# Communist victory in China (1949)

URL: https://christianity-history.com/timeline/1949-communist-victory-in-china
Location: China
Themes: Mission

The founding of the People's Republic of China leads to the expulsion of all foreign missionaries by the early 1950s. Cut off from the West and persecuted, Chinese Christianity survives and grows rapidly after the reforms of the late 1970s. At this point in the timeline (1949), the Bishop of Rome was Pope Pius XII (2 March 1939 – 9 October 1958).

## Why it matters
Chinese Christianity became a self-sustaining church, now one of the largest Christian populations in Asia.

Pope at the time: [Pope Pius XII](https://christianity-history.com/popes/pope-pius-xii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Christianity in China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_China)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Communist victory in China](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Communist+victory+in+China)
- [Wikipedia — Modern Era (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_20th_century)