Mao Zedong. The name is often placed alongside other horrible dictators like Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, and Stalin. Deaths of millions can be attributed to him. But I want to argue that he was one of the best things that ever happened to Christianity in China.
Right now I am in Taiwan (where my father’s side of the family is from; my mother’s side is from China) visiting my relatives, and I can’t help but notice how non-Christian it is here. To put it simplistically, the difference between Taiwan and China is akin to the difference between South Korea and North Korea, or the former West Germany and East Germany—it’s the same people, same language, same culture, same ethnicity, but vastly different politics. Taiwan is a democracy; China is communist. However, though Taiwan has religious freedom, it is around 6% Christian with a population of 24 million (that’s less than 1.5 million Christians). Compare this to mainland China which is estimated up to 10% Christian, which doesn’t seem like that much. But if you consider that it is a country of 1.3 billion people, that means it may have up to 130 million Christians! That’s larger than the population of most countries! This makes China the second largest Christian nation on earth, by sheer numbers, after the U.S.—remarkable!
A lot of this can be attributed to Chairman Mao inadvertently “paving the way” for this Christian boom. How? Three main reasons:
1) When Mao ushered in the Communist era, he unified the language. Instead of all the people in China (the third largest country in the world by land mass and the largest by population) speaking their own regional dialects, he imposed Mandarin on everyone. Now, missionaries just have to come in with one translation of the Bible and with knowledge of only one language, and they can reach 1.3 billion people with the Gospel! Contrast this with India in which missionaries have to learn dozens, even hundreds, of languages if they want to reach the same number of people!
2) Mao eradicated religion. Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism—all gone. This left a spiritual void which made the Chinese people hunger for something beyond their present reality. Christianity came in and caught on like wildfire, since it had no other religious competition, and people were just waiting expectantly for light to their darkness.
3) Along with Communism came egalitarianism. Communism as an ideology is inherently egalitarian (with the exception of the “dictator” who ironically espouses egalitarianism but certainly doesn’t live it). Mao got rid of patriarchy and hierarchy in Chinese society, leading to the springing up of underground house churches, grassroots Christian movements, and this culture was highly compatible with the “priesthood of all believers.” Now all Chinese Christians, whether male or female, old or young, educated or uneducated, can participate in the total work of ministry in China—preaching, prophesying, healing, etc. This mobilization of the masses for Christian work is astounding—e.g. the Back to Jerusalem movement, click here for more info.
So, despite the fact that Taiwan is a democracy and China is communist, the Holy Spirit is doing something amazing in mainland China today—maybe not just in spite of the obstacles, but perhaps because of the obstacles!
Thank you, Mao! (or maybe I should say, God works in mysterious ways, indeed!)
