Freedom of religion is part of the constitution of China. It is a freedom for organised groups with communal activities who register with government officials. Two of the recognised religions are Catholicism and Christianity - distinction because of historic and organisational differences.
The Protestant Church in China is post-denominational, a structural uniformity imposed to distinguish it from the foreign form of Christianity brought in by missionaries. The number of adherents develops exponentially, but is not able to be matched either by the number of church buildings, training facilities of trained ministers. Whereas at one time members were mostly the elderly, poor and poorly educated in the countryside, now there is a large minority who have university education and in the cities a span of society who are practising Christians.
The Three-self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) is a government body set up to oversee the organisation and activities of the protestant church, which has its own organisation called the China Christian Council (CCC). As China promotes internally the formation of an harmonious society, so the Protestant Church turns outward more to social works and over 20 years ago initiated the Amity foundation. But another focus for the Protestants is enculturalisation. In China the prophetic and critical role under the government is not easy; it is this that may to some extent explain the continuance of 'underground' Christian churches.
In China the Protestant Church is distinguished from the Catholic Church.