Religion: a double-edged sword for the government - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

The Chinese government has raided a few popular underground churches, illustrating how it sees religion as a double-edged sword, says journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, at NPR.

NPR:

IAN JOHNSON: I think the government sees religion as a double-edged sword. 

SCHMITZ: Ian Johnson is the author of "The Souls Of China: The Return Of Religion After Mao." 

JOHNSON: On the one hand, it is promoting some religions, like Buddhism and Taoism and folk religions. But in terms of these other religions that they think have too many foreign ties and can be influenced by outsiders taking a very hard-line approach, it's all part and parcel of a broader effort to control civil society. 

SCHMITZ: Johnson says Chinese authorities are cracking down on churches that are not officially sanctioned by the government. Nearly half of China's 60 million Christians attend these unregistered churches. The raid on Early Rain was preceded by a raid in September by Beijing police on that city's Zion church, which had 1,500 members. In his book, Johnson profiled Early Rain's pastor, Wang Yi.... 

SCHMITZ: At a sermon in September, Wang called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a sinner, while congregants answer with amen. It was this, Wang's increasing political activism, that Johnson says likely contributed to his arrest. 

JOHNSON: He's denounced Xi Jinping lifting the term limits on the presidency so that he could become president for life. He said that this was destroying the constitution and similar to creating a new Caesar.

More at NPR.

Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more political analysts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

China's religious revolution is not over - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, did spend much time with pastor Wang Yi and his Early Rain Covenant Church during his research of his book. Now the government is cracking down, it means a drastic change of attitude by the authorities, but Johnson does not expect the religious revolution in China is over, he writes on his website.

Ian Johnson:

One of the main characters in The Souls of China is Wang Yi, a dynamic pastor in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

In the book, I followed him and his congregation, Early Rain Covenant Church, for more than a year in 2012 to 2013, and was amazed at how he managed to walk a fine line, almost being arrested but managing to stay out of jail and continue to lead what became a huge church of more than 500 people--all outside government control. This included a seminary, grade school, and eventually a second church. 

Wang Yi wasn't perfect. He was arch-conservative, once expelling a couple from the church because the wife had studied theology and wanted to preach. I also found him infuriatingly judgmental about other faiths and at times dictatorial. It often felt that he had some of the excessive fervor of the newly converted. 

But he was also one of the most gifted and intelligent pastors I had ever come across. Maybe because of his background as a human rights lawyer, or just because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, Wang Yi gave riveting sermons about a huge variety of topics, from problems in society to Biblical history. I felt I learned more from him than probably from any other pastor, and it made me wish I lived in Chengdu--he made you want to go to church, and I could see why his church was such a success. 

For my book, he and Early Rain were ideal to profile. The church represented an important trend--the rise of big, urban churches that attracted increasingly well-educated white-collar Chinese people. And while Wang Yi's overt political orientation wasn't typical of most pastors, it was still a key part of the story of faith's rise in China. It's no coincidence, for example, that about a quarter of the human rights (weiquan) lawyers in China were Christian... 

If in the past the government had a relatively laissez-faire attitude toward all religions--viewing them all skeptically but largely tolerating them--now we are in an era where some religions will be in ever-deeper conflict with the state and others will be courted by it. Unfortunately for Wang Yi, his faith--Christianity--is on the wrong side of this divide.

More at his weblog.

Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more political experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

My take on the Chengdu arrest of 100 protestants and their pastor - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, looks at the arrest of 100 participants of the Early Rain Covenant Church and their pastor, Wang Yi, this weekend. Johnson did spend over a year with the underground church and wrote this fast overview for the New York Times.

Ian Johnson

In September, the authorities informed the church that it was in violation of the government’s religious policy, according to a copy of the notice posted by church activists on social media. According to Chinese law, only churches, mosques and temples registered with the government and under government control are considered legal. Others are illegal, even though since the early 1980s, official government policy has been largely to tolerate these sorts of places of worship as long as they are apolitical. More than half of the estimated 60 million Protestants in China worship at churches like Early Rain that are not registered with the government. They are some of the most dynamic congregations in China, and widely seen as the fastest-growing religious group in the country. 

Early Rain is especially prominent because of the role of Pastor Wang. A trained lawyer, Mr. Wang was a well-known blogger and film critic, and in the early 2000s was rated by Chinese media as one of the country’s most prominent public intellectuals. In 2005, he converted to Christianity, part of a wave of interest in the religion by politically active Chinese. He started Early Rain and it quickly grew in size, and now has more than 500 members. 

In 2006, Mr. Wang met President George W. Bush at the White House along with two other prominent Christian activists. 

Over the past few years, however, the government has made a nationwide effort to more strictly regulate spiritual life in China, reflecting President Xi Jinping’s drive to exert a tighter control over society. In 2016, it enacted new regulations emphasizing that all places of worship must be controlled by the government and banning foreign ties.

Earlier this year it took other steps, such as banning online sales of the Bible, and seeking a deal with the Vatican to normalize relations. The government has also destroyed churches or removed their steeples and crosses. 

Steps against Islam, however, have been even more draconian. Hundreds of thousands of minority Muslims have been sent to internment camps in China’s far western region of Xinjiang while others have been banned from fasting during Ramadan.

More at the New York Times.

Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more stories by Ian Johnson? Do check out this list.  

"The spirit of the East and the West" - Helen Wang

Helen Wang

Book author Helen Wang got a feature in the Chengdu fashion magazine "Grace", describing her as "the spirit of the East and the West". On her weblog Helen Wang describes her latest success. Helen Wang:

The magazine’s main patrons are modern and trendy Chinese women. I am honored to be in a fashion magazine, but I am even more honored to be named as “The Spirit of the East and West.” In Chinese, the word Jing Ling means “spirit,” but can also mean “wizard,” or “genius.” Last night, I was at KTSF Channel 26, a San Francisco Chinese TV station, filming a segment of “Talk Tonight” show, which will be aired on Monday, Sept. 5th. The host asked me if this title sounded “too cute.” I said no. That’s what I want to be. I hope we can all be the “spirit” or the bridge that connects the East and West.

More on Helen Wang's weblog.

Helen Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• Communism with Chinese characteristics - Helen Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Who are China's luxury shoppers? - Helen Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Helen Wang's "The Chinese Dream" to be published in China (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• China Daily reviews 'The China Dream' - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Thursday book talk in Chengdu - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson

The Chengdu Bookworm, part of the famous chain of book stores, will host a book talk by Bill Dodson on his book China Inside Out on Thursday 24 March at 7.30PM, he announces on his weblog.

I’ve been invited to the Chengdu Bookworm to discuss my book China Inside Out this week Thursday, March 24, at 7:30pm. The Bookworm’s Literary Festival is winding down this week, with appearances by Jonathan Watts, author of When a Billion Chinese Jump, and Peter Hessler, author of Country Roads. I’m pulling up the rear.

Bill Dodson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Related articles

• US IT programmers for a China price - Bill Dodson (chinaherald.net)
• Explaining China "inside out" - book review (chinaherald.net)
• Why Weibo will surpass Twitter - Marc van der Chijs (chinaherald.net)

Operational guide for China's newspapers

For its thirteen character ad in support of the Tiananmen Mothers on June 4 on the Chengdu Evening News had already a huge effect. ESWN now translates from the New Century Media an account by an old hand of the paper who meanwhile gives a good overview of the way newspapers in China operate.

A very useful overview.

It is so sad for China. The Chinese Communist are so vulnerable that they are afraid of "a thirteen word advertisement that is the size of a cigarette." They are even more afraid of the voices of old people like us trying to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Can a history written in blood be purged and forgotten?
The people in charge of compiling dictionaries have a huge problem. Six cannot be placed next to four, rightists cannot be mentioned and the Cultural Revolution cannot be reported. If all the disasters in history are not allowed to be mentioned, then can this still be called a nation? The value of history is that it can be handed down, which meant that memory is essential. Presently, the Chinese authorities are most afraid that the people should have memories. What can this idiotic action possibly achieve?

Internet rules in China's big cities

Jan van de Bergh links to this otherwise unlinkable article in AdAgeChina, indicating how fast the internet is taking over from the traditional TV. Shanghai is already on its knees - as we might have noted ourselves alrady. Cities like Chengdu are following fast:

"Many surfers regard news on the internet as being more trustworthy. Six out of ten surfers in Shanghai consider the web to be the most helpful information source, while TV came first with only one out of ten people. Online media also achieves dominance in terms of being viewed as the most helpful source when making actual purchase decisions in Shanghai (30% for online versus 11% for TV).

In Chengdu, meanwhile, TV remains king, but this is probably because the penetration of computer ownership there lags behind Shanghai. However, the dominance of TV in Chengdu, and other second-tier cities, will be short-lived. Already one-fifth of young adults in Chengdu rate the internet as their most preferred leisure activity, while TV captures the hearts of one-quarter. It is just a matter of time before the internet also dominates TV in most of China's second-tier cities. And once it does, you will see change occurring like a revolution--in media, commerce and culture."

Now, what would it be nice if ad revenue would follow this trend.