to five religious communities: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism (through the Catholic Patriotic Association) and Protestantism (through the Three-Self Patriotic Movement). However, this recognition has not been extend to the Orthodox Church. Nonetheless in the 2010s tentative steps have been taken between China and Russia to revive the Chinese Orthodox Church; it has been speculated that this is part of an effort by the two governments to forge closer ties in response to perceived American hegemony. At present, there are only three communities in Mainland China with regular weekly services and resident clergy. The Beijing community meets at the restored Church of the Dormition in the grounds of the Russian Embassy in Dongzhimen; the Shanghai community at the Russian Consulate; and the Church of the Intercession, Harbin, the only one open to Chinese nationals for regular worship. Elsewhere, priestless congregations continue to meet in Northeast China (in Heilongjiang and elsewhere) and in Western China (Xinjiang – Ürümqi and Ghulja) with, apparently, the tacit consent of the government. There are also Orthodox parishes in the Province of Guangdong and in Shanghai; two former Orthodox churches in Shanghai are currently in a process of being returned to the church but no activities are currently held inside them. In March 2018, the Chinese Orthodox church acquired the government's approval to prepare new priests in Russian theological seminaries. The Orthodox Church operates relatively freely in Hong Kong, where there are two parishes: St Luke's Greek Orthodox Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia under the Ecumenical Patriarchate) and the Russian Orthodox parish of Saints Peter and Paul under the Moscow Patriarchate. There is also a presence in Taiwan (where Archimandrite Jonah George Mourtos leads a mission church). Orthodox Evenkis Although many of them have adopted Tibetan Buddhism, the Evenks of both the Russian Federation and China are a nominally Orthodox Christian people. They are some of the only Asiatic peoples who nominally practice Orthodox Christianity, which they had voluntarily (as opposed to being coerced to do so) adopted. There are also around 3000 Evenks in neighbouring Heilongjiang. See also Christianity in China Timeline of Orthodoxy in China Catholic Church in China Protestantism in China Albazinians Oros Niru Amur Cossacks Harbin Russians Chinese characters for transcribing Slavonic References Derived with permission from Orthodox Church of China at OrthodoxWiki. External links Official Site – Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia Recent article