CHINA
I am delighted to share an article about China written by Basil Evans, friend of my Blog. Basil, a retired businessman from Queensland, recently went to China with a friend and he shares his observations from the point of view of a Christian. I am sure you will enjoy this story and to have a break from incessant war.
Bill included a note to me:
“It would be nice if you could include a dragon picture. It is the most recognised symbol. There is no religious association. The dragon could only be used by the emperor symbolising his power. I suspect much like the British lion”. Bill
MY VISIT TO CHINA:
BASIL EVANS
Firstly one cannot come to grips with the numbers involved. China has 1.2 billion people or 15% of the world’s population while Australia has about 28 million or 0.3%.
China has had a civilisation there for over 5000 years while Australia was only discovered in 1770 and first settled in 1788 – less than 250 years.
STATISTICS:
The Peoples Republic of China started with Mao Tse Tung in 1949 and during his life until his death in 1976 was basically a rural culture with virtually no heavy industry but their plans changed dramatically at that time. Every effort was made to modernise until the country is now the second largest economy in the world after the USA and it is anticipated will soon replace the US industrially and politically within the next decades.
The population has moved from the country to the cities where there are already 160 cities with over a million people. The largest city is Shanghai that had over 22 million in 2010. These cities are full of multi-storey residential towers up to 50 or 60 stories high.
The people who previously lived in the rural areas had very poor small housing with shortage of water and electricity and few jobs. This has all changed with the government providing cheap housing with no shortages of water, or power and there is work for most people.
The general population appears very happy with the new situation even if it has meant giving up much personal freedom. The country is not really Communist but a benevolent dictatorship that has absolute control over every aspect of life. Of course if one steps out of line things are no longer benevolent.
TOURISM
Everyone was friendly and as helpful as possible considering
the language barrier in that virtually no one speaks English,
We travelled a number of times on bullet trains at up to 385 km/hour. Phenomenal, quiet and exactly on time.
We visited the major tourist sites – Tiananmen square including Mao’s tomb where his embalmed body is on display in a huge tomb, the Hall of the People, the Forbidden city, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, the pandas, the Terra Cotta Warriors, various Pagodas, the Yangtse River Cruise, the Li River Cruise, the Stone Forest, and the Shanghai district. We had a variety of formal dinners, and attended two major tourist events – a historic Dance performance and a Gymnastic performance.
We must comment on a few sites:
All the buildings were in perfect condition as though they had just been built in many cases.
The Great Wall is being continually rebuilt. It is over 21,196 km long built to keep invaders out. It failed against the Mongols because they bribed a Chinese military official to leave a gate unlocked in an inconspicuous area. (This makes a great sermon that it is the little things that can defeat us.)
The pandas are in comfortable yards and spend their time eating bamboo and sleeping.
The Terra Cotta Warriors were full size models of the emperor’s army troops made to accompany him to the afterlife and maintain his importance. There are thousands and no two are alike plus horses and chariots.
The river cruise ships are very modern and hold about 250 people and the mountains coming straight down into the water were picturesque and unique.
We took multiple photos – far too many to include here. There are many good photo sites on the Internet and to get a general view you can search for the following.
Tiananmen square, the Forbidden city, Mao Tse Tong’s tomb,
the Summer Palace, the Great Wall of China, Panda Sanctuary,
Terra Cotta Warriors, Cormorant Fishing, Yangtse river cruise,
Li river cruise, Shanghai, the Bund
MAO’S TOMB
THERE WERE SOME NEGATIVE THINGS.
The Chinese Communist Party absolutely controls everything down to the small details. Everywhere we went we had our passports scanned so the authorities knew exactly where we went and there are thousands of cameras everywhere so they also knew exactly what we did. The same applies to Chinese citizens who must carry a computer identity card.
The Government censors all news, TV, Internet etc.
Google and related programs are blotted out as are any other US
owned computer information. We could not get WiFi or YouTube in most places nor most message programs which was very annoying and there were hardly any English speaking TV programs.
Hardly anyone spoke any English and hotel staff answered questions by using translator language programs on their mobile phones.
There was plenty of food but very tasteless or bland to our taste. Over a couple of hundred years of English control of Hong Kong their cuisine was modified somewhat to suit European tastes and it is that style of “Cantonese” food that we generally get in Australia. Mainland Chinese food has few spices and very little sugar.
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA
THREE SELF CHURCH CHINA
Communism is basically atheistic and since 1976 Christianity has been attacked. Children cannot attend Sunday School, discussion ABOUT Christianity is banned in the general school system and every aspect of church practice is tightly monitored and regulated. While the state says there is freedom of religion it means freedom of the form of religion approved by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
There are five religions only recognised by the CCP. – Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Catholicism and Protestantism but authorities closely police religious activity. All other religious bodies are illegal and participating in them is a criminal offence. The long standing strategy of the CCP is to align all religion with Communism and ensure loyalty to the CCP which espouses and promotes atheism.
Many Chinese practice folk religions and identify with no specific religion.
About 300 million persons belong to the CCP and according to 2021 (the latest available) estimates from the CIA World Factbook, 52.1% of the population has no religious affiliation, 21.9% follow Chinese Folk religion, 18.2% believe in Buddhism, 5.1% follow Christianity, 1.8% Islam and 0.7% Taoism.
Christianity in China can be classified under 4 headings – Protestants as the 3 Self Church which has over 60,000 churches, There are an estimated 6,440 officially registered Catholic venues in China, including churches and other places of worship – the Patriotic church, the Home Churches that have perhaps millions of members, and the underground Catholic churches which are much smaller in number.
The Catholic church is heavily state controlled through the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) – an organisation established by the CCP to manage religious affairs. This body is not recognised by the Vatican but appoints all new Catholic bishops and monitors church activities.
CHINESE CATHOLIC PRIEST
We pulled up in front of a building with a big cross on its façade. Our guide told us it was a church so we went inside. It looked like a standard old fashioned church building with a central aisle, pews on either side with a Bible and hymnal in every seat, a pulpit in the front and a cross on the central wall behind the pulpit but also a Chinese national flag and the Chinese Communist party flags also on the platform. There were Gospels of John on a table as one entered with notices about church activities and prayer meetings. I checked when we got home and found that the Bible translations are quite orthodox and accurate. However I also checked on the church statement of beliefs and they are far from Christian.
The Communist party says that there is freedom of religion in China and quotes the 3 Self movement to prove their point. This is quite convincing for ordinary or nominal church attenders but these churches are not actually Christian and true Christians in China must hide their faith.
The following short article is published by the US organisation Billion Bibles.
Three Self Church of China
Three Self churches are the 60,000 churches in China that belong to the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Three Self Patriotic Movement.
The three ‘Self’s are self-governance, self-support, self-propagation, and reject foreigners’ influence on church leadership, foreign financing and foreign missionaries, respectively, while “Patriotic” reflects this church’s loyalty to China.
The three rejections have kept the divisive Western denominationalism out of China and thus aren’t necessarily bad on their own. What is bad is that the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) tries to restrict, control and twist Christianity to suit the Communist Party. Consider some of the rules governing the Three Self churches:
• The Communist Party is the head of the church in China (Three Self churches
report to the Three Self Patriotic Movement, which in turn reports to the State
Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), which is controlled by the CCP.
• The Communist Party decides how many people can be baptized per year.
• The Communist Party has the final say on who can preach and what can be
preached.
• Preaching should focus on the social rules and social benefits of Christianity.
• Preaching about the resurrection of Jesus is forbidden.
• Preaching about the second coming of Jesus is forbidden.
• Preaching against religions that deny the deity of Jesus is forbidden.
• Preaching that atheist Communist heroes went to hell is forbidden.
• Preaching cannot deny that all good Communists go to heaven.
• Preaching against abortion is forbidden.
• Preachers can preach only at the Three Self church to which they are assigned.
• Worshipping outside Three Self churches and official “meeting points” is strictly
forbidden.
• Importing Bibles is forbidden, even if they are given away for free.
• Printing Bibles is forbidden, even if they are given away for free.
• Evangelizing or giving out tracts is forbidden.
• Government officials cannot be Christian.
• Police officers cannot be Christian.
• Soldiers cannot be Christian.
• Teachers cannot be Christian.
• Children cannot become Christian.
• Teenagers cannot become Christian.
There appears to be some variation regarding Bibles since it is impossible to conduct Christian meetings without using a Bible. However reinterpreting its meanings is virtually the same as banning it.
When we returned home I checked the internet and it appears that the Bible translation used in these church is quite orthodox even if in old fashioned language like our King James version, I am certain many Chinese have been converted by reading the Bibles since God’s Word is living and powerful but the numbers are so small the authorities permit their access with no restrictions.
The 3 Self churches are very similar to many churches in Australia. Here in Australia congregations meet in Church buildings decorated with crosses, sing the same hymns and choruses, read from the same Bibles and talk about God continually. However their official statements of belief deny the essentials of Bible Christianity. These include belief in the Divinity of Jesus and His atoning death being the only way to God and deliverance from hell (the existence of which is also denied). These churches run large charities, care for the sick and poor, support one world religion and universalism or the belief that all faiths lead to God, so are usually very ecumenical.
They also tend to support things like liberal attitudes to sex, divorce, homosexual acceptance, abortion and the green movements which are basically nature worship and as such prohibited by Scripture. They say the church must keep up with modern society’s changes rather than teach that God does not change to suit mankind’s ideas but that everyone must repent of the fact that they have fallen away from God’s standards as laid out in the Bible and that the only way to heaven is being born again into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death.
WARNINGWe lived in Port Macquarie for about 10 years up until 2021 and soon after we moved there Kmart announced they were going to build a large store. They bought a site and cleared it. After a while they laid concrete flooring slabs and then everything seemed to have stopped.
I cannot give details of the time frame involved but it was years not months.
Then one day trucks started to arrive at the site bearing prefabricated wall and roof panels etc. Plumbers, carpenters, painters, electricians arrived by the score and virtually overnight the store appeared. Then more trucks arrived with all the merchandise and Kmart Port Macquarie opened for business.
That was a very small event but the principles are applicable to society in general.
The Bible says that a world leader called the Antichrist will appear and set up a world religion and all the world will follow him and then the Lord Jesus will return and destroy that false kingdom.
COULDN’T HAPPEN SAY THE SCEPTICS.
But look at China.
From medieval rural kingdoms up until Mao Tse Tung it has, IN LESS THAN 50 YEARS, become the NUMBER 2 MANUFACTURING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AFTER THE USA .and there is every indication that it will replace the US in the near future. China has a president who absolutely controls 1.2 billion people.
Then there is the start of a new world alliance being formed which will include China and Russia. How many billion will that include? – perhaps over 2.
We read in 2 Peter 3:4 that back in New Testament times the sceptics were doubting Jesus’ return saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Jesus, in Matthew 24, gave a list of the signs of His second coming. There are only 2 that have not yet happened – Antichrist will arise and will build a temple in Jerusalem and the world will follow him.
The Lord said He would return when the signs He gave happen so perhaps the time is near.
Forget about pre-trib and post-trib arguments. The Lord will return when He wants to but be ready now. I don’t think Jesus gave the disciples a list of signs of His near return if He did not want us to take notice. Go back to my Kmart example. The concrete slabs were a sign that there would be a building. Then everything seemed to have stopped but in reality the whole building was being prefabricated and at the planned time everything happened very quickly.
Look at recent developments in the world. The speed of change is nearly unbelievable.
I understand that Israel has all the basics of a new temple complete and has even trained priest in temple rituals.
Press a button and a new temple could be built overnight and a new world leader, promising world peace. could also arise and gain world acceptance overnight.
BIOGRAPHY
Basil De Lacy Evans has had a rich and successful life. Born in Sydney, Australia in 1933. He attended Canterbury Boys High School, Scots College and Sydney University, where he graduated with a degree in Pharmacy. He obtained further qualifications in International Business and management from the USA and Australia.
Basil’s commercial career included time as Assistant Chief Pharmacist at Royal Alexandra Hospital Sydney in 1958 to being Planning Manager for the international division of a major multinational pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey USA. There were many highly responsible appointments in between including running a marketing division employing 120 staff in Sydney. Locations included Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
He retired from the multination group in 1988 to start his own Medical Regulatory Affairs consultancy which is now still operating owned and managed by one of his daughters.
Basil’s Christian walk has included serving as Deacon, Youth Leader and adult Bible teacher in Sydney Petersham AOG from 1956 – 1967. Attending Livingstone NJ AOG USA from 1967-1970. Founder and Pastor of Dural Christian Assembly, 1990-2004