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During the years after the Bolshevik Revolution many of the Orthodox bishops joined with the exile [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]], that was initially headquartered in Karlovci, Yugoslavia, but later in Munich, Germany and then New York in the United States. At the end of World War II, and with the arrival of Soviet forces, particularly in Manchuria, the Moscow Patriarchate gained jurisdiction over the Russian bishops in China and Harbin.
In 1949, after establishment of the People’s Republic of China that was under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, treaties between the Soviet and Chinese governments led to transfer of jurisdiction of the Russian churches to the Chinese. While many of the Russian expatriates were arrested by the communists for return to the Soviet Union, many returned voluntarily. Other families and clergy escaped to the non-communist world, many under the leadership of Bishop [[John MaximovitcJohn Maximovitch|John of Shanghai]].
In 1956, in fulfillment of agreements between the Soviet Union and Communist China, the Moscow Patriarchate granted autonomy to the Church of China formally ending the Russian Mission in China. At that time the Church of China had two Chinese bishops, a number of priests, and an estimated 20,000 faithful. Having remained under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abp. Victor of Beijing, the last Russian bishop in China and leader of the last Spiritual Mission departed for the Soviet Union in 1956, closing the three hundred year old Russian Orthodox Mission in China.