This paper investigates the Qing court’s management of Chinese Christian officials in the Astronomical Bureau by tracing the rise and fall of the Bao astronomer family. Members of the Bao family began serving in the Astronomical Bureau since the Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell was appointed head of the Astronomical Bureau in 1644. Despite that a Bao astronomer was exiled during the Kangxi Calendar Case, the Bao family grew to become a leading Christian family in the Beijing area by the end of the seventeenth century, and its members often held prominent positions in the Astronomical Bureau. However, the Bao astronomers had to strike a balance between their faith and career advancement. Historical records related to the persecutions of Christians show that while Qing emperors rarely sought to completely exclude Christians from the Bureau, the Christian astronomers’ colleagues seldom hesitated to sacrifice the Christians for their own interests. The Bao astronomer family declined after the 1768 persecution and eventually disappeared from the Astronomical Bureau by the early nineteenth century.