ABSTRACT
Domination-resistance has given way to domination and negotiation in the Chinese Communist Party-state’s relations with Protestants from 1949 to today. The chapter sketches how attempts to align the public behavior of Protestants to match the ambitions of the official agenda have faltered, after the Mao Zedong (1949-1976) period. The regime moderated its anti-religious stance and used “legalization” to justify control, but Protestants have spread far beyond Party-state control. Overwhelmed local officials devolve authority to the Protestant associations to help monitor and restrain religious growth.
