GAO, Shining2019-09-252019-09-252017-10-192011http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/166757Chinese Christianity has been known in contemporary society through three stages. In the years 1949-1979 Christianity was known negatively through Chinese official media. 1980-2000 Christianity developed fast and was accepted as a part of social culture and received a certain amount of sympathy and support from society. From2000 till to- day,the house church has been developing very quickly,and both government and society have gradually come to know the positive sides of Christianity. Through a combination of field work and case study,the present article argues that the ways of knowing Christianity and the means of Christian self-expression are different in the above three stages,and the partial functions of Christianity as part of a civil society have become visible during the process. For the present author, the functions of religions very much depend on the social context of their existence,and Christianity should play a more important role in the fast developing process of civil society in the contemporary China.engWith permission of the license/copyright holderChristianityhouse churchcivil societyIntercultural and contextual theologiesAsian theologiesArticle