3 random Easter-in-China photos

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Joel 大江

Three photos from this Easter weekend in Qingdao that just happen to represent three different kinds of Chinese engagement with Christianity. Easter in Chinese is “Resurrection Festival” 复活节。

1. Three-Self Good Friday

At the local Three-Self Patriotic Church‘s Good Friday service. Three-Self churches can seem stodgy in many ways, as if the Party-mandated international isolation and societal marginalization has frozen in time an imported 1930′s Western fundamentalist style of Christianity by strangling its development. But things are changing, as anyone who spends time at their local Three-Self can tell you. Even if the outward forms — music, facilities, teaching, etc. — seem under-resourced at times, this little church is packed every Friday night. This last Friday, half the attendees and the preacher were in tears by the end.

I’m using this picture to represent China’s traditional, legal, urban Christianity.

2. Good Luck Crucifix

A crucifix hanging from the rear-view mirror of our taxi on Easter Sunday morning, next to a typical luck charm (drivers usually hang folk Buddhist, Daoist, even Maoist luck charms). This driver had no idea at all what the crucifix represented; he just vaguely associated it with something positive, saying he doesn’t care about the meanings of any of that stuff but just hangs whatever gives him a nice feeling. (How a miniature scale model of someone being tortured to death could give anyone good vibes — especially if they aren’t aware of the greater hopeful story from which that image comes and what it’s meant to represent — is beyond me.) Have to admit, I was not expecting to see that hanging in the taxi on Easter morning.

I’m using this picture to represent the millions upon millions of Chinese who have zero background knowledge of Christianity, but who cannot avoid encountering it (at least in small, token ways) in today’s China.

3. Jesus Car

A Christian car that shows up in our neighbourhood every couple weeks, including today (Easter Sunday afternoon). What they’re trying to communicate by using English I don’t know (status, education, cosmopolitanism?). They’ve got a cross glued to the dash, where traditional charms like Buddhist prayer wheels often go. But if you look closer you’ll see a key detail that marks them as a new breed of Chinese Christian: their Chinese Bible verse is not written in the traditional, beloved, archaic-sounding KJV-esque translation that 99.99% of China’s churches are unwilling to part with (something that annoys this language student to no end, even though I sympathize). It’s written in the latest translation (Chinese Standard Bible / 中文标准译本), meaning they’re probably part of a next generation of Chinese Christians who are willing to break with cherished traditions.

Even though most of them don’t advertize on the side of their cars, I’m using this picture to represent the newer breed of Chinese Christian, who are typically urban, wealthy, educated and trendy, and whose newly-emerging churches represent an additional third branch of Chinese Christianity along side the Three-Self and traditional unregistered church legacies.

More about Easter in China:

More about Chinese good luck charms:

The Apostles’ Creed & Lord’s Prayer in Chinese

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Joel 大江

A Chinese Jesus, from the USF Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History.

If you visit a Chinese church, especially one of the legal, “Three Self Patriotic Churches” (三自爱国教会), you’ll find there’re two bits they recite almost every single time. But it’s hard to hear clear enough to learn with everyone mumbling together. We got tired of saying, “我们在天上的父，hmmfuh hmmfuh hmmf…” every time, so here they are: the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer (from Matthew 6.9-13). (You can also find these in the TSPM hymnal: #394 and #395.) You can even download our hanzi/pinyin cheatsheet. :)

There are three versions of the Lord’s Prayer below: the older, traditional translation used in most Chinese churches (Chinese Union Version/和合本, sort of the Chinese equivalent of the KJV), a modern translation (普通话本) that’s easier to learn from, and, just for kicks, the classical Chinese version (文理版) — not that I have any clue how to read that. Between these two links, you can compare six different translations in parallel.

Mouseover the Chinese text below for pop-up pronunciation and definitions.
Download: ChineseApostlesCreedLordsPrayer.pdf (hanzi/pinyin cheatsheet)

Please let me know if you see any typos/mistakes!

使徒信经

我信上帝，全能的父，创造天地的主；
我信我主耶稣基督，上帝独生的子；
因圣灵感孕，由童贞女马利亚所生；
在本丢彼拉多手下受难，被钉于十字架，受死，埋葬；
降在阴间，第三天从死人中复活；
升天，坐在全能父上帝的右边；
将来必从那里降临，审判活人死人。
我信圣灵；
我信圣而公之教会；
我信圣徒相通；
我信罪得赦免；
我信身体复活；
我信永生。
阿们。

主祷文

主训人的祷告
[9] “所以，你们祷告要这样说：
‘我们在天上的父，愿人都尊你的名为圣，
[10] 愿你的国降临，愿你的旨意行在地上，如同行在天上。
[11] 我们日用的饮食，今日赐给我们。
[12] 免我们的债，如同我们免了人的债。
[13] 不叫我们遇见试探，救我们脱离凶恶。
因为国度、权柄、荣耀，全是你的，直到永远。阿门。’
– 马太福音第六章九到十三节（和合本）

耶稣谈祈祷
[9] “你们应该这样祈祷：
‘我们在天的父，
愿您的名字受人崇敬，
[10] 愿您的天国降临，
愿您的意志，就象在天上一样，在地上也得以实现。
[11] 请赐予我们所需的食物，
[12] 请宽恕我们的过错，
就象我们也宽恕对我们做错事的人一样。
请让我们免受诱惑，解救我们摆脱那个邪恶者。
[13] 王国，权力和荣耀永远属于你。阿们。’”
– 马太福音第六章九到十三节（普通话本）

文理版
我父在天，
願爾名聖，爾國臨格，
爾旨得成，在地若天。
所需之糧，今日賜我。
我免人負，求免我負。
俾勿我試，拯我出惡，
以國權榮，皆爾所有，
爰及世世，誠心所願。

And of course there’s lots more about Christianity in China and Learning Chinese.

Recent Chinese Christian persecution headlines are misleading [UPDATED]

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Joel 大江

China Aid’s annual report says persecution of Chinese Christians is significantly on the rise from last year:

132 persecution cases involving 4,919 people, the number of people sentenced jumped 125% over the previous year and the incidences of persecution rose 41.9% from 2011.

This has spawned fantastic headlines like “How China Plans to Wipe Out House Churches.” However, the way these numbers are being presented and interpreted is misleading, giving people inaccurate impressions regarding both the motives and extent of the persecution.

Persecution is not the norm for the vast, vast majority of Chinese Christians. 5000 persecuted people is a lot, and those are just the ones they know about. That suffering and injustice is real. But remember that’s 5000 out of 50 to 70 million Chinese Christians. 99.99% of Chinese Christians don’t experience the kinds of persecution these reports talk about.

Also, as sinologist Brent Fulton at ChinaSource.org points out: just because Christians (or churches) are persecuted doesn’t mean they are persecuted for being Christians:

there are certain triggers that prompt authorities in China to take action against Christian activities. These include directly opposing the Communist Party…; engaging in political activity, openly championing human rights, or being identified with a group that does so; and having foreign involvement. With China’s rapid urbanization, property disputes are often another factor, with Christians being forced out of their churches (whether registered or unregistered) at the hands of greedy developers collaborating with corrupt local officials.

In any given instance, the motives for persecuting Christians can fall into one of these three categories:

Wrong place and wrong time — The Christian’s Christianity is largely unrelated to the reason they’re being persecuted. Example: Corrupt local officials make a land grab and the land happens to be under a church building. Or there’s bad blood between local officials and local churches for whatever reason. Or they break the One Child Policy and fall afoul of zealous Family Planning officials.
Living out necessary implications of Christian belief in ways authorities will not tolerate — The Christian does what they’re supposed to do and fights for justice for the poor and oppressed (obviously not a popular move in the eyes of the Chinese authorities). They aren’t persecuted for being Christians per se; they’re persecuted for causing politically sensitive trouble. Example: human rights lawyers taking on forced abortion, environmental, AIDS, etc. cases.
Direct opposition to Christianity itself — Traditional ‘just-because-you’re-Christian’ persecution; what people typically think of when they think of Christians suffering persecution.

At least two-thirds of China Aid’s cited instances of persecution are from the first two categories: they were [#1] victims of greedy officials or [#2] applying their Christian beliefs to society in a way that the authorities won’t tolerate (fighting for justice for the poor/oppressed). So it’s important to understand that the rise in Christian persecution is not necessarily due to a rise in [#3] direct opposition to Christianity per se.

I think it’s totally fair to point out that being persecuted for [#2] still counts as being persecuted “for being a Christian” because it’s the actions your Christianity compels you to do that are getting you in trouble; if you weren’t a Christian you wouldn’t be doing those things that are getting you in trouble. But that is not the impression people get when they read fantastic headlines about the Chinese authorities going after Christians. The motives behind most of the persecution and the extent of the persecution are not what the headlines imply.

Here are some competing recent opinions:

UPDATED: Religious freedom in China pundits are having a back-and-forth over how to interpret ChinaAid’s stats. Worth reading if you want any approaching an informed opinion about the state of religious freedom for Christians in China:

There’s lots more on the blog about Christianity in China.

Chairman Mao the Daoist immortal, and his Bodhisattva friends

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Joel 大江

(P.S. — If you just want fun China pictures without all the blah blah blah, you can go here: ChinaHopeLive.net’s Instagram Fun.)

One of the easiest places to see real live Mainland Chinese folk beliefs is in the front seat of a Chinese taxi.

And one fun thing about Chinese culture is they tend not to have our Western hang-ups about openly discussing differing beliefs, whether Buddhist or Atheist or Christian or whatever; it’s just generally not as awkward for them. I find it refreshing, and I’m still not totally used to it.

Of course, that might be because they are less bothered by the inherent incompatibilities and logical contradictions involved in doing things like making Mao, who was violently anti-religion and anti-traditional Chinese culture, into a traditional Chinese god. And never mind the differences between Daoism and Buddhism. Because “truth” and personal beliefs are prioritized differently here, as I hope this will illustrate.

(I’m bummed I can’t find the pictures I took in a taxi that had the 5 Daoist Immortals (五位天上的神仙) glued to the dash. That would provide a nice visual for the folk belief context of the Chairman Mao bust pictured above. Here’s a similar example of Mao in a religious context, from a charm seller at a local market:)

Mao the god — literally and figuratively

A twenty-something student once passionately told me, “Chairman Mao is like a god to us!” He was explaining why he went off on an elderly student who criticized Mao during a discussion class. He meant it metaphorically, but to many that’s more than just a figure of speech.

The driver of the taxi in the photos above told me yesterday that Mao is a god (神) now. I asked him if people just put these things out for fun, or if they really believe it has an actual influence on their life. I was trying to give him every opportunity to ‘explain it away’, but he immediately emphasized that these things actually have an influence. He was emphatic that these were not mere decorations.

I ran out of time, but next time I’m going start asking how this works, given that during the Mao Era these types of things were violently suppressed. This one (below) was in the bus our school rented recently for a field trip:

Auspicious Good Thoughts; Peaceful Travels
吉祥好意出入平安

What’s *really* going on?
My knee-jerk reaction to encountering these things (and the reasons people give for them) is to not take them only at face value. What you see on the surface isn’t always at the heart of it. Sometimes people aren’t even aware of why they think and do the things they do. I don’t mean to magically get into people’s heads as if I understand their opinions and their reasons for holding them better than they do (that’s actually a major pet-peeve). But many people just haven’t bothered to vigorously sift their own opinions, reasons and motives. Or they just think that hammering out solid personal opinions regarding what’s ultimately true is unimportant. Or, more simply, what they’re actually doing isn’t what it looks like they’re doing.

For example, if you go to a cemetery in North America and happen to overhear someone talking at their loved one’s grave, would you assume that the person actually believes that they are communicating with their dead relative? Or are they simply giving expression to their grief? Chances are good it’s the latter, for reasons relating to North American culture. Understanding the basic cultural context is necessary for interpreting the person’s actions no matter what country you’re in.

So in China, for example, why are they burning spirit money in the intersections? Do they really believe that their grandfather exists in an underworld that’s a shadowy mirror of this one, that the spirit money and paper goods actually become real in that world and that their relative would be hungry, cold, and malevolent toward them without those burnt offerings? Or are they simply fulfilling their moral obligations to show respect for their parents? Is it connected to “face”? Do they feel a need to demonstrate to everyone that they are decent, filial people (and the details of the ritual with their theological implications are irrelevant)? Or do they not hold any strong particular opinions about death, but they can’t shake a superstitious “just in case” kind of fear? What’s at the heart of it: metaphysical convictions, duty, face, or superstitious fear? In China it could be yes to some or all of those. What would they say if you asked them? Chances are good that the people involved care less about hammering all that out than the person who bothers to ask those kinds of questions. But I want to remember to ask more often.

When truth matters
A coworker recently lost her grandmother, and the family had some conflict over these kinds of funeral rituals. She refused to perform some of them because they contained a spiritual element that was incompatible with her Christian beliefs. Staying true to yourself in this kind of way can come off as very selfish in China; as if your personal opinions about ultimate reality and ‘staying true to yourself’ are more important than these immediate family concerns! “Truth” as an abstract value is not so highly prioritized, and individualism is nowhere near as absolute. Some of her family members (who hadn’t shouldered the bulk of the care responsibilities when grandma was still alive) accused her of not caring about her grandma; they thought it selfish that she would not compromise her beliefs. But she called their bluff, saying that if they really cared then they would have shown it while grandma was still alive, and that they weren’t performing these rituals (burning incense, spirit money and clothes for grandma in the afterlife) out of care for their grandmother anyway; they were doing it to impress the people around them — for “face,” basically.

In the end her dad stood up for her and “protected” her from her disgruntled relatives, even though he doesn’t share her beliefs. But I think it’s important to notice that the conflict wasn’t over differing opinions regarding the afterlife — it wasn’t folk Daoism/Buddhism or atheism vs. Christianity. The conflict was over how the values involved (truth, personal conviction, face, family harmony) should be prioritized. My coworker’s relatives don’t care what she believes or whether or not it’s true. But they cared that she would prioritize her convictions over other values.

About Mao the god:

About burning spirit money in the road:

以马内利

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Joel 大江

Pronounced: yǐ mǎ nèi lì
Means: Immanuel, “God with us” (神与我们同在).

It’s common for this to be displayed in big letters on the walls of Chinese churches. It’s a transliteration of the ancient Hebrew, so like the English transliteration it means nothing to people who don’t already have some background understanding. Example: 马太福音 1.23.

[Photo Gallery:] Chinese Christmas Art

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Joel 大江

The images in this gallery come from two sources: the website of contemporary Chinese artist Dr. He Qi, and a collection of pre-Liberation Chinese scroll paintings by various Chinese artists at the USF Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History (thanks to pcNielsen of The Aesthetic Elevator for the link). Both sources have lots of interesting non-Christmas stuff as well, like the Chinese boy Jesus practicing Chinese characters, and Guanyin-esque cloud-floating Marys.