Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Worship God the highest. Before I came to China, I didn’t worry about finding a church here. But what I didn’t expect is there are so many of them and so involved with Chinese history. Hello I am Laurel Bennett. In today’s rediscovering China, let’s take a look at churches in China.

It’s 8 o’clock in the morning. Mass is underway in the largest Catholic Church in the capital city of Beijing.

The congregation is mostly made up of people who live in the neighborhood. Some families have three or four generations of believers, but the history of Jesus in China dates back much earlier than that.

Jesus commanded his followers to take God’s love the Jesus’ renovation from the dead to every corner of the world. They listened and obeyed. It’s even said that Apostle Thomas traveled first to India and then in 61 AD to the ancient capital of Xi’an to tell the people of China about Jesus Christ.

Legend has it that the Apostle Thomas, after he took the message of Jesus Christ to ancient India in 51 AD, continued his journey to China. Ten years later, the vast middle kingdom heard the Gospel for the first time.

Xi’an, capital city of Tang Dynasty, was once the most prosperous, hospitable, tolerant and divert place in the world. The existence of Christianity in China at that time is not just a hypothesis but a statement backed with strong evidence. Chinese characters inscribed on a black marble monument unearthed in Xi’an read, "The Monument Commemorating the Propagation of the Ta-ch'in Luminous Religion in the Middle Kingdom." Characters on the stone described the arrival of a missionary, Olopen (or Alopen), in 635 AD.

At that time, most Chinese people believed in Buddhism, Daoism, or Confucianism. In an effort to reach the people, early missionaries built churches in form of Buddhism temples, most which can no longer be found today.

In the middle of a street in northeastern Beijing stands the remnant of a wall taking those who see it back to the Yuan Dynasty in 13th century when most of Asia was territory of China. Who could ever forget the infamous conqueror, Khubilai Khan?

You might think I am standing in front of a Chinese temple. Take a closer look, you will find it’s a different place to worship. Actually it’s a protestant Church.

This church was built in the early 20 century. But it gave us a hint how early churches took a Chinese look. Inside the basilica hall there is an altar. The wooden board reads the songs and scripture passages for the coming service. But from the street, one can hardly tell it’s a church. The roof, the gray wall, the pattern are traditional Chinese. Looking down from above, you’d think it’s no different from the neighboring buildings. That’s exactly what the first wave of churches intended: to bring a new message to a culture, not to transplant a foreign culture.

This church is in Guiyang, a southwestern Chinese province. The bell tower is actually a Chinese pagoda, while the gate is adopted from Pailou, a memorial gate prevalent in local constructions. But still there are some hints, like the three Chinese characters which read “Catholic Church”, and the stained-glass window like those found on the facades of Gothic churches.

1601, an Italian missionary was on his way to China’s capital to meet the emperor. 18 years had passed since Matteo Ricci had first landed in coastal city of Guangzhou, managed to get close to the local people, officials, influential scholars. At last, he received the chance to face the most powerful man in the nation and to tell him about Jesus Christ.