Dong in China

Overview

Live in remote, mountainous areas of southwest China, 2.96 million people.
Are predominately local area subsistence farmers.
Best known for their architecture and love of music.
Most children attend elementary school, some through grade 8. High school is rare.
Villages have little access to health care because of money. Most cannot afford hospitals, except in the worst cases.
The Dong are animists with Chinese Buddhist influence (spirit world with many gods to appease). About .1% of Dong are Christians (compare this to 77% of Americans who identify as Christians). 85% of Dong people have never heard of Jesus.
Have their own language which is primarily oral and more closely associated with Tai language than Chinese. A full New Testament in the Dong language was published in early 2006.
Some ministries are community development, Bible translation, audio Bible Story recording, living in Dong areas while teaching, and running a Christian business.
Missions work in China faces many security issues.

dong fetching waterDong Temple

prayer guide:

Population:

2960000

Religion:

Animist

Unevangelized:

85.0%

country:

China

Dong

Table 2: Selected indicators of human poverty for China
Probability of not surviving to age 40 (%)	Adult illiteracy rate (% > age 14 )	People not using an improved water source (%)	Children underweight for age (% aged under 5)
1. Hong Kong, China (1.4)	1. Georgia (0.0)	1. Barbados (0)	1. Croatia (1)
59. China (6.2)	56. China (6.7)	77. China (12)	46. China (7)
153. Lesotho (47.4)	151. Mali (73.8)	150. Afghanistan (78)	138. Bangladesh (4So8)