Lausanne World Pulse – WORLD EVANGELISM & MISSIONS REPORTS – Chinese Persecution–Fact Or Fiction

By Carl Moeller

A record number of Americans traveled to China in 2005. And even more are expected to visit in 2006 and beyond. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that tourism spending in China from tourists of all countries will increase about three and a half times by 2014, from US$87 billion to more than US$300 billion. Fuelling the increase is the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

China is a country of paradoxes.

Tourism is part of China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse. But when Americans and other nationalities travel to China, what will they see? Will they see a free society with religious rights for all? Will they see brutal police crackdowns on political and religious dissidents? Or will they see something in between?

China native Johnny Li, minister-at-large for Open Doors International, describes China as a country of paradoxes that is baffling to the outsider. On the one hand, it has some of the world’s highest buildings and first-class road building facilities; prosperous families living in modern accommodations; and the usual American fast food outlets and chain stores.

On the other hand, there are many dirt tracks and unpaved roads. There are villages where entire populations live in caves. More than seventy percent (nine hundred million) of China’s 1.3 billion people are farmers who are living below the poverty line.

Of one trip, Li said, “In 2005, I traveled to villages in the desert in northwest China. We drove on a muddy road for over twenty hours. No tourists visit here; the people have no expectations for a bright future. They are not benefiting from the economic reforms in China. But there is a hunger for [the Bible].”

While some Chinese Christian leaders and other dissidents languish in jail, others travel the world talking of religious freedom. Some smuggle in the Bible, yet the Bible is also legally printed and sold. Last November 2005 United States President George W. Bush worshipped in a state-approved church in Beijing while urging Chinese leaders to grant greater freedoms (including freedom to worship without state controls) to all people.

Great Variation of Tolerance
There is great variation of tolerance within China as well. In some areas, house church Christians are left alone by local police and are able to sing at the top of their voices and build their own churches in defiance of formal legislation. In other areas, house church meeting are stopped and the church leaders are arrested, beaten and sometimes jailed. Periodically, there are waves of crackdowns (initiated by higher-level authorities) on unregistered groups. These crackdowns usually come prior to major national or international events and are seemingly meant to send a message to house churches that the government is still in control of activities in the country.

“Whatever you hear about China regarding religious freedom or lack of freedom is probably true,” Li says. “It depends where you go. So many things in Beijing or in the big cities of China look just the same on the outside as they look in the United States. But in the rural areas, there is a lot of persecution in places hidden from view.”

Since 1999, the U.S. State Department has designated China a “Country of Particular Concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom. China is ranked number nine on Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries where Christians are most severely persecuted.

Dr. Carl Moeller is president/CEO of Open Doors USA. Open Doors is an international ministry which has supported and strengthened persecuted Christians for fifty years. Moeller formerly ministered with Campus Crusade for Christ and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, USA.