Armenians in China  There are about 800-1000 Armenians currently living in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The Armenian community of Hong Kong and China, commonly referred to as ChinaHay, regularly organizes events across China. Whilst the current community is relatively small, Armenians have held historical presence in China for many centuries. Armenian merchants traveled and lived in China long before the twentieth century. Hethum I, ruler of Cilicia, traveled to the Mongol court in Karakorum in 1254. Alans and Armenians were in China during the Yuan dynasty, converted to Catholicism at the turn of the 14th century by John of Montecorvino. In Quanzhou a church belonging to the Franciscans received a donation from an Armenian woman in Medieval China. In 1318, Quanzhou's bishop, Peregrine of Castello, reported an Armenian woman gave the Franciscans a church and house. Armenians followed the Franciscan Catholic Latin Rite in Quanzhou. From the 17th to 19th centuries, some Armenian merchants established communities and ran successful businesses in Guangzhou and Hong Kong and there was even a small Armenian community in Tibet. During World War I, Armenians who fled from the Ottoman Empire to escape massive genocide led by Turkish troops against Armenian civilians, were officially accepted in China. China agreed to allow them to stay and provided accommodation, food and churches. After the Turkish surrender, most Armenians chose to remain in China, due to the continuing crisis in the Caucasus. In World War II, the Armenians joined the Chinese and Koreans, and later, the Americans and British forces, against Japanese invasion. Most Armenians followed Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Revolutionary Army, or joined the Eighth Route Army of the Communists, and resisted Japanese forces in Shanghai, Beiping, and other Chinese provinces. The Armenians lost a total 5,000 men. Since all religions were targeted by the Cultural Revolution, many of churches and houses were destroyed, and most Armenians fled to Soviet Union's Central Asia or India. The massive cultural revolution had decreased the number of Armenians in China down to less than 1000. A limited number of Armenians settled in Manchuria during the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZHD), undertaken by Imperial Russia in 1898. Their main settlement was in Harbin. After the Russo-Japanese War the number of Armenians increased, which necessitated the creation of an Armenian National Organization for the purpose of helping their needy countrymen and the preservation of their national heritage.