Foreign Missions. Christian missionaries from the West began to enter China in the seventh century to preach and spread their faith, build churches, and convert the Chinese. Although they increased their influence slowly, they were finally expelled from China because of changes in political circumstances, as well as the antagonism and fear stimulated by a religion that never adjusted to certain essential Chinese attitudes and practices. The Chinese generally looked upon Christianity as "foreign," and though its indirect influence in China was substantial, it never at any time appealed to any significant portion of the population. Both Buddhism and Islam were more successful than Christianity in China.

Nestorian Church. Nestorianism, a branch of Christianity practiced primarily in Syria by followers who had splintered off from the Eastern Orthodox Church, was introduced into China in 635 by Olopen (known as Jiang Jiao), a...