Editing Lao She (section)

== Three-self principles ==
As a philosophy, the three-self principles survived in China. The People's Republic of China expelled all foreign missionaries in 1950, and in 1954 forced the Protestant churches to merge into a single body, the [[Three-Self Patriotic Movement]] of Protestant Churches in China, and break ties with foreign money, influence, and leadership. Critics charged that the movement was actually designed to train leaders in patriotism and to facilitate communication between the government and the Christian community. In 1966, as the Cultural Revolution began, public Christian worship was banned, and the Three-self Movement was disbanded. It was reorganized in 1980. Its main role is to articulate new government policies regarding religion. On a more positive note, it has helped foster the sense that the contemporary Chinese Protestant church is an indigenous body and no longer a branch of a foreign institution.<ref>{{Cite news|title=three-self principles|work=enacademmic.co|url-status=}}</ref>

Lao She's work revealed the language, the joys, and the pains of the common people of China. He believed his country and its Christianity needed to be sinicized and not dependent upon the foreigner for funds and direction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Towery|first=Britt E.|date=January 1994|title=The Contribution of Lao She to the Three-Self Principle and the Protestant Churches of China|journal=Missiology: An International Review|volume=22|issue=1|pages=89–101|doi=10.1177/009182969402200108|s2cid=194005582|issn=0091-8296|doi-access=free}}</ref>