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SCMP Reporter

WHEN Archbishop George Carey arrives in Beijing on Monday he will probably be assured by his Chinese hosts that all is well and there is nothing to worry about.

 Is that true? Yes and no.

  While reports of religious persecution in the Middle Kingdom have appeared constantly in the international press over the last few years, these cases appear almost tolerable when compared with the atrocities of the 50s and later during the Cultural Revolution.

  In those days, Chinese Christians were forced to denounce their faith and turn against their brothers and sisters. Even the possession of a Bible was considered a crime punishable by death.

   Nowadays, Christianity has become a 'fashionable' cause for the younger generation in more prosperous areas - those young enough not to have experienced such persecution.

  The easing of the religious climate is reflected in the astonishing growth of Christianity across the country. Even the most conservative estimates put the current number of Christians at 10 million.

  In Jiangsu province, numbers have swelled from 50,000 in 1949 to 800,000 last year, according to Provincial Religious Affairs Bureau figures. The growth shows no signs of abating.

  It is not limited to one province either. Churches everywhere are overflowing and in many cases, church buildings have to accommodate 10 times as many worshippers as they have been built to serve.

  This miraculous growth has complicated the deep-rooted conflict between church and state.

  Although the authorities' control over religion has always been strong, Chinese Christians enjoyed a brief respite in 1988 when Bishop Ding Guangxun, head of both the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and Chinese Christians Council (known as lianghui in China) established good relations with the Communist Party leadership.

  With the support of former party boss Zhao Ziyang and Yan Mingfu, then a vice-chairman of the United Front Department, suggestions were made that Chinese churches should be allowed greater autonomy in running their affairs and that the state should stay out of religious matters.

  But the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of communism in Eastern Europe shattered that dream. Chinese communist leaders, alarmed by the influence of the church in countries such as Poland, reversed religious policy and began to 'reinforce management' over churches across the country.

  Failing to appreciate how churches could play a healthy role in stabilising the country, the leadership viewed religion with suspicion.

  Under the pretext of 'reinforced management', many unregistered house churches were closed down and their leaders arrested. Some were given long jail sentences.

  The situation began to improve in 1991 when central leaders realised that they could no longer maintain the kind of iron-fisted control over religion which they would have liked.

  According to Edmond Tang, of the Christian Council of Britain and Ireland and an expert on Chinese churches, the authorities have now shifted their religious policies from 'control' to 'channelling'.

  This slight relaxation, however, does not mean that the conflicts between the church and the state have ended. Rather, they have become more complex and subtle, as Chinese society has become more materialistic along with increasing overseas influence.

  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained its influence on Christians via the lianghui. Through this organisation, the CCP has kept a grip on religious matters. Unfortunately, the reverse hasn't always been true.

  Although the lianghui has been successful in influencing the communist leadership in a number of cases, more frequently its advice has fallen on the deaf ears of local chieftains who run their counties or towns like private domains.

   Bridge magazine, a Chinese church journal, documented one such incident at the Yunnan Theological Seminary in 1992. A dictatorial dean orchestrated the beating of teachers at the seminary over the establishment's management. He then colluded with local party officials and public security officers in defying orders when the lianghui intervened. The seminary, funded by donations from abroad, is still closed because of the dispute.

  This was not an isolated incident. Two pastors were arrested in Shenyang, Liaoning province, for disagreeing with church elders over the reclamation of church properties. The latest reports said police had charged one pastor with disturbing public order and organising unauthorised protests.

   According to the Rev Claudia Oblau of the Amity Foundation in Hong Kong, the situation would improve with less interference from the authorities over church matters.

  'I agree that a lot of these problems could be solved more easily if they were kept within the church . . . but much of this interference occurs at a local level where the cadres are less educated and are more concerned about maintaining stability ,' Rev Oblau said.

  Another crisis which Chinese churches face is succession in the lianghui. After the death of the Rev Shen Yifan in Shandong last month, there is no obvious successor to 79-year-old Bishop Ding.

  As one senior Hong Kong church official pointed out when making a comparison between Bishop Ding and Zhao Puchu, head of the Chinese Buddhist Association: 'Personal prestige and relationships still play an important role in Chinese politics, and no one else in the Chinese religious community has the influence of these men. Most observers believe that their eventual retirement will represent a partial setback for the cause of religious freedom in China.'   There are other pressing issues facing Chinese churches. There is a lack of trained pastors and clergymen, inadequate resources for building and the fast growth of cults, especially in the countryside.

  Meanwhile, church denominations which were almost wiped out in the 50s by the TSPM have also begun to reassert their presence, notably the True Jesus Church, the 'little flock' (or Christian Assemblies), and the Seventh-Day Adventists.

  But there is a bright side to being a Christian in today's China. Churches can often be a healthy stabilising force in a countryside which has become increasingly volatile as the state lessens its control over the farmers.

  With the help of overseas donations, Christians have been able to preach the gospel not just within their churches but through their work in society.

  Although such social involvement has often been limited to prosperous regions like Zhejiang and Fujian where religious affairs cadres have been better educated and open, the trend is clearly spreading.

  An example of such co-operation is the Yangzhen Middle School in Longquan County, Zhejiang province, China's first Christian-run middle school.

  In speeches given in China this week, Dr Carey lamented the 'polarisation' of rich and poor and the 'moral dangers of unbridled consumerism' in Britain, while he praised Chinese Christians for their courage in facing persecution. But the Archbishop was only half right.

  It is true that Chinese Christians have stood up to persecution and have guarded their faith through the years. But churches in China are as susceptible to social change as their Western counterparts, if not more.



Pious politics in religious China