Ashram of Christian Followers

The Ashram of Christian Followers was founded by Ni Chaisheng in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in 1922. It developed well during the 1930s to the 1940s but broke up later.

Ni Chaisheng was born into a Christian family in 1903. From 1920, he began to believe in Christianism.

The main features of the Ashram of Christian Followers were as follows:

1. It called for isolation from sects, and setting up local churches;

2. There were no priests in the church, followers were called as sisters or brothers, and for local churches there were managers named presbyters;

3. There was a meeting of any kind every Sunday;

4. Followers should be baptized by putting their whole body in water when they embraced religion;

5. Female followers must cover their heads when taking part in get-togethers;

6. It adhered to basic belief instead of liturgies; and

7. It paid much attention to religious festivals and daily protocol.

The Ashram of Christian Followers enjoyed much development from the 1930s to the 1940s, later cleavage emerged in it.