ABSTRACT
The history of the Anti-Christian Movements of 1922–7 and 1950–5 in China reveals the ways in which Chinese Christianity has evolved as a locus of conflict over issues relating to foreign culture and the transnational community in China. Comparing these two anti-Christian movements from the 1920s and 1950s illuminates two major shifts in the history of Christianity in China. First, the character of the Christian community evolved from “foreign” to “native”. Second, strident critics of Christianity from a nationalist point of view in the 1920s were mostly non-Christians, but by the 1950s a significant number arose from within the ranks of believers. More generally speaking, anti-Christian movements in China have served as barometers for anti-foreign sentiment. Although blanket accusations of “imperialism” have always failed to capture the complex processes of cultural translation, appropriation and agency at work within Chinese Christian communities, throughout China’s revolutions Christianity has indeed played a prominent recurring role as a symbol of foreign influence.
