the history
of a presence

edited by
Paolo Perego

7th century. Syrian monks settle in Chang An, on the silk road. This is the first recorded Christian community in China. Judged “scandalous” because of their way of life (living without slaves, for example), they were banished from the Empire in 845.

13th century. Sent by the Pope and the King of France, small groups of Franciscans and Dominicans arrived and were welcomed by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1368, the new Ming Dynasty encouraged persecutions of Christians.

1583. In the footsteps of Saint Francis Xavier, who had died a few years before (during his mission to East Asia), the Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrived in mainland China, so fulfilling Xavier’s great dream. The following year, Ricci printed the Catechism, the first book produced by Europeans in China. The Jesuits’ method was to acquire a deeper knowledge of Chinese culture, in particular Confucianism, so building a bridge by which to convey the content of the true faith. Respected for his wisdom, in China Ricci was considered a master of the mathematical sciences and astronomy. He translated some fundamental texts into Chinese, such as the first six books of Euclid. He died on May 11, 1610. There were now 2,500 Christians in China. He is buried in the building that now houses a school for Communist party officials in Beijing.
18th century. The Christians in Beijing numbered some 100,000 souls. The community entered a period of decline, culminating in 1773 with the suppression of the Jesuit order by Rome, which transferred the missions to the Dominicans.

19th century. Following defeat by the West in the Opium Wars, China was compelled to allow evangelization. Some orders of nuns opened schools for girls, orphanages, and hospitals. The first Catholic universities were also founded.

20th century. In the early 1900s, the xenophobic Boxers Rebellion massacred Catholics (30,000 are said to have been killed).
1949. The Chinese People’s Republic was established. In 1951, the Papal Nuncio was expelled with the complicity of the Archbishop of Nanjing (excommunicated in 1955), who hoped for a Church independent from Rome. In 1957, the Communist Party set up the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which it controls directly. The Roman Catholic Church went underground.

2000. On October 1st, John Paul II canonized a group of 120 men and women who had suffered martyrdom in different parts of Tonkin (now in Vietnam) and China. They included a group of monks and laymen massacred by the Boxers in 1900.
2007. On May 27th, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a letter to Chinese Catholics: “The solution to existing problems cannot be pursued via an ongoing conflict with the legitimate civil authorities; at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the Church...”