The founding of the People"s Republic of China in 1949symbolized that the Chinese people had stood up and becomethe master of their own affairs. Patriotic Chinese Christianswelcomed this great event along with the entire people of thecountry. The Joint Guidelines approved by the first CPPCCsession made clear the issue of freedom of religious belief.
However， as a "foreign religion‘， Christianity still posed somecontradictions for the Chinese people. In the large-scalerevolutionary movements， the Christian Churches in many placesinevitably suffered some destruction， and cases of churches beingdamaged or occupied during wartime occurred repeatedly.
In the spring of 1950， in order to publicize the essence ofthe CPPCC session and to know more about the situation of thechurches in different places， Wu Yaozong and other patrioticChristians organized a team and visited different parts of thecountry. After the tour， he came to Beijing and made a report toPremier Zhou Enlai on the difficulties the churches were facing.To find ways to overcome these difficulties， Premier Zhouconvened three meetings with the Christian representativesrespectively on May 2nd， May 6th and May 13th， 1950.
Altogether 18 representatives were invited. Premier Zhouappreciated the principles of self-rule， self-reliance and selfdevelopment（or three-self principle） mentioned by Wu Yaozong，reaffirmed the CPC"s policy on the freedom of religious belief，and acknowledged that the existence of religions was long term.
He pointed out that materialists and ideologists could co-operatepolitically， and correspondingly they could co-exist in the countryand should respect each other.
Enlightened by Premier Zhou， the Christian leaders realizedthat the difficulties Christianity faced were due to its notorioushistory being connected to Western colonialism. Only by seekingapproaches to obtain the people"s trust， not by "orders‘ from thegovernment could Christianity win the Chinese people"sunderstanding and acknowledgement. That was to say，Christianity must "actively sweep away the imperialist powersand influences within itself‘。 After the Christian team returned to Shanghai， 40 Chinese Christian leaders headed by Wu Yaozongeventually drafted an announcement after much discussion，meditation and modification. The title of the announcement wasApproaches to the Work of the Chinese Christian Churches duringthe Construction of the New China， abbreviated to the Three-
Self Announcement. As the initiators of the announcement， the40 Chinese Christian leaders sent an open letter to all ChristianChurches and organizations in China， appealing to all ChineseChristians to clearly understand the historical fact that Christianityhad been exploited by imperialism and to work out a detailedplan to realize self-rule， self-reliance and self-development assoon as possible. The Three-Self Announcement quickly gainedsupport all over the country， with the first batch of 1，527Christians signing their names to it. The announcement was alsobacked by social opinion. On September 23rd 1950， the People"sDaily published the Three-Self Announcement， as well as theletter of the 40 initiators. They also published an editorial entitledThe Patriotic Movement of the Christians， pointing out： "This isa patriotic movement that the Chinese Christians are bound tolaunch so as to get rid of the imperialist influence and furthermorepush ahead on the right religious track.‘ It also stated that it wasa "thriving revolution of reform， … and the success of the revolution will grant Chinese Christianity a new life and changethe Chinese people"s perception of Christianity， because it hasmade a clear division of its religious activities from the aggressivemoves of the imperial forces in China.‘ The Three-SelfAnnouncement received a warm welcome from all ChineseChristians， including those in many remote areas. By September25th， another batch of more than 1，500 people had becomesignatories. A massive three-self movement had been waged inthe churches. By September 1953， the total number of signatorieshad reached 400，000.
