Christianity

As introduced by the Taiwan Yearbook 2006:

Christianity first came to Taiwan following the arrival of the Dutch East India Company in southern Taiwan in 1624 and after the Spanish came to northern Taiwan in 1626. Based in Tainan, Dutch merchants used Taiwan as a colonial trading center for goods shipped between Asia and Europe, while missionaries actively converted aborigines into their Protestant faith near Tainan. The expansion of Catholicism in Taiwan was checked for a time by the Dutch defeat of the Spanish and the subsequent expulsion of Dominican missionaries from Danshuei and Keelung. The Dutch, including their missionaries, were themselves driven out of Taiwan in 1662 by Ming loyalist and general Jheng Cheng-gong, who brought his forces to Taiwan during his war of resistance against the Manchus.

Early Development

Christianity reemerged with the Dominicans' return to southern Taiwan in 1859. In Kaohsiung, Rev. Fernando Sainz established the Holy Rosary Cathedral (Minor Basilica). Christianity started to take root in Taiwan and gradually expanded northward.

Presbyterian missionaries began their work in Taiwan in the 1860s. By providing education and medical treatment, the Presbyterian missionaries gradually familiarized the local people with Christianity. In 1865, for example, Dr. James L. Maxwell set up Taiwan's first Western-style medical clinic on Kansi Street (present-day Ren-ai Road) in Tainan. In 1879, Rev. George L. MacKay established a hospital in Danshuei. Although he only had basic medical training, MacKay was respected by local people for his expertise in pulling teeth and treating malaria. After MacKay passed away, people established MacKay Memorial Hospital in Taipei in his honor. To cultivate Taiwanese missionaries, MacKay founded Oxford College in Danshuei in 1882 and enrolled 18 students. In 1884, he established Taiwan's first modern all-girls' school, the Danshuei Girls' School. In 1885, the Presbyterian Church established Taiwan's first Western-style middle school in Tainan (known today as Chang Jung Senior High School). During the Japanese occupation, these Christian schools became sanctuaries of learning for Taiwanese students, who were not allowed to study in most of the schools on the island.

In the early years of the Japanese occupation, the colonial government adopted a laissez-faire policy toward Christian churches. Japanese Protestant denominations also established their own churches in Taiwan, but most members of these churches were Japanese. Greater control over religion was exercised in Taiwan after the Sino-Japanese War began in 1937. During World War II, the colonial government put Western Catholic missionaries under strict surveillance and forbade missionary work among the local people.

After 1949

Christianity developed in new directions after World War II. When the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in 1949, many Christian clergy and believers, both Protestant and Catholic, followed. This move provided the clerical manpower needed to promote the faith. Moreover, during a time of postwar poverty and under military threat from China, Taiwan was in need of assistance to survive. By providing various types of social services, such as distributing relief supplies, Catholic and Protestant Christianity were able to promote their beliefs among the people of Taiwan. These factors might explain why Christianity grew rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s, with the number of Catholic believers growing from 27,000 to 300,000 between 1953 and 1963, and the number of Christian denominations from 3 in 1945 to approximately 40 in 1955.

Following this postwar heyday, however, Christianity entered a period of sluggish development. The number of Catholics has remained around 300,000, and the growth rate of Protestantism has not increased. Some observers theorize that the increasing popularity of traditional religions and the growth of new religious sects have made the Christian churches' effort to attract new believers difficult. Compared to traditional religions, which either have philosophies originating from traditional culture or have absorbed traditional culture into their philosophies, Christianity is a "foreign" religion whose doctrines sometimes conflict with local traditions and customs. This incompatibility shows, for example, in the debate over the acceptability of ancestor worship among Christian churches. Understanding that such incompatibility has become an obstacle to their expansion, Catholicism and some Protestant denominations have begun to "localize" their practices, adjusting their attitudes towards and adapting their doctrines more to local traditions and customs.

Catholic Church

Catholicism has a much greater penetration among Taiwan's indigenous peoples owing to its missionaries' early start in converting aborigines and offering them continuous help.

When Catholicism was first introduced to Taiwan, all matters of the Catholic Church in Taiwan had been overseen predominantly by Western missionaries. As Taiwan was returned to the ROC, Rev. Tu Min-jheng, a Taiwanese priest, was given the reins to manage Catholic Church affairs in Taiwan. Soon afterwards, seven dioceses were formed: the Taipei archdiocese, and the Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hualien dioceses. The Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference, the highest managing body of Catholic affairs in Taiwan, was established in Taipei in 1967. The conference is currently composed of seven incumbent bishops and presided over by Archbishop Joseph Cheng, of the archdiocese of Taipei. As of March 2006, there were 15 bishops, 726 priests, and 1,067 nuns serving 300,000 Catholics in Taiwan.

Protestant Churches

Protestant Christianity has more than fifty denominations in Taiwan and about 600,000 believers. With a 141-year history that can be traced back to British missionaries arriving in Taiwan, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) has 220,000 members, the largest number among all Christian denominations in Taiwan. The PCT is well known for its overt expression of social and political concerns by holding public activities, especially those it organized before martial law was lifted. Although the PCT conducts most church services in Holo Taiwanese, it is trying to expand the size of its Mandarin-speaking congregations and has established a Mandarin-speaking church in Danshuei.

In addition to Christian denominations originating from Western countries, Protestant churches in Taiwan also include "independent churches," sometimes called "local churches." Such churches were either founded in China before 1949 by Chinese Christians, which include the True Jesus Church and the Little Flock, or established in Taiwan after 1949, which include the Mandarin Church and the Bread of Life Christian Church.