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China tightens control over churches, warns over Western culture
AP, Reuters
Within an hour, township officials and uniformed men barged onto the church ground and tore down the new cross.
“They keep a very close watch on us, and there is nothing we can do,” said a church official, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of fear of government retaliation. “The situation is not good, as any attempt to re-erect the cross will be stopped.”
That means that the worshippers in Wenzhou, like many Christians in the eastern province of Zhejiang, will worship this Christmas under a cross-less roof. Provincial authorities have toppled crosses from more than 400 churches, and even razed some worship halls in a provincewide crackdown on building code violations.
Many Christians say their faith has been singled out because authorities, wary of its rapid growth, are seeking to curb its spread in a campaign that has targeted China’s most thriving Christian communities.
Estimates for the number of Christians in China range from the conservative official figure of 23 million to as many as 100 million by independent scholars, raising the possibility that Christians may rival in size the 85 million members of the ruling Communist Party.
One university in northwestern China banned Christmas, calling it a “kitsch” foreign celebration unbefitting of the country’s own traditions and making its students watch propaganda films instead, state media said Thursday.
Beijing News said the Modern College of Northwest University, located in Xian, had strung up banners around the campus reading, “Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch Western holidays” and “Resist the expansion of Western culture.”
A student told the newspaper that they would be punished if they did not attend a mandatory three-hour screening of propaganda films, which other students said included one about Confucius, with teachers standing guard to stop people from leaving.
An official microblog belonging to one of the university’s Communist Party’s committees posted comments calling for students not to “fawn on foreigners” and pay more attention to China’s holidays, like the Spring Festival.
“In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals,” it wrote. “In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashionable and China’s traditional festivals are old fashioned.”
Western culture, particularly in the form of U.S. pop culture, is wildly popular with young, educated Chinese, which occasionally causes discomfort for the generally quite conservative Communist Party.
In August, Beijing rounded up Christian pastors and religious scholars in a national seminar with the edict that the Christian faith must be free of foreign influence but “adapt to China,” a euphemism for obeying party rule.
This week, authorities in Wenzhou — known as China’s Jerusalem because it has half of the province’s 4,000 churches — banned all Christmas celebrations or related activities in the city’s kindergartens and grade schools.
“We had guidance on foreign holidays such as Christmas in the past, but this year marks the first time we issued a clearer notice,” an education official was quoted as saying in a local, government-run newspaper on Wednesday.
Churches in Wenzhou and elsewhere in Zhejiang were first told last year to turn off any spotlights shining on their crosses at night. A few months later, the congregations were ordered to remove the crosses or the signs faced forced demolitions.
Resistance by local Christians has led to violent protests, bloody clashes and arrests of pastors and churchgoers. At least two people — one pastor and one churchgoer — remain in police custody for their acts to defend the cross, said Zhang Kai, a Christian rights lawyer.
When one rural village re-erected a cross in the summer, authorities put it under a 24-hour watch, which has now gone on for nearly five months.
“This year’s Christmas has been exceptional, as a group of uniformed men have been helping us move tables, direct traffic and guard holiday decorations as well as the front door, the back door, the warehouse and the sanctuary,” church pastor Tao Chongyin wrote on a social media site.
AP, Reuters
- Dec 25, 2014
Within an hour, township officials and uniformed men barged onto the church ground and tore down the new cross.
“They keep a very close watch on us, and there is nothing we can do,” said a church official, who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because of fear of government retaliation. “The situation is not good, as any attempt to re-erect the cross will be stopped.”
That means that the worshippers in Wenzhou, like many Christians in the eastern province of Zhejiang, will worship this Christmas under a cross-less roof. Provincial authorities have toppled crosses from more than 400 churches, and even razed some worship halls in a provincewide crackdown on building code violations.
Many Christians say their faith has been singled out because authorities, wary of its rapid growth, are seeking to curb its spread in a campaign that has targeted China’s most thriving Christian communities.
Estimates for the number of Christians in China range from the conservative official figure of 23 million to as many as 100 million by independent scholars, raising the possibility that Christians may rival in size the 85 million members of the ruling Communist Party.
One university in northwestern China banned Christmas, calling it a “kitsch” foreign celebration unbefitting of the country’s own traditions and making its students watch propaganda films instead, state media said Thursday.
Beijing News said the Modern College of Northwest University, located in Xian, had strung up banners around the campus reading, “Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch Western holidays” and “Resist the expansion of Western culture.”
A student told the newspaper that they would be punished if they did not attend a mandatory three-hour screening of propaganda films, which other students said included one about Confucius, with teachers standing guard to stop people from leaving.
An official microblog belonging to one of the university’s Communist Party’s committees posted comments calling for students not to “fawn on foreigners” and pay more attention to China’s holidays, like the Spring Festival.
“In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals,” it wrote. “In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashionable and China’s traditional festivals are old fashioned.”
Western culture, particularly in the form of U.S. pop culture, is wildly popular with young, educated Chinese, which occasionally causes discomfort for the generally quite conservative Communist Party.
In August, Beijing rounded up Christian pastors and religious scholars in a national seminar with the edict that the Christian faith must be free of foreign influence but “adapt to China,” a euphemism for obeying party rule.
This week, authorities in Wenzhou — known as China’s Jerusalem because it has half of the province’s 4,000 churches — banned all Christmas celebrations or related activities in the city’s kindergartens and grade schools.
“We had guidance on foreign holidays such as Christmas in the past, but this year marks the first time we issued a clearer notice,” an education official was quoted as saying in a local, government-run newspaper on Wednesday.
Churches in Wenzhou and elsewhere in Zhejiang were first told last year to turn off any spotlights shining on their crosses at night. A few months later, the congregations were ordered to remove the crosses or the signs faced forced demolitions.
Resistance by local Christians has led to violent protests, bloody clashes and arrests of pastors and churchgoers. At least two people — one pastor and one churchgoer — remain in police custody for their acts to defend the cross, said Zhang Kai, a Christian rights lawyer.
When one rural village re-erected a cross in the summer, authorities put it under a 24-hour watch, which has now gone on for nearly five months.
“This year’s Christmas has been exceptional, as a group of uniformed men have been helping us move tables, direct traffic and guard holiday decorations as well as the front door, the back door, the warehouse and the sanctuary,” church pastor Tao Chongyin wrote on a social media site.
