The Church in China—yesterday and today The Catholic Church in China—called in Chinese “the religion of the Lord of Heaven”—founded by Matteo Ricci, came to an initial halt over a quarrel about its rites, which ended with the departure of the missionaries in the 18th century. It was revived with the arrival of new missionaries in the 19th century, thanks, in particular, to the Foreign Missions of Paris. But, with the Communist revolution, missionaries were once again expelled between 1949 and 1953, and Christians have been persecuted ever since. Today, the Catholic Church in China includes a double reality: an underground Church, faithful to the Holy See but banned by the government, and the Patriotic Church, which is supervised by the government. Philippine Sea South China Sea Bay of Bengal Indian Ocean CH I NA I ND I A PHILIPPINES MALAYSIA INDONESIA THAILAND CAMBODIA VIETNAM LAOS JAPAN NORTH KOREA SOUTH KOREA MYANMAR BANGLADESH BHUTAN TAIWAN NEPAL MONGOLIA KYRGYZSTAN Goa Cochin Beijing Nanjing (Nanking) Shanghai Hong Kong Macau Zhaoqing Canton (Guanzhou) Taipei Chongqing Chengdu Sea of Japan 59
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMzNzY=