Right now, the fastest growing religion in China is Christianity. This is largely due to revamped missionary work in the country, as well as all of Asia.
However, this isn’t really a new phenomena. Christianity did spread eastward early on, and it created a variety of distinct and rather interesting traditions. Christianity most likely traveled east within the first or second century. There is a text called the Acts of Thomas which tells how Thomas traveled to India and witnessed there. According to Harold W. Attridge in the Anchor Bible Dictionary, volume 6, page 531, the text comes from probably the first half of the 3rd century and was widespread by the 4th century. What this tells us is that from early on, there was a tradition of missionary work being done in the East.
Around 190 C.E. there was also a Christian by the name of Pentaenus, who was a mentor to the church fathers Clement and Origen, who went to India to preach. He found at the time that there was already Christian communities in the area, and they used what is now known as the Gospel of the Hebrews as their text. Eusebius of Caesarea mentions that Pantaenus was a missionary who worked in India, and that he found the Gospel of the Hebrews (which he calls the Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew) among various communities, and was supposedly left by the Apostle Bartholomew. This has led some to believe that Syrian Christians had already brought Christianity to India as early as the second century.
It can also be mentioned that some churches in Northern India claim to have been founded by Thomas himself, and that Thomas’s grave is there. This is purely tradition though and I can’t think of any scholar who argues it as history. Its interesting none the less though.
So we have evidence that Christianity moved into India, but it never gained a major foothold. There are ancient churches there, but it didn’t explode. Part of that reason probably is because it didn’t assimilate into the culture effectively, partially because of the caste system in play.
We also have evidence of Christianity influencing the Mongols. During the 13th-14th century, a substantial minority were Christians, and they had substantial power. They were largely Nestorian, or of the Church of the East. The western church saw this sect of Christianity (the Nestorians) as heretical. The Mongols would actually reintroduce this sect into China.
Mongol conversion to Christianity began in the seventh century, and tribes such as the Keraites, the Naimans, the Merkit and the Ongud were Nestorian Christians. Genghis Khan, while practicing the traditional Mongolian shamanism, was tolerant of other faiths and had men who were Christian and Muslim who worked with him. His sons were married to Christian princesses of the Keraites clan, and thus held sway over the court. Genghis’s grandson, the Great Khan Mongke, had a court that was heavily influenced by Christianity and Mongke did quite a bit that spread the religion.
It is goes further though. The First Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea, which is in Asia Minor. The first nations that adopted Christianity, as their state religions, were Armenia and Georgia.
Fast forward to China in 1850-1864. This was the time of the Taiping Rebellion. It started with a group called the Heavenly Kingdom Movement led by Hong Xiuqaun, who claimed to be the brother of Jesus. The Rebellion can be called a Civil War in China, as it became a full out war with the Heavenly Kingdom Movement fighting against the Qing Dynasty. This was one of the bloodiest wars in history, with the Heavenly Kingdom Movement expanding to over 30 million people. That’s a huge Christian movement in China, even though they would be considered heretics.
It can also be mentioned that around a quarter of the population in South Korea is Christian, and in Vietnam, about 10% of the population was Christian while it was under French control.
So it did really catch on in Asia. It often took what would be considered heretical forms though.
But one of the big thing that kept Christianity somewhat less in the East was that in many places it wasn’t allowed. In Japan, for example, Philippians’ missionaries converted large numbers of people to Christianity. But the Japanese government didn’t take kindly to it because it was seen as being in contrast to proper reverence of the Emperor. But it survived underground until today. And while the Mongols were tolerant, not everyone after them was as tolerant. And things like the Taiping Rebellion didn’t help.
So in our lifetimes, it appears that Christianity never really moved East because in places like China, it was outlawed. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, religious repression was widespread and the country declared itself atheist. When the USSR did the same thing, it really had a similar impact where the Russian Orthodox Church was persecuted and Christianity in the East dwindled. For China, during the height of the Cultural Revolution in 1966-67, places of worship were demolished and religious practices saw additional bans.
But today, Christianity is booming in Asia again.
