clarifying Christianity in China

Weather is overcast and humid, as it's been pretty much for a while.

Two of L.'s students, "Y" and "C", came by. They all made Western-style sandwiches. They watched "Finding Neverland" as they ate them, while I played "househusband", cleaning the room and washing the dishes.

I had a chance to email someone who made what I considered one common misperception about Christianity in China --- she thought "you can be killed for having a Bible in China" and "how dangerous it is to be a Christian there". Here's what I wrote in response to her --

Here in China, there are actually plenty of Bibles to be had. There's no law here against having them. It may have been so 30-40 years ago, but not today. You can buy them for less than $2 USD a piece at your local TSPM-registered church. And it's complete....nothing added or taken out (contrary to what some think). Just bought one last week, an English-Chinese one, for rmb 28 (less than $4 USD). Still alive and kickin'....plan to stay that way for the rest of my time here! :-)

Personally, I believe [many] Christians are operating on information about China that's 30-40 years old. China's changing fast....not just economically and politically, but religiously as well. True, there is an underground element of Catholics, Protestants, etc. But the above-ground element is pretty spiritually sound, from what I've seen (and I've been to rural and urban registered churches in the north and south). You can find a list of them here. They're not a whole lot different than Western churches. There are definitely restrictions (e.g. you can only meet on church premises; home meetings are not allowed; no proselytizing outside of church; the gov't, not adherents, regulates the building of new churches)...these are some of the things that the underground church hopes to change. And true, those who push hard for these changes aren't well-liked by the gov't, and the gov't lets them know that. In this regards, it's not freedom by Western standards. But the mere belief and worship of God isn't restricted here. People pray, sing hymns, read/study the Bible, take communion, give sermons/testimonies in the registered churches. I've even been allowed to take video and pictures of church services here without any problems (I once tried that in an American church and got turned away; how 'bout that?).

I don't know much about the Catholic situation, but I know that China was no fan of Pope JP2....his funeral wasn't broadcasted in my area, no surprise. But there is a Catholic church here that's being renovated. Quite beautiful too.

It often frustrates me when I hear western Christians (and I say this as a western Christian myself) spin the tensions between Chinese Christians and the Chinese gov't as a struggle for the right to believe and worship, when in actuality, it's more of a struggle for rights that are more administrative or political in nature. I don't fault the Chinese gov't entirely for behaving this way, for as we all know there are kooks out there who radically politicize their religion to the detriment of society. I think because of 9/11, the US can understand this somewhat. It's turned me into a strong proponent of separating church activities from politics.

Frankly, I think some western Christians (not your friends :-) have ulterior motives in sustaining the image of a religiously ultra-repressive China, even if it isn't true. Why? I think it's because it tugs at heart-strings and, ultimately, purse-strings, if you know what I mean. This upsets me. As a Christian, I feel a strong urge to counter this in the western Christian community whenever I get the chance, with the things I've seen and heard here.

Spicy!!!

I went to lunch with the other teachers of the same course I was teaching, on the main campus. It was sort of an appreciation dinner for us by the department - where we also got paid.

The classes at the middle school went well. We started out with "20 Questions", dividing the class into 2 teams, using the rows they were sitting in. We also showed riddles for them to solve. Some were able to translate chunks of it, which was a good exercise. Since it was such a big hit, it'll probably be more of the same from here on out.

L. was getting really ill from the bumpiness of the ride back home. We got off and headed directly for a restaurant. We picked up some tofu and some kind of beef dish. Both were REALLY spicy, however, even for L.! We could barely finish them. Our waiter, named "Mouse", wanted to chat with us. He seemed eager to try his English with us. After dinner, we went for some ice cream, if nothing else, just to cool our tongues, and walked around the campus for a little while, just enjoying the respite from the rain.

home school

L. brought her afternoon class over, since there were only 10, all girls. They went through the text book lessons for the day. We later showed them our wedding DVD and our wedding pictures. They all seemed interested in them. One girl asked where in the Bible was her name (Leah). Another girl leafed through the English-Chinese Bible I bought Sunday. The wedding DVD has been great for showing people what a slice of Christian culture looks like.

chat with "J"

I met "J" at the canteen today. We walked back to his home, where we talked about Scripture and the church in China. "J" believes in God's Word as spirit that impacts people and souls when it's "breathed" out of the mouth. He's written a manuscript, collaborating with 4 other people, on the book of Revelation. I saw it as essentially a verse-by-verse commentary on Revelation using other Bible verses to explain what each verse means. I directed our conversation in a different way, sharing my views on constructing theology via scattered pieces of Scripture. I asked him how he'd respond to others who pieced verses together differently from him to raise up alternate theologies (e.g. the Church of Christ, Maranatha, etc.). I also talked about languages of Scripture and about Muslims' claims about the authenticity of the Bible and the Quran, things that have challenged me over the years. It became apparent that what we emphasized in our faith walks were a bit different, but I enjoyed sharing with him overall. I was very interested in the church in China and how difficult it was to be a Christian, citing perceptions (misperceptions) on the part of Westerners about this issue. "J" said in response to some questions I had:

He hadn't known personally of any extreme persecutions of Christians and believes much of it is exaggerated.

Having lived 3 years in Australia, he feels that China's restrictions in sharing the Gospel aren't a whole lot different in restrictions found in the USA or Australia. For example, open-air preaching in the West is regulated by social expectations, political correctness, and noise ordinances.

The incident I saw of a plenary session at a Christian conference showing a handwritten Bible carefully being handled with surgical gloves may have been the writings of someone who was simply studying the Bible by writing out verses, not necessarily for copying due to scarce Bibles (as it was being depicted at the conference).

Every Christian in China who wants a Bible could buy one if they wanted.

Obviously, the Bible in China is quite complete.

Having commentary and study guides inside Bibles strikes John as a bit odd, almost against the doctrine that speaks against adding things to God's Word. He prefers the Bible to be unencumbered by wordy footnotes and commentary.

L. and I went to Beijing Lu for pizza at Pizza Hut. We walked back in the heat, past the busy stores, crowds, wristwatch hawkers, and displays in the ground of the old GZ roads of centuries past. We waited a while for a bus, took 108 to Huang Shi Lu and then a taxi back home.

The U.S. National Cheerleading and Dance Team Championships were on GZ Sports. It was taken from ESPN. If I could only get a copy of it, it'd be nice to show to the YLT middle school kids as an example of American culture.

last class

This evening, as usual, I went to my "Beginning English" class for university faculty early to work on the "English Signs in Guangzhou" PPT presentation, before the students filed in. The class had more people in it than I've seen in a while. Turns out that it was because students had to turn in their attendance forms. I was told that if they attend more than 2/3 (6 out of 9 classes), then they would get their money back. A bit strange, but didn't question it.

The class went quite well. The last lesson was "thank yous" and "closing a conversation" (appropriate). One of the students got the Internet to work on the computer, which was nice. I showed them http://www.eslgold.com. Taking an idea from the YLT middle school, we played "20 Questions" which went over well. I showed the remainder of "English Signs in Guangzhou" PPT and took some group pictures (too bad half the class left during the break). It was a bit hard to accept it was our last class together in some ways. I've enjoyed them.

sharing with brothers

Lima wasn't feeling well, so I went to the 3-self church alone. The service started with prayer and then singing 3 praise songs (2 Chinese, 1 English). The sermon focused on Isaiah 62. I recorded most of the service, using L's tape recorder. A surprise came when a friend of L's got up to give her testimony about her struggles and about how God lifted her through it using L. and other people in her life, along with some books. I snuck away to buy an English-Chinese TSPM Bible (rmb 28), since the bookstore only opened from 11am - 12 noon. I noticed that among some of the things for sale was a DVD of the "Jesus" film put out by Inspiration Films and the Genesis Project.

I met "J", "S", "D", and some new brothers, "N", "C", and "Gs" (who wasn't yet a believer). Also met "A" and "Y" from Angola. Had some lunch at the fellowship hall, then gathered with the Angolan brothers, "C", "Gs", and another Chinese-citizen brother visiting from New Orleans (he has a US green card).

Some of us shared how we all came to Christ. "C" shared how he met some Christians three years ago when he was a student at a university. He wasn't open at all first, but later became so. "C's" now very fervent about sharing his faith. He admits he was so much so at first that police took him to detention for a day for his activities. He says he was not wise and maybe a bit out of control in his zeal. "C" feels he is now more mature and wise about it.

"A" grew up in a Christian family and was a pastor and a teacher at one time in the Congo. He didn't do that much in Angola, as Angola was in the midst of a 27-year civil war which ended only 6 years ago or so. "A" says that the church in Angola is doing well there now. He and his friends are looking for possible import-export business opportunities in China. They've been in China for 2 months so far and hopes to be here for another 2 years. I gave him info about GICF, which he would check into.

There's a chamber concert taking place at the church on June 11. Might be kind of interesting to check it out.

I took bus with "J". "J" shared a lot of Bible verses with me. It almost seemed every other sentence he spoke was a Bible verse. It was interesting at first, but later got somewhat repetitive and tedious. Overall, "J" seems like a good guy with a head filled with knowledge about the Bible.

The evening Bible study, which I arrived late, was on John 13:1-17.

"make-up" day...grrrr!!!

I am exhausted! I had to teach the entire day today, i.e. 8 a.m. - 5:20 p.m. straight with the lunch break. (Big chip on my shoulder about this: normally, i have only two classes on Friday morning - 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. - which are still pretty tiring, consindering you're on your feet for three straight hours. But today, i had to make up for the classes i didn't teach during the May holiday. Classes that i didn't know i was supposed to teach since there were no notices/signs in English informing me and other foreign teachers. So, basically, they don't tell you what you have to do, but make you make up for not doing it...grrrr!!! My frustration about this is rather daunting and my only salvation is that we're leaving in a little more than a month and i won't have to deal with an incompetent administration after this) Sorry for the vent!

Plus, we had lunch with one of my classes from last year. This was the only time they could meet and unfortunately, it was on a day that i was teaching all day. Soon after my 11:30 class we walked to the front entrance of the school, where a former student A. met us. She had a car (auto-transmission, first time seen for us!) and was going to take us to a restaurant. Her class is graduating this semester and is treating all their (loved) teachers to a lunch. Another teacher named N. joined us in the car. He lives in our building and teaches English literature. He speaks pretty good English and knows a lot of poetry by heart. He enjoys Keats, Browning, Poe, Shakespeare, among others. He's never studied abroad and all that he's learned was picked up in China. S. was quite impressed with him, not only for his literature, but N. is also a big "Matrix" fan. Once i heard that, i knew we had pretty much lost S. for the rest of the ride. A very animated discussion followed the rest of the way there.

S from now on: The restaurant was a delightful, half-outdoors buffet, filled with various Chinese foods. Other than a big cockroach that flew by the buffet line, it was a nice place. Wish Dad and Mom could've come. The students were happy to see L. Lots of hugging and picture-taking. The students, about 30 present, were quite gregarious. It was easy to see why L. liked them. They liked her a lot too, it was apparent. Talking with some of the students, they weren't sure what they were going to do once they left. One student said that XM told them the certificate they were earning would be recognized around the world, but it wasn't turning out to be as important as they thought it would be.

After lunch, A. drove us back. It started pouring rain along the way. L. dashed off to her afternoon, make-up classes. I went back home, on the way borrowing "Matrix I" and "Matrix II" from N. I spent the afternoon watching them and then L. and I watched "Matrix II" later at night.

new ideas for middle schoolers

The classes at YLT middle school went fine. The kids were pretty well-behaved, compared to last week. L. assisted me at the computer and DVD player, doing no teaching. We played "20 Questions" in both classes, which is quite well-received with the kids. They became more open to asking questions as time wore on. We gave the ones who guessed the item candy prizes. Next week, we'll try to guess things on the outside and also create two teams, pitting them against each other, and asking questions alternately. Competition is a good educational motivator.

The showing of "Monsters, Inc." captivated the students. We showed it in English, with Chinese subtitles, in case they hadn't seen it and needed to understand the plot (I kinda wished we'd used English subtitles anyway). I stopped the DVD at certain parts to go over phrases and captions in English. The DVD player was flaky during the first class, but it didn't have any problems in the 2nd class....must've needed warming up. Overall, it seemed to go well. However, N the head teacher asked us not to show the movie next week, since he said most of the students had seen it already and other teachers use movies as well as teaching tools. He preferred that we focus on games, songs, and cultural things like MTV. I didn't agree with making MTV a teaching tool (I wouldn't teach my own kids anything about MTV and besides, where would I find any material on it here in China?). I tried to argue with N. that watching the movies in English using English subtitles might be helpful. The students in the 2nd class confirmed that they'd seen it, but only in Chinese. N. was okay with other movies that the kids may not have seen. However, I got the feeling that he didn't want the school paying money to have us just show movies in class. It was a bit frustrating, but I gradually understood. Back to the drawing board on this.

At home, we decided to go out for some KFC. We loaded up on a couple of meals and a bucket to go. We ended up eating most of the bucket as well, while watching the NBA playoffs. Fried chicken and NBA b-ball....a nice way to spend the evening!

Four guests and a wedding video

This evening, 3 female students and 1 male student from L.'s classes last year came by for a visit. The boy called himself "Sonic", but I can't quite recall the girls' names. We had lots of snacks. The kids brought over a small watermelon, which we dropped on the floor, but we managed to salvage most of it. Sonic left early, while the girls continued to look over wedding photos. We watched our wedding DVD that Auntie and Uncle made for us. The wedding video has been the most watched piece of video we have in our whole collection, not to mention what a witness it's been, filled with Scripture reading, inspirational singing, testimonies, communion, prayers, sermons, etc.

Today's the 25th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. (Well, writing that sentence's about all the celebration you'll find here in China on it.)

it's good to be an american

We woke up to the heat and humidity we fell asleep to yesterday. No big bugs in the room this time, save the occasional cockroach. I went to teach piano. M. figured out how to play inversions while changing chords in "Ode To Joy" on his own, which was a welcomed surprise.

After I dropped L. off at home, I went to the U.S. consulate to check a few things out. When I got there, I was able to bypass a long line of Chinese waiting for visas, as citizens get a pass right in. The process getting through was quite smooth. There was hardly anyone at the embassy counter, so I was able to get forms, registered, and extra pages in my passport without waiting long at all. Only about 4-5 other people came through during the 45 minutes I was there. A much more pleasant experience here than the U.S. immigration office back home in the States.

TV shows for tonight: "24", "Insects from Hell", and a National Geographic on Egyptian kings. Ironic about "Insects from Hell", considering the one we encountered yesterday.