China Hope Live » Christianity

“Re-LIN-gion” Chinese internet meme

Joel 大江 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:30:45 +0000

I haven’t paid much attention to Jeremy Lin news (or Tebow, for that matter), so I have no idea if this is something Jeremy Lin actually said. But it was shared on Facebook by some Taiwanese friends, and it’s the first Christian-themed Jeremy Lin meme I’ve seen so far. Translation and mouseover pronunciation below. The image is in traditional characters but I’ve written it in simplified.

我无法改变人的心
我无法软化人的心
这是我无法做到的
我只专注在我的召唤和使命上
其它的事情都交给上帝
– 林书豪

I am unable to change a person’s heart.
I am unable to soften a person’s heart.
This is something I’m unable to accomplish.
I just focus solely on my calling and mission.
The other things are all handed over to God.
– Lín Shūháo

Jeremy Lin has been called the Taiwanese Tebow. I thought this NYT piece explained his appeal well: Lin’s Appeal: Faith, Pride and Points. And of course there are lots of other ways people make word plays from his name, both in English and Chinese. Here are a few: 林疯子.

Happy “Resurrection Festival” 2012!

Joel 大江 — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:00:48 +0000

It’s Easter weekend (复活节 in Chinese), and unlike the predictable annual mainstream media goofiness (like Jesus walking on ice floes or Shroud of Turin “discoveries” or “albatresbians”), here’s something from sinologist Dr. Brent Fulton that’s (a) informed, and (b) actually has a legitimate holiday tie-in. :)

Reason for Optimism in Policy Toward Chinese Christians

The Chinese Communist Party’s basic stance toward religion has not changed since it was spelled out in 1982 with Document Number 19. Commonly referred to as the “three designates” formula, this policy restricts religious activities to approved locations, requires that they be conducted by approved clergy, and limits their scope to the geographic sphere in which a given member of the clergy is permitted to practice. In theory, the policy limits the growth of the church by rendering itinerant evangelism illegal, severely restricting the number of leaders qualified to serve in churches, and effectively placing a cap on the number of churches that can operate in any given city or region.

Ever since Document 19 was released, activities neither specifically permitted nor specifically prohibited have existed in this gray area. Although Party policy has basically not changed for more than 25 years, and although the types of incidents mentioned at the outset of this article continue to occur, that gray area has expanded significantly. Without discounting either the reality of incidences of Christian persecution or their seriousness, it is remarkable how much Christian activity takes place on a daily basis that is technically not allowed yet goes unchecked.
[...]
Where, then, is the tipping point? Why are some (in reality, most) gray-area activities ignored, while others are attacked with a vengeance? There are a handful of triggers that, if present in a particular activity or situation, will greatly increase the likelihood of official intervention.

More from Dr. Fulton on the nature of the relationship between the Chinese gov’t and Chinese Christians can be found here:

Happy Easter, China #6: analysis, first-hand accounts, and an indirect official response [Updated]

Other related stuff:

哈利路亚！主复活了！
Christianity in China (topic)

Interview with Prof. Liu Peng on Religious Issues in China

Joel 大江 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:43:27 +0000

Here’s a lengthy ten-part interview with Liu Peng from the Pu Shi Institute for Social Sciences, “an independent, nonprofit, non-governmental think tank” that exists to “promote freedom of belief within the framework of rule of law” and acts as “a ‘bridge’ between the government, the academic circles and religious groups.” Good for anyone with more than a passing interest in religious issues in China.

Render unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the Things that are God’s: Interview with Professor Liu Peng about Religious Issues in China

President Hu Jintao emphasized that we should enlist the participation of religious personnel and religious believers in the promotion of economic and social development. He explicitly affirmed the value of religion in Chinese society. . . It’s too simplistic to explain it away by saying that “cheaters bump into fools”. . . If you view religion as negative, then religion should be eradicated. If religion is not something negative, then it is another issue. Once we have established a correct understanding of religion, the next question centers on the measures that the state uses to manage religion.

More from Liu Peng and the Pu Shi Institute for Social Sciences can be found here:

The Chinese Communist Party among other, rival faiths.

More about how the Chinese government “enlists the participation of religious personnel and religious believers in the promotion of economic and social development” here:

Wishing you a glorious, harmonized, stabilized, socially managed, brazenly co-opted, painfully syncophantic, obligatorily WORSHIPFUL, kowtowing Chinese Communist Party Day

The Chinese Communist Party among other, rival faiths

Joel 大江 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:06:34 +0000

Each major world religion with a significant presence in China troubles the CCP in similar and different ways: Buddhism and Islam are seen as the tools of separatists, while Christianity is more a potential Trojan horse and ideological competition for the “communists.” All three are considered the tool of “hostile foreign forces”.

Here are three interesting and very different takes on the CCP’s recent and on-going struggle to decide what to do with competing worldviews within its domain.

China’s ‘Come to Jesus’ Moment: How Beijing got religion. (Foreign Policy)

Amid growing social tension and an ominous economic outlook, some quarters of the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party seem to be warming to Christianity. [...] The traditional antipathy toward religion in the Communist Party stems from Karl Marx’s idea that it is the “opiate of the masses” that “dulls the pain of oppression” [...]

But recent moves toward religion suggest this ideological aversion is transforming along with China’s socioeconomic situation … Corruption, yawning wealth inequality, environmental degradation, and the threat of a major banking crisis weigh on the Communist Party’s ability to maintain control. The religious opiate could be just what the doctor ordered for a nervous Communist Party.
[...]
some liberal Marxists within the party see religion as one way to pacify a public increasingly agitated over inequality. “In general, using and controlling religions is not something new in Chinese history. Almost every emperor knew the power of religion,” says Peng Guoxiang, Peking University professor of Chinese philosophy, intellectual history, and religions. “For classical Marxist ideology, religion is nothing but spiritual opium. But recently, it is very possible that the authorities have started to rethink the function of religion and how to manipulate it skillfully, instead of simply trying to curb or even uproot its development.”
[...]
“There’s still quite an ambivalent feeling toward Christianity,” says Wielander. “Both Buddhism and Daoism are fairly otherworldly. They’re more about how to escape from all this chaos and hide from this terrible world, whereas Christianity is very proactive. That can be a good thing for the government provided it manages to channel this energy into projects on the government’s agenda.”
[...]
One Christian factory manager in Wenzhou in 2010 told the BBC that he prefers to hire Christian workers. “When they do things wrong, they feel guilty — that’s the difference,” he said.

The Achilles’ Heel of China’s Rise: Belief (Pu Shi Institute for Social Sciences)

the key factor that determines China’s future development lies not in the realm of the material, but in the realm of the spiritual. [...]

The reason why Chinese society has seen an abundance of outrageous and ridiculous phenomena, with little corresponding uprightness is not because we are short of money. Rather, it is because we have lost our faith. … When the old faith was destroyed, but a new one not yet built up, the imbalance between the spiritual and the material which is caused by a spiritual emptiness and moral void becomes increasingly salient. [...]

In other words, for China to rise to the status of a great power, she has to answer the following question: What is the spiritual pillar, the core value and belief system for the Chinese people? [...]

If China avoids dealing with the question of faith, she will never become a real power. The question of faith and the future of China are connected. [...]

When the term “loss of faith” is used in China today, it refers to the loss of a system of belief in the state, nation, and society. It does not mean that there is no official belief system; rather the belief system established and advocated by the state has lost its status as the collection and manifestation of individual faiths. In other words, the common ground between individual faith and official faith has disappeared. Both the individual and the state need a “god”to resort to, but as it currently stands the one set up by the authorities and the one worshipped by the common people are not the same. [...]

The harsh reality is that Chinese people (including those in Hong Kong and Macau) accept the leadership of the Communist Party, but the majority does not sincerely believe in it and will not voluntarily make it their spiritual pillar. If someone doesn’t admit this, he is not being honest. The lack of faith in society today is not due to a lack of officially advocated belief, but due to the unwillingness of the people to believe it.
[...]
what counts is not the object of faith, but if it performs the function of a belief.

Without a belief system that is unanimously acknowledged as the standard, the national common good cannot be realized, and the Achilles’ heel of China’s rise will not be solved. Practically speaking, upholding the slogan of “harmonious as one”will gain overseas support, since whoever opposes it will be opposing the will of the general public. If we truly adopt the slogan of “harmonious as one,”and strive for harmony between each other, between man and nature, man and the environment, then both the micro- and macro- situations in China will greatly improve.

Render unto Caesar: The party’s conservative wing finds religion—and dislikes it (The Economist)

Although people join the party more for career reasons these days than for ideological ones, it still officially forbids religious belief among its members. In practice, this has for some years been a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. But signs are now growing that the party is about to become tougher on believers within its ranks. And behind it might be Mr Chang’s notion of Christianity as a Trojan horse.

Japanese apologies

Joel 大江 — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:41:36 +0000

Unremarkable at first glance, this is a photo of a Japanese colleague who serves in the charity org we’re connected with in China. She’s placing flowers at the memorial to Eric Liddell (the “Chariots of Fire” guy) in the Japanese internment camp where he died during the brutal Japanese invasion of China during WWII.

Of the Japanese I’ve met in China, it’s been the three Japanese Christians (two more plus the one pictured, all serving in the same NGO) who’ve gone out of their ways to personally and symbolically apologize for the actions of their country during WWII. On another occasion, an older Japanese couple hosted a special dinner for their Chinese colleagues and language teachers at which they personally and formally apologized on behalf of their nation.

Has anyone else seen or heard of individual Japanese making apologetic gestures in China? I assume it’s not just Japanese Christians who do this (though with the three I’ve mentioned, their Christianity has a lot to do with it). But I’m also assuming that these kinds of apologies are exceptional, since, as at least one scholar points out, “in Japan there’s almost a dramatic lack of any sense of responsibility.”

I’d love to know more about the dynamics of apology and forgiveness in honour-oriented, Confucian-heritage cultures like China and Japan. I’m also curious about the ways Mainlanders are likely to perceive these types of gestures.

And I wonder: Should Europeans and Americans do the same for the Opium Wars?

More on Eric Liddell and the Japanese invasion:

Why they hate the Japanese
Eric Liddell: McSaint (biography review)
Marriage market, Eric Liddell, weekend slogan (finding Liddell’s former residence in Tianjin)
Spitting is good for something! (interesting anecdote from Liddell’s Japanese internment camp)

P.S. – For some info about official Japanese acknowledgment of WWII atrocities in China, see this comment.

A brief introduction to Watchman Nee & the Little Flock Movement

Joel 大江 — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:44:51 +0000

You’ve maybe heard the name “Watchman Nee” before. That’s because he founded one of the largest Christian groups in Chinese history before dying in a Chinese labour camp. Here’s a summary of a longer article on him and his work, with a link to the PDF of the original article: Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China

A basic understanding of the place of Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Chinese history adds some helpful nuance to understanding the relationships between the Party, Chinese Christianity, the TSPM, and Chinese patriotism and anti-foreignism.

Merry Christmas 2011! (“Is there anything worth believing in?”)

Joel 大江 — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:16:56 +0000

From John Lennox, author and Professor in Mathematics and Fellow in Mathematics and Philosophy of Science at Oxford:

Is there anything worth believing in? Oh, ladies and gentlemen– I’m an old man. Let me speak to you directly.

In all my life studying different philosophies and ideas and mathematics for the sheer fun of it, I’ve never come across an idea that remotely touches this one:
“The Word became human, and dwelt among us.”

It’s not every world-class academic who could also make a good Santa. Merry Christmas!

The Posts of Christmas Past:

Christmas in general:

Ho! Ho! Who? Santa VS. China’s God of Wealth
Merry Christmas Music 2009!
Christmas doesn’t have to be Made In China
圣诞快乐! Merry Christmas! (a Christmas poem for 2007)

Christmas in China:

You can see all our Christmas stuff here.

(P.S. – That’s Merry Christmas 2011, not 2012. Ooohh… someone’s asleep at the switch!)

The 2011 Grinch Award!

Joel 大江 — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:26:13 +0000

There are many qualified candidates for the 2011 Grinch Award, but this year it’s going to the authorities of Xitan Village in Zhejiang Province, because you just can’t violently shut down a large public Christmas party in “Christmas Village” and not get a Grinch Award. Especially when you get caught on video and uploaded to YouTube:

A very silent night: Chinese officials shut down outdoor Christmas party in toy-making town (WP)
Video (BI)
Video (YouTube)

There’s actually a lot of interesting details to this situation; what details we do get suggest a complex local relationship between Christians, Buddhists, local authorities, and Christians and Buddhists who have positions of local authority.

Previous Grinch Awards:

Happy Easter, China #6: analysis, first-hand accounts, and an indirect official response [Updated]

Joel 大江 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:07:02 +0000

Recap: There’s an on-going public standoff in Beijing between a large unregistered church and the Chinese authorities. Trouble began years ago when the church crossed the unofficial line of tolerance by meeting regularly in a large group, rather than as multiple small groups. In April, with nowhere to meet due to continual gov’t harrassment of their landlords, they began meeting in a public park. The church wants the authorities to stop harassing their landlords so they can actually take possession of property they’ve bought, among other demands. Every Sunday since Easter, church members who are able show up for worship are immediately arrested, interrogated, and released within one or two days. The authorities seem to be trying to wait them out and wear them down, keeping the confrontation as low-key as possible by employing behind-the-scenes methods like house arrests, pressure on employers, landlords and family members (some church members have lost their homes and jobs), and even internal deportation.

I’ve been following this story with occasional updates/link roundups because I think it’s a huge story. Normally I keep news-related links like this out of the main column, but this one has too much content to fit in the sidebar.

Here’s the best content I’ve found since the previous update.

Outside analysis:
Sinologist Brent Fulton offers some analysis:

the public declaration of Sh0uwang’s intentions and the subsequent media attention that was drawn to the actual outdoor event triggered a very predictable official response. Furthermore, by demanding not only that they be allowed to meet, but also that the government guarantee in writing their ability to do so, the Sh0uwang leadership pushed the government beyond what its current policies could accommodate. Honoring Sh0uwang’s request would have entailed a broad policy change, with ramifications not only for Sh0uwang but for thousands of unregistered religious groups across the country. The officials with whom Sh0uwang was dealing had no authority to make such a decision.

“Such is the nature of religious policy and its implementation in China: accept the ambiguity of functioning within a gray area, and one is free to operate within certain limits; demand that the government define what is and what is not allowed, and the scope of one’s freedoms narrows significantly. [Link]

From God, Policy & Law:

the authorities are aware that the overhaul of the religious policy and laws is long overdue as is its management of civil society groups, but with the up and coming change of the top leadership, this is not of immediate urgency to them.

First-hand accounts from church members and leaders:
A first-hand description of trying to visit the church’s pastor at his home:

“It turned out to be true that Tianming is receiving the highest standard of the house arrest as both the police and DSPS agents not only have the office desks, they also have foldable beds. It is said only security guards and doorkeepers are hired for regular members of the church and they have only camp chairs and recliners.

“For Tianming who has always been confident of himself, seeing so many brothers and sisters of Sh0uwang Church being persecuted when they are detained, interrogated, released each week and seeing so many people forced to move or fired from jobs, it is more miserable and harder to endure than if he experienced these himself. Now, the shepherds are separated from the flocks of sheep. The sheep are being beaten but the shepherds cannot stand out to fend off the blows. It is hard to describe in words how heart-wrenching it is to see all this happening around him.”

The church publishes a weekly letter, reporting what happened the previous week. Here are the latest two letters (translated), for Sunday #23 and Sunday #24.

A first-hand account of trying to meet for worship and being detained by police: Beijing pastor describes trying to get to church with police determined to stop her and This Is The Road We Have Never Traveled By:

I can’t agree with some of the things they have done, but I am aware of their limitations just as I am aware of my own limitations. Therefore, it is better for me to coordinate with them as much as I can. Usually upon their indication that they need to fulfill an order from their superior, I would always cooperate to receive their lecture. Even when … coming to ring my door bell at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, I still put up with it by talking to them; after being told by the locality police in charge of me that my outdoor worship on the small holiday of “May Day” interrupted his vacation with his wife, I later wouldn’t, without letting him know, have the heart of going on a trip during small holidays anymore, but would rather choose to go at ordinary weekends. None of us is the kind that wants to cause each other trouble, and by human nature we usually dislikes conflicts or tension.
[...]
I pr0test against the abuse of power… against the destruction of human relationships… against one’s personal interest being held over conscience… against unrighteousness and the lack of mercies… against the trampling and disregard of a human being’s dignity and rights.
[...]
It’s widely believed that the government has shown relative toleration and restraint towards Sh0uwang’s outdoor worship this time. In fact, the idea of toleration, only concluded after being compared to the extreme practice, is not at the level of righteousness, truth and law. As for the unrighteous and illegal behavior, all have got used to it and do not mind so much anymore.
[...]
I’ve tried my best to seek guidance through prayers and my conscience.

To those who don’t agree, I sincerely ask for your tolerance. May God let us know which path we should take, because this is a road that we have never traveled by.

The Official Voice:
Meanwhile Xinhua counters, indirectly, by providing the currently-prescribed official narrative of Christianity in China and the relationship between the gov’t and Christianity: Christianity in Beijing — Past and Present

Christianity in the capital of China has existed for a long period of time; its spread and growth has been closely linked with the fate of the nation.

Last month, hundreds of Christians from different churches in Beijing held a chorus of thanksgiving and tribute in the Century Theater, with the theme of “Going Together With One Heart.”

Through the chorus, Christian followers expressed their gratitude toward the Party, the government and society, said Cai Kui, chairman of the Beijing Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of Protestant Churches in China (TSPM).

“In today’s Beijing and China, there is freedom in religious belief and a harmonious development of religion and society,” Cai said.

“Believers enjoy a happy and peaceful religious life. Different religions forge ahead on the correct path of adapting to socialist society and do their own part to build a harmonious society and promote social development,” he said.

I’ve found nothing else since April at Xinhua or Global Times regarding this situation (Global Times had a handful of editorials back in April, like “Praying for Trouble”).

Clarifying “illegal”, “underground” and “unregistered”
Groups like Sh0uwang are often described as “illegal”, “underground” or “unregistered”. But the situation in China is complicated, and each of these terms needs an asterix. I’ve not been careful in how I use them on the blog, so now I’ll try to set the record straight:

Illegal. Basically, yes, groups like Sh0uwang are illegal, though I’m not sure if there’s an actual law stipulating that all churches must join the designated “patriotic organizations” or not. Either way, that’s the practical effect. But local authorities throughout China, including Beijing, routinely give tacit tolerance to these churches, so long as they obey the unwritten rules and don’t cross the sometimes-moving unofficial line.
Underground. This sometimes suggests to people secret meetings and clandestine groups dodging the probing eye of the government. But groups like Sh0uwang aren’t hiding; they’re operating in full view of, and in contact with, the authorities in an evolving grey area of limited tolerance. Often this grey area requires that they keep a low public profile, but they don’t have to be invisible. Sh0uwang is apparently officially registered as a “social group.” But by breaking the unwritten rules (insisting on large, more conspicuous meetings) and by demanding official, written permission to do so, Sh0uwang lost the tolerance of the local authorities.
Unregistered.When people speak of “unregistered” Chinese churches (as I did in the first paragraph above), they specifically mean “churches that are not registered members of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (or the Catholic equivalent)”, one of the organizations under the Religious Affairs Bureau through which the Party exercises control over Christianity in China. Strictly speaking, Sh0uwang is legally registered as a “social group”, but they refuse to join the Three-Self Patriotic movement and submit to that degree of control. One compromise sometimes offered to non-TSPM churches is to register ‘in name only’ — a deal where they join the TSPM on paper but the local authorities leave them alone, so long as they don’t cause trouble. Sh0uwang has explicitly rejected this compromise.

So in China today you have everything from groups that attempt to be entirely secret and groups that are harshly persecuted, to groups that register with local authorities and operate openly but refuse to register specifically with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (or Catholic equivalent). Sh0uwang was in this second group, but invited harassment by refusing to comply with the unwritten rules and boundaries of the unofficial gray area of tolerance.

Interestingly, Sh0uwang apparently has an ‘overseas Chinese attitude’ toward gov’t restrictions since many of them have spent time in churches outside of China while studying abroad. This supposedly contributes to their willingness to break the unwritten rules and make demands of the Beijing authorities.

Previous Updates:

P.S. – Happy National Day, everybody!

China’s spiritual crisis and overflowing churches

Joel 大江 — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:49:46 +0000

From BBC News: Christians in China: Is the country in spiritual crisis?

“On Easter morning, in downtown Beijing, I watched five services, each packed with over 1,500 worshippers. Sunday school was spilling on to the street.

“However, these numbers are dwarfed by the unofficial “house churches”, spreading across the country, at odds with the official Church which fears the house churches’ fervour may provoke a backlash.
[...]
“The State fears the influence of zealous American evangelism and some of the House Church theology has those characteristics, but, in many other respects, it seems to be an indigenous Chinese movement – charismatic, energetic and young.”

We’ve witnessed for ourselves part of what the writer describes (photos): Sunday morning overflow at the Shanxi Lu church in Tianjin, China