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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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We hear a lot about China’s emergence as a global power but less about the rise of Christianity in the country. The church in China can no longer be viewed as a small offshoot of Western Christianity, or as a tiny island in a sea of other Asian religions. Of course, it is a mistake to think of Christianity as primarily a European religion, as it began in the Middle East, and at the present time, sheer weight of numbers in China, along with South America and Africa, should indicate that the action is not primarily in the West. Indeed, the Chinese church is—to borrow a phrase from the hit movie—a “hidden dragon.”
The answer to how many Christians there are in China is, according to David Aikman, “not a simple one.” Official figures of 25 million are extremely conservative, with the real total likely to be closer to 80 million. The post-September 11 climate adds extra importance to this figure, as the Chinese believe Muslims are more likely to be receptive to missionary overtures from non-Western countries. The Chinese churches claim they will have 100,000 missionaries ready to head west by 2007.
Aikman, a former Beijing correspondent for Time magazine, takes his investigative skills into the heart of this sleeping giant to determine just how Christianity will shape the face China increasingly turns to the world.
But Jesus in Beijing is also a history of Chinese Christianity. Readers may be surprised that missionaries entered China as early as 635 AD. Aikman makes a quick but comprehensive sweep over 1400 years of history. By the time he arrives at the 20th century, the underground nature of Chinese churches means he must focus on personalities. This is only natural, as the church is primarily people, not architectural features.
Interestingly, although most of the leaders of the church are male, 80 per cent of Chinese Christians are women. Aikman explains that as part of Chinese culture men are encouraged to be independent and career-minded. For those inside the church, this male pride can lead to disputes over leadership. There are, however, many courageous female leaders, including the formidable Ding, whose extraordinary organisational skills led to toleration from authorities and promotions in the work camps to which she was banished for her faith.
At times this resorting to individual biographies makes the Chinese church itself a rather shadowy thing, hard to get a handle on. But because of persecution the church has needed to remain elusive. Although there are official “house” churches, sanctioned and monitored by government, and although police claim “We are not the Romans,” government resistance to more independently minded churches has been fierce, and Aikman includes some hair-raising tales of Bible-smuggling and near-escapes, as well as the histories of stoic individuals incarcerated for half their lives. In the 19th century, Hudson Taylor was taking the gospel to the lower classes, starting a tradition of Christian subversion of authority, but Mao’s Communism has been responsible for much persecution up to the present time. (In an interesting turn, Communism lumps religion and pornography into the same basket as enemies of the people.)
It is easy to see parallels with the 1st-century church described in the Bible: sharing everything in the midst of poverty, burning enthusiasm, rapid growth, miraculous healing. And like the early church, there are issues regarding how and to what extent the various churches should communicate and cooperate, debates over theology, and problems with false teaching and cults. Another problem is that with Christianity flaring like wildfire in the cities, particularly in universities, there are few older, experienced Christians to provide guidance.
Although there is massive growth, there is disagreement over whether this will ultimately be good or bad for Chinese Christianity. There are many who believe that once the early church became the official church of the empire, it strayed. So too, many Chinese Christians worry about official approval. Aikman reports the remarkable fact that for their part, the Chinese government has become more embracing after concluding that the West became powerful largely because of Christianity. For Chinese Christians, on the other hand, persecution makes for commitment. There is no room for lukewarm faith, of which the Chinese could easily accuse Western Christians. A student attending a seminary hidden in a bamboo forest for fear of the police comments, “I want to serve the Lord all my life, not half my life.”
Despite promising to reveal something about the future, as compared with the current state of Chinese Christianity, Aikman delivers little. Part of the problem is the unwillingness of Chinese leaders to talk about Christianity in a country where the religion is officially Confucian, but unofficially nothing. However, Aikman does argue the church is currently not as suppressed as Western portraits would have us believe.
Writer Annie Dillard, upon visiting China in the 1970s, wrote that the soil seemed like dust. She was amazed any plants could grow in it. Conditions have certainly been hostile to Christianity, yet the seeds have sprouted and are now flourishing. One young documentary filmmaker even believes that Christianity is especially fitted to Chinese culture. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that, as in the Roman Empire, Christianity is bringing change to China.
Extract from Signs of the Times, December 2006 .
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