Qi Qingcai

Qi studied at the University of Shanghai and Shantung Baptist Theological College (SBTC) from 1931 to 1935. In 1947 he completed his doctorate in theology in the United States. After graduating from SBTC, Qi served as pastor of Shanghai Baptist Grace Church for 54 years. He served as chairman of the National Baptist Union, managing director of the China Baptist Book Room, vice managing director of the University of Shanghai, and managing director for a number of Christian schools since the 1940s. Qi was devoted to theological education, and he founded Grace Volunteers Theological College. He served as vice principal of China Baptist Theological College and Shanghai Devotion Seminary for several years.

After the inauguration of the New China (1949), Qi served as the representative for the Shanghai People’s Representatives Council. He was also elected six times as a member of the Shanghai People’s Political Consultative Council from 1954 to 1985. In the 1980s, Qi was also made director of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and managing director of East China Theological Seminary.

Qi supported the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and was one of the 40 people who signed the “Three-Self Manifesto.” He served as a council member of the National Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee since 1954 and was elected its vice chairman in 1980. In 1981, when the Shanghai Protestant Church Committee was formed, Qi was elected its first chairman. In 1985 he was voted as the honorable chairman. His sermons have been edited and compiled in “Sermons of Pastor Qi Qing Cai.”