BYU ScholarsArchive

Article Title

"This Is Very Historic": The Young Ambassadors 1979 Tour of China

Authors

John Hilton III, Brigham Young University
Brady Liu, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Mormon studies, China, proselyting

Abstract

On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established by Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China. While this commenced a new political organization in China, it marked at least a temporary end of the potential for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to directly proselytize in mainland China. While LDS proselyting took place in Taiwan and Hong Kong over the next several decades, there was no formal LDS Church presence in mainland China. The United States government did not officially recognize the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, causing a frosty relationship between the two nations. During this time period there were “virtually no diplomatic relations, no summits, no joint meetings, and no exchanges of tourists, business leaders, or academics.”

Recommended Citation

Hilton, John III and Liu, Brady (2016) ""This Is Very Historic": The Young Ambassadors 1979 Tour of China," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 55: Iss. 3, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol55/iss3/8