Why do so many people in China believe in Christianity?

Taking Northeast China as an example, the explosive growth of Christian belief in Northeast China coincides with the fierce restructuring of state-owned enterprises.

Judging from the Christian structure in Northeast China, the rapidly growing Christians are mainly laid-off workers and retirees. This shows that the expansion of Christian faith in the local area is mainly because it meets the psychological needs of social belonging. Although this belief motive has the same utilitarian and blind obedience orientation as some people join the church because of illness, the value of Christian love and encouragement to this lost group is immeasurable.

On the other hand, people choose Christianity because the population in Northeast China is mainly composed of Shanhaiguan immigrants. People who have spent the first half of their lives in large industrial units can easily join the Christian church and get together in a strong atmosphere of mutual assistance and care.

The restructuring of state-owned enterprises is a violent social shock in Northeast China. Northeast China is an old industrial base in China, with a highly single urban economic structure and a highly single social structure: the socialization of enterprises is more prominent than anywhere else in China, and the birth and death of people and all social relations are concentrated in a closed unit.

The restructuring of state-owned enterprises not only means that workers' living standards have fallen sharply, but more seriously, people have to look for jobs and organizations again because enterprises have closed down and turned losses and lost their original social ties. For a society where everyone works in a state-owned enterprise, a person who is suddenly left by the enterprise will have a strong sense of trauma and loss. This should be the biggest reason why so many people believe in Christianity.