This article reviews recent Western scholarship on the history of Christianity in China. Current research shows a growing interest in the study of Chinese Christian communities from the fifteen to twentieth centuries, and in the use of Chinese and foreign official archival materials and fieldwork data. This trend reflects a move toward a micro-history approach that examines Sino-Christian interaction at the grassroots level, especially Christian evangelization, mass conversion, anti-Christian violence, as well as church-state relations. By highlighting Chinese grassroots society as the locale of religious interaction, scholars focus on the inculturation of Christian belief and ritual practices, the localization of Christian communities, and the dynamics of Christian networking. Through a critical review of the latest literature, this study discusses new conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of Chinese Christianity.
