Birthplace of Chinese Protestantism
3 min read1000+ Years of Christianity During the centuries preceding the 1841 Opium War merchants and missionaries worked with Chinese in other Asian countries，and since most of those Chinese were from the Xiamen area，the foreigners learned Amoy dialect.Quite naturally，after the war forced China open，both missionaries and businessmen converged upon the one place in China that they already knew the language-Xiamen.
Today，Xiamen is known as the“Birthplace of Chinese Protestantism，”with 40+churches，including China’s oldest church（Xinjie，-），but Christians were in the Xiamen area over 1，000 years ago-as were Jews，Hindus，Manicheans，Muslims…
Muslim Mosque（Qingzhensi）A Ming Dynasty granite stele in the Fuzhou mosque’s courtyard claims that of four disciples Mohammed sent to China，two cameto Quanzhou，start of the Maritime Silk Route.Xiamen was part of Qudnzhou，and had its best port，so Muslims probably arrived at least 1000 years ago.Records claim Muslim traders sailed into Xidmen during Koxinga’s day and built a mosque here.Anelegant white mosque was built on Zhongshan Lu in the 1840s.The present mosque ison the 4th floor of#27 Gongyudn Nan Lu.In 2006，the Xiamen government announced a7 million Yuan project to help minorities，which included renovation of the mosque and construction of a Muslim cemetery in Tong’an.
Nestorians and Franciscans A Xi’an museum has a stele dating to Jan.7，781 A.D.，which celebrates the arrival in China of Nestorian Christianity（Luminous Religion，Jingjido）in 635 A.D.The stele lists the names of 70 Assyrian missionaries.Nestorians probably also arrived in South Fujian about the same time as the Muslims.
In the 1300s，Marco Polo reported that Fuzhou had a large group of Christians with roots going back hundreds of years.By the early 1300s，Qudnzhou had 3 Franciscan cathedrals，as well as a Jewish community.And given that Xiamen had the best port，it is not surprising that it was frequented by Muslims，Manicheans，Nestorians，Franciscans，or Song Dynasty Scientologists.
Guldngyu’s foreign cemetery，with its tombs dating back to the 1600s，was destroyed in the 1950s in protest of Britain’s invasion of Egypt.
1st Church of China（Xinjie，Sin Khoe A）Every two-horse-town in America has a First Baptist or a First Methodist，but there is only one First Churcl of China-right here in Xidmen.China’s first Protestant church was built in 1848 for the princely sum of $3000.Today the church has services and programs every day of the week.Sunday services are in Minnan dialect and Mandarin.Tel：2072383.
Add:Add:#29 Taiguang Jie Corner of Zhongshan and Siming roads，behind Carrefour.
Zhashu Church（Bamboo Church，Zhoshutang），Xiamen’s second oldest church（1849），its leadership worked with Xinjie，even sharing elders and deacons.
Zhushu’s first service was Sunday afternoon，Aug.19th，1847，in the Bamboo House.They added an upper room with capacity of 100 worshippers in July，1850.The church burned down in 1903，was rebuilt with American donations in 1904，and the present church was built in 1935 under the guidance of a Chinese member who had graduated from engineering school in the U.S.Church membership fell during the Japanese occupation but by the mid 1940s over 600.Services were suspended from 1966 until Dec.20th，1981.
By 1983，attendance was up to 700.Zhashu now has 3 pastors，24 elders and deacons，attendance of 3，000，and programs most days of the week.
