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{{cquote|Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism...

{{cquote|Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism...

Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr. Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of Constantine, which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.<ref>[''Cracks in the atheist edifice''], ''The Economist'', November 1, 2014</ref>}}

Yang Fenggang of Purdue University, in Indiana, says the Christian church in China has grown by an average of 10% a year since 1980. He reckons that on current trends there will be 250m Christians by around 2030, making China’s Christian population the largest in the world. Mr. Yang says this speed of growth is similar to that seen in fourth-century Rome just before the conversion of [[Constantine]], which paved the way for Christianity to become the religion of his empire.<ref>[''Cracks in the atheist edifice''], ''The Economist'', November 1, 2014</ref>}}

[[File:Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing China.jpg|thumb|right|240px|In front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.]]

[[File:Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing China.jpg|thumb|right|240px|In front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.]]

A January 2011 news article entitled ''Third Church' China's New Face of Christianity'' indicated:

A January 2011 news article entitled ''Third Church' China's New Face of Christianity'' indicated: