Editing The Shouters (section)

=== The TSPM and the PRC's regulation of religion ===
In 1950 [[Zhou Enlai]] worked with [[Y. T. Wu]] to craft "[[The Christian Manifesto]]" declaring that Protestants in China would support the new government and reject foreign imperialism. Such initiatives led to the establishment of the TSPM which promoted the "three-self principles" of self-government, self-support, and self-propagation. Shortly afterwards a widespread accusation/denouncement campaign began which led to the expulsion of foreign missionaries and to the arrest and imprisonment of many indigenous Chinese Christians as counterrevolutionaries, including prominent Christian teachers such as Watchman Nee and [[Wang Mingdao]].<ref>Lyall, Leslie (1977), "The Chinese Christian Church under Communism—1949–1966", in Aikman, David, ''Love China Today'', Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 53.</ref><ref>Bob Whyte, ''Unfinished Encounter: China and Christianity'' (London, Fount Paperbacks, 1988), 219–28.</ref>  The CCP had a deep mistrust of any leader or movement with a significant following, including religious ones, partly due to the prominent place of the religiously motivated [[Taiping Rebellion]] in China's relatively recent past.<ref>Michael Dillon, ''Religious Minorities and China'' (London: Minority Rights Group International, 2001), 23.</ref><ref>Tony Lambert, "The Present Religious Policy of the Chinese Communist Party," ''Religion, State & Society'' 29:2, 2001:121.</ref><ref>{{Citation | first1 = Joshua | last1 = Spooner | first2 = Robert M | last2 = Hathaway | title = Will Religion Challenge the Chinese State? | publisher = Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. | url = http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/will-religion-challenge-the-chinese-state}}</ref> The CCP itself had first gained traction in China by mobilizing small groups of peasants in rural areas and had grown in strength until it was able to topple the [[Kuomintang]] from power.

The TSPM was disbanded in 1966, near the outset of the Cultural Revolution. When the TSPM was reinstituted in 1979, its influence was initially confined to major metropolitan areas such as [[Beijing]] and [[Shanghai]],<ref>David H. Adeney, ''China: The Church's Long March'' (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1985), 167–68.</ref> whereas the rapid proliferation of the Christian faith was in provinces such as [[Henan]], Zhejiang, [[Fujian]], and [[Anhui]].<ref>Hunter and Chan, ''Protestantism'', 67–68.</ref><ref>Lyall 1985, 172</ref>  Many Christians in China viewed the TSPM with suspicion because in its earlier incarnation in the 1950s, the TSPM had promoted modernist theology and had collaborated with the CCP to repress and persecute more biblical teachers. These Christians saw the reestablishment of the TSPM in 1979 as the government's attempt to reassert control over them and to slow the spread of the Christian gospel.<ref>Lyall 1985, 169–70</ref><ref>Arne Sovik, ''China Notes'' VII:2, 1979:65.</ref>