China cannot create a politically modern and truly free society without Christianity, said Chinese journalist Promise Hsu in his presentation to the Course on Religion and Politics in Washington, DC.

Hsu, a former TV journalist and the founding Senior Editor of Fortune Times, has seen much more openness come to China’s public life just since 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization. Though much is made of China's recent opening up to the outside world, the country was never really closed to foreign influence. Christianity has had a presence in China for centuries, but Hsu contends that it is only within the past decade that it has begun to find footing among intellectuals and business professionals.

Statistics on religion in China are unreliable, but the Chinese government estimates 16 million Christians in the country. Government figures count only Party-sanctioned places of worship, however. USA TODAY reported non-governmental estimates as high as 150 million*.

Even if the higher figures are accurate, the number of Christians in China remains a small proportion of the total population, and its influence on mainstream culture is weak. The growing number of influential Christians coincides with China’s growing social and economic openness.

 Political openness is slower in coming, but Hsu insists it is inevitable. He also believes that Christianity will have a part to play in this process.

 “The government’s attitude toward the Church is complicated and changing,” Hsu observed. “In their mind, Christianity has come from the West and from American culture. Many of them think very highly of Western culture, mainly science and technology, economy and governance.” 

Hsu comments on religion and politics 

Yet Hsu warns that there are powerful government factions that see the Church as an instrument of Western control over China. Others are intrigued. For them, “Christianity is still sort of a superstition, perhaps a kind of psychology,” said Hsu. “It could be a stabilizing force in society.”

Hsu explained that this manner of thinking about religion is very natural for Chinese leaders.

This pattern of seeking maximum control and fearing chaos dates back thousands of years. The irony is that Chinese intellectuals spent much of the 20th Century desperately trying to leave the “old” China behind and create a new society.