early years， through force and unequal treaties， theChristian Churches grasped the "privilege‘ of doing missionarywork in the country. However， it repeatedly met with resistancefrom the Chinese people as well as government officials， and thepolitical and cultural clashes meant the missionary workproceeded slowly. After the 20th century， thanks to themissionaries‘ efforts in disseminating Western culture ineducation， medicine， publication and other fields， the influenceof Protestantism gradually spread in China. However， therelationship between the missionaries and imperialism， theirarrogance and the superior attitude of Western culture stillconflicted with the anti-imperialist struggle of the Chinese peopletime and time again， which encouraged patriotic ChineseChristians to reconsider Christianity"s social status in theircountry. They launched a self-independence movement andstarted to explore ways leading to localization of the ChineseChristian Churches.
After the founding of the People"s Republic of China in 1949，Christianity underwent the transformation of the three-selfpatriotic movement， severed its ties with imperialism， realizedself-rule， self-reliance and self-development， united the broadmass of believers， and became a patriotic religious organization.
Since China adopted the policy of reform and opening upto the outside world in 1978， Christianity has developed greatlyin China. At present， there are 16 million believers throughoutthe country. They attach great importance to behaving themselveson different occasions and acting as the witnesses of the God"sgoodness. Chinese Christianity has played an active role in manyrespects， such as running churches under the three-self principle，fostering young priests， promptly promoting theology， carryingout social service activities， and strengthening friendly exchangeswith other Christian Churches around the world. All these motiveshave greatly improved the image of Christianity.
It has been nearly 200 years since Christianity startedspreading in China. Its evolvement and development haveendured a rugged and arduous course. What is reflected in thisbook is only a brief overview of this course， which aims to helppeople better understand the path Christianity has followed， aswell as its development and influence in China at present.
