Editor’s note: In 2026, we are praying for Chinese cities that are a little bit “off the beaten path.” Although these cities are still quite large, they are smaller than some of China’s megacities, and are not as well-known in the West as places like Beijing, Shanghai, or Chengdu.
This March, we are praying for Nanning. Nanning is the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. As the name makes clear, Guangxi is home to many minority peoples, particularly Zhuang people. People in the city are kind and laid-back, and have a slower pace of life. Believers in Nanning say that traditional folk religion is still strong in Guangxi, and that the area has few Christians and not many churches.
“One Big Village”
China Partnership: What makes Nanning unique among Chinese cities?
Pastor Zeng: Nanning is subtropical, and is known as the “Green City.” Even now, in winter, there are still a lot of flowers and plants. Nanning is generally considered a livable place. It’s hot here, so life runs late. Even late at night, lots of people are still out on the streets, eating supper and wandering around.
Most people here don’t have clear religious faith; it’s more a mix of folk religion and ancestor worship. There aren’t many believers, and there aren’t many churches.
Over the past decade or so, the city has kept expanding. Villagers who used to live on the outskirts have been displaced by urban development and absorbed into the city. Some of those people are Zhuang, others are Han – they speak languages like Zhuang, Cantonese, and so on. Because many of those people are from a farming background, the city still feels a bit like one big village that keeps spreading outward.
Most people here don’t have clear religious faith; it’s more a mix of folk religion and ancestor worship. There aren’t many believers, and there aren’t many churches.
Traditional Religion Abounds
Brother Jiang: I’ll answer from two angles: local culture, and gospel history.
“Old Nanning” – locals who were born here – make up a pretty small share of the population. The vast majority come from somewhere else. Nanning is inclusive and welcoming; you don’t really get a strong, “I’m local, you’re not” dynamic. The pace of life is slow, and economic development is relatively backward.
On the culture side, I’d add that traditional religion – superstition and folk practices – are very common. In the “two Guangs” – Guangxi and Guangdong – traditional folk culture and superstition are strong. There is ancestor worship, the March 3rd festival (which is also a ghost festival), and Spring Festival. People burn incense for all of these.
In the countryside, almost every household has an ancestral tablet. This is common, widespread, and deeply rooted. Whether people really believe or not, almost every family has an ancestral tablet.
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Of course, in the city, most people don’t believe in anything. They have no faith. The proportion of Christians here is relatively small. Traditional religion and superstition have a large share of the people; it’s common to see spirit mediums, rituals, or for people to hire Daoist practitioners. It’s a kind of cultural history.
As for Christian faith, in the last few decades a lot of foreign missionaries have come to Guangxi. The faith of the people who first shared the gospel with me was connected to missionaries, and I think many people in Nanning came to faith through that. The gospel here largely started with these missionaries coming to preach and gradually establishing churches. Those missionaries mainly focused on evangelism.
Traditional religion – superstition and folk practices – are very common.
There’s also another pattern, which is that Chinese house churches from northern China or other areas have sent their own missionaries here to plant churches.
When I first came to Nanning, I was in a fellowship whose ministry was starting small groups in the countryside to evangelize. But that fellowship didn’t put much emphasis on Bible study or individual shepherding, just sharing the gospel. This was tied to the missionaries’ overall strategy. So, in the beginning, a lot of people believed and were baptized – but now that group might be just a few people, or maybe doesn’t even still exist.
People like me and the other pastors here are from a slightly later wave. We came to faith locally, and then were gradually exposed to theological education. We all started to have a sense of needing to shepherd and build the church.
Nanning: Slower-paced, Slower-developing
Brother An: Nanning is in a fairly remote place, the southwestern frontier. Nanning is now the capital of Guangxi Province, but in the past Guilin was our capital. So, Nanning is a relatively new city, and it used to be a very small town. Overall, compared to other Chinese cities, the economy isn’t very developed.
Nanning’s urban population isn’t that large, either, with around three million or so in the city proper. The culture here is relatively backward. People with more education or ambition usually go to bigger cities; not many come to Nanning. The pace of life is slower. Even in the middle of the day, you see a lot of people on the street, and they seem to be just hanging around, not working. You get the sense that a lot of people don’t have jobs. They are just relaxing in the plaza.
On the positive side, people are kind and polite. There’s not too much competition between people. You rarely, almost never, see people arguing or fighting on the street. This is a slower-paced, slower-developing city.
Although there is a strong local identity and there are several local languages, Nanning people don’t exclude outsiders. They are almost as friendly to outsiders as locals. As for the number of outsiders versus locals, if you counted everyone from Guangxi Autonomous Region as a local, even if they are from outside Nanning, then the vast majority of people here would still be “local.”
But there are people from outside the province, like me. I’ve been here more than 30 years, I’m “new Nanning.” In recent years, more people have come here from other provinces to look for work – but still not that many. If you’re looking for a job or are a university grad, people tend to go to big cities. People who stay here usually do so because their hometown is somewhere in Guangxi.
People are kind and polite. There’s not too much competition between people… This is a slower-paced, slower-developing city.
Nanning has only really developed in the last 20 or 30 years – before that, the city was small, and there wasn’t much gospel history. There are some historical records of denominational churches here back before 1949, but later all these churches merged and joined the Three-Self.
I came to faith pretty early, more than 20 years ago. Back then, I had only heard of house churches for Wenzhou people who came here for business and had their own house churches. House churches really only started appearing here around 2000 or so, which is pretty late, compared to other cities. Back then, there were only two Three-Self churches, full of the elderly and infirm. The gospel situation was very barren.
There still aren’t many churches in Nanning. I’ve been a Christian for a long time now and am pretty active in the city. Once, I sat down and counted the churches I know of – both small and large – and counted less than 30. (Of course, there may be some very small groups I don’t know about.)
Pastor Zeng, Brother Jiang, and Brother An are pseudonyms for house church leaders in Nanning.
Pray for people in Nanning to turn away from folk religion and turn to Jesus.
