China cheered the U.S. Senate's approval of permanent normal trade relations for the world's most populous nation, saying it was hugely important for good relations between the two countries. However, reflecting one of the many nagging problems in often-strained relations with the United States, Beijing restated its staunch opposition to the human rights amendments attached to the trade bill passed by the U.S. Senate.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation welcomed the vote as in "the fundamental interests of both China and the U.S. However," he added, "we note that the bill passed by the U.S. Senate still contains certain clauses that are irrelevant to trade and are intended for interfering in the internal affairs of China and harming China's interests, which is resolutely opposed by the Chinese government."

U.S. relationships with China have been delicate, to say the least. Methodist relationships with China have been long-standing and intense. In 1835 the Missionary Lyceum of Wesleyan University raised the question, "What country now presents the most promising field for missionary exertions?" "China," was the answer. In 1844 when the unjust opium war with England compelled China to open five seaports to the world, direct steps were taken for a mission there. J. D. Collins from Michigan offered to go as a common sailor, working his passage to China. He and M.C. White, who had medical training, and Mrs. White left Boston on April 15, 1847. They were the first Methodist missionaries to the East, the first to round the Cape of Good Hope.

These three went to Foochow ("Happy Region"), which reportedly had no Protestant services. On the voyage the three learned something of the language from a fellow passenger. Foochow had half a million people at that time, though it was the central city of a province of twenty-five million. On September 6, 1847, they landed and, according to some historians, "the epoch of Methodism in China" began, and these three missionaries became the forerunners of the missionary effort in China.

The first church house was built in 1855, outside the walls of the city. It was built on a main street and had a cupola with a bell that seemed to give the church its name, "Ching Sing Tong," which means Church of the True God. The first convert was baptized on July 14, 1857. His name was Ting Ang, a tradesman who was 47 years of age. According to historian A. B. Hyde, when Ting heard the Gospel, he cleared his house of idols and began secret and family prayer. The missionaries heard about him and visited with him. The prayer they offered in his home was the first time missionaries had prayed in a Chinese home. Ting Ang's baptism and entrance into the Church and partaking of the Lord's Supper made that day and that place memorable in the relationships between Methodist and China.