Introducing
the
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity
The life stories of significant figures in Chinese Christianity
across the centuries and around the world
Christianity has an ancient history in China, dating back at least to 635 A.D. Roman Catholicism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Protestantism had all entered China by 1807. By 1957, Chinese Christians numbered about 1,700,000. During the past 50 years, Christians in China have survived severe persecution while multiplying themselves many times, with estimates ranging from fifty to a hundred million. Christianity has spread its influence in Chinese communities around the world, where Chinese churches are growing rapidly.
Who are the persons who have played important roles in this tremendous growth? What are the names and stories of Chinese indigenous church leaders and lay persons who pioneered and nurtured the churches, led independent Christian movements, and applied biblical values to Chinese social and political challenges?
To address these questions, a group of China scholars founded the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (BDCC). An electronic database in both Chinese and English, the BDCC contains authoritative biographies of the foreign missionaries and Chinese church leaders, evangelists, and laity chiefly responsible for laying the foundations and advancing the growth of Chinese Christian communities and their influence in societies around the world.
Since the launching of the current site in 2009, more than 1,000,000 people have visited this rich repository of information and evaluation of God’s work among his servants among the Chinese.
A redesigned website is underway and set to be launched this autumn.
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity
