Chiang Kai Shek’s religiosity is probably one of the reasons that Christianity took off here. It surprises many that he was in fact christian in his beliefs (at least later in life). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17535650902900364
CKS was in fact a methodist. But the deaths attributed to him number in the millions: https://www.cbgr1971.org/index.php/genocide/what-is-genocide/2-r-j-rummel-on-genocide
Of course, his crimes against humanity make it truly surprising. I guess the only reason he wasn’t tried for genocide was that he was on the ‘winning side’.
There were missionaries here for decades before, probably even longer. Christianity isn’t new to Taiwan by any means. But it hasn’t always been popular or welcome: for example, George Mackay in Tamsui reported being beaten by locals for his work. At one point, probably due to the Sino-French war, he fled to HK for a spell. Through his service, he endeared himself to local people, but it wasn’t without patience, faith and a degree of suffering.
Recent decades, many newer splinter churches (some with evangelical roots, some with non-traditional beliefs, some from Korea, etc.) have established themselves. In the area where I live, I counted a dozen or more churches, none of them Catholic or traditional church. I hesitate to call them cults, but none say they are Baptist, Methodist or any other predominant church group that I’m familiar with from home. It’s hard to tell by looking at their name if they are a traditional, evangelical or non-orthodox in their teachings, since many of them make the same essential claim(s).
Further up the road in the main center of our town, as I looked at Google maps for churches, each time I zoomed in a little more, a bunch of churches would pop up that hadn’t been visible before. I literally couldn’t count them all.
Not sure why some people are downvoting this post. None of what I’m saying here is inaccurate or even contentious. LOL!