Unknown to many Western Christians, Wang Mingdao (1901-1991) is one of the most influential and respected Chinese Christian leaders of the 20th century. He was the pastor of an independent church in Beijing founded on the “three-self principle”. He was the conscience of the Chinese church courageously confronting the false teachings and evils of his time. He was a prisoner of Jesus Christ and spent two decades in prison suffering for his faith. Wang Mingdao was born in Beijing where his parents had taken refuge in the foreign neighborhoods of Beijing during the Boxer Uprising in 1900. This uprising was a xenophobic reaction against “foreign devils” in general and Christians in particular. It is estimated that approximately 30,000 Chinese Christians and 200 foreign missionaries were massacred during this uprising. Terrified at the sight of the rampaging Boxers, Wang's father hanged himself weeks before his birth. Wang was raised by his widowed mother in extreme poverty. Wang had a sharp mind and did well in school. At an early age Wang aspired to become a great political leader and hung a photo of Abraham Lincoln in his home to remind him of this. However, Wang became a Christian at the age of 14 and gave up his personal ambition to devote himself to Christian ministry. In 1919 Wang became a teacher at a Presbyterian mission school in Baoding, about one hundred miles south of Beijing. He later came to the belief in believers' baptism by immersion. He and his five friends broke the ice in a creek in January and dove into the freezing water in obedience to their conscience. As a result, he was promptly dismissed from the school in 1920. Wang subsequently retreated to the western hills of Beijing and read the Bible six times in sixty-two days which... middle of paper... Christian life. He has written extensively on these topics in Chinese, and I would like to read more of his primary sources. What I want to explore more is the relationship between church and state since the Chinese government's religious policy that Wang resisted is still in place. I think these have practical implications for how Christians live out their faith in an atheistic, materialistic society. Bibliography Aikman, David. Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is transforming China and changing the global balance of power. Lanham, MD: Regnery Publishing, 2003. Cook, Richard R. “Knowledge of Pain: Wang Mingdao's Stand for the Persecuted Church in China.” Fides et Historia 37 (1 December 2005): 149-151. Lyall, Leslie. Three of China's mighty men. London: OMF, 1973. Wang, Mingdao, A Stone Made Smooth. Mayflower Christian Books: Southampton, Hants, 1981.