Over 120 million Christians in China

The latest "Word From Jerusalem" newsletter of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (icej.org) mentions an interesting fact about China:

"After decades declaring Christianity dead in China, the government now admits that the church is more than 120 million people strong. ... Mainland China had just under a million Christians when the communist regime of Mao Tse-tung took over in 1948. The political leaders declared Christianity as an imperialist relic which would soon disappear from the country. However the communist regime had to learn that nothing can stop the work of the Holy Spirit. Just recently the government of China had to make an official declaration confessing that today there are more than 120 million Christians in China. 'Christian leaders in China believe that the actual number is even higher,' says Collin Chow, director of the ICEJ branch in Hong Kong.

China may very well become a Christian nation within our lifetimes. And this has huge consequences for the world.

A great resource for more on this topic is David Aikman's book, "Jesus in Bejing": http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Beijing-Christianity-Changing-Balance/dp/0895261286