This Asia Times article points out that Christianity — mostly of the Protestant variety — is exploding in China. The author points out that nearly 30 percent of the population of South Korea is Christian, and that China could head in that same direction in the next few decades.
One result could be what we’re seeing today from Korea, Africa, the Philippines and Latin America: missionaries proselytizing the U.S. and Europe. The author also contemplates the effect of a growing Chinese Christian population on Muslim countries and says missionaries to the Muslim world are being prepared today.
It seems to me the growth of Christianity in China makes it inevitable that the Church will be able to operate openly there soon. I have no inside knowledge on this issue — I just know we’ve had some success in Hong Kong and Taiwan, so mainland China has to be next.
Anybody interested in this subject should read “Jesus in Beijing,” a which makes claims that the growth of Christianity in China will make the country markedly friendlier to the United States in the years to come and change the global balance of power.
NOTE 1: John Derbyshire, a writer for National Review who is a longtime China hand, is skeptical of any explosion of Christianity in China. He notes that both Taiwan and Hong Kong have had Christian missionaries for decades and have Christian populations of less than 10 percent. The same thing applies to Japan, by the way.