Deep in China’s heartland is a region known as “The Bethlehem of China,” where, more than a thousand years ago, Western missionaries first brought Christianity to the area. It is here, in a series of caves hidden in the hills, where members of China’s underground Christian Church tell FRONTLINE/World and Chicago Tribune reporter Evan Osnos how they have kept the religion alive. For years, they moved from place to place to avoid government detection, until they found safety in these hills.
“When we were in an underground state, we would gather here to meet,” Zhang Yinan, a pastor who’s chronicling the rise of Christianity in China, tells Osnos.
See also China Beat’s interview with Osnos from earlier this month.
