Over 23m Christians in China
BEIJING – THE number of Christians in China now stands at more than 23 million, after an increase which a government think tank attributed to the country’s economic growth, state media reported on Thursday.
Chinese Christians are most highly concentrated in the country’s prosperous and densely populated areas along the eastern coast and the Yangtze River, China Daily said, citing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
‘These statistics clearly indicate that the 30-year period of reform and opening up has been a period of rapid development for both Chinese society and the Chinese church,’ Fu Xianwei, who heads the body that ensures churches follow state interests, was quoted as saying.
The report did not give a figure for the extent of the increase or the number of Christians in China in 1980.
More than 50 million copies of the Bible had been printed in China by the end of last year, according to Mr Fu, who is chairman of China’s National Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee.
The number of Catholics in China has reached 5.7 million, according to the survey by the academy’s Institute of World Religions. — AFP
Source of article:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_565363.html
