Church and State
Two Meetings, Three Hands
Some things just don’t translate well from Chinese into English. Take, for example the annual government meetings that are taking place in Beijing this week. In Chinese the meetings are referred to as Liang Hui (两会), which literally means “two meetings” (sometimes also translated as “sessions”). Using such a term in English to describe a conference, however, leads only to blank stares.
Deconstructing China’s Jerusalem?
Reading Cao Nanlai’s classic Constructing China’s Jerusalem in light of the highly publicized attacks on Wenzhou churches, the obvious question is whether the “Wenzhou model,” as Cao describes it, is still intact, or whether government intervention has significantly altered the formula of church growth and cultural transformation.
3 Questions: Dr. Fenggang Yang
A ChinaSource "3 Questions" interview with Dr. Fenggang Yang, director of the Center on Religion and Chinse Society at Purdue University.
Assessing Political Reform in China
More than 35 years after Deng Xiaoping’s ascendancy to power, a sober assessment of the political implications of Deng’s reforms is much needed. China’s Political Development: Chinese and American Perspectives proposes to fill this gap by bringing together the insights of two dozen eminent scholars, twelve each from China and the United States, to address key aspects of governance reform since 1978.
3 Questions: Carol Lee Hamrin
Regarding China’s National Security Commission
A ChinaSource "3 Question" interview with Dr. Carol Lee Hamrin about China’s National Security Commission.
Church-State Relations in Light of the Cross Demolition Campaign
On July 16, the website of the Pushi Institute for Social Science published a long piece titled "Considering the Future of church-state relations in China after the 2-14-2015 Zhejiang Cross Dispute." It had originally been published in the Christian Times. It’s a rather long piece so we have decided to excerpt two parts.
A Bishop Protests
As the cross demolition campaign in Zhejiang Province continues (despite earlier reports of an order to bring it to a close), Protestant and Catholic believers are beginning to push back. Last week a small group of Catholics staged a demonstration outside of the government offices in Wenzhou, calling on the government to halt the campaign.
Continuing Class Struggle and the Politics of Religion in China
In a recent post I wrote about the paradoxical treatment of religion in China’s Constitution. On the one hand, Article 36 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. On the other hand, the same article puts clear conditions on this freedom, making it subject to the needs of the state as defined by the Communist Party of China.
Increasing Awareness and Understanding
Four ChinaSource Publications
This past month, there have been two stories of particular interest and relevance to Christians in China and to foreigners who serve there. One was the announcement by the authorities in Zhejiang Province of a draft regulation limiting the size of church buildings and the size and placement of crosses on churches. The second was the central government's publication of a draft Foreign NGO Management Law, which would govern how foreign NGOs can operate in China. If enacted as proposed, each of these could have far-reaching consequences to both the local and foreign Christian communities in China.
Crossing the Lines in Wenzhou
The latest episode in the government’s attack on Christian churches in Wenzhou is the drafting of regulations outlining precise limits on the size and location of religious buildings and the size and placement of crosses.