Back to Jerusalem: The Chinese-Christian Road to Globalization and Self-fulfillment

Abstract

The Chinese Christian Back to Jerusalem (BTJ) movement has attracted significant attention in the past two decades. With an original goal of sending out 100,000 Chinese missionaries to destinations throughout Asia, the movement appears to express the vitality and dynamism of reform-era Chinese Christianity. In this article I examine the movement’s development and its close correspondence to Chinese state geopolitical ambitions to reshape twenty-first-century globalization through the One Belt One Road Initiative. I discuss the movement, development, and impact following the recent tightening of religious policy in China and the COVID-19 pandemic. While the BTJ may be seen as a Christian expression of the PRC’s self-confidence and nationalism it is also reflective of reform-era individuality, often including deep criticism of contemporary Chinese society.