From Jesus in Beijing, a fascinating book about the history and current state of Christianity in China:
There are Christian actors, singers, and conductors in China, and these have been able to acknowledge their faith with much greater openness than those in other professions. For the second year in a row, in December 2002, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall resonated to the solos and choruses of Handel’s Messiah, performed in Chinese by the choir of the National Symphony Orchestra and China Film Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Su Wenxing, and openly professing Chinese Christian.
China is undergoing a massive grassroots change, and Christianity is driving it, the book, by the former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine, reports. The rate of conversion to Christianity in China is among the highest in the world.
Anyone who is interested in Christianity and China would also enjoy The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language. This book is based on the research of a Chinese pastor, who one day noticed that the ancient Chinese pictograph for “boat” was composed of the combination of characters meaning “eight persons.” Having just read the account of Noah’s Ark in his Bible, the connection was made, and he began his research. Noah lived 350 years after the Flood, and 250 years after the Babel dispersion, and is the founder of Chinese civilization (as Fohi or Yao) according to tradition.
I can also recommend the wonderful book, The Small Woman by Alan Burgess, the story of the remarkable Gladys Aylward, an English maid who became a beloved missionary to China. A movie was made of her story, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman as Miss Aylward.
Thank you for this recomendation. I have some close friends who just came back from being missionaries in China. I have heard many stories and a lot of their thoughts on Christianity and China, I will have to recomend this book to them.