The Constitution and laws provide for freedom of religious belief and the freedom
not to believe, although the Constitution only protects religious activities defined
by the state as "normal." The Constitution states that religious bodies
and affairs are not to be "subject to any foreign domination," and that
the individual exercise of rights "may not infringe upon the interests of the
state." The Constitution also recognizes the leading role of the officially
atheist Chinese Communist Party.
The Government restricted legal religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations
and registered religious groups and places of worship, and sought to control the
growth and scope of the activity of both registered and unregistered religious groups,
including "house churches." Government authorities limited proselytism,
particularly by foreigners and unregistered religious groups, but permitted proselytism
in state-approved religious venues and private settings.
During the period covered by this report, the Government's repression of religious
freedom intensified in some areas, including in Tibetan areas and in the Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Unregistered Protestant religious groups in Beijing
reported intensified harassment from government authorities in the lead up to the
2008 Summer Olympic Games. Media and China-based sources reported that municipal
authorities in Beijing closed some house churches or asked them to stop meeting
during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. During the reporting
period, officials detained and interrogated several foreigners about their religious
activities and in several cases alleged that the foreigners had engaged in "illegal
religious activities" and cancelled their visas. Media reported that the total
number of expatriates expelled by the Government due to concerns about their religious
activities exceeded one hundred. Officials in the XUAR, the Tibet Autonomous Region
(TAR), and other Tibetan areas tightly controlled religious activity. The Government
sought the forcible return of several Uighur Muslims living abroad, some of whom
had reportedly protested restrictions on the Hajj and encouraged other Muslims to
pray and fast during Ramadan. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, including those in
the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and most Tibetan autonomous areas, faced more
restrictions on their religious practice and ability to organize than Buddhists
in other parts of the country. "Patriotic education" campaigns in the
TAR and other Tibetan regions, which required monks and nuns to sign statements
personally denouncing the Dalai Lama, and other new restrictions on religious freedom
were major factors that led monks and nuns to mount peaceful protests at a number
of monasteries on March 10, 2008. The protests and subsequent security response
gave way to violence in Lhasa by March 14 and 15 (see separate appendix for additional
reporting). "Underground" Roman Catholic clergy faced repression, in large
part due to their avowed loyalty to the Vatican, which the Government accused of
interfering in the country's internal affairs. The Government continued to repress
groups that it designated as "cults," which included several Christian
groups and Falun Gong.
Religious and ethnic minority groups such as Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims
experienced societal discrimination not only because of their religious beliefs
but also because of their status as ethnic minorities with distinct languages and
cultures. After the March 2008 protests in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas there were
reports of increased tensions between Tibetan Buddhists and Hui Muslims.
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and the Consulates General
in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang made concerted efforts to encourage
greater religious freedom in the country. U.S. officials condemned abuses while
supporting positive trends within the country and urged the Government to expand
the scope of religious freedom for both registered and unregistered religious groups
according to citizens' constitutional and internationally recognized rights. U.S.
officials protested the imprisonment of, asked to attend the trials of, and requested
further information about, numerous individual religious prisoners. U.S. officials
encouraged the Government to address policies that restricted Tibetan Buddhist practices
and contributed to tensions in the TAR and other Tibetan regions.
Since 1999, the Secretary of State has assigned the "Country of Particular
Concern" (CPC) designation to the country under the International Religious
Freedom Act (IRFA) for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
The People's Republic of China, with a population of approximately 1.3 billion,
is an authoritarian state in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) constitutionally
is the paramount source of power. Party members hold almost all top government,
police, and military positions. Ultimate authority rests with the 25-member political
bureau (Politburo) of the CCP and its nine-member standing committee. Hu Jintao
holds the three most powerful positions as CCP general secretary, president, and
chairman of the Central Military Commission. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas. During
the year the government increased its severe cultural and religious repression of
ethnic minorities in Tibetan areas and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),
increased detention and harassment of dissidents and petitioners, and maintained
tight controls on freedom of speech and the Internet. Abuses peaked around high-profile
events, such as the Olympics and the unrest in Tibet. As in previous years, citizens
did not have the right to change their government. Nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), both local and international, continued to face intense scrutiny and restrictions.
Other serious human rights abuses included extrajudicial killings, torture and coerced
confessions of prisoners, and the use of forced labor, including prison labor. Workers
cannot choose an independent union to represent them in the workplace, and the law
does not protect workers' right to strike.
The government continued to monitor, harass, detain, arrest, and imprison journalists,
writers, activists, and defense lawyers and their families, many of whom were seeking
to exercise their rights under the law. A lack of due process and restrictions on
lawyers further limited progress toward rule of law, with serious consequences for
defendants who were imprisoned or executed following proceedings that fell far short
of international standards. The party and state exercised strict political control
of courts and judges, conducted closed trials, and carried out administrative detention.
Individuals and groups, especially those deemed politically sensitive by the government,
continued to face tight restrictions on their freedom to assemble, their freedom
to practice religion, and their freedom to travel. The government continued its
coercive birth limitation policy, in some cases resulting in forced abortion or
forced sterilization. The government failed to protect refugees adequately, and
the detention and forced repatriation of North Koreans continued to be a problem.
Serious social conditions that affected human rights included endemic corruption,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against women, minorities, and persons
with disabilities.
On October 17, the government made permanent rules granting foreign journalists
greater freedoms, which were initially applied in the period leading up to and during
the Olympic Games. The new rules eliminated previous requirements that foreign journalists
first seek permission from local officials before conducting interviews in a particular
province or locality.
Religious Freedom 2008.
The constitution and laws provide for freedom of religious belief and the freedom
not to believe, although the constitution only protects religious activities defined
as "normal." The government sought to restrict legal religious practice
to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control
the growth and scope of the activity of both registered and unregistered religious
groups, including house churches. To be considered legal, religious groups must
register with a government-affiliated patriotic religious association (PRA) associated
with one of the five recognized religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism,
and Catholicism. The PRAs supervised the activities of each of these religious groups
and liaised with government religious affairs authorities charged with monitoring
religious activity. The government tried to control and regulate religious groups,
particularly unregistered groups, and repression and harassment of unregistered
religious groups intensified in the run-up to the Olympics. Nonetheless, freedom
to participate in religious activities continued to increase in many areas. Religious
activity grew not only among the five main religions, but also among the Eastern
Orthodox Church and folk religions.
The government's repression of religious freedom intensified in Tibetan areas
and in the XUAR. Authorities reportedly requested that some house church groups
in Beijing, including those with large congregations, those that were high-profile,
or those located near Olympic venues, suspend meetings during the Olympic Games
and Paralympic Games, although few groups reported that this request was enforced.
Authorities reportedly asked some Beijing area house church leaders to sign a written
agreement not to meet, although there were no confirmed instances in which any church
leaders were required to sign the document. Beijing authorities reportedly closed
or requested a very small number of unregistered groups to stop meeting during the
Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, although at least one large group ignored the
request with impunity. Officials detained and interrogated several foreigners about
their religious activities and in several cases alleged that the foreigners had
engaged in "illegal religious activities" and cancelled their visas. Officials
in the XUAR, the TAR, and other Tibetan areas tightly controlled religious activity.
Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, including those in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous
Region and most Tibetan autonomous areas, faced more restrictions on their religious
practice and ability to organize than Buddhists in other parts of the country. The
"patriotic education" campaigns in the TAR and other Tibetan regions,
which often required monks and nuns to sign statements denouncing the Dalai Lama,
and other new restrictions on religious freedom were major factors that led monks
and nuns to mount peaceful protests at a number of monasteries on March 10. The
protests and subsequent security response gave way to violence in Lhasa and other
Tibetan communities by March 14 and 15. "Underground" Roman Catholic clergy
faced repression. The government continued to repress groups that it designated
as "cults," which included several Christian groups and Falun Gong.
Government officials stated that the five PRAs were the only groups registered as
religious organizations under the Regulations on Social Organizations, which are
administered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and cross-referenced under the regulations
on religious affairs (RRA). The RRA states that all religious venues are required
to register with the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) or its provincial
or local offices, which are known as Religious Affairs Bureaus (RABs). SARA and
the RABs were responsible for monitoring and judging whether religious activity
was "normal" and therefore lawful. SARA and the CCP's United Front
Work Department provided policy guidance and supervision over implementation of
government regulations on religious activity.
The RRA and supplementary regulations issued between 2005 and 2007 provide some
legal advantages and protections for activities in registered religious venues.
Inability to register under the RRA deprived groups of the ability to hold funds
in their own names and enter lease contracts. Vague language and inconsistent implementation
limited the effectiveness of these regulations even for registered groups, and the
legal protections remain limited in scope, conditioned on government approval, and
applicable only to state-sanctioned religions.
The law requires religious groups to register religious venues, although many thousands
of religious groups did not register. Spiritual activities in religious venues that
have not registered may be considered illegal and participants can be punished.
Government officials stated that private homes where family and friends gather to
study the Bible would not be required to register. Clergy did not have to be approved
by the government but had to be reported to the government after being selected
pursuant to the rules of the relevant government-affiliated religious association.
Reports of government pressure on religious groups to register or to come under
the supervision of official religious organizations continued during the year. Various
unofficial groups reported that authorities refused them registration without explanation
or that they were denied registration because of their failure to affiliate with
a PRA or to employ PRA-approved clergy. The government acknowledged that only those
groups associated with a PRA would be allowed to register a religious venue. Some
religious groups were reluctant to comply with the regulations out of principled
opposition to state control of religion. In the past some groups expressed a fear
of adverse consequences if they revealed, as required, the names and addresses of
church leaders and members. Members of some house church groups reported that they
did not want to become a registered meeting point or venue of a state-approved church,
because they would not be able to administer communion or baptism and would not
be able to choose their own clergy.
Local authorities' handling of unregistered Protestant groups varied in different
regions of the country. In some regions unregistered groups or house churches with
hundreds of members met openly, with the full knowledge of local authorities, who
characterized the meetings as informal gatherings. In other areas meetings of more
than a handful of family members and friends were strictly proscribed. Leaders of
unauthorized groups were sometimes the target of abuse. Authorities disrupted church
meetings and retreats; detained, beat, and harassed leaders and church members;
and confiscated the personal property of church leaders and members. Unregistered
groups were more likely to encounter difficulties when their membership was large
or when they forged links with other unregistered groups or foreign organizations.
Unregistered groups also faced increased scrutiny from authorities when they engaged
in discussions of legal or political activism.
In June several prominent Christians were harassed, placed under surveillance, restricted
to their homes, or forced to leave Beijing during the visit of a delegation of foreign
officials. These individuals included religious freedom attorneys Li Baiguang and
Li Heping, Christian writer Yu Jie, and pastor Zhang Mingxuan and his wife. Zhang
Mingxuan was detained on and off for the last six months of the year, including
during the Olympics and during a celebration to commemorate the third anniversary
of the China House Church Alliance (CHCA). Security officials in Beijing also severely
beat his sons, Zhang Jian and Zhang Chuang, and detained Zhang's wife and sister-in-law.
Authorities also pressed Zhang to sign a document agreeing to abolish the CHCA,
and when Zhang refused and attempted to file an administrative statement of complaint,
the court refused to accept his case.
During the year there were numerous reports of detention and harassment of unregistered
Protestant groups. On November 5, pastor Lou Yuanqi was tried for using superstition
in violation of the criminal law. He was accused of organizing people in his residence
to preach religion, contacting overseas individuals and organizations, and providing
them with false information to influence international opinion.
On June 24, the government extended the detention of Beijing bookstore owner Shi
Weihan, who was taken into police custody on March 19, for two months. Shi was initially
detained in November 2007 for the illegal publication of Bibles and Christian literature,
but authorities released him in January due to "insufficient evidence."
PSB officials reportedly denied him contact with his family since March, and Shi
was not granted access to his lawyer until April.
On May 27, the Kashgar District Intermediate People's Court, XUAR, tried Alimujiang
Yimiti, a Uighur Christian employed by a foreign-owned company, on the charge of
"endangering national security." The court sent Yimiti's case back
to prosecutors due to "insufficient evidence," yet reportedly had not
released him at year's end. Yimiti had been arrested in January on charges of
engaging in illegal religious activities "in the name of business" and
preaching Christianity to ethnic Uighurs. On May 11, authorities disrupted a worship
service at the unregistered Shouwang Church in Beijing and ordered church members
to stop meeting prior to the Olympics. However, Shouwang Church continued to meet
before and during the Olympics and the government did not interfere again. Officials
had previously rejected multiple attempts by the church to register.
The government permitted registered and unregistered religious groups to play a
larger role in providing social services. Some groups were permitted to provide
assistance in response to natural disasters, including the May earthquake in Sichuan
Province.
Harassment of unregistered Catholic bishops, priests, and laypersons continued,
including government surveillance and detentions. On August 24, officials reportedly
detained 74-year-old Jia Zhiguo, an underground bishop of the diocese of Zhengding,
Hebei Province. There was no new information about unregistered Bishop Su Zhimin,
who remained unaccounted for since his reported detention in 1997.
The Catholic Patriotic Association did not recognize the authority of the Holy See
to appoint bishops. However, it allowed the Vatican's discreet input in selecting
some bishops.
The distinction between the official Catholic Church, which the government controlled
politically, and the unregistered Catholic Church has blurred over time. In some
official Catholic churches, clerics led prayers for the pope, and pictures of the
pope were displayed. An estimated 90 percent of official Catholic bishops have reconciled
with the Vatican. Likewise, the large majority of Catholic bishops appointed by
the government have received official approval from the Vatican through "apostolic
mandates."
Traditional folk religions, such as Fujian Province's "Mazu Cult,"
were still practiced in some locations. They were tolerated to varying degrees,
often seen as loose affiliates of Taoism or as ethnic minority cultural practices.
However, the government labeled folk religions "feudal superstition" and
sometimes repressed them. An administrative division at SARA was responsible for
the activities of folk religions and religions outside the main five, including
the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Buddhists made up the largest body of organized religious believers. The traditional
practice of Buddhism continued to expand among citizens in many parts of the country.
However, in Tibetan areas, the level of repression of Tibetan Buddhists increased
significantly during the year, especially following the outbreak of protests across
the Tibetan Plateau in the spring.
Press and NGO reports suggested that continued tight government controls on religious
practices and places of worship in Tibetan areas was a major factor contributing
to the widespread protests that began in March. Although authorities permitted many
traditional practices and public manifestations of belief, they promptly and forcibly
suppressed activities they viewed as vehicles for political dissent or advocacy
of Tibetan independence, including worshipping the Dalai Lama.
Following violent protests in Lhasa on March 14 and 15, authorities locked down
many monasteries across Tibetan areas and detained and physically abused an unknown
number of monks and nuns, or expelled them from their monastery. The government
expanded and intensified patriotic education campaigns in monasteries and nunneries,
prompting additional rounds of protests through June. At year's end some of
the monasteries in Tibetan areas remained closed. Following the outbreak of demonstrations
in Tibetan areas in March, government officials and representatives of the Dalai
Lama held three rounds of discussions in May, July, and November, with no progress.
The government tightly controlled the practice of Islam, and official repression
of Uighur Muslims in the XUAR increased. Regulations restricting Muslims' religious
activity, teaching, and places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully
in the XUAR. Measures to tighten control over religion in XUAR included increasing
surveillance of mosques, religious leaders, and practitioners; detaining and arresting
persons engaged in unauthorized religious activities; curbing illegal scripture
readings; and increasing accountability among implementing officials. On August
5, authorities in Kashgar reportedly issued accountability measures to local officials
responsible for high-level surveillance of religious activity in the region. Also
in August in Kashgar, authorities called for enhancing controls of groups that included
religious figures as part of broader CCP measures of "prevention" and
"attack." Authorities in Hotan reportedly restricted women from wearing
head coverings (Hijab) in government offices. Coupled with news of a proposed government
ban on headscarves, this led to large protests in March. In addition some men were
required to shave their beards.
The government reportedly continued to limit access to mosques, detain citizens
for possession of unauthorized religious texts, imprison citizens for religious
activities determined to be "extremist," pressure Muslims who were fasting
to eat during Ramadan, and confiscate Muslims' passports to strengthen control
over Muslim pilgrimages. Following violent clashes in western Xinjiang during the
Olympic Games, XUAR authorities imposed widespread detentions, restricted movement
within the XUAR, and established curfews in some cities. XUAR party secretary Wang
Lequan declared in September that the XUAR government would carry out "preemptive
attacks," implement "antiseparatist reeducation" across the region,
and increase policing of religious groups.
XUAR authorities maintained the most severe legal restrictions in the country on
children's right to practice religion. Authorities continued to prohibit the
teaching of Islam outside the home to elementary-and middle-school-age children
in some areas, and children under the age of 18 were prohibited from entering mosques.
In August authorities reportedly forced the return of Uighur children studying religion
in another province and detained them in the XUAR for engaging in "illegal
religious activities."
According to procuratorial officials, XUAR authorities arrested nearly 1,300 persons
on state security charges during the first 11 months of the year. Authorities approved
the prosecution of 1,154 of these individuals for committing one or more of the
"three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. This was a dramatic
increase from 2007, when the number of individuals arrested for state security crimes
nationwide was 744.
Authorities reserved the right to censor imams' sermons, and imams were urged
to emphasize the damage caused to Islam by terrorist acts in the name of the religion.
Certain Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment. Authorities in some
areas conducted monthly political study sessions for religious personnel, which,
according to one CCP official who took part in a study session, called for "creatively
interpreting and improving" religious doctrine. Authorities also reportedly
tried to restrict Muslims' opportunities to study religion overseas. The China
Islamic Conference required religious personnel to study "new collected sermons"
compiled by an Islamic Association of China (IAC) committee, including messages
on patriotism and unity aimed at building a "socialist harmonious society."
In contrast to the heavy-handed approach to Muslims in the XUAR, officials in Ningxia,
Gansu, Qinghai, and Yunnan Provinces did not interfere heavily in Muslims' activities.
In addition to the restrictions on practicing religion placed on party members and
government officials throughout the country, teachers, professors, and university
students in the XUAR were sometimes not allowed to practice religion openly. Authorities
imposed restrictions on state employees' observance of Ramadan and prohibitions
on closing restaurants during periods of fasting. A local party secretary, Zhang
Zhengrong, reportedly called on schools to strengthen propaganda education during
Ramadan and to put a stop to activities including fasting and professing a religion.
The Kashgar Teachers College reportedly implemented a series of measures to prevent
students from observing Ramadan, including imposing communal meals and requiring
students to obtain permission to leave campus. School authorities also made students
gather for a school assembly at a time of day coinciding with Friday prayers.
The government took steps to prevent Muslims from traveling on unauthorized pilgrimages.
The government continued to enforce a policy barring Muslims from obtaining hajj
visas outside of China. The government published banners and slogans discouraging
hajj pilgrimages outside those organized by the IAC. Foreign media reported that
XUAR officials confiscated the passports of Uighur Muslims in some areas to prevent
unauthorized hajj pilgrimages. Government officials in some areas also arbitrarily
detained Muslims to prevent them from going on the hajj, required them to show that
their hajj travel funds were not borrowed from other sources, required them to pay
a large deposit to retrieve their passports for overseas travel, and required them
to pass a health test.
Official reports noted that 11,900 Muslims traveled to Mecca during the year for
the hajj pilgrimage. This figure did not include participants who were not organized
by the government, for whom there were no official estimates but who numbered in
the thousands in previous years.
The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public office; however,
party membership is required for almost all high-level positions in government,
state-owned businesses, and many official organizations.
Despite regulations encouraging officials to be atheists, some party officials engaged
in religious activity, most commonly Buddhism or a folk religion but also Christianity.
The NPC included several religious representatives. Religious groups also were represented
in the CPPCC, an advisory forum for "multiparty" cooperation and consultation
led by the CCP, and in local and provincial governments. CPPCC Standing Committee
vice chairmen included Pagbalha Geleg Namgyal, a Tibetan reincarnate lama, and Cao
Shengjie, president of the China Christian Council.
The authorities continued a general crackdown on groups considered to be "cults."
These "cults" included not only Falun Gong and various traditional Chinese
meditation and exercise groups (known collectively as qigong groups), but also religious
groups that authorities accused of preaching beliefs outside the bounds of officially
approved doctrine.
Actions against members of such groups continued during the year. Police also continued
efforts to close down the underground evangelical group Shouters, an offshoot of
a pre-1949 indigenous Protestant group. Government action against the South China
Church continued.
Public Falun Gong activity in the country remained negligible, and practitioners
based abroad reported that the government's crackdown against the group continued.
In the past the mere belief in the discipline (even without any public practice
of its tenets) sometimes was sufficient grounds for practitioners to receive punishments
ranging from loss of employment to imprisonment. Falun Gong sources estimated that
since 1999 at least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been sentenced to prison,
more than 100,000 practitioners have been sentenced to RTL, and almost 3,000 have
died from torture while in custody. Some foreign observers estimated that Falun
Gong adherents constituted at least half of the 250,000 officially recorded inmates
in RTL camps, while Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number even higher.
Over the past several years, Falun Gong members identified by the government as
"core leaders" were singled out for particularly harsh treatment. More
than a dozen Falun Gong members were sentenced to prison for the crime of "endangering
state security," but the great majority of Falun Gong members convicted by
the courts since 1999 were sentenced to prison for "organizing or using a sect
to undermine the implementation of the law," a less serious offense. Most practitioners,
however, were punished administratively. Some practitioners were sentenced to RTL.
Some Falun Gong members were sent to "legal education" centers specifically
established to "rehabilitate" practitioners who refused to recant publicly
their belief voluntarily after their release from RTL camps. Government officials
denied the existence of such "legal education" centers. In addition hundreds
of Falun Gong practitioners were confined to mental hospitals, according to overseas
groups.
Police continued to detain current and former Falun Gong practitioners and used
possession of Falun Gong material as a pretext for arresting political activists.
The government continued its use of high-pressure tactics and mandatory anti-Falun
Gong study sessions to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. Even practitioners
who had not protested or made other public demonstrations of belief reportedly were
forced to attend anti-Falun Gong classes or were sent directly to RTL camps. These
tactics reportedly resulted in large numbers of practitioners signing pledges to
renounce the movement.
The government supported atheism in schools. Authorities in many regions barred
school-age children from attending religious services at mosques, temples, or churches
and prevented them from receiving religious education outside the home.
Official religious organizations administered local religious schools, seminaries,
and institutes to train priests, ministers, imams, Islamic scholars, and Buddhist
monks. Students who attended these institutes had to demonstrate "political
reliability," and all graduates had to pass an examination on their political,
as well as theological, knowledge to qualify for the clergy. The government permitted
registered religions to train clergy and allowed an increasing number of Catholic
and Protestant seminarians, Muslim clerics, and Buddhist clergy to go abroad for
additional religious studies, but some religion students had difficulty getting
passports or obtaining approval to study abroad. In most cases foreign organizations
provided funding for such training programs.
Although Bibles and other religious texts were available in most parts of the country,
the government tightly regulated the publication of religious texts and prohibited
individuals from printing religious material.
In 2007, XUAR authorities also confiscated 25,000 illegal religious publications.
The Xinjiang People's Publication House was the only publisher officially permitted
to print Muslim literature.
The supply of Bibles was adequate in most parts of the country, but some members
of underground churches complained that the supply and distribution of Bibles, especially
in rural locations, was inadequate. Individuals could not order Bibles directly
from publishing houses. Customs officials continued to monitor for the "smuggling"
of religious materials into the country. Authorities in a few areas reportedly sometimes
confiscated Bibles, Korans, and other religious material. In August Kunming officials
confiscated 315 Bibles that four foreign citizens imported into the country. The
Bibles were returned when the visitors departed China.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.
There were no reports of societal abuses of religious practitioners or anti-Semitic
acts during the year. The government does not recognize Judaism as an ethnicity
or religion.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2008 International Religious Freedom Report
at www.state.gov/g/drl/irf/rpt.
China's Confession
One of the major points of contention about the Chinese missions, and about the
missionary movement in general, regards the development of independent native churches.
Since the beginning, Chinese and foreign critics have accused the 19th-century Christian
missionaries of keeping the native churches dependent on the mission boards in Britain
and the U.S. for financial support and clerical leadership alike. In some cases,
the criticism is warranted, but much can be attributed to jingoism and xenophobia on the part of succeeding Chinese
governments, and in the West to ideological rejection of perceived Victorian era
priggishness and paternalism. The survival of the Christian movement through such
upheavals as the Boxer Rebellion, the Japanese occupation, and the Cultural
Revolution suggests that most of this criticism is unfounded. This topic is addressed
repeatedly in the journal of Dr. Nathan Sites, a missionary who served in Fukien (Fujian) province
from 1861 until his death in 1895. Dr. Sites, like many other missionaries, argued
and labored for the creation of a strong and independent Chinese church. In this
effort, he ordained many of the earliest native Christian ministers, most famously
a former
Confucian scholar by the name of Sia Sek Ong. After his ordination, Rev.
Sia toured the United States, where he was feted with honorary degrees and an audience
with President Grover Cleveland.
(Sites, Sarah Moore (1912). "Nathan Sites: An Epic of the East." New York: Revell.)
Here is a four-part video series issued in 2003, called "The Cross: Jesus in China"
and produced by Chinese documentarian Yuan Zhiming, interviews many of the leaders
of this revival. I have watched all four of these and recommend them for your awareness
and inspiration.
The Scripture Seeds Foundation is concerned with the Missionaries
and Martyrs that suffer and struggle while bringing the Word of God
to the Chinese People. We believe that all Christians, World-Wide,
need to be made more aware of the sacrifice, dedication and determination of the
Missionaries and People of China to freely worship our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. We hope that you will support the missions and organizations
listed above so that they may continue their important works. Remember what a source
of comfort and inspiration your Bible is to you and support the Bibles Unbound project.