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En Chine, arrestation « préventive » de l’évêque coadjuteur de Wenzhou

G.V. avec AsiaNews, le 12/09/2016 à 16h17

Évêque coadjuteur du diocèse de Wenzhou, Mgr Pierre Shao Shumin aurait dû succéder à l’évêque, Mgr Zhu Weifang, après le décès de ce dernier, le 7 septembre. Il en a été empêché par les autorités, qui l’ont arrêté et emmené hors du diocèse.

Mgr Pierre Shao Zhumin, évêque coadjuteur du diocèse de Wenzhou, sur la côte ouest chinoise, aurait été arrêté par les autorités chinoises, selon l’agence de presse Asia News.

Le but de cet enlèvement, selon les sources locales de l’agence catholique : empêcher Mgr Zhumin de prendre la tête du diocèse, comme le prévoit le droit canonique, après le décès du précédent évêque de Wenzhou, Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang. Ce dernier est décédé le 7 septembre à l’âge de 90 ans. Mais alors qu’il était reconnu par le gouvernement chinois, l’évêque coadjuteur, lui, ne l’était que par Rome.

L’enlèvement remonterait au 23 août. Mgr Shao Zhumin aurait été emmené hors de son diocèse, ainsi que son secrétaire particulier, qui est également chancelier. Une opération « préventive », selon un prêtre sur place, les autorités ayant présumé du décès imminent de Mgr Zhu, qui souffrait d’un cancer.

Son successeur sera ainsi empêché de présider les funérailles de Mgr Zhu, prévues mardi 13 septembre. La police locale a par ailleurs limité à 400 le nombre de participants à cette cérémonie, qui devront présenter des autorisations spéciales.

Wenzhou, la « Jérusalem chinoise »

La communauté catholique de Wenzhou, l’une des plus importantes de Chine, compte environ 120 000 fidèles et 70 prêtres selon AsiaNews. Mais elle est aussi divisée entre membres de l’Église « officielle », reconnue par le gouvernement chinois, et membres de l’Église clandestine, dite « souterraine », dont Mgr Shao s’occupe.

Avant d’être reconnu par le gouvernement chinois, Mgr Zhu avait lui-même été interné dans un camp de travail pendant seize ans lors de la Révolution culturelle, puis emprisonné à nouveau entre 1982 et 1988.

La province de Wenzhou, parfois surnommée la « Jérusalem chinoise » en raison du nombre de lieux de culte qui s’y trouvent, est la cible récurrente de la répression gouvernementale. C’est dans cette région qu’avait été menée, fin 2014, une campagne de destructions de croix et d’églises chrétiennes. La même année, il y avait été interdit de fêter Noël dans les écoles, quelques mois après la démolition d’un temple protestant jugé « illégal » par les autorités.

Chine : un pasteur emprisonné relâché dans le Zhejiang

L’Observatoire de la Chrstianophobie

Source : China Aid, 9 septembre

Wen Xiaowu, pasteur d’une église domestique de Rui’an (Zhejiang), avait été arrêté par le police le 25 avril dernier au motif qu’il avait rencontré des diplomates du consulat des États-Unis et des journalistes étrangers. Le surlendemain, il était inculpé de « provocation à des attroupements en vue de troubler l’ordre public » et incarcéré. Il a été libéré le 8 septembre après quatre mois d’emprisonnement, mais est, toutefois, assigné à résidence pour une durée de six mois. L’ONG étatsunienne de défense des chrétiens persécutés en Chine communiste, China Aid, estime que sa libération anticipée est due à « la pression constante, déterminée et de haut niveau » subie par les autorités de la part d’organisations internationales.

CHINE : vive tensions après le décès de l’Évêque de Wenzhou

Le 8 septembre 2016

Depuis le décès de Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang, évêque de Wenzhou dans la province du Zhejiang le 7 septembre 2016, la pression monte contre la communauté catholique «clandestine ».

La police chinoise multiplie les mises en garde et les arrestations avant les obsèques de Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang, décédé le 7 septembreà 90 ans, qui devraient avoir lieu le 13 septembre prochain. On reste sans nouvelles de Mgr Shao Zhumin qui a été nommé en 2007 par Rome évêque coadjuteur du lieu et qui doit prendre la succession de Mgr Zhu.

En effet, Mgr Shao Zhumin a « disparu » depuis le 23 août dernier. On peut penser qu’il a été placé au secret par les autorités pour l’empêcher de présider la messe de funérailles de Mgr Zhu, une présence qui marquerait aux yeux de tous son autorité sur l’ensemble du diocèse. Outre Mgr Shao, le P. Paul Jiang Sunian, chancelier « clandestin » du diocèse, et un autre prêtre ont eux aussi « disparu ».

Des obsèques sous haute surveillance

Depuis l’annonce du décès de Mgr Zhu, des prêtres de la partie « clandestine » du diocèse ont été interpellés. D’autres ont reçu des coups de téléphone leur intimant l’ordre de ne pas assister aux obsèques de Mgr Zhu, mardi prochain.

Les autorités ont annoncé que l’assistance aux funérailles sera limitée à quatre cents personnes. Selon une source d’information locale, « même les prêtres « officiels » doivent obtenir une autorisation spéciale pour se rendre à Ma’ao, le village natal de l’évêque, où sa dépouille a été déposée dans une chapelle ardente ».

Ce climat de tension reflète la situation particulièrement complexe de l’Église en Chine, une tension sans doute aggravée par le fait que cette actualité se déroule à Wenzhou, ville où la présence chrétienne, protestante et catholique, est notablement importante et qui s’est trouvée au centre de la campagne d’abattage des croix placées au sommet des édifices religieux menée par les autorités depuis fin 2013 jusqu’au printemps 2016.

Un évêque « officiel » et indocile

Né le 10 décembre 1927 dans un district voisin de Wenzhou, Zhu Weifang a été ordonné prêtre en octobre 1954, cinq ans après la prise du pouvoir par Mao Zedong. Emporté par la persécution qui prépare la mise en place de l’Association patriotique des catholiques chinois, il est condamné à la rééducation par le travail et passe près de seize ans en camps, de 1955 à 1971. Il retournera en prison de 1982 à 1988 avant de recouvrer la liberté et de poursuivre son ministère de prêtre.

Même si Mgr Zhu appartenait à la partie « officielle » du diocèse il pouvait se montrer indocile envers le pouvoir. En juillet 2015, afin de protester contre la campagne d’abattage des croix, le vieil évêque avait publié, avec 26 de ses prêtres, une lettre ouverte pour appeler «les catholiques chinois et toutes les personnes animées par un sens de la justice à ne pas rester silencieux et à élever la voix ensemble ». Avec plusieurs prêtres et derrière une banderole, Mgr Zhu était allé porter sa lettre aux autorités provinciales. En réponse, il lui avait été signifié qu’il devait se taire, faute de quoi lui et les catholiques de Wenzhou pourraient se retrouver en prison.

Le décès de Mgr Zhu intervient quelques semaines après celui de Mgr Vincent Huang Shoucheng, évêque « clandestin » de Mindong, un diocèse très vivant de la province du Fujian. Là encore, la succession promet d’être délicate.

Chine : activités religieuses interdites dans les hôpitaux du Zhejiang

L’Observatoire de la Christianophobie

Source : AsiaNews, 19 août

La destruction de centaines de croix et de lieux de culte chrétiens ne suffit donc pas aux autorités communistes de la province du Zhejiang et de la ville de Wenzhou. Elles ont décrété, hier vendredi 19 août, que la visite aux malades chrétiens des hôpitaux et cliniques par des prêtres ou des pasteurs, était désormais interdite comme le sont aussi « toutes formes d’activités religieuses » y compris la prière personnelle des patients chrétiens ! Accompagnons donc des nôtres la prière silencieuse de ces malades…

Zhejiang : la campagne d’abattage des croix sur les édifices chrétiens se poursuit

08/06/2016

Depuis janvier 2014, les chrétiens du Zhejiang, province située au sud de Shanghai, subissent une forme particulière de répression : au nom du respect des normes d’urbanisme et de la législation sur les permis de construire, de très nombreuses croix situées au sommet des édifices religieux, que ce soient des églises ...

... catholiques ou des temples protestants, ont été abattues. Lorsque les responsables de ces communautés chrétiennes résistent ou manifestent leur mécontentement, les autorités n’hésitent pas à intervenir de manière musclée.

En un peu plus de deux ans, entre 1 200 et 1 700 croix ont ainsi été abattues. Un article publié le 21 mai 2016 par le New York Times fait le point sur cette campagne, apparemment circonscrite à la seule province du Zhejiang. La traduction est de la Rédaction d’Eglises d’Asie.

Au Zhejiang, au fil des vallées et des collines de cette province côtière que baignent les eaux de la mer de Chine orientale, la campagne gouvernementale d’abattage des croix situées sur les clochers des lieux de culte chrétiens laisse une impression de désolation au visiteur de passage. C’est comme si un typhon avait ravagé la côte, décapitant les bâtiments au hasard de son passage.

A Shuitou, ville du sud de la province, des ouvriers y sont allés au chalumeau pour retirer la croix de trois mètres de haut située au sommet du clocher de trente-sept mètres au-dessus de l’église du Salut. La croix repose maintenant dans la cour de l’église, enveloppée d’un maigre linceul rouge.

Dans la commune de Mabu, une quinzaine de kilomètres plus à l’est, la police anti-émeute a été déployée pour empêcher les paroissiens de pénétrer dans l’enceinte de l’église de Dachang alors que des ouvriers montaient des échafaudages pour scier la croix. Dans les villages de Ximei, Aojiang, Shanmen et Tengqiao, situés aux alentours, des croix sont ainsi tombées, et gisent maintenant à plat sur des toits ou dans des cours, ou sont encore enterrées comme des cadavres.

Au cours d’un voyage de quatre jours au cœur de cette région prospère de la province du Zhejiang, j’ai pu parler avec des habitants qui m’ont donné force détails sur les efforts impressionnants déployés par les autorités pour anéantir des croix, ce symbole qui partout dans le monde signale une présence chrétienne. Depuis un peu plus de deux ans, selon des membres de l’administration locale et de simples habitants, les autorités ont abattu les croix de 1 200 à 1 700 églises, donnant parfois lieu à des affrontements violents avec les croyants qui essayaient de les arrêter.

« Cela a été très difficile à gérer », commente un ancien de l’église de Shuitou qui a préféré, comme les autres, garder l’anonymat, de peur des représailles du gouvernement. « Il ne nous reste plus qu’à nous mettre à genoux et à prier. »

Lutter contre les infiltrations étrangères

La campagne s’est limitée au Zhejiang, province qui abrite une des communautés chrétiennes les plus importantes et vivantes du pays. Mais selon des personnes au fait des délibérations du gouvernement chinois, derrière la campagne d’abattage des croix dans cette province se cache un nouvel effort déployé au niveau national pour réguler plus sévèrement la vie spirituelle en Chine. Cette tentative s’inscrit dans le resserrement général exercé par le pouvoir en place sur la société, un resserrement voulu par le président Xi Jinping.

A l’occasion d’un discours officiel important sur la politique religieuse du pays prononcé [en avril 2016], Xi Jinping a recommandé aux membres du Parti communiste de se « protéger résolument contre les infiltrations étrangères menées sous des prétextes religieux ». Il a aussi averti que les religions pratiquées en Chine devraient être « sinisées », et qu’elles devraient adhérer aux politiques religieuses du Parti communiste chinois. Ces instructions révèlent la crainte, ancienne, du gouvernement chinois que le christianisme sape un jour l’autorité du Parti. En Chine, bon nombre d’avocats des droits de l’homme sont des chrétiens, et beaucoup de dissidents ont déclaré avoir été influencés par l’idée que les droits de la personne humaine trouvent leur racine en Dieu.

Ces dernières décennies, malgré des campagnes régulières de répression contre les groupements religieux non enregistrés ou l’interdiction de mouvements spirituels tels le Falungong, le Parti avait largement toléré une certaine renaissance des religions en Chine, permettant aux Chinois d’exercer la religion de leur choix, encourageant même la construction d’églises, de mosquées, et de temples.

Des centaines de millions de personnes ont adopté les croyances religieuses dominantes du pays : le bouddhisme, le taoïsme, l’islam et le christianisme. La Chine compte aujourd’hui une soixantaine de millions de chrétiens. Beaucoup fréquentent des églises enregistrées par le gouvernement, mais la moitié d’entre eux au moins pratique dans des églises non enregistrées, que les autorités locales faisaient souvent semblant d’ignorer.

Mais la décision de Xi Jinping de convoquer une « conférence sur les religions » en avril dernier – la première du genre depuis ces quinze dernières années – témoigne sans doute de son insatisfaction vis-à-vis de certaines des décisions politiques adoptées au sujet de ces religions. Les personnes au fait des discussions du Parti pensent qu’il a l’intention de s’appuyer sur certaines des leçons tirées de la campagne dans le Zhejiang pour freiner la progression de l’ensemble des groupes religieux à travers le pays.

Les religions : une menace pour le Parti

Selon les informations disponibles, s’il est improbable que le gouvernement en vienne à abattre toutes les croix des églises de Chine, on peut cependant s’attendre à ce que les autorités locales se mettent à examiner minutieusement les finances et les liens avec l’étranger de toutes les Eglises et autres institutions religieuses. De telles actions resteraient dans la lignée des efforts déployés par le gouvernement pour minimiser l’influence des religions – et plus particulièrement du christianisme –, considéré comme une menace pour le Parti.

« Les événements survenus dans le Zhejiang sont un test, estime Fan Yafeng, juriste indépendant à Pékin. Si le gouvernement considère que le résultat est un succès, il renouvellera et renforcera ses actions. »

Elargir cette campagne en vue de contrôler l’essor des religions pourrait pourtant, à terme, porter préjudice au président Xi Jinping. Les croyants quitteront les Eglises dites enregistrées, c’est-à-dire contrôlées par le gouvernement, pour rejoindre des communautés souterraines qui se réunissent secrètement, dans des immeubles de bureaux ou des demeures privées par exemple. La campagne pourrait aussi contrarier beaucoup de citadins, des cols-blancs convertis au christianisme.

« Ne pas considérer le christianisme comme une religion du pays mais comme une religion étrangère pourrait aliéner les chrétiens chinois », explique Fredrick Fallman, spécialiste du christianisme en Chine à l’université de Göteborg, en Suède. « Mais c’est peut-être ce qu’ils veulent : leur faire peur. »

Situé dans une vallée à une quinzaine de kilomètres de la côte, le village de Shuitou est un petit bourg de bâtiments en béton, aux rues arrangées de façon assez désordonnée. La plupart des lieux de culte traditionnels – des temples bouddhistes et taoïstes ainsi que des sanctuaires ancestraux dédiés aux défunts des familles – sont des petites structures. Certains sont construits à flanc de montagne et la plupart se situent à l’abri des regards.

Cependant, depuis les années 1980, quatorze églises ont été construites à Shuitou, financées grâce aux dons d’entrepreneurs locaux désireux d’afficher leur prospérité nouvelle et leur foi à toute épreuve. Les nefs sont hautes de plusieurs étages, et les flèches des clochers s’élancent vers le ciel, à plus de trente mètres au-dessus du sol.

Récemment encore, la plupart de ces flèches étaient surmontées de vives croix de couleur rouge. Mais celles-ci ont été retirées de la moitié des églises de Shuitou. Les ordres du gouvernement sont tombés tous les mois et d’autres sont encore à venir. Beaucoup de croyants interviewés s’inquiètent de voir arriver la fin d’une époque.

« Nous n’avions jamais eu de problème avec les autorités pendant des années », témoigne un croyant local. « Nos églises étaient bien vues par le gouvernement. »

Les paroissiens face à la police anti-émeute

Cette campagne d’abattage des croix a commencé en 2014, lorsque le gouvernement a annoncé de manière soudaine son projet de démolir l’église de la grande ville voisine, à Wenzhou, déclarant qu’elle n’avait jamais reçu de permis de construire en bonne et due forme. Le gouvernement a continué ensuite à émettre des ordres, exigeant des églises de toute la province pour qu’elles retirent leurs croix.

En 2014, des chrétiens ont barricadé leur église pour en bloquer l’accès aux démolisseurs de croix. (D. Tang/AP)

L’église du Salut, une construction qui comprend un hall principal de trois étages avec un toit surmonté de trois flèches, ainsi que des bureaux annexes et un parking, est vite devenue un centre de résistance. Des centaines de paroissiens ont encerclé l’église pour protéger sa croix, n’hésitant pas à affronter des centaines d’agents de la police anti-émeute.

Lors d’une confrontation, une cinquantaine des membres de l’église ont été blessés. Des photos de chrétiens battus et couverts de bleus ont inondé les réseaux sociaux et les sites Internet d’ONG étrangères luttant pour les droits des chrétiens.

D’après les paroissiens, le gouvernement exerce des pressions sur les membres les plus actifs de la communauté. Certains hommes d’affaires ont subi des pressions pour annuler des contrats établis avec des chrétiens. Des patrons ont aussi fait savoir à leurs employés qu’ils perdraient leur travail s’ils continuaient de manifester contre les décisions du gouvernement.

Après la destruction de l’église de Wenzhou, l’église du Salut a capitulé et accepté de retirer ses croix.

Le gouvernement a annoncé qu’il ne faisait qu’appliquer les codes d’urbanisme en vigueur, et que toutes les structures, pas seulement les églises, étaient visées. Cependant, des documents examinés par le New York Times indiquent que les autorités de cette province s’inquiètent de la place dominante que les églises commencent à prendre dans le paysage de la région.

Les croix ont été retirées par vagues. Selon des personnes travaillant au sein d’églises enregistrées auprès des autorités, un minimum de 1 200 croix avait déjà été retiré l’été dernier. De nombreux habitants affirment que le chiffre s’élèverait maintenant à 1 700.

« Tout est resté calme pendant longtemps l’année dernière », nous raconte un chrétien local, « mais maintenant, le gouvernement nous fait savoir de manière claire que toutes les croix seront retirées. »

Les chrétiens sous pression

Tandis que les autorités appuyaient la mise en œuvre rapide de cette campagne, des personnalités chinoises influentes, protestantes et catholiques, dont quelques anciens du Bureau des Affaires religieuses du gouvernement, la dénonçaient dans leurs sermons et par le biais des médias et des réseaux sociaux.

Gu Yuese, pasteur de l’église de Chongyi à Hangzhou (capitale de la province du Zhejiang) ; l’une des Eglises protestantes les plus importantes du monde sinophone, se trouvait parmi eux. Leader protestant extrêmement connu en Chine, Gu Yuese est influent, et ses critiques ont résonné au-delà des frontières du Zhejiang.

« Ces actions violent de manière flagrante la politique de liberté religieuse implémentée et améliorée de manière continue par le Parti depuis plus de soixante ans », a-t-il écrit sur du papier à en-tête officiel du gouvernement.

Depuis, il a été réduit au silence. En janvier dernier, la police a arrêté Gu Yuese, l’accusant d’avoir détourné des fonds de son Eglise. Quelques jours plus tard, un autre pasteur du Zhejiang qui avait manifesté son désaccord envers le gouvernement, se faisait arrêter lui-aussi, pour des raisons similaires.

« C’est une méthode pour nous dire de faire attention », commente le pasteur d’une église officielle de Wenzhou. « Aucun de nous n’a reçu de formation dans la finance, il est donc probable qu’un comptable envoyé pour vérifier nos comptes trouve des erreurs. »

Plusieurs membres du clergé de la région racontent subir des pressions des autorités locales, et doivent fournir des gages de leur loyauté au Parti communiste. Certaines Eglises ont par exemple commencé à faire l’éloge de la campagne du président Xi visant à promouvoir « les valeurs fondamentales du socialisme » – un slogan censé offrir un système de croyances séculières soutenant la légitimité du Parti.

« Nous devons nous comporter comme des chrétiens loyaux », explique une personne travaillant pour l’Eglise de Chengxi, à Wenzhou. « Autrement, nous pourrions avoir des problèmes. »

En février dernier, la télévision d’Etat a diffusé les « confessions » d’un avocat éminent qui avouait avoir collaboré avec des forces étrangères, et plus particulièrement avec des organisations américaines, pour semer le trouble chez les chrétiens de la région. Cet avocat, Zhang Kai, avait été dans le Zhejiang pour fournir des conseils juridiques aux Eglises opposées au retrait de leurs croix.

Les Eglises non enregistrées sont vulnérables, elles aussi. En décembre, la police détenait plusieurs membres de l’Eglise de Living Stone (« pierre vivante »), une communauté non enregistrée de la province du Guizhou, dans le sud de la Chine. Ces membres avaient refusé de rejoindre les rangs d’une Eglise protestante contrôlée par le gouvernement. Le pasteur a ensuite été arrêté pour « divulgation de secrets d’Etat ».

« C’est facile pour eux d’inventer des crimes et de nous en accuser », explique le pasteur d’une importante Eglise non enregistrée de Wenzhou. « Nous devons être très prudents. »

A Shuitou, bien des croyants préfèrent garder la tête baissée, espérant que l’orage passera vite.

Les jeunes manifestent leur désaccord

Un dimanche du mois dernier, trois cent personnes environ ont assisté à la messe célébrée à l’église du Salut. Les femmes d’un côté, les hommes de l’autre – selon l’usage traditionnel. A l’avant de l’église, au dessus d’une grosse croix rouge, six caractères on pouvait lire : « La sainteté à Dieu ».

La plupart de ces hommes et de ces femmes avaient entre 50 et 60 ans, une moyenne élevée étant donné que les plus jeunes avaient, pour la plupart, choisi de boycotter la messe du dimanche, manifestant ainsi leur désaccord avec la décision de l’Eglise de se conformer aux ordres du gouvernement en acceptant de retirer la croix.

A la place, ces jeunes vont désormais à la messe du jeudi, commémorant ainsi le jour de la semaine où leur croix fut retirée. Ils participaient auparavant aux groupes d’étude de la Bible de leur Eglise, mais désormais ils étudient de leur côté. Certains se demandent s’ils ne devraient pas, avec d’autres, cesser complètement de se rendre dans les Eglises enregistrées pour commencer à fréquenter les Eglises souterraines.

Un ancien de l’Eglise faisant parti de la direction, qui a tenu à garder l’anonymat, raconte que s’ils ont accepté avec d’autres de retirer la croix, c’est qu’ils avaient peur qu’autrement leur église soit démolie. Les gens risquaient de perdre leur travail, a-t-il ajouté, et la direction s’est dit qu’il n’y avait plus d’autre choix que d’inviter les paroissiens à se soumettre aux ordres des autorités. « Il y a une trentaine d’années, nous n’avions même pas d’église, explique-t-il. Tout au long de son histoire, l’Eglise a connu des persécutions. Tout ce qu’il nous reste à faire, c’est de prier. »

Chine : l’avocat des communautés chrétiennes de Wenzhou « confessé » à la télévision

Mis au secret par la police chinoise depuis août dernier, Zhang Kai a fait l’ objet d’un long reportage jeudi sur le journal d’une chaîne locale.

Le Monde.fr | 26.02.2016 à 21h49 | Par Brice Pedroletti (Pékin, correspondant)

Engagé par les communautés chrétiennes de la ville de Wenzhou pour les défendre contre une campagne de démolition d’églises et de croix , l’avocat Zhang Kai est le dernier en date des militants des droits de l’homme chinois à s’être retrouvé pris au piège d’une opération de dénigrement officielle.

L’avocat, mis au secret par la police chinoise depuis août dernier, a fait l’objet d’un long reportage le jeudi 25 février du journal de la télévision locale . Celui-ci le présente comme un agitateur à la solde des étrangers, motivé à la fois par l’appât du gain et le désir d’embarrasser le gouvernement chinois – à l’instar d’ autres dissidents exhibés ces derniers mois sur les chaînes télévisées du pays.

On y découvre l’avocat assis sur une de ces chaises en métal fermée par une lourde barre qui entrave les mouvements du prisonnier . D’une voix monocorde, il confesse ses crimes aux interrogateurs de la police : « Je leur ai dit non pas que le gouvernement cherchait à démolir des bâtiments illégaux, mais qu’il s’attaquait aux églises. Je leur ai dit de s’unir et de se battre », reconnaît Zhang Kai. « Les forces étrangères poussent les chrétiens à se rebeller contre le gouvernement et veulent renverser le système politique chinois » , poursuit -il, des poches gonflées sous les yeux . Agé de 36 ans, l’avocat est décrit par ses confrères comme une forte tête, peu enclin à jouer le jeu de la police.

Conflit ouvert depuis 2013

La thèse du complot ourdi par l’ Occident est cousue de fil blanc. L’arrestation de Zhang Kai, le 25 août 2015, était intervenue, comme par hasard , la veille d’un rendez- vous prévu avec le rabbin David Saperstein, l’ ambassadeur pour la liberté religieuse du gouvernement Obama, alors en visite en Chine . Elle a eu lieu dans la foulée de l’offensive lancée début juillet par l’ appareil de sécurité chinois contre plusieurs centaines d’avocats des droits de l’homme à travers la Chine.

L’avocat reconnaît avoir signé un contrat avec une centaine d’églises à Wenzhou et s’être vu promettre des honoraires qui atteignent plus d’une centaine de milliers d’euros – un fait qui, vrai ou faux , ne constitue en rien un délit. Zhang Kai admet également avoir été soutenu par China Aid, l’ ONG américaine du pasteur et dissident chinois Bob Fu, qui s’efforce d’alerter la communauté internationale sur les destructions d’églises à Wenzhou. « Ses propos ont tout des aveux arrachés par la force » , nous dit Bob Fu, qui a accueilli plusieurs fois Zhang Kai aux Etats-Unis . Selon lui, sa coopération devrait valoir à l’avocat une remise en liberté – mais assortie de multiples contraintes et sans doute d’une interdiction d’exercer sa profession.

Les chrétiens de Wenzhou sont en réalité en conflit ouvert depuis fin 2013 avec les autorités de la province du Zhejiang . Cette grosse ville commerçante au sud de Shanghaï , dont est issue la diaspora chinoise de Paris , est parfois appelée la Jérusalem chinoise pour le succès qu’y connaît le christianisme dans les villages et les bourgs de son hinterland . Les autorités du Zhejiang y ont décrété il y a deux ans , sous prétexte d’embellissement urbain, que certaines églises (en majorité protestantes , mais aussi catholiques) arboraient des croix trop voyantes ou avaient construit des bâtiments excédant la superficie autorisée.

« Suivre une formation sur les droits de l’homme serait un crime ? »

Des dizaines d’églises, en grande majorité « officielles », c’est-à-dire sous la tutelle du Parti communiste chinois, ont donc été démolies de force, et plus d’un millier de croix auraient été détruites ou enlevées, lors d’opérations qui ont suscité un tollé en raison de leur brutalité. La communauté chrétienne de Wenzhou a dénoncé une nouvelle inquisition communiste menée par les dirigeants de la province pour plaire à Xi Jinping, dont le Zhejiang fut le fief au milieu des années 2000. Bref, la riche et prospère Jérusalem chinoise serait allée trop loin dans sa ferveur pour une religion qui reste éminemment suspecte dans le nouveau climat de reprise en main idéologique.

Converti depuis une dizaine d’années au christianisme, mais connu pour avoir aussi bien défendu des Tibétains, des membres du Falun Gong, le mouvement religieux banni, ou d’autres victimes d’ injustices , Zhang Kai s’était investi corps et âme dans son combat auprès de ses « clients » de Wenzhou. Il avait d’abord défendu un pasteur arrêté, puis a entrepris de conseiller les militants locaux sur la manière de mener leur combat dans un cadre légal. « Le but de ces confessions, c’est d’envoyer un message aux autres avocats de ne pas s’occuper de dossiers ayant trait aux questions religieuses. Et de dissuader les paroisses d’ emprunter la voie d’une défense légale » poursuit le pasteur Bob Fu, joint depuis le Royaume-Uni où il est en déplacement.

« Ensuite, ils veulent empêcher toute collaboration avec l’étranger dans le domaine des droits de l’homme. C’est consternant. En quoi aller à l’étranger et suivre des formations sur les droits de l’homme serait un crime ? Des tas d’institutions chinoises reçoivent de l’ aide internationale et des formations. Le visa américain de Zhang Kai est exhibé comme si c’était un délit ! » Dans leur campagne contre les églises et les croix de Wenzhou, les autorités provinciales n’ont fait aucun compromis, note le pasteur sino-américain : deux églises catholiques viennent de recevoir un avis de destruction, tandis que la croix d’un temple protestant a été brûlée hier. Pour Bob Fu, « le cas Zhang Kai montre qu’ils exigent une obéissance absolue. Toute voix discordante est dénoncée comme une attaque contre la sécurité de l’Etat ».

Chine : la campagne d’abattage des croix continue

ACTUALITÉ CHRÉTIENNE17 MARS 2016

La campagne d’abattage des croix situées sur les toits des églises dans la province du Zhejiang en Chine continue. Afin « d’embellir » cette région, le gouvernement a abattu quatre nouvelles croix jeudi et vendredi de la semaine dernière.

Les croix des églises chrétiennes de Dajing et de Bailuyu, et celles des églises de Dongyu et de Baiqiangdi ont été abattues jeudi et vendredi dernier. Les membres d’une cinquième église, l’église Nange, ont également reçu un avis de démolition.

Selon les membres de ces églises, les démolitions ont eu lieu tard dans la nuit ou très tôt le matin, pour éviter que des personnes, qui auraient pu être présentes, puissent résister.

Un membre anonyme a déclaré que leur église a repoussé une tentative de démolition plus tôt dans la soirée à 21 heures. Mais les autorités sont revenues à minuit pour terminer le travail.

Depuis 2014, la Chine exige que les croix des églises soient apposées sur la façade des édifices religieux, et non plus sur leur sommet, et que leur hauteur ne dépasse de moins d’un dixième celle du bâtiment. Cette politique intitulée « trois rectifications pour une démolition » vise, selon le gouvernement, à embellir le Zhejiang en gommant les aspects disgracieux des églises illégales.

C’est du moins l’explication officielle. En coulisse, cependant, les choses seraient différentes : selon les défenseurs des droits de l’homme et les chrétiens, cette campagne aurait plutôt comme but de mener une opération de répression contre les lieux de cultes chrétiens, dans le but d’arrêter la croissance des églises dans cette région.

Chine : la province du Zhejiang fait la chasse aux croix chrétiennes trop voyantes

© Liu Jin, AFP | Des Chinois devant une église catholique le 24 décembre 2009 à Pékin. Selon les chiffres officiels, la Chine compte 5 millions de catholiques et 15 millions de protestants.

Texte par FRANCE 24

Dernière modification : 01/03/2016

Arrêté pour s’être opposé à la démolition de la croix surplombant son église, un pasteur chinois vient d'écoper de 14 ans de prison pour "fraude fiscale". Une message de grande fermeté envoyé par les autorités locales aux chrétiens de la région.

Bao Guohua, célèbre pasteur de la province du Zhejiang, à l'est de la Chine, et sa femme, Xing Wenxiang, ont été arrêtés en juillet dernier par les autorités chinoises. Leur tort : ils avaient publiquement dénoncé une campagne de démontage des croix surmontant les églises chrétiennes menée par les autorités locales.

Depuis 2014, les règlements provinciaux exigent en effet que les croix soient désormais placées sur la façade des édifices religieux, et non plus à leur sommet, et que leur hauteur ne dépasse pas un dixième de celle du bâtiment. Cette nouvelle politique s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une campagne intitulée "Trois rectifications pour une démolition".

"Officiellement, cette opération vise à ‘embellir’ la province [du Zhejiang] en supprimant les aspects disgracieux des structures illégalement construites. Mais les chrétiens et les défenseurs des droits de l’Homme dénoncent, quant à eux, une vaste opération de répression visant les lieux de culte chrétiens et en particulier les croix dressées sur les édifices, dans le but de stopper la croissance des églises dans la région", a expliqué de son côté l’agence d’information Églises d’Asie, sur son site internet.

L'église de Sanjiang détruite par les autorités chinoises, non loin de la ville de Whenzou, dans la province du Zhenjiang, le 30 avril 2014. © Mark Ralston, AFP

Dix autres personnes condamnées

Durant leur procès, les époux n’ont pas été inculpés sous un chef d’accusation religieux mais…. fiscal. Le tribunal chinois a en effet condamné Bao Guohua à 14 ans de prison pour détournement de fonds, opérations commerciales illégales et dissimulation d'informations comptables, a-t-on appris auprès des médias locaux, lundi 29 février.

Sa femme Xing Wenxiang a, elle, été condamnée à 12 ans d'emprisonnement. D'après China Aid, une association basée aux États-Unis, Bao Guohua et son épouse ont été obligés de récuser leurs avocats avant le procès. Leurs biens ont été saisis, d'après les médias chinois.

Dix autres personnes ont été condamnées à des peines de prison dans le cadre de cette affaire, ont rapporté le journal Zhejiang Daily et la télévision locale, sans préciser leur durée.

Selon Le Monde, la communauté chrétienne de cette région fait face à la "nouvelle inquisition communiste menée par les dirigeants de la province pour plaire au président Xi Jinping, dont le Zhejiang fut le fief au milieu des années 2000". Les chrétiens de la ville de Whenzou, dans le Zheijang, "[seraient allés] trop loin dans [leur] ferveur pour une religion qui reste éminemment suspecte dans le nouveau climat de reprise en main idéologique."

Ce n’est pas la première fois que les chrétiens sont dans le collimateur des autorités chinoises. Le plus célèbre des avocats des pasteurs et militants chrétiens du Zhejiang, Zhang Kai, est détenu au secret depuis août 2015.

En 2014, les autorités de la ville de Wenzhou avaient démoli la monumentale église de Sanjiang, au motif que sa construction n'avait pas respecté les règles.

La Chine compte quelque 5,7 millions de catholiques et 23 millions de protestants, selon des chiffres du Bureau des affaires religieuses datant de 2014. Mais avec l'"église souterraine" prospérant en dehors des organisations officielles, la communauté chrétienne chinoise pourrait au total comprendre quelque 60 millions de personnes, selon certaines estimations.

Campagne d’abattage des croix : au Zhejiang, la résistance des chrétiens prend de l’ampleur

Eglises d’Asie

26/08/2015

Dans la province du Zhejiang, à mesure que les mois passent, le bilan de la campagne d’abattage des croix des lieux de culte chrétiens s’alourdit. Quelque 1 200 croix plantées au sommet des lieux de culte ont ainsi été démontées ou déplacées, et plusieurs dizaines de lieux de culte détruits. Toutefois, la nouveauté n’est plus tant ...

... dans la conduite de cette campagne par les autorités provinciales – les premières croix ont été abattues en janvier 2014 – que dans la résistance opposée par les communautés chrétiennes. Unis dans une commune dénonciation de cette campagne, membres des Eglises officiellement enregistrées ou fidèles des Eglises « clandestines », catholiques et protestants osent dire ouvertement leur mécontentement, un mécontentement qui trouve des relais à l’étranger.

Sur le terrain, si la campagne se poursuit, les autorités semblent avoir perdu la bataille de la communication. En mai dernier déjà, les réseaux sociaux chinois s’étaient emparés d’une photo où l’on voyait une grue télescopique géante approcher son bras du sommet du temple de la communauté protestante Huzhen, dans la ville de Lishui (centre du Zhejiang) ; la nacelle de la grue semblait prête à saisir la croix surmontant l’édifice, une croix en proie aux flammes et surmontée d’une colonne de fumée noire. Sur le réseau social Weibo, les commentaires accompagnant la photo étaient sans équivoque : des officiels « mauvais » avaient mis le feu à la croix, faute de la détruire autrement. La réplique des autorités fut non seulement très tardive, mais peu plausible : début juillet, le Zhejiang Ribao (‘Quotidien du Zhejiang’) affirmait que la croix, « dangereusement proche » du paratonnerre, comprenait un système d’éclairage défectueux et avait « spontanément » pris feu.

Depuis le mois de juillet, les chrétiens du Zhejiang, qui constitue une minorité difficile à dénombrer mais conséquente de la population de cette riche province côtière, s’organisent pour opposer à la campagne « une désobéissance non violente et pacifique », ainsi que l’exprime un pasteur protestant de Wenzhou, principal foyer chrétien de la province

Cette résistance des chrétiens a pris plusieurs formes. Le 27 juillet, dans un geste aussi rare que remarqué, l’évêque « officiel » du diocèse catholique de Wenzhou, Mgr Zhu Weifang, a publié, avec 26 de ses prêtres, une lettre ouverte pour appeler « les catholiques chinois et toutes les personnes animées par un sens de la justice à ne pas rester silencieux et à élever la voix ensemble ». Evoquant une « persécution qui se renforce », le prélat âgé écrit : « En tant que citoyens chinois, nous aspirons à une démocratie plus complète et à un véritable Etat de droit.»

Avec plusieurs prêtres et derrière une banderole, Mgr Zhu est allé porter sa lettre aux autorités provinciales. En réponse, il lui a été signifié qu’il devait se taire, faute de quoi lui et les catholiques de Wenzhou pourraient se retrouver en prison. Selon un avocat chrétien de Wenzhou, cité par l’agence Ucanews, « les gens ont peur mais ils sont déterminés et ne veulent pas qu’on les fasse taire ».

Par ailleurs, pour s’opposer aux démolitions de croix, des fidèles occupent 24 h sur 24 leurs lieux de culte. Au nord de la capitale provinciale Hangzhou, dans le village Ya, du district de Huzhou, vingt-deux protestants campent sur le toit de leur temple pour en empêcher l’accès aux forces de l’ordre. Des mesures d’occupation pacifique qui ne sont pas sans danger : le 8 août dernier, le typhon Soudelor a frappé Wenzhou et sa région, causant 33 morts, dont deux chrétiennes. Elles faisaient partie d’un groupe de quatre chrétiennes veillant jour et nuit sur leur église ; la nuit du 8 août, fatiguées de monter sur le toit du lieu de culte, deux d’entre elles, âgées de 77 et 81 ans, avaient choisi de dormir au rez-de-chaussée de leur église, elles sont mortes noyées, emportées par une montée soudaine des eaux, dues aux pluies diluviennes.

Enfin, des fidèles ont entrepris de distribuer à tous les croyants des petites croix en bois, hautes de 50 à 70 cm, le plus souvent peintes en rouge, à charge pour chacun de l’afficher à la fenêtre de son domicile. « Demain, vous verrez des croix partout dans le Zhejiang », affiche un prêtre catholique dans un message posté sur Weibo.

Loin de se cantonner aux chrétiens du Zhejiang, le mouvement de protestation face à la campagne de démolition des croix s’étend au-delà de la province. Le 31 juillet, deux groupes de prêtres catholiques issus respectivement du séminaire régional de Wuchang (Wuhan) et du séminaire régional de Sheshan (Shanghai) ont publié des communiqués pour dénoncer la campagne, la comparant aux campagnes de démolition de la Révolution culturelle (1966-1976). Trois évêques « clandestins » (Mgr Wang Ruowang, de Tianshui, Mgr Wei Jingyi, de Qiqihar, et Mgr Shao Zhumin, l’évêque « clandestin » de Wenzhou) se sont à leur tour exprimés, ajoutant leur voix à celle d’évêques « officiels ».

Selon Bob Fu, président de China Aid, organisation basée aux Etats-Unis et venant en aide aux chrétiens de Chine, « c’est la première fois dans l’histoire contemporaine de l’Eglise en Chine que l’on voit une coalition de catholiques et de protestants, issus des Eglises officiellement enregistrées et des Eglises « domestiques » ou « clandestines », être ainsi unis pour dénoncer des atteintes aux droits de l’homme et à la liberté religieuse ».

Pour tenter de contrer ce front uni des chrétiens, les autorités ont réagi. Afin sans doute que les instances par lesquelles le pouvoir applique sa politique religieuse ne perdent pas toute crédibilité, la branche provinciale de l’Association patriotique des catholiques chinois et son homologue du Conseil chrétien de Chine ont appelé à la fin de la campagne de démolition des croix, affirmant que celle-ci « blessait gravement les sentiments de plus de deux millions de croyants [du Zhejiang] ». A Wenzhou, le clergé, protestant comme catholique, a été convoqué à des « sessions d’étude » à propos de la campagne en cours. Il y est rappelé que les constructions de lieux de culte, quelle que soit leur appartenance religieuse, doivent respecter la loi et les règlements en vigueur.

Selon différents observateurs extérieurs, les autorités ont toutefois peu de chance de se faire entendre par les chrétiens du Zhejiang. Yang Fenggang, directeur du Centre sur la religion et la société chinoise à l’université Purdue (Etats-Unis), souligne que le discours des autorités n’est pas audible dans la mesure où même des églises catholiques et des temples protestants construits avec toutes les autorisations nécessaires sont ciblés par la campagne de démolition.

De plus, l’attention de la communauté internationale commence à se faire pressante. En juillet, à Washington, Marco Rubio, sénateur et candidat à l’investiture républicaine pour la présidentielle de 2016, a présidé une audition au Congrès à propos de « la persécution religieuse en Chine ». Les associations américaines de défense des chrétiens chinois multiplient les initiatives pour dénoncer ce qui se passe au Zhejiang. Or, le président chinois Xi Jinping doit effectuer une visite officielle aux Etats-Unis en septembre, sur l’invitation du président Barack Obama. Il se rendra aussi au siège de l’ONU et y prononcera un discours. Le risque est désormais que le succès annoncé par Pékin de cette visite soit terni par une analyse sans concession du bilan du président Xi Jinping en matière d’atteinte aux libertés fondamentales.

La Chine lutte contre les croix chrétiennes

La Croix – Urbi et Orbi

Jean-Baptiste Auduc, le 12/05/2015 à 16h40 Envoyer par email

Le Parti Communiste Chinois a interdit dans la province du Zhenjiang la présence de croix chrétiennes sur les églises.

Une loi va réglementer la présence des croix sur les toits des églises dans la province du Zhenjiang, à l’Est du pays. Elles entrent désormais en contradiction avec un nouveau code de construction, édicté vendredi 8 mai. Ce texte permet au pouvoir chinois de disposer d’une nouvelle arme pour cacher les signes visibles de la croissance de la religion chrétienne sur le territoire. Cette province est le berceau du christianisme en Chine. Whenzou, sa capitale, est d’ailleurs surnommée la « Jérusalem chinoise ».

Le correspondant de RTL en Chine rapporte que les croix devront être présentes « sur les façades des bâtiments, et non plus au-dessus », qu’elles ne devront pas dépasser « plus d’un dixième de la hauteur de la façade », et que leur « couleur devra se confondre avec celle de l’édifice ».

Le Guardian rapporte de son côté les propos de Bob Fu, de l’ONG chrétienne China Aid. Il dénonce le comportement du gouvernement chinois : « Ce nouveau projet de loi est juste une autre tentative du gouvernement pour légitimer sa campagne illégale et violente de destruction et d’élimination de croix » explique-t-il.

La campagne de destruction avait débuté en fin d’année dernière et avait provoqué de nombreux heurts avec les croyants. Le nombre croissant de catholiques en Chine inquiète le pouvoir communiste par peur de l’émergence de contre-pouvoir.

Une étude datant de 2011 estime de manière non officielle que 12 millions de catholiques vivent en Chine. Les chiffres restent pourtant peu fiables. À Pékin, 3 000 catholiques ont été baptisés pendant la nuit de Noël. La Chine est le pays où la religion chrétienne, protestante ou catholique, progresse le plus. D’ici à 2030, la Chine pourrait devenir le premier pays chrétien du monde.

Chine : 360 croix enlevées de force du toit des églises chrétiennes

Eglise \ Vie de l'Eglise

Des chrétiens en prière dans une église de la périphérie de Wengzhou. Depuis le mois de janvier, le gouvernement enlève par la force les croix du toit des églises qui ne respecteraient pas la loi. - AP

04/08/2014 18:17

A l’est de la Chine, le gouvernement de la province de Zhejiang procède depuis le début du mois de janvier 2014 à une campagne intitulée « trois rectifications pour une démolition ». Les autorités assurent qu’il s’agit de lutter contre les édifices illégaux, non contre les églises, mais ce n’est pas le sentiment des chrétiens.

En quelques mois et le phénomène semble s’accélérer dans la ville de Wenzhou où vivent de très nombreux chrétiens. Quelques 360 croix auraient été enlevées par la force du toit des églises et un lieu de culte y aurait été détruit.

Dans une lettre pastorale publiée le 30 juillet dernier, Mgr Vincent Zhu Weifang, l’évêque de la capitale provinciale du Zhejiang dénonce cette campagne de destruction « injuste » parce que même des « édifices qui ne violaient pas la loi » ont été détruits. Il invite les chrétiens à « ne pas craindre mais croire » et s’excuse de ne pas avoir réagi plus vite pour les soutenir.

Rosaire et rassemblement de prière

Des paroissiens ont organisé des veillées et des rassemblements de prières pour s’opposer aux agents de police qui vient en tenue anti-émeute pour ôter les croix de leurs églises. Plusieurs chrétiens ont été blessés pour avoir voulu s’opposer à cette campagne de destruction.

L’évêque de Wenzhou propose à ses fidèles de de prier le rosaire chaque jour. Il encourage les rassemblements de prière dans les paroisses qui sont le plus touchées. « Nous prions pour que ceux qui s'en prennent à nous changent », affirme Mgr Zhu Weifang.

Sa lettre a été suivie par la publication d’un autre document rédigé par les prêtres du diocèse de Wenzhou. Ils affirment que cette campagne « injuste » crée de la méfiance de la part des chrétiens, qui ont payé pour la construction de ces églises, vis à vis des autorités qui les détruisent. Les prêtres interpellent les autorités : « ne détruisez pas la démocratie, l’harmonie et la stabilité sociale ». (avec Asianews)

Lawyers see rights abuses in detention of Beijing 'house church' members

South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, Verna Yu, Thursday, 13 February, 2014

Thirteen 'house church' members have been held for more than two weeks on claims that their gathering in Beijing last month was illegal

Lawyers yesterday expressed concern over the fate of 13 "house church" Christians who have been detained for more than two weeks after they tried to hold a bible study meeting on the outskirts of Beijing.

The two lawyers, who on Tuesday were allowed for the first time to visit Xu Yonghai - the leader of Shengai, or Holy Love, Christian Fellowship - and petitioner Xu Caihong, said the Christians had been accused of taking part in "illegal assemblies and demonstrations" and put in criminal detention at the Beijing No1 Detention Centre.

Their families have not been formally notified, they said. According to an account Xu Yonghai posted online, he and more than a dozen Christians travelled to the Tongzhou district of the capital on January 24 for bible study at the home of former dissident Zhang Wenhe .

Zhang was temporarily detained by police at the time so they could not meet, but later in the day they returned to Zhang's home to bring him medicine for his heart conditions.

When they were there, police burst in and took them away to be held at a police station. Xu was released early the next day, but was detained again on January 26.

Lawyer Liang Xiaojun said Xu Yonghai, a former doctor once jailed for sending an essay on church persecution to a US magazine, had been fasting since he was detained. "He was in good spirits, but said he would continue fasting and praying," Liang said. He said Xu was puzzled as to why the authorities took action against his fellowship, which is in its 25th year.

"He said he was embarrassed that these people only wanted to hear him preach and they got arrested," Liang said.

Xu wrote in his account that while in custody the Christians were repeatedly asked whether they were in the Shijingshan district of the capital on January 22, the day when rights advocate Xu Zhiyong was put on trial in the area. Several petitioners in the church group had demonstrated outside the court.

Beijing Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment yesterday.

Hu Shigen , another fellowship leader and a former dissident who spent 16 years in jail, said exactly a week before the Christians were detained an official from the Tongzhou district ethnic affairs committee interrupted a bible study meeting at Zhang's home and accused believers of attending an illegal assembly.

Hu believed the authorities wanted to suppress the fellowship because it was attended by mostly petitioners to the government and former dissidents.

Although fewer than 20 people turn up usually, "they do not like the 'hostile elements' getting together", Hu said.

The Tongzhou district ethnic affairs committee did not respond to inquiries yesterday.

Both lawyers said they were concerned about the police's use of arbitrary detention. "This is an abuse of the detention system for the sake of stability maintenance," said Liang.

Lawyer Yu Wensheng said the Christians' detention would end on February 25, but it was unclear whether they would be immediately released.

Under mainland law, people can be held for up to 37 days in criminal detention after which police can pass the case to prosecutors or release them on bail.

Chine: une secte arrêtée

AFP Publié le 20/12/2012

Près de mille membres de la secte chrétienne Dieu Tout Puissant, qui prédit des cataclysmes pour la fin du calendrier maya le 21 décembre, ont été arrêtés dans plusieurs provinces chinoises, a rapporté aujourd'hui un quotidien chinois.

Outre les 400 arrestations déjà annoncées mardi par les autorités de la province du Qinghai (dans le nord-ouest), 357 membres de la secte "ont fait l'objet d'une enquête et ont été sanctionnés" dans la province pauvre du Guizhou (dans le sud-ouest), selon le Xinjing Bao (Nouvelles de Pékin).

Ce journal fait aussi état de 37 membres de la secte appréhendés dans la ville de Foshan, près de Canton (sud), dont 27 ont été placés en détention, ainsi que de "plusieurs dizaines" de fidèles interpellés à Wuxi, dans la province orientale du Jiangsu, dont 11 sont restés en détention.

Des arrestations ont également eu lieu en Mongolie intérieure (dans le nord), dans le Jiangxi et le Fujian (dans le sud-est) et dans le Xinjiang (dans le nord-ouest), selon la même source.

Les prédictions d'apocalypse se sont multipliées en Chine à la suite du succès du film hollywoodien "2012", en partie inspiré par la supposée prophétie liée à la fin du "compte long" du calendrier maya.

Qinghai officials crack down on Church of Almighty God cult

South China Morning Post, 17 December, 2012

Authorities in Qinghai detain core members of cult that promises to save those who give up all possessions before the impending ‘apocalypse’

Authorities on the mainland have stepped up their crackdown on a radical religious sect promising salvation to people who give up their belongings before "doomsday" strikes on Friday.

Police in Xining, capital of the northwestern province of Qinghai, have detained seven "core" members of the Church of the Almighty God, also known as Lightning of the East, and 30 other members in a raid on Thursday night, Qinghai provincial government's official news portal qhnews.com reported yesterday. Police confiscated a lot of illegal material, including pamphlets on the cult, banners, discs and printing equipment, the report said.

Officials in northern Shaanxi province last week detained several sect followers for handing out pamphlets on buses, parks and other public areas. They were asking recruits to hand over all their possessions, according to the Huashang Daily, of Xian.

The report did not say how many people had been arrested, although the Xian Evening News reported on Tuesday that seven people were arrested for handing out doomsday-themed pamphlets on a bus last weekend.

An officer at the Shaanxi Public Security Bureau's publicity office confirmed a crackdown against the group, but declined to provide further details.

The sect did not respond to an inquiry from the Post.

The sect, founded in 1989 in northeastern Heilongjiang province, has denounced the Communist Party as the "great red dragon". It is listed as an "evil cult" by the central government.

The sect, which says a mainland woman is the second coming of Jesus Christ, is notorious among Christian communities for its strong-arm tactics when recruiting.

By emphasising the coming of judgment day, the sect has attracted thousands of Christians over the past two decades. Its recruiting efforts appear to have intensified as anxiety grows over December 21, the date according to the ancient Mayan calendar on which the world will end.

Christians, fearing that the group could undermine their own standing, have campaigned against them.

"They have created an illusion that the church was spreading the 'doomsday' rumour, and such activities have deeply tarnished the reputation of the church," said Chen Dingliang , secretary general of the Shaanxi Christian Society.

On its website, the society says the sect is controlled by a high priest who extracts favours from followers that only he and the group's claimed prophet can enjoy. It accuses the group of recruiting followers with promises of sex, money and drugs and even threatening violence.

China bishop, named by Rome, held in seminary

July 10,2012

By Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese priest who publicly quit the state-sanctioned Catholic Church and was made bishop with the pope's approval was taken away by officials last weekend and is being held in his seminary, a source said on Tuesday, in a move likely to further strain relations between Beijing and the Vatican.

The incident is the latest sticking point in a long-running dispute over the status of China's state-backed church, which rejects papal control. Beijing and the Vatican differ over who has the authority to appoint bishops.

Thaddeus Ma Daqin's movements have been restricted since he was taken away by officials on Saturday shortly after he was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai with the approval of the pope, the source close to the Vatican told Reuters by telephone.

The source cited more than 10 sources who had direct knowledge of the situation, but declined to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter.

Repeated calls to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association went unanswered. A Vatican spokesman confirmed the ordination but declined to comment further.

Ma announced he was leaving the Communist Party-run Patriotic Catholic Association in Shanghai on Saturday, AsiaNews, a Catholic online news service reported on Monday.

Asked why the authorities are restricting Ma's movements, the source said: "It's very clear. From the words of what he (Ma) pronounced, certainly this is not according to the will of somebody."

The source said China often restricts the movements of Vatican-approved bishops.

The source said Ma, who is now in the Sheshan seminary in Shanghai, had failed to appear in church last Sunday to celebrate Mass. Calls to the seminary went unanswered.

Chinese Catholics number between 8-12 million, and are divided between a state-sanctioned church that has installed bishops without Vatican approval and an "underground" wing long wary of associating with the Communist Party-run church.

China and the Vatican broke off formal diplomatic relations shortly after the Chinese Communists took power in 1949. Pope Benedict has, however, encouraged the two sides of the divided Chinese church to reconcile, and engaged in a low-key dialogue with Beijing about political ties.

The Vatican has previously condemned what it called "external pressures and constrictions" on Catholics in China.

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Ken Wills<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=ken.wills&> and Jonathan Thatcher<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=jonathan.thatcher&>)

Deux évêques chinois clandestins libérés à Pâques

LA CROIX - MONDE _ 16/04/2012

Deux évêques chinois non-reconnus par le gouvernement chinois ont été libérés par les autorités le Dimanche de Pâques, annonce l_agence UcaNews, citant des sources ecclésiastiques chinoises.

Mgr Pierre Shao Zhumin, évêque de Wenzhou, au Zhejiang (est), et Mgr Pierre Jin Lugang, évêque de Nanyang (centre), étaient détenus depuis respectivement quatre semaines et quatre jours.

Selon de sources ecclésiastiques locales, Mgr Shao, 49 ans, avait été arrêté le 19 mars dernier et aurait été détenu dans le diocèse de Leshan, au Sichuan (sud-ouest) dont l_évêque, Mgr Paul Lei Shiyin a été excommunié suite à son ordination sans mandat pontifical en juin. Sa détention aurait inclus un lavage de cerveau au cours d_enseignements sur la politique religieuse du pays.

Mgr Shao aurait été arrêté dans un contexte de grande inquiétude concernant une ordination épiscopale clandestine à Tianshui, dans le Gansu (nord-ouest), à laquelle il aurait pris part l_année dernière. Les autorités sont préoccupées par cette ordination vue comme un acte de défiance vis-à-vis des élections et ordinations décidées par l_&EACUTE;glise officielle , ont confié des sources à UcaNews.

De son côté, Mgr Jin avait été arrêté jeudi 4 avril, les autorités souhaitant l_empêcher de célébrer la messe chrismale et les autres célébrations pascales. Il a été détenu dans une maison d_hôtes.

Deux évêques chinois clandestins libérés à Pâques

Infocatho16 avril 2012

Deux évêques chinois non-reconnus par le gouvernement chinois ont été libérés par les autorités le dimanche de Pâques. Ils étaient détenus depuis respectivement quatre semaines et quatre jours.??Selon des source ecclésiastiques locales, Mgr Pierre Shao Zhumin, évêque de Wenzhou, au Zhejiang, et Mgr Pierre Jin Lugang, évêque de Nanyang, avaient été arrêtés, Mgr Shao le 19 mars et Mgr Jin le 4 avril.??Leur détention aurait inclus un lavage de cerveau au cours d_enseignements sur la politique religieuse du pays.??Mgr Shao aurait été arrêté dans un contexte de grande inquiétude concernant une ordination épiscopale clandestine à Tianshui, dans le Gansu, à laquelle il aurait pris part l_année dernière. Les autorités sont préoccupées par cette ordination vue comme un acte de défiance vis-à-vis des élections et ordinations décidées par l_&EACUTE;glise officielle , ont confié des sources à UcaNews.??De son côté, Mgr Jin a été arrêté jeudi 4 avril, parce que les autorités souhaitait l_empêcher de célébrer la messe chrismale et les autres célébrations pascales. Il a été détenu dans une "maison d_hôtes" et non dans une prison. (source : Ucanews)

Underground_ bishops released

Prelates taken on guided tour, urged to cooperate more with authorities

ucanews.com reporter, Wenzhou, April 16, 2012

Two Chinese bishops not recognized by the government were freed by authorities on Easter Sunday, according to Church sources.

Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province and Bishop Peter Jin Lugang of Nanyang in central Henan province were detained for three weeks and four days respectively.

Bishop Shao was detained on March 19. Local Church sources said his detention included a brainwashing learning class on the country_s religious policies.

Government officials expressed great concern over the secret Episcopal ordination of the Bishop of Tianshui in north-western Gansu province last year, in which Bishop Shao and four other underground bishops took part.

The sources said this was the main reason why Bishop Shao was detained.

Central government has attached importance to the ordination, which it sees as an act of defiance to the official Church_s self-election and self-ordination_ of bishops, said the sources.

Bishop Shao was also warned to restrain himself and not to travel too extensively to visit Wenzhou Catholics who do business across the country.

The 49-year-old prelate had been taken sightseeing in south-western Sichuan province. He was escorted by government officials to Leshan diocese where he met the excommunicated Father Paul Lei Shiyin, who received Episcopal ordination without a papal mandate last June.

Fr Lei and the officials showed Bishop Shao a Church-run hospital, guesthouse and the construction site of the new bishop_s house.

Bishop Shao was told it was rare honor for the Catholic Church in Leshan to enjoy such development considering is proximity to an area held sacred by Chinese Buddhism, the sources said.

Then, they visited some historic monuments to the Long March (1934-36), where the officials told Bishop Shao that building a country is not easy and urged him to cooperate with the government.

The bishop told them he is not opposed to cooperation as long as it does not go against the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.

Father Paul Jiang Sunian, Chancellor of Wenzhou, who was detained with Bishop Shao, was released on March 24.

Meanwhile, Bishop Jin was taken away on April 4, Holy Thursday, by officials wanting to prevent him from celebrating the Chrism Mass, which symbolizes a bishop_s communion with his clergy, and other Easter liturgies.

The prelate was detained in a guesthouse and taken by four officials to several tourist spots before being released on Easter Sunday, according to Church sources.

China subjects Catholic bishops, priests to political sessions

April 18, 2012

By China News Center

Two Chinese bishops of the underground Church have been released by police after having been held for political sessions in which they were pressured to cooperate with the Catholic Patriotic Association. The AsiaNews service reports that dozens of priests are being temporarily detained to attend similar sessions.

Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, coadjutor of the Wenzhou diocese, had been arrested and held for 4 weeks. During that time he was allowed to visit Lei Shiyin, a bishop who was ordained last July without permission from the Vatican and consequently excommunicated; Chinese authorities clearly were holding up Bishop Lei as a model for Bishop Shao to emulate.

Bishop Peter Jing Lugang Nanyang of Henan was taken into custody on Holy Thursday and released on Easter Sunday_too late to lead his diocese in the liturgical ceremonies of the Easter Triduum. Government officials told him during his holiday that he should join the Patriotic Association.

A recent rise in the number of bishops and priests subjected to these political sessions has been interpreted by Chinese Catholics as a move by the government to encourage loyalty to the Patriotic Association in advance of the Communist Party Congress that will be held in October. The Chinese government has established a pattern of cracking down on ideological enemies in advance of major Party meetings.

Two underground bishops released, but many priests are arrested

Wang Zhicheng _ AsiaNews.it _ 04/17/2012

Bishop Shao Zhumin was arrested for four weeks, interrogated, brought on "vacation" away from his diocese, "recommended" to join the Patriotic Association. The model to follow: the excommunicated bishop Lei Shiyin. Bishop Jin Lugang detained for four days so he would not celebrate the Easter Triduum with the community. Dozens of underground priests are held for weeks and subjected to "political sessions". First the security of Communist Party's Congress and plan to eliminate the underground Church.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Two bishops of the underground community, not recognized by the Chinese government, were released after a period of "political sessions". But sources tell AsiaNews that every week dozens of unofficial priests of the communities are taken and forced to attend lectures on the government's religious policy and only released after week.On Easter Sunday, Mgr. Peter Shao Zhumin, coadjutor bishop of Wenzhou (Zhejiang) and Msgr. Peter Jin Lugang Nanyang (Henan) were able to return to their homes. The two were held, respectively, for four weeks and four days.??Msgr. Shao was arrested in March (see: 07/04/2012 Police pressure on underground community. Easter in the Church of Silence). His arrest was due mainly to gain information from him on the ordination of an underground bishop in Tianshui, in a clear "disobedience" to the politics of self-elections and self-ordinations wanted by the government (see: 24/08/2011 Tianshui: police arrest dozens of underground priests and lay faithful).

The bishop was also subjected to political sessions to subscribe to the Patriotic Association (PA), which promotes a national church independent from the Holy See. The prelate was also brought on a "vacation-visit" to the diocese of Leshan (Sichuan), led by bishop Lei Shiyin, ordained on July 14 without the permission of the pope and excommunicated. Bishop Lei showed the buildings under construction in his diocese, and government representatives "recommended" cooperation with the government. Local sources quoted by UCAN said that Bishop Shao he was in favour of collaboration, provided that it is not against "the one, holy, catholic and apostolic".??Msgr. Jin Lugang was arrested on April 4, Holy Thursday and freed on Easter. His detention prevented him from celebrating any of the Holy Triduum or Easter liturgies. The police and government officials took him "on holiday" and also "advised" him to join the PA.??AsiaNews sources confirm that this style of detention, political sessions, "advice" to join the Patriotic Association and release after a few weeks has become very common this year. "Dozens of priests are taken every week - sources say - and are released only after several days." In many areas, including Hebei, all underground communities are afraid of arrest and fear has stopped the activities of the faithful. "Even the controls are more avid: home visits, telephone, internet .. they don't miss anything."??According to some, the increase in arrests and controls is due to the attempt to provide security before the Communist Party Congress, to be held next October, during which the leadership of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao will change hands. For others there is a clear pattern of wanting to hasten the demise of the underground community by absorbing them into the official church.

Jiangsu Authorities Order Unregistered Pastor To Serve Two Years of Reeducation Through Labor

CEC on China, November 21, 2011

In late July 2011, authorities in Suqian city, Jiangsu province, ordered pastor Shi Enhao to serve two years in reeducation through labor (RTL) in connection to his activities as an unregistered pastor, including setting up churches and holding gatherings that authorities deemed illegal. Public security authorities in Jiangsu have harassed or detained Shi several times since March 2011. Shi is a leader in a network of unregistered Protestant congregations whose members associate across multiple provinces, and the RTL order came during a time when official sensitivities were heightened toward members of unregistered Protestant congregations.

In late July 2011, authorities in Suqian city, Jiangsu province, ordered unregistered pastor Shi Enhao to serve two years of reeducation through labor (RTL), a form of administrative punishment without trial, according to international media reports dated July 25, 2011, (ChinaAid Association (CAA)) and July 26, 2011, (Associated Press (AP), via Yahoo!; AsiaNews; Radio Free Asia (RFA)). Fellow unregistered pastor Zhang Mingxuan reportedly told RFA that the charges against Shi included "[holding] illegal gatherings" and "[setting up] illegal churches." Such charges appear to violate Articles 18 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 18 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provide for freedom of religion, the freedom to manifest one's belief through, among other things, practice and worship, and freedom of peaceful association. China has signed the ICCPR and has stated that it is preparing to ratify it (National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010), sec. V(1), via Xinhua). According to the RFA article, Shi's lawyer Zhang Kai said that Suqian public security officials refused to let Zhang visit Shi in custody because the case involved "secrets." Under China's legal framework for state secrets, officials have wide latitude to declare almost any matter of public concern a state secret. Zhang reportedly also said that authorities seized approximately 100,000 yuan (US$15,500) from Shi's church.

Suqian Officials Harass Shi Enhao Several Times Since March

Public security officials in Jiangsu have harassed and detained Shi several times since March 2011 in apparent connection to his activities as an unregistered pastor. According to CAA (7 March 11) and RFA (10 March 11), on March 4, 2011, officials from Suqian disrupted a house church meeting in Nanyang city, Henan province, and detained Shi, who had been preaching at the gathering. Officials held Shi in a hotel and then returned him to his home in Suqian on March 6. According to RFA (6 March 11), however, authorities reportedly instructed him not to travel anywhere during the meetings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, held later that month. Shi reportedly told RFA that officials hired several unidentified people to prevent him from leaving his home, and some of those people beat him and took money and personal items from him. Sources do not indicate when officials released Shi from home confinement, but according to CAA (15 June 11, 15 June 11), beginning on May 31, 2011, public security officials in Suqian held him in administrative detention for 12 days. Public security officials released him on June 12 but took him into custody again the same day, eventually issuing a criminal detention notice dated June 21. The detention notice, issued by the Sucheng District Public Security Bureau, Suqian (via a July 5, 2011, CAA article), stated that officials suspected Shi of "using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law," which appears to be a reference to Article 300 of China's Criminal Law. In some cases, authorities have detained other unregistered Protestants on suspicion of "cult"-related activity—language that also can be found in Article 300—and authorities often use "cult"-related charges to detain or sentence Falun Gong practitioners (for more information on these issues and related cases, see this October 27, 2010, CECC analysis).

Harassment and Detention Occurs During Time of Sensitivity to Unregistered Protestants

Shi's harassment, detentions, and RTL punishment appear to have occurred during a period of heightened official sensitivity toward unregistered Protestant communities in various locations throughout China (for more information on government actions against these communities, see this July 1, 2011, CECC analysis). Official reports from Suqian indicate that Suqian authorities had begun targeting unregistered Protestant communities several months before Shi's March detention. A December 18, 2010, report from the Suqian Municipal People's Government describes efforts by authorities in Suqian to "focus on improving effective control of 'house church' activities, as well as vigorously reducing the space and frequency of their activities." Another December 18, 2010, report from the Suqian Municipal People's Government describes efforts to work with the 6-10 Office—an extralegal Party organization that implements the ban on Falun Gong and in some cases targets other unregistered religious communities—and the domestic security protection unit of the public security bureau to ban worship gathering sites established outside of government oversight.

Shi reportedly is a vice president of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA), which the Ministry of Civil Affairs banned on November 28, 2008, for "engaging in activities as a social organization on its own initiative, without registering" (see a notice on the China Social Organizations Web site, a Web site owned and operated by the State Administration for the Management of Social Organizations). Authorities appear to have targeted other individuals who had contact with the CHCA in the past year. For example, according to CAA (17 April 11), in April 2011, public security officials in Zaozhuang city, Shandong province, took into custody seven members of a house church, including several leaders, who had had contact with Shi Enhao and Zhang Mingxuan, vice president and president of the CHCA. According to the same report, authorities in Linyi city, Shandong, also reportedly detained two unregistered Protestants who had hosted Zhang Mingxuan during a visit.

Bishop, priest taken for learning classes_

Will be released if they are 'intelligent enough in their learning,' officials say

ucanews.com reporter, Beijing, March 22, 2012

Coadjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou and his chancellor Father Paul Jiang Sunian were spirited away this week to attend learning classes, sources say.

Bishop Shao, 49, was appointed by the Holy See in to lead Wenzhou_s underground community in 2007 and is not recognized by the government.

He and Fr Jiang were taken on Monday.

If Bishop Shao and Father Jiang are intelligent enough in their learning, they will be allowed back soon; if not, they will be detained longer, local Church sources quoted government officials as saying.

This implies their release depends on whether they accept the government_s religious policies, one of the sources said.

Among 17 underground priests, a few of them have been summoned to meet with religious officials in the past two days, the sources said.

Some were told to remain behind while others were allowed to return home the same day, they added.

Though no official reasons have been given, the sources suspect the recent events may be linked to the secret episcopal ordination in Tianshui diocese in Gansu province last year.

Government officials are investigating who was involved in the ordination, they said.

Bishop John Wang Ruowang of Tianshui was taken away for learning classes at an undisclosed location in January.

A Church observer who asked not to be named said China_s religious policy is moving backwards and is reflected in the current situation with the Catholic Church and with the 30 Tibetan monks and nuns who have self-immolated in?the fight for religious freedom.

The spate of detentions of underground clergy since the fall of last year was a decision coming from the government, he noted.

On March 2, a bureau chief of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China told a joint meeting of leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China that he hoped the two Church bodies could do a good job in converting the underground community.

In May 1994, Gao Feng, a devout Christian, was arrested in Beijing for planning a private worship service and candlelight vigil to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Gao was a 26-year employee of Beijing Jeep, Chrysler’s joint venture with the Chinese government. Gao was accused of violating Chinese laws against the practice of religion outside of a state-authorized venue. Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution nominally provides for freedom of religious belief; however, the government restricts religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations. State Council Regulation 145 requires all worship-places to register with government religious affairs bureaus and thereby to come under the supervision of official ‘patriotic’ religious organizations. There are almost 85,000 approved venues for religious activities in China. Many religious groups have been reluctant to comply, either out of opposition to state control of religion or due to fear of adverse consequences if they reveal, as the regulations require, the names and addresses of church leaders.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, endorsed by UN resolution in 1948, states: “Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to any association.”

According to press reports, Gao was detained by the government for 5 weeks, without formal charge. In early July, he returned to work at Beijing Jeep and told his supervisor that the Chinese Public Safety Bureau had imprisoned him for over a month. Chrylser asked Gao to produced proof of his detention. The Chinese police gave Gao a note that said he had been detained for 3 days and then released without trial. Beijing Jeep’s general manager was faced with a tough decision. The Chinese joint venture partner was pressuring Chrylser to fire Gao. If the manager did not fire him, millions of dollars of Chrysler’s invested capital in China would be put at risk. If, however, Chrysler fired Gao Feng, the company would become complicit in the violation of his rights to religious freedom and political expression.

One of the keys to success in the Chinese market is good relations with the Communist Party, which keeps rigid control over the economy. Multinational corporations spend years cultivating good guanxi or connections in China. They are thus extremely vulnerable to retaliation. At the time of the Gao Feng incident, for example, Chrysler was aware that failure to accede to the government’s request could result in losing a valuable minivan contract to its German competitor Daimler –Benz.

- Adapted from Ethical Theory & Business,eds. Beauchamp, Bowie & Arnold (Prentice Hall, 2009), 651-52.

Reading between the lines of the Vatican rift

Published: July 27th, 2011 From Asia Times

The rift between

China and the Holy See is deepening as it enters the rutted territory where Rome and Beijing historically have something in common: convoluted political procedure.

The issue is extremely complicated, but for once, it is worth delving into the details, as they are very revealing of the political predicament in China regarding the crucial question of freedom of belief.

On July 25, a spokesman for China’s Bureau of Religion claimed that “the Vatican’s threat of so-called excommunication” after the ordination of the bishops of Leshan and Shantou was unreasonable and cruel, and hurt the feelings of Chinese Catholics. “This made a large number of members of the Church

suffer, and we are paying very serious attention to this,” said the statement, which was issued only in Chinese by the official Xinhua News Agency, and thus meant for the domestic audience.

The statement didn’t mention the role of the pope, whose blessing, according to Catholic faith, is necessary for the appointment of bishops. But it argued that the “threat of so-called excommunication gave the reason that the two bishops were appointed without the permission of the Vatican”. (Emphasis added).

The phrase “permission of the Vatican” appears to be deliberately vague and possibly misleading. In a way, it is correct, as “Vatican” implies the role of the pope and “permission” implies the religious blessings of the pope that make the Church one, unitary, and Catholic. In so representing the case, the statement implies an issue of political infringement by a political (not religious) foreign authority (the Vatican) in China’s internal affairs.

The statement doesn’t challenge the issue of the permission of the Vatican. However, based on this political representation of the facts, the bureau claims that for the past 50 years, the Chinese Catholic Church was exposed to the threat of excommunication, which has “caused a deep historical wound to a large part of the Chinese Catholics, and this has steeled the Chinese Catholic Church on its path of self-appointment of the bishops”.

People acquainted with Catholic issues carefully crafted the statement. By not mentioning the pope and even not clearly challenging the “Vatican’s permission”, the statement is the first official admission from China of the religious role of the pope in the Catholic Church on the appointment of bishops. This sets an historical precedent, as it indicates that the Communist Party does not want any role in this religion and in principle allows the pope religious authority.

However, the real issue is political: who controls the Church as a socio-political entity in China? This is a gray area, as for the Church this has an important religious bearing, not simply socio-political. Even here the statement does not refute the pope or the Vatican’s role in this. The real issue, to some Chinese Catholics, is “the deep historical wound” opened by the Vatican with the threat of excommunication.

It is also an issue of personal nature. If one thinks well, there are people who genuinely believe they have contributed to survival of the Church, and they are offended because Rome doesn’t recognize their efforts and has cast them away. If one thinks evil, these people are the de facto owner of the structure of the Church in China, they have owned it for 50 years, and they are unwilling to surrender it to people who until only a few years ago were underground and refused to break bread with them.

If, as a letter from the pope in 2007 has recognized, there is only one Catholic Church, then the structure of the official Church is de facto taking control of everything. Moreover, people in Rome believed that if Rome told the bishops not to take part in the illicit ordination, the bishops would obey. In fact, many bishops in China, though loyal to Rome, are perplexed by some of the Vatican’s decisions and believe that it is impossible to not collaborate with the Chinese authorities.

These gray areas disguise a basic fact that the Catholic Church in China has grown away from Rome’s embrace, and in some instances, it is de facto schismatic. These Church leaders do not want to announce and open the schism because now, in their present position, they can politically blackmail both Rome and Beijing: to Beijing they say they have to accommodate to Rome, and to Rome they say they can’t turn down Beijing. If these leaders were to be openly schismatic, they would lose the present leeway with Beijing, and in return would push their Church to the extreme. These are fighters and careful manipulators who survived decades of intricacies and the pitfalls of both communism and Curia. They can’t be underestimated.

The solution, like with all schismatic churches, is to sow both sides slowly back together.

The true political solution is the one the Vatican has adopted with all schismatic churches, such as the church of Marcel Lefebvre, which Pope Benedict XVI has reconciled with Rome: slow and careful political mending of fences and recognition of the local political powers. Here, the issue is only political, as religiously there is no gap.

Beijing's Theology of Repression

China is cracking down on Christians who consider God, not the

Communist Party, the head of the church.

By DAVID AIKMAN

JULY 11, 2011

Wall Streezt Journal : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428260216373754.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill," Puritan John Winthrop famously preached to fellow immigrants to America aboard the Arbella in 1630. At least two American presidents in the 20th century, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, have quoted him, and his words have resonated for many Americans ever since, reminding them of their spiritual obligations, not just to each other, but to the whole

world.

If Winthrop were alive today, he would undoubtedly be heartened to see his words quoted in the quarterly magazine of Shouwang Church, one of Beijing's largest unsanctioned "house" churches (shouwang means "keeping watch" in Chinese). He would share, too, the anguish of the church members at their continued intimidation by the authorities. Since early April, police have prevented church members from gathering

for normal Sunday worship services_albeit at an outdoor plaza and not a church building. Hundreds have been detained for short periods and the entire church leadership has been under house arrest since April.

Ironically, Shouwang Church, whose 1,000-strong congregation is mostly upscale professionals, actually paid $4 million for meeting space in a Beijing office building. But under pressure from the authorities, the sellers refused to hand over the keys, leaving the church with no place to meet.

China tolerates Christian church services, but only within the narrow boundaries of theology and church life dictated by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which oversees two Church umbrella groups, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and, for Protestants, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Estimates of the number of Christians in China vary widely, ranging from the TSPM's figure of about 20 million for its own churches to that of outside observers who say the total is as high as 130 million. The reason? Most Chinese Christians belong to unofficial house churches like

Shouwang, which reject Communist Party-controlled TSPM theology and consider God_not the Communist Party_the head of the church. The number of house-church Christians, while hard to estimate, is likely more than 60 million.

The recent crackdown on house-church Christians is the outgrowth of a Communist Party initiative launched last December, called "Operation Deterrence," to force all house-church Christians to be incorporated with the TSPM or suffer persecution. In light of the savage treatment of practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation group brutally repressed since 1999, the implications of "Operation Deterrence" are alarming.

Shouwang Church was founded in 1993 by Jin Tianming, a graduate of Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University. Its steady growth is partly due to the increase in recent years of Christian converts among urban professionals, but it's also due to skillful self-administration. Its literary quarterly "Almond Flowers" recently published a detailed explanation of why Shouwang refused to join the TSPM.

Explaining that the TSPM was an outdated product of the Cold War, "Almond Flowers" asked, "Is there any reason for such an agency to exist today?" It pointed out that "the faith that the TSPM adheres to is what church history calls liberal theology, while the faith of the house churches is evangelical theology."

Evangelical churches around the world, of course, have always stressed the need for Christians to share their faith. The TSPM, however, forbids its members to evangelize. Last autumn, that ban meant the the TSPM was not able to attend the Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism because its representatives could not sign the mandatory Lausanne pledge to promote evangelism. It then stood back as authorities blocked some 200 invited Chinese house-church representatives who were willing to sign the pledge from leaving China.

The crackdown on Christians is part of a rising tide of répression against dissent that's often accompanied by interrogations and torture. Recently, the wife of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said that she and her husband were beaten and tortured for several hours by a gang of plainclothes thugs led by the village Communist Party secretary. Worryingly, some of the Shouwang Church detainees found TSPM representatives taking part in the police interrogations, "educating" and "rebuking" the Shouwang Christians. Incredibly, TSPM Chairman Fu Xianyou denies that house churches even exist.

Sadly, the TSPM is often hosted in the United States by churches and organizations such as the World Evangelical Alliance and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which ought to know better. It was the Rev. Graham himself, during a 1988 visit to China, who took gréât pains to visit privately with one of China's most revered house-church heroes, Rev. Wang Mingdao. Wang had spent two decades in prison for his refusal to join the TSPM.

If America's churches are truly to be "as a city upon a hill," they should follow the Rev. Graham's example and help to shed light on the ongoing repression of their brethren in China.

Mr. Aikman, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time magazine, is the author of "Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China And Changing the Global Balance of Power" (Regnery, 2006).

Government recognizes underground_ bishop

Church sources say Holy See did not know about move or give any instruction to him

ucanews.com, Nanyang, June 30, 2011

Retired underground bishop Joseph Zhu Baoyu of Nanyang from central Henan province was installed as a government-recognized bishop today.

The prelate, 90, who was secretly consecrated in 1995 with Vatican approval, spent many years in detention or undergoing reform-through-labor. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation last year.

Catholic sources said Bishop Zhu decided to seek recognition from the civil authorities in order to claim back Church properties that were confiscated during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

Nanyang diocese has about 20,000 Catholics scattered in Nanyang city, two districts and 11 counties in southwestern Henan.

Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiaoting of Yan_an, vice-president of the government-sanctioned Bishops_ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC), officiated at the installation ceremony.

Thirty priests from the local and neighboring dioceses concelebrated the morning Mass at the Nanyang Catholic Church. About 50 laypeople also attended.

Bishop Zhu_s decision is not out of personal interest, but for the diocese, one priest explained.

There are many churches yet to be returned. We can hardly protect our rights and interests [without government recognition].

With the prelate_s installation, the diocese can now legally claim back property and this will also benefit evangelistic work, he said.

According to Church sources, the Holy See did not know about Bishop Zhu_s move or give any instruction to him.

His decision also didn_t get the backing of all members in his diocese, including Coadjutor Bishop Peter Jin Lugang and almost half the 21 diocesan priests.

They believe religious affairs officials have been persuading Bishop Zhu to seek government recognition.

Some also think ambiguous policy of the Holy See have encouraged this outcome.

Government officials only allowed priests whom they trust to attend the installation. Bishop Jin was forbidden to leave his Church this morning, sources said, adding that they were worried Bishop Zhu_s installation would split the diocese.

Bishop Zhu, a Nanyang-native, was born in 1921. Less than a year after he was ordained a priest in 1957, he was arrested for his faith and sentenced to reform-through-labor. He returned to his hometown in 1967 and began to administer sacraments for Catholics secretly.

He was imprisoned for counter-revolutionary crimes in 1981 and was released on parole eight years later. After that he served as a parish priest until he was ordained a bishop in 1995.

Unshaken by threats of eviction and even jail, Shouwang Church members worship when and where they can

Verna Yu

May 08, 2011

"I was a little bit scared at first, but I trusted we were in the care of almighty God," said the 27-year-old finance executive, who spent his Easter weekend in custody. "I went with a peaceful heart."

Hue, who declined to disclose his full name for fear of reprisals, is one of hundreds of Christians from the Beijing-based Shouwang Church who have been risking detention, losing their jobs or being evicted by their landlords by defying government orders not to worship outdoors over the past month.

The 1,000-strong congregation of Shouwang - technically an illegal church because it is not approved by the state - has been trying to hold its Sunday services at a public plaza after official pressure forced its previous landlord to evict it from its usual place of worship last month. Officials also blocked the congregation from moving into a 1,500-square-metre office space the church had bought for 27 million yuan (HK$32 million).

Before Hue went out on Easter Sunday, he already knew he could be detained, because police had held dozens of his fellow church members on the past two Sundays. But he was undeterred.

"We just need somewhere to worship our Lord. We don't want to get involved with politics, but we have nowhere to worship, so we don't have a choice."

Police detained 169 worshippers the first Sunday, then nearly 50 the second week and more than 30 in each of the past two Sundays. The church will attempt to hold another outdoor service again today.

Some Christians have been detained two or three times, although many who have been in custody once have been stopped by police from leaving home on subsequent weekends. The six leaders of the church have been confined to their homes for weeks.

Last week, Hue, like many fellow Shouwang Christians who have been detained, had to move because the authorities pressured his landlord to evict him. He is lucky that he does not work in the state sector - many members who do are facing dismissal from their jobs.

Academics say the high-profile confrontation between Shouwang and the government is unprecedented in recent mainland church history and poses one of the most serious tests of church-state relations in years.

Shouwang, which means "to keep watch", had several run-ins with the government over the past few years, but its congregation continued to grow. In 2008, police raided one of its services, accusing it of illegal gathering; in 2009, it was evicted from its rented premises and worshipped in a park while its pastor was detained; last year, church leaders and members were turned back from the airport when they tried to travel to South Africa to participate in the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelisation. The authorities were angered that members of the unofficial churches sought to represent China.

Although the Christians' attempts to worship outdoors are seen by some as a bold public display of defiance, they insist they have no political agenda. They say they have no choice but to take to public spaces unless the authorities allow them to move into a permanent place of worship.

After the church was similarly forced to worship outdoors in November 2009, officials gave verbal approval for it to go back indoors in another rented space, but a little more than a year later, it was told to leave again.

The Reverend Jin Tianming , the pastor of the church, has said it has been forced to move more than 20 times since it was founded in 1993. Now, it is no longer willing to be made homeless every few months and wants the authorities to give it formal approval to worship freely in its own property without further harassment.

"This is a manifestation of our faith ... Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and the government cannot interfere with the church's faith," Jin said of the church's attempt to worship outdoors in an earlier phone interview. Jin, who has been under house arrest since April 9, could not be reached by phone during the past week.

Not a typical "house" church - small groups of Christians on the mainland holding clandestine services at home to escape persecution - Shouwang's fast-growing and dynamic congregation has long posed a headache for the central government, which bans religious services outside state-sanctioned churches.

Attended by a well-to-do and educated crowd - among them university lecturers, doctors, lawyers, NGO workers and even Communist Party members - Shouwang has come to symbolise a new breed of young urban Christians who are no longer contented to practise their faith in secret.

It resembles many thriving evangelical churches overseas. Led by a committee chosen by its members, the dynamic church has a choir, a Sunday school, Bible classes and charity initiatives. It even has its own magazine and a sophisticated website with video clips of sermons. Before it was evicted, it ran three services every Sunday.

Religious-affairs experts say that while the authorities have largely tolerated small gatherings of the unregistered churches, Shouwang's speed of growth, its influence and its development into an independent organisation have unnerved them. They do not tolerate independent groups outside the control of the Communist Party, but Shouwang has developed into just that.

From what began in 1993 as a gathering of fewer then 10 Christians worshipping in the one-bedroom flat of Jin, then a recent chemical-engineering graduate from prestigious Tsinghua University, the number of worshippers grew to about 300 in 2005, 600 in 2008 and about 1,000 now.

Religious-affairs experts say the clash between Shouwang and the authorities has come to symbolise the strained underground church-state relations on the mainland, which stems from the government's outdated religious policies and its failure to recognise that state-sanctioned churches can no longer serve the needs of a fast-growing Christian population.

The number of Christians on the mainland has grown dramatically in recent decades, from about 2 million 30 years ago to the current estimated 23 million (official figure released last year) to 130 million.

Liu Peng, a Beijing-based academic who studies church-state relations, estimates that about 50 million mainlanders are underground church members. Instead of suppressing them, he said the government should grant their churches legal status and allow them to worship freely.

He said the central government's model of the management of churches was simply outdated and its desire to have all Christians worship in state-sanctioned churches unrealistic.

"The growth in the number of Christians has outpaced the growth of the number of [approved] churches," he said. "It's like a child outgrowing his clothes. If there is no reform, there will only be more problems."

All religious bodies on the mainland are required to register with the government - a de facto authorisation procedure that weeds out all independent groups outside the control of the party. Shouwang has repeatedly tried to register with the authorities since 2006 but was always refused.

House churches took root soon after the Communist regime took over the mainland in 1949, when churches and religious establishments were forced to sever ties with Western churches, then seen as agents of "foreign imperialists".

Those who refused to come under the control of the state-sanctioned church in the so-called "Three-Self Patriotic Movement" in 1954 were driven underground and many church leaders were jailed.

Unregistered churches have come a long way since then, and many urban churches have become oases for young professionals who seek spiritual solace and moral guidance in an increasingly materialistic society - and they flourish as a result.

But despite continuous calls for the government to recognise these unofficial churches, there is no sign that it is prepared to shift its position any time soon.

The State Administration for Religious Affairs announced in January that its priority this year was to "guide Protestants at unregistered churches into worshipping at government-sanctioned ones", according to Xinhua.

Other fast-developing evangelical churches on the mainland have also been targets of similar crackdowns in the past couple of years. The Wanbang Church in Shanghai, Liangren Church in Guangzhou, and Qiuyuzhifu Church in Chengdu have all been evicted from their rented premises and have had to move from place to place, although none have been cracked down on as heavily as Shouwang.

But Christians who worship at unofficial churches are adamant that they will not join state-sanctioned churches, because they say they could not practice their faith freely in institutions controlled by the atheist Communist Party.

"The Three-Self church is not established on the foundation of faith. Things like who gets to preach and what is said in the sermon are controlled by the government," Hue said. "But the Bible says, `Besides me there is no God,' so I can't participate in that kind of church."

The persecution of Shouwang comes amid the mainland's harshest crackdown on dissent for years, prompted by government fears that revolts in the Arab world could spread to China. Dozens of dissidents and rights advocates have been detained or are facing charges.

Under such a tense political atmosphere, analysts fears the central government might run out of patience and launch an all-out crackdown to end the long-drawn-out confrontation.

"My rather pessimistic view is that the government will not allow this to drag on," said Professor Ying Fuk-tsang, a divinity scholar at Chinese University of Hong Kong. "In the worst scenario it might ban this church as an illegal organisation and arrest its leaders."

But Shouwang's church leaders and members say they are not afraid to go to jail. "There is such a possibility and we were mentally prepared for it right from the start. There is no turning back," said church elder Sun Yi, who is still under house arrest.

"But ... we're still hoping to reach a consensus that we can both accept and genuinely solve the problem."

Both sides have taken firm stances: the church refuses to disband or split into smaller groups and demands that the government allows it to take possession of its property; the government insists that Christians were taking part in illegal gatherings.

"Both sides have a very clear bottom line, so conflict is inevitable," said a mainland-based academic who researches house-church issues. "They have no common language - the church has its own set of logic and the government has its own set of logic. The government believes that whoever goes out on the street poses a threat to the government, and the church believes that whatever happens, they must carry on worshipping."

The long battle will hurt the church badly anyway, even if the authorities do not step up the crackdown, scholars say. The church will start losing its followers as those who do not wish to risk detention choose to worship elsewhere.

"We will definitely lose some people ... but I think Shouwang has a fundamental vision [of worshipping together], and through this test, people who are committed to that vision will stay,"

Sun said. "This is the most difficult test in the history of Shouwang. If we don't handle this well, the church might split into smaller groups."

The Shanghai-based Wanbang church, which had 1,000 followers, split into several groups after being evicted from its rented premises in 2009. Its pastor said it had lost several hundred congregation members.

But government efforts to suppress the church might prove counter-productive, as they seemed to have only bolstered the Christians' beliefs. Shouwang's faithful believe God may have his purpose in this persecution: to spread the gospel to officials and police.

The church said in an online message: "We thank God for giving the church an opportunity, to enable the police to feel a sense of peace and freedom from Christ through these Christians."

In their testimonies posted on the internet, church members described heart-warming scenes of praying and singing hymns together in custody without hindrance and being filled with a sense of peace and joy. Some said they discussed their faith with police, some of whom were genuinely interested in Christianity.

"We have to give thanks that we were able to share our faith with the police ... some had never heard of the gospel, and some were pretty interested, too," Hue said.

An official at the State Administration for Religious Affairs refused to comment on questions related to Shouwang Church.

Des chrétiens protestent en Chine

AFP 12/05/2011

Un regroupement d'Eglises chrétiennes clandestines a pris l'initiative inhabituelle d'adresser aujourd'hui une pétition au parlement chinois pour demander la fin des persécutions et la liberté de culte en Chine.??Les pasteurs de 17 Eglises non enregistrées officiellement se plaignent dans cette pétition, adressée au président de l'Assemblée nationale populaire (ANP) Wu Bangguo, de la répression visant à la cessation des activités de ces Eglises.??C'est la première fois qu'un tel nombre d'Eglises clandestines demandent collectivement la liberté de religion en Chine communiste, a déclaré China Aid, association dont le siège est aux Etats-Unis, qui publie leur pétition sur son site internet.??"Ces six dernières décennies (depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir du Parti communiste, NDLR) la liberté religieuse garantie aux chrétiens du pays par la Constitution de la République populaire de Chine ne s'est pas traduite dans les faits", selon le texte.??Les auteurs de la pétition demandent à l'ANP de se pencher sur la constitutionnalité de la gestion des affaires religieuses par le gouvernement qui n'autorise la pratique de la foi qu'au sein d'Eglises reconnues par lui. Ils demandent également aux députés d'adopter une loi protégeant les libertés religieuses.??Les catholiques et protestants en Chine sont divisés entre "officiels" appartenant à ces Eglises sous la houlette du Parti communiste chinois (environ 20 millions, selon Pékin) et les fidèles des "Eglises du silence" clandestines, qui dépasseraient les 50 millions.

Over 30 Christians detained as church clampdown continues

Verna Yu in South China Morning Post

May 2, 2011

More than 30 Christians from one of the mainland's most influential unofficial churches were detained and dozens were confined to their homes yesterday, after they tried to worship outdoors in defiance of government orders amid a crackdown that has continued for four Sundays.

At least 31 members of Shouwang Church were taken away near its proposed place of worship amid a heavy police presence in Beijing's commercial Zhongguancun area, said Christians who declined to be named. The church's leaders - three pastors and three elders - remained under house arrest while many congregation members were prevented from leaving home.

The church's pastor, Jin Tianming , has been confined at home since April 9, the eve of the church's first attempted outdoor service. He could not be reached by phone yesterday.

Last week, he said many church members who had been detained on previous Sundays were stopped by police from going out on subsequent Sundays. Others were told by local police to sign statements promising not to worship outdoors again.

Three journalists from Al-Jazeera English who were trying to cover the event had been stopped by police outside the building where the service was supposed to take place, correspondent Melissa Chan said. They were required to hand over their videotape before being released.

The congregation has tried to worship on the podium terrace of a commercial building for the past four Sundays. Police detained 169 worshippers the first time, nearly 50 the second time and 36 on Sunday last week. Most were released within 24 hours in the first weeks, but last week some were held for 48 hours.

The church, which has nearly 1,000 members, lost its previous place of worship early last month after official pressure forced its landlord to evict it from a spacious film studio. Officials also blocked the congregation from moving into an office space the church had bought for 27 million yuan (HK$32 million).

The church, which has been evicted more than 20 times since 1993, had wanted the authorities to give it formal approval to worship freely on its own property without further harassment. It has tried to register with the government, but the state, which controls religious affairs, has repeatedly refused to give it authorisation.

Shouwang, which means "to keep watch", was criticised last week by the Global Times for "politicising" religious issues. In response, the church issued an online statement insisting that it had no political agenda and would go back indoors as long as it has "a guaranteed meeting place".

"Any speculation about the church having political motivation can easily be quashed," it said.

Police harass foreign reporters at banned Easter service

BROADCAST / PRINT MEDIA NEWS]

On April 24, CNN correspondent Stan Grant and his crew were briefly detained when they attempted to report on an unauthorized outdoor Easter service in downtown Beijing organized by Shouwang Church, an unregistered Protestant group that has complained of being denied an indoor meeting space. The journalists' credentials were confiscated, and hundreds of police officers prevented them from accessing the area. At least 36 church members who joined the congregation were taken into custody. Shouwang's senior pastor, Jin Tianming, is now under house arrest, and the church's website has been made inaccessible. At another Sunday service held by Shouwang in Beijing on April 10, Bill Schiller of the Toronto Star was interrogated for three hours after he took photographs of participants and the police.

Foreign journalist detained at church gathering

On April 10, Bill Schiller, the Toronto Star's Asia bureau chief, was detained and interrogated for three hours in Beijing after he took photographs at an unauthorized outdoor church service in the city's Zhongguancun district. More than 150 members of the Shouwang Protestant Church were also rounded up by the authorities; the church operates without government approval and has been barred from buying or renting space in which to worship. Schiller said he was asked to delete pictures from his camera, and had his government-issued press card confiscated. The police claimed he had conducted interviews in public without permission, a rule has been more strictly enforced since calls for a protest-driven "Jasmine Revolution" circulated on the internet in mid-February. Schiller's account of his experience, which comes amid a broader crackdown on journalists, bloggers, and other activists, adds to existing evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has redefined the limits of permissible expression in the country, while resorting to extralegal tactics to suppress dissent. Zhou Yongkang, a CCP Politburo Standing Committee member who oversees the country's law enforcement bodies, is said to be one of the driving forces behind the current crackdown, including the recent disappearances of Chinese dissidents.

Beijing police halt unapproved church service

Apr 10,2011

BEIJING (AP) _ Beijing police on Sunday detained dozens of worshippers from an unapproved Christian church who were trying to hold services in a public space after they were evicted from their usual place of worship, a parishioner said.Leaders of the unregistered Shouwang church had told members to gather at an open-air venue in Beijing for Sunday morning services, but police, apparently alerted to their plans, taped off the area and took away people who showed up to take part.Chinese authorities have been on high alert for large public gatherings in the wake of anonymous online calls for anti-government protests modeled on demonstrations in the Middle East and North Africa.No major protests have occurred in China following the calls, but the security crackdown they sparked has resulted in the arrest or detention of dozens of public interest lawyers, writers, intellectuals and activists.China's Communist government allows worship only in state-approved churches, but many Christians belong to unregistered congregations. Such "house churches" are subjected to varying degrees of harassment by authorities.More than 60 million Christians are believed to worship in China's independent churches, compared with about 20 million who worship in the state church, according to scholars and church activists.A church member who went to the gathering spot for services and managed to evade police told The Associated Press that about 200 people were taken away and were being held at a local school. Their cellphones were confiscated, said the man, who would give only his English name, Kane, for fear of police reprisals.An AP videographer saw about a dozen people escorted by police onto an empty city bus and driven away.Shouwang pastor Yuan Ling said by telephone that he was unable to go to the venue because police had put him under house arrest Saturday night. Yuan said he knew of at least six other church members who were also under house arrest.Yuan said fellow parishioners also told him that many worshippers were being held at a school in Beijing's Haidian district, though he wasn't sure of the exact number.Shouwang had been holding services at a Beijing restaurant until they were evicted last week.Ai Weiwei, an internationally known avant-garde artist who is also an outspoken government critic, became the highest-profile person targeted in the crackdown on dissent when he was detained at a Beijing airport a week ago. The Foreign Ministry says he is being investigated for alleged economic crimes, though Beijing police have yet to confirm he is in custody.Ai was last seen being led away by police at the airport after being barred from boarding a flight to Hong Kong.About 50 pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday demanded Ai's release, peacefully chanting "No to political persecution" outside the central Chinese government's liaison office. Opposition legislator Lee Cheuk-yan tossed a picture of Ai into the grounds of the compound.Former British colony Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties as part of its special semiautonomous status under Chinese rule.On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for Ai's release and criticized China for what she said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the first part of 2011.Clinton made the remarks while announcing the release of the U.S. State Department's annual assessment of human rights around the world. It said China stepped up restrictions on critics and tightened control of civil society in 2010 by limiting freedom of speech and Internet access.As it does each year, China fired back with its own report, accusing Washington of hypocrisy and criticizing the U.S. for its own human rights record, citing figures showing high crime, homelessness, racial discrimination, and killings of civilians and other abuses by U.S. forces overseas.The report pointed to the huge amount of money poured into last year's midterm congressional elections as a perversion of democracy, and accused Washington of advocating Internet freedom to boost its influence over other countries, while at the same time pursuing legal challenges to the WikiLeaks secret-spilling website."We hereby advise the U.S. government to take concrete actions to improve its human rights conditions, check and rectify its acts in the human rights field, and stop the hegemonistic deeds of using human rights issues to interfere in other countries' internal affairs," the report said.___Associated Press videographer David Wivell in Beijing and AP writer

Shouwang Church Easter plans foiled

BEIJING, April 24 (UPI) -- Leaders of China's independent Shouwang Church said police blocked their plans for Easter Sunday services in Beijing.

An estimated 500 members of the church were prevented from leaving their homes Sunday and another 36 were detained, including the chief pastor, who was said to be under house arrest.

CNN said it tried to send a crew to cover the services, but they were turned away and had their press credentials confiscated by police.

Shouwang Church is one of largest independent "house" churches in China and has repeatedly sparred with government authorities. CNN said police officers told them they were on the scene for "security reasons."

Chief Pastor Jin Tianming told CNN his flock would not be discouraged by the setback. "We will not change our decision to worship as this is a matter of faith," he said.

Shouwang again

From Agence France Press via SCMP (20 avril 2011):

An unregistered mainland Protestant church urged its followers yesterday to ignore government warnings and risk being arrested by attending Easter services in Beijing at the weekend.

In an appeal posted on its Google Buzz page, the Shouwang Church warned that police would likely detain those gathering at a set meeting site, but that it was more important that followers stood up for their faith.

Beijing police have rounded up scores of church followers after they sought to hold outdoor services in Beijing's university district over the past two Sundays. Most were released after 24 hours. The police action comes amid a widening crackdown on dissidents, civil rights lawyers and activists, including the disappearance into police custody of Ai Weiwei , an outspoken artist who is widely known for his political activism.

"The courage that we sacrifice becomes the peace between the oppressor and the oppressed," the church said. "Our sole desire is that we can awaken the conscience of our rulers through our peaceful and holy action of sacrifice. We also hope that this action can dissipate the hatred between people ... Only in this way can we really love our government."

The Shouwang church, one of Beijing's largest unregistered churches, was forced outdoors after the government blocked the rental of its previous place of worship and prevented it from buying a new meeting place, the church said.

On Saturday, senior church Pastor Jin Tianming and several other leaders were detained, but later released into house arrest.

Beijing's widening crackdown on dissent comes after anonymous calls on the internet for so-called jasmine protests on Sunday, similar to those that have rocked the Arab world.

The church has denied it has any links to these rally calls.

"We again reiterate that the Shouwang church is a church of Jesus Christ and we are not under the control of, or being used by, any domestic or foreign organisation," yesterday's statement said. The church set up its Google Buzz page, a Twitter-like microblog service, after its China-based webpage was shut down recently.

Although freedom of religion is enshrined in China's constitution, all religious groups are required to register with the government and worship in officially sanctioned churches.

About 15 million Protestants and 5 million Catholics worship at official churches on the mainland, according to recent official data. But more than 50 million others are believed to pray at underground or "house" churches.

Beijing church faces eviction in tense times

By Chris Buckley and Sui-Lee Wee Chris Buckley And Sui-lee Wee _ Sun Apr 3, 2011, 7:48 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) _ Tears flowed at one of Beijing's biggest "house" churches when some 300 Chinese Christians prayed on the last Sunday before they face eviction from their makeshift place of worship, pressed by officials wary about religion outside of their grip.

The Shouwang Church, with about 1,000 members, is one of the biggest Protestant congregations in Beijing that has expanded beyond the confines of churches registered and overseen by the ruling Communist Party's religious affairs authorities.

But the Party is wary about any potential unrest, and this gathering of neat middle-class and student Christians has been told by its landlord that it can no longer worship at the "Old Story Restaurant," with its walls lined with pictures of Chinese Party leaders shaking hands with former U.S. presidents.

Church leaders warned that unless the church can find a new home, its members may be forced to worship outdoors, a risky step in this nation where big gatherings often attract official scrutiny and can be broken up by police.

"This is the cross that the church has to bear," Pastor Jin Tianming told the worshippers about the prospect of worship outdoors. Some of them wiped tears from their faces.

"We need a formal approval from the authorities to allow us to find an indoor meeting place. If not, we will not waver in worshipping outdoors."

Members of the church told Reuters that they did not see themselves as political activists or foes of the government. But the pressures they face shows the extent of China's recent crackdown on dissent and potential sources of unrest.

"Some people may face getting caught, may have to stand trial or may even be sentenced," You Guanhui, an older pastor told the congregation about the possibility of gathering in a park or other public place.

"God, we especially want to plead to you as we face these dangerous trials. Please find a way out for us."

China has arrested and detained dozens of lawyers, bloggers and dissidents after the online calls for pro-democracy "Jasmine" gatherings.

On Sunday, prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, a combative critic of Party censorship, was stopped by police from boarding a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong, his assistant told Beijing lawyer Pu Zhiqiang. Police also searched Ai's studio in Beijing, according to Pu and messages on Ai's Twitter account.

Ai could not be contacted on his phone.

In recent years, restrictions on "house" churches across China eased, allowing them to grow and become more settled.

These churches started as Bible study groups that often grew into large congregations, sparking fears in China's ruling Party that they could undermine its grip. But those fears eased in many areas in recent years, and many such churches are now much bigger than could fit into a normal house.

There are 40 to 60 million Protestants in China, divided between the official and unregistered churches, according to Carsten Vala, a Maryland-based professor at Loyola University who specializes in Chinese Christians.

The eviction is the latest chapter in a long series of restrictions on the Shouwang church, which started out as a "house church" in a rented apartment in 1993. It holds three services every Sunday, partly because even the restaurant cannot hold all the members at the same time.

When pressed to register with the government Administration for Religious Affairs, the Shouwang church declined, said Cao Zhi, a Shouwang church member in his thirties who works for a non-government group.

"Traditionally, home churches haven't been willing to register, because the church is considered to belong to God," said Cao, a former journalist.

Since then, the church has been evicted from rented premises many times. In 2009, the last time it was kicked out of its place of worship, the church assembled in a park in a snowstorm. Promise Hsu, a church member, said about 700 to 800 people turned up.

In 2009, the church raised 27 million yuan ($4.12 million), in donations from members and tried to buy a space in a commercial building as a permanent home. But authorities pressured the seller not to hand over the property to the church, even though it had paid for it, church members said.

"As citizens and worshippers, we've fulfilled all our duties and just want to worship," said Cao, the church member.

"Churches need their own homes so they can develop. Why can companies buy their own places but not churches?" ($1 = 6.548 yuan)

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Chris Buckley; Editing by Andrew Marshall)

Catholic seminarians mount rare protest (SCMP)

Dozens of students at a Catholic seminary in Hebei province staged a rare protest yesterday outside a government office against the appointment of a non-Catholic government official to the school's leadership.

The show of defiance raised eyebrows, as the seminary is operated by the government-backed church. It added to the mounting tension before a key national congress in Beijing on Tuesday, when the mainland church will select its new leaders.

The Vatican opposes the congress, saying it breaches Catholic doctrine about bishops' autonomy. Sino-Vatican relations were already strained after Beijing's unilateral ordination of a bishop in Hebei last month. Brandishing slogans and wearing their white uniforms, about 100 seminarians studying for the priesthood at the Catholic Theological and Philosophical Seminary of Hebei in Shijiazhuang staged a silent protest outside the offices of the Hebei Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau from early yesterday morning.

They demanded that the government remove the seminary's newly appointed deputy rector.

"We have no option but to stage this silent protest," said one seminarian who took part. "We can stand the situation no longer."

Bureau officials said they were negotiating with the protesters but refused to give further details.

Tang Zhaojun, a section chief at the bureau who is not a Catholic, was appointed by the government on November 11 to the seminary's leadership. He will take part in managing the religious institute and teach political education classes.

The appointment sparked an uproar among the students, who have been on strike for two weeks with the support of their teachers, demanding that government officials not be appointed to head seminaries.

Church insiders said the government had promised earlier to remove Tang in light of the strong protests by members of the seminary.

But the possible resolution was thwarted after Beijing's ordination of Joseph Guo Jincai as bishop of the Chengde diocese last month.

Some of the eight bishops who took part in what the Vatican called an "illicit" ordination ceremony are directors of the seminary. The rector is Joseph Ma Yinglin, who was ordained without papal approval as bishop of Kunming , Yunnan , in 2006.

At two meetings with the seminarians yesterday, officials refused to remove Tang "because the appointment was a [Communist] Party decision", some of those present said.

Anthony Lam Sui-ki, a senior researcher with Hong Kong's Holy Spirit Study Centre, said the rising discontent among Catholics against the government as demonstrated in the protest could deter bishops who are loyal to Rome from attending next week's national congress.

Yesterday's open protest by Catholic seminarians against the authorities was the first since January 2000, when more than 150 seminarians at the National Seminary in Beijing refused to attend a ceremony in which five bishops were ordained by the government without papal approval.

Many of those who took part in that boycott were dismissed from the seminary.

By Ambrose Leung, additional reporting by Mandy Zuo

Bishops for pawns

The Economist, Nov 25th 2010, 13:57 by J.H. | VATICAN CITY

THE first to disappear was Joseph Li Liangui, the Bishop of Cangzhou. He was seen leaving his house with government officials on November 12th. Three days later, Bishop Peter Feng Xinmao of Hengshui stopped answering his mobile telephone.

Both men re-emerged on November 20th in the city of Chengde in north-eastern China at a ceremony that has prompted the most serious crisis to come between between the Vatican and China_s government in years. Messrs Li and Feng were among eight bishops who took part in what the Vatican regards as an illicit episcopal ordination: that of the Reverend Guo Jincai. A member of the Chinese parliament, the National People_s Congress, Mr Guo is a former vice secretary-general of China_s government-backed Catholic church, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA). China-watchers close to the Vatican believe he is being groomed for yet higher office in the state apparatus that oversees religious activity. Hence Beijing_s determination to have him elevated.

Chinese officials ignored repeated objections to his ordination conveyed by Rome through the informal channels whereby the Holy See maintains contact with the Chinese leadership (they have no diplomatic relations). According to the Holy See_s press office, all the bishops at the ceremony were coerced into attending_a claim denied by the CCPA_s vice-president, Liu Bainian. The ordination took place under tight security at at Chengde_s Pinquan church. Dozens of police surrounded the building and reporters were prevented from entering.

The Communist Party forced China_s Catholics to cut their links with the Vatican in 1951 and then created the CCPA six years later. The effect of its clampdown was to create an _underground_ faction of the church loyal to the pope. Estimates of the number of Catholics in China vary widely (most put the figure at between 12 and 15 million) though it is generally accepted that the underground part of the church is significantly bigger than the CCPA. In recent years there has been some overlap and reconciliation.

China had stopped ordaining Catholic bishops without Vatican approval in 2006, when both sides adopted a practice of agreeing informally on mutually acceptable candidates. In 2007 Pope Benedict wrote China_s Catholics a letter that was seen as conciliatory to the authorities. It described the naming of bishops by the Vatican as a guarantee of church unity, but said it was _understandable_ that the government would be attentive to the choice of church leaders whose functions had civil as well as spiritual implications. The weekend_s ceremony sent relations between the Vatican and China back to the dark days of before that truce was struck.

Relations had appeared to improve since then, although progress was sometimes halting. Last year, the Chinese authorities again arrested Julius Jia Zhiguo, a much-imprisoned bishop of the underground church who had been working for its reconciliation with the CCPA. Yet so far this year, ten bishops acceptable to both Beijing and the Vatican have been ordained.

The latest ceremony has shattered the perception of gradual improvement that those ordinations had brought about. And it has inspired some unusually harsh language from the Catholic side. _Once more, they have crucified Jesus,_ declared Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, a former archbishop of Hong Kong and a leading adviser to the pope on Chinese affairs. The methods used to force the bishops to take part in the ceremony, he said, were _fascist_.

A statement from the Vatican on November 24th was only slightly less strident. It called the treatment of the bishops a _grave violation of freedom of religion and conscience_ and said the implied claim of the authorities to guide the life of the Catholic church _offends the Holy Father, the Church in China and the universal Church_.

The road back from Chengde looks like being a long and arduous one.

China Launches Major Crackdown on House Churches, Labels Them a 'Cult'

Contact: Tracy Oliver, Media Coordinator, 267-210-8278, Tracy@ChinaAid.org; Mark Shan, Spokesperson, 617-943-1340, Mark@ChinaAid.org; both with ChinaAid, 888-889-7757, info@ChinaAid.org; www.ChinaAid.org, www.MonitorChina.org

BEIJING,_ Dec. 7, 2010 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a grave and troubling setback, Chinese authorities last week launched a crackdown directed at Christians who belong to China's vast network of unregistered house churches, calling a "cult" one of the fastest-growing populations of Christians in the world, according to top-secret information obtained by ChinaAid Association.

The all-powerful Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party launched "Operation Deterrence" on Dec. 1. According to the Politburo's top-secret instructions, the crackdown on the largest component of the mainland Chinese church is to continue through March 2011, and the party's Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Social order, the foot soldiers of China's security apparatus, have been notified to collect information about house churches throughout the country and turn these reports in to their superiors. A long "blacklist" of church leaders and influential believers reportedly has been drawn up.

Perhaps unbeknownst to China's atheist Communist leaders, the start of the crackdown coincides with Advent, marked by Christians worldwide as the season leading up to the celebration of the greatest historical event of Christianity: the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God, to save mankind from sin and eternal damnation.

Operation Deterrence harks back to the previous era of hostilities and often brutal government persecution that had for decades driven unknown hundreds of thousands of believers "underground," worshipping in secret and fearing for their lives and freedom.

That could result in the more practical and immediate -- and chilling -- possibility_ that the same measures that have long been used against practitioners of Falungong, which the Beijing regime labeled a cult in late 1999, can now be employed against house church Christians. The Chinese government's brutal systematic campaign against Falungong since July 1999 has earned it worldwide censure.

Beijing authorities very effectively turned the tide of public opinion against the non-violent, meditating Falungong practitioners by using the same re-labeling tactic they are now adopting with the house church Christians. Originally regarded as an apolitical qigong exercise group, Falungong was reclassified by the government as "an evil cult," "a sect" and "superstition," and a subsequent all-out government media campaign eroded any public opposition to the government's crackdown on Falungong.

Le Vatican déplore l'arrestation d'un évêque "clandestin" en Chine (le Monde)

LE MONDE | 14.04.09 | 14h54

P&EACUTE;KIN CORRESPONDANT

Depuis deux semaines, l'évêque chinois Julius Jia Zhiguo a disparu. Dans l'après-midi du 30 mars, cinq policiers sont venus chercher ce prélat de la province du Hebei (qui encercle Pékin), dans son église du Christ-Roi située dans le village de Wuqiu.

Mgr Jia, une personnalité connue de l'Eglise catholique "clandestine" chinoise, est un habitué des geôles du régime : il a été arrêté plus d'une dizaine de fois depuis 2004. Sa dernière interpellation remonte au 24 août 2008, il avait été relâché le 18 septembre. Ces trois semaines de détention, passées dans différents hôtels et lieux touristiques du Hebei, étaient liées à l'organisation des Jeux olympiques de Pékin. Les autorités avaient alors pris soin d'éliminer tous les "gêneurs" susceptibles de troubler l'événement.

Selon Eglises d'Asie, l'agence d'information des Missions étrangères de Paris, l'arrestation de Mgr Jia serait due au fait que l'évêque "officiel" du diocèse de Shijiazhuang, (capitale du Hebei), Mgr Paul Jiang Taoran, aurait choisi de se rapprocher du Vatican et demandé sa légitimation au pape Benoît XVI. Après que celle-ci lui eut été accordée, ce prélat a fini par se considérer évêque auxiliaire de Mgr Jia. "Pour les autorités chinoises, l'unité de l'Eglise ainsi acquise n'est pas acceptable", écrit Eglises d'Asie.

L'Eglise catholique chinoise est en effet divisée entre deux entités. L'une, "officielle", est regroupée au sein de l'Association patriotique des catholiques chinois et compterait 5,6 millions de membres. L'autre, "clandestine", pourrait compter une douzaine de millions de fidèles.

En dépit d'un rapprochement entre Pékin et le Vatican depuis quelques années - le Saint-Siège étant soucieux d'oeuvrer à l'unification de l'Eglise catholique chinoise -, la reprise des relations diplomatiques (rompues en 1951) reste un horizon lointain. Si le Vatican a fait savoir son intention de couper les liens avec Taiwan, son insistance à garder la main sur la nomination des évêques constitue, pour Pékin, un obstacle à la normalisation diplomatique.

DIALOGUE AU POINT MORT

Selon Joseph Kung, de la Fondation cardinal Kung, un groupe d'activistes basé aux Etats-Unis, la situation des catholiques clandestins "est en train d'empirer". En 2007, Pékin avait nommé des évêques qui avaient reçu le soutien du Saint-Siège, une décision qui avait été interprétée comme un signe d'ouverture de la part de la République populaire. Mais depuis 2008, aucune nouvelle nomination n'a été faite et le dialogue semble au point mort.

Le Vatican a réagi vertement à l'interpellation de Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo : au lendemain de la réunion, à Rome, de la Commission pour l'étude des questions d'importance majeures relatives à la vie de l'Eglise en Chine, réunie du 30 mars au 1er avril, un communiqué a fait part "de la douleur profonde" ressentie après "l'arrestation" du prélat. L'incident constitue "un obstacle au climat de dialogue avec les autorités concernées, précise le texte. Il ne s'agit pas d'un cas isolé : d'autres ecclésiastiques sont privés de liberté (en Chine) ou sont soumis à des pressions et à d'injustes limitations de leurs activités pastorales."

Bruno Philip

Article paru dans l'édition du 15.04.09

A champion of the underdog who was overtly political, Joseph Zen polarised Catholics

Ambrose Leung Updated on Apr 16, 2009 When more than 170 priests gathered in the Catholic cathedral last Thursday to prepare for the Easter liturgy, much of their hushed talk revolved around a man who has made it his earthly mission to protect the weak and downtrodden.

They were speaking of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun - their outspoken bishop who retired yesterday after patrolling the borders of social justice since 1997.

"Some people didn't like him, but many more loved him," one elderly diocesan priest said. "Whatever people have felt about him, all should be laid to rest now because he is retiring. After all, he has tried his best to fulfil his mission entrusted by God."

Pope Benedict's approval last night of the 77-year-old cardinal's long-desired retirement certainly marked the end of an era. Cardinal Zen was disliked by some for his often swift and always fierce condemnation of what he considered unjust and wrong. Others admired him for his work as a protector of the weak and poor, and his castigation of those who abused their wealth and position.

Love or loathe him, few could deny he has held firm to his principles in a time of social and political upheaval since becoming second-in-command of the local Catholic church in 1997 - and, later, bishop of Hong Kong after succeeding the late Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung in 2002.

With a low profile and extensive teaching experience on the mainland, the then Father Zen was considered a dark horse when he was designated by the late Pope John Paul II as Cardinal Wu's successor. Humble yet confident, Cardinal Zen reiterated during his farewell press conference last week that it was not his own idea to help mainland children born to Hongkongers who were seeking right of abode. Rather, he said, it was Cardinal Wu's decision in 1999 to open the doors that so often separate high-ranking clerics from people on the streets.

Cardinal Zen rolled up his sleeves and camped out with abode seekers during overnight protests; lambasted officials who claimed Hong Kong would be flooded by more than 1 million migrants; visited those jailed when their campaign turned violent; and resorted to civil disobedience by enrolling non-resident children in church schools.

By shifting the focus of the church away from its conservativism on public affairs, he made his name as a champion of the underdog - a conviction instilled in him by the church's social reforms undertaken during his studies in Rome in the 1960s. His dictum was that people should fight the culture of "collective selfishness" amid a trend of "toadying to the rich and powerful while despising the weak".

His outspokenness, which has made him as many enemies as friends, continued throughout the slump that overtook Hong Kong during the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003. Public grievances were intensifying as the government insisted on ramming through the controversial Article 23 national security bill in the Legislative Council. Cardinal Zen became one of the highest-profile opponents to the legislation, saying it would damage civil liberties. The proposed law was later shelved after half a million people took to the streets on July 1, 2003.

Undaunted by abuse from local leftists - among them pro-Beijing unionist Leung Fu-wah, who branded him a "pathological saint" - Cardinal Zen further agitated the government when he sided with the pan-democratic camp and gave his full backing to the campaign for universal suffrage.

Despite being a devout Catholic, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, along with his administration, denounced the cardinal by name on December 22, 2005, after the pan-democrats blocked what they and Cardinal Zen considered to be an undemocratic constitutional reform proposal for elections.

He earned respect and also drew criticism for his role in the pro-democracy campaign, as well as for his support for the vindication of those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. On several occasions, Cardinal Zen expressed sadness over criticism that the church was meddling in politics - a charge made frequently by Beijing.

"I have been misunderstood and have been used by others to some extent. There were many things that I failed to achieve," he said last week. "But God didn't ask us to be successful. God only required us to remain faithful and do our best."

One veteran church watcher in Hong Kong said that, despite inspiring people both inside and outside Catholicism, Cardinal Zen was a polarising figure, with his activism stirring unease in many people, even some Catholic priests.

"While some joined the church because of me, I have also heard some left the faith because they didn't like me," Cardinal Zen said. But he called himself "a conservative" in matters of faith - for example, his adherence to traditional family values, despite being more radical in public affairs.

To officials and some educators, the cardinal's persistent opposition to relinquishing the church's control of its 300-plus publicly subsidised schools under the government's education reform exercise was baffling; officials said the reform would create room for community participation in school governance. Pope Benedict fully backed the diocese's efforts to run church schools. A judicial review filed by the diocese has yet to be completed.

The Pope's support was only a small part of his identification with the Hong Kong prelate. As well as elevating him in March 2006 to the rank of cardinal - the second most senior position in the church - Pope Benedict bypassed the Vatican bureaucracy and made Cardinal Zen his closest adviser on church affairs on the mainland.

With his long-standing criticism of Beijing's control of mainland Catholics through the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, Cardinal Zen struck a raw nerve when he exposed in 2000 how state officials in Hong Kong had warned the diocese against celebrating the canonisation of 120 19th-century Chinese martyrs - whom Beijing considered to be imperialists.

Cardinal Zen's fierce criticism of Beijing's unilateral appointment of several mainland bishops without papal approval between 2000 and 2006 (coupled with his already tainted record in Beijing's eyes for his social and political activism), resulted in the central government abandoning efforts to mend relations following his groundbreaking visit to his native Shanghai in May 2004.

In recent years, he has focused on religious freedom on the mainland, and his unceasing campaign both in Rome and Hong Kong was instrumental in the creation of a long-absent mechanism in the Holy See to handle China affairs.

This formation of the papal commission on China affairs in 2007 caused a stir among bureaucrats in the Holy See. But determinedly ignoring hurdles in Vatican bureaucracy, Cardinal Zen, who had the support of Pope Benedict, helped lay the foundations and agenda for the Vatican's China policy for years to come.

In February last year, Bishop Zen called a secret conference, attended by Cardinal Ivan Diaz, head of the Vatican's worldwide missionary department, and dozens of international experts on mainland church affairs. Many recommendations were adopted by the papal commission's first plenary meeting in March last year.

And what of his own future? Cardinal Zen has said he will focus on his role as papal adviser after he hands over the daily diocesan administration today to Bishop John Tong Hon. "You are afraid that my retirement will be boring?" he asked. "The diocese office was like a jail. My only fear is that this new freedom will keep me too busy."

Memorable dates in a controversial career

December 1996

Ordained as coadjutor bishop

December 2001

Opens church schools to mainland children seeking right of abode

September 23, 2002

Succeeds Cardinal Wu as Bishop of Hong Kong

June 4, 2003

Calls for vindication of Tiananmen "martyrs"

July 1, 2003

Leads prayer session ahead of the 500,000-strong march against Article 23

March 24, 2006

Elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict and is given an advisory role on China affairs

January 2007

Convinces the Pope to create a Vatican commission on China policy

April 15, 2009

Retirement approved by the Pope

Confrontational cardinal was not always right (SCMP)

Updated on Apr 16, 2009

After delivering his last Easter liturgy as Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun said his successor, Coadjutor Bishop John Tong Hon, would continue in the direction the church had taken. The cardinal has championed many worthy causes and deserves credit for raising awareness of social issues. But he has also backed some questionable positions, notably on amending the domestic violence ordinance and opposing school management reform. Bishop Tong should, therefore, think carefully before adopting his predecessor's approach wholesale.

Cardinal Zen's outspokenness has contributed to the city's democratic development. He has stuck firmly to his principles. But he has also been a polarising figure. This has not helped smooth the Vatican's relations with Beijing. The cardinal is known to be a close adviser to Pope Benedict on the Vatican's China policy. Overtures to Beijing made by the Pope soon after his election were overshadowed by the cardinal's vocal criticism - on topics ranging from Beijing's human rights record to the Vatican's prerogative to appoint bishops on the mainland. This was a wasted opportunity. The confrontational stance has not helped Catholics on the mainland or furthered the interests of the Vatican. Bishop Tong should consider taking a more diplomatic approach.

The stance the cardinal has taken on some domestic issues also needs to be reconsidered. A law requiring publicly funded schools to include more parents, teachers and alumni in their management boards has widespread public support. Bishop Tong should abandon the cardinal's uncompromising opposition - including threats to launch a High Court appeal - and accept much-needed reforms to improve school governance.

The cardinal's hostility - along with other religious groups - towards a proposed amendment to domestic violence laws has made the issue a divisive one. The proposal aims to extend legal protection to people in same-sex relationships who may be caught up in violent situations at home, but it does not sanction same-sex marriage, a key concern of the church. It should be passed into law.

Cardinal Zen will not be an easy act to follow. Bishop Tong should build on his achievements, but not be afraid to make changes where necessary. With a little finesse, and a little less confrontation, he may win support not only from more Catholics, but from the wider Hong Kong community as well.

New Catholic leader vows to defend rights (SCMP)

Ambrose Leung

Updated on Apr 16, 2009

The new leader of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese vowed last night to continue the church's role in defending human rights and caring for underprivileged groups.

But Bishop John Tong Hon, who succeeded Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun after Pope Benedict approved his retirement yesterday, said the way he would put his teachings into action might be different from that of his politically outspoken predecessor. "As a church, we will definitely continue our role in public affairs," Bishop Tong said. "God has created mankind who is endowed with freedom. Upholding freedom and caring for the underprivileged is part of our faith."

Bishop Tong praised Cardinal Zen for his "excellent leadership" when the diocese was under his care, and said he would miss the cardinal, who will now concentrate on advising the Pope on mainland church affairs.

Bishop Tong said he and his predecessor had "shared the same goal" in the social teachings of the church since 1997.

But he might not follow the strategies and expressions of his predecessor when the church participated in social affairs.

"Cardinal Zen was truly gifted," he said. "The church must make its voice heard. But how I will make my voice heard might be a little bit different. I will follow the church's collective wisdom."

The 69-year-old, who enjoys a weekly game of basketball at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Aberdeen - his residence for 17 years, said he was still considering whether to move into the Diocesan Centre in Caine Road, "because I like the tranquility here".

Bishop Tong to Lead Catholics in Hong Kong

(WSJ) APRIL 17, 2009 By SKY CANAVES

HONG KONG -- Bishop John Tong, the new head of the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong, said he is eager to serve as a liaison between the Vatican and mainland China.

"We will gladly act as a bridge if needed," said Bishop Tong, speaking at his first news conference in Hong Kong after Pope Benedict XVI formally appointed him to his new post Thursday. "Or if the Chinese government wants to use us to [communicate] to the Holy See, we will gladly participate."

Bishop Tong succeeds the outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen, a longtime critic of China's record on human rights and democracy. The new appointment could help facilitate the restoration of formal ties between the Vatican and China, which were broken off soon after the Communists took power in 1949. The Vatican has sought to improve relations with China, where Catholicism has relatively few adherents compared with other Christian denominations, which are growing in popularity.

Bishop Tong said he hopes to promote greater "unity and communion among the different communities in the Church in China," a reference to the division among Catholics, who are split between those practicing in China's state-sanctioned church, loyal to the Communist Party, and the underground churches that take the Vatican as the highest authority. The Vatican has clashed with China over the appointment of bishops in the Beijing-sponsored church and the Vatican's continued diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Bishop Tong is widely regarded as more amenable to Beijing than his predecessor, who participated in demonstrations and held prayer meetings on human rights. Since 1980, Bishop Tong headed a diocesan office in Hong Kong that studies issues related to the Catholic Church in China. Last year, he was appointed co-adjutor bishop of Hong Kong, paving the way for Cardinal Zen's retirement. Bishop Tong attended the Olympic Games in Beijing last summer at the Chinese government's request, an invitation that wasn't extended to Cardinal Zen.

Bishop Tong said he won't participate in the public vigils to mark this year's 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, crackdown on the Tiananmen prodemocracy activists, noting that he hadn't attended such vigils in the past.

He added, however, that he supports the vindication of the Tiananmen victims, and described the current situation with regard to religious freedom and human rights in mainland China as "far from ideal."

"Religious freedom and human rights are all connected," he said. "If there is some gross injustice, I will speak out." Write to Sky Canaves at sky.canaves@wsj.com

A Cardinal for China

(WSJ) OPINION ASIA

APRIL 16, 2009, 2:19 P.M. ET

Hong Kong's Cardinal retires, a loss for China's Catholics and freedom-loving people everywhere.

Beijing's bureaucrats rail loudly against religious figures when it suits their political needs, and one of their frequent targets in recent years has been Cardinal Joseph Zen, an outspoken advocate for democracy and freedom in China.

The Shanghai-born priest retired this week as bishop of Hong Kong. It's not just his successor who will carry on his work; it's also the millions of Christians and freedom-loving people everywhere for whom he is an inspiration.

Cardinal Zen, 77, has served China's Catholics for most of his life -- as a Salesian priest, as bishop and ultimately as cardinal. Born in Shanghai, he arrived in Hong Kong in 1949, fleeing the Communists. He returned to the mainland in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when he traveled across the country teaching at Chinese seminaries.

After Hong Kong's return to China in 1997, Cardinal Zen became known as the "conscience" of Hong Kong. He worked to ensure that that Catholics in the territory maintained their freedoms and called for greater freedoms for worshippers of all faiths in China -- where the Communist state sanctions and controls religious activity. Catholics in China face persecution, and people of other faiths, such as Tibetan Buddhists, have suffered even stronger crackdowns.

Cardinal Zen understands that religious rights can never be fully separated from political rights. He has repeatedly criticized Beijing for its handling of the Tiananmen Square massacre and for delaying democracy in Hong Kong, which he described as a "a bloodless Tiananmen Square." When the Hong Kong government tried to pass an antisedition law that would have restricted free speech in 2003, he called for citizens to protest the measure.

His advocacy for democracy in Hong Kong earned him a backhanded accolade from a vice president of the state-run church in China, Liu Bainian: "If China's bishops were all like him then it would be dangerous like Poland."

Cardinal Zen has acted as unofficial liaison between China and the Vatican. The two severed ties in 1951, and attempts at reconciliation have stalled. Beijing insists that the Vatican has to break its diplomatic ties with Taiwan before negotiating with China. The Vatican demands affirmation of the Pope's right to appoint bishops in the Catholic Church in China.

In the meantime, the Church's presence in China continues to grow. Many Chinese are turning to religion -- be it Buddhism, Daoism or Christianity -- to help them find a moral compass in a rapidly changing environment. Roughly six million Catholics worship in officially sanctioned Chinese churches, and at least that many again worship in secret. Vatican-appointed bishops who are not also recognized by China's state church are often targeted for persecution. Nine bishops are currently in jail, according to the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation.

In retirement, Cardinal Zen will continue to advise the Vatican on Chinese issues. He told local the Hong Kong press this week that he will continue to speak out for democracy and religious freedom.

His successor as bishop of Hong Kong, John Tong, has not been as outspoken on issues of human rights. But in remarks to the press this week, Bishop Tong gave every indication that he will continue the Cardinal's mission. "God has created mankind who is endowed with freedom," he said. "Upholding freedom and caring for the underprivileged is part of our faith." Cardinal Zen couldn't have said it better.

Chine: inquiétudes pour l'avocat dissident Gao Zhisheng

(AFP)

Vendredi 13 mars, 11h53

Des connaissances de l'avocat chinois dissident Gao Zhisheng, dont la famille a fait défection aux Etats-Unis, ont fait part vendredi de leurs inquiétudes sur sa situation. Lire la suite l'article

"Je suis très inquiet", a déclaré à l'AFP Teng Biao, un avocat spécialisé dans la défense des droits civiques qui connaît Gao.

"Pendant des années, il a perdu sa liberté, il a été battu plusieurs fois et il peut souffrir encore plus", a-t-il dit.

Le 4 février, des membres de la police secrète sont venus chercher Gao dans son village natal, dans la province du Shaanxi (nord) et depuis personne n'a de nouvelles, selon l'association Human Rights in China, basée à New York.

Cette dernière et Radio Free Asia ont annoncé jeudi que l'épouse et les enfants de Gao Zhisheng, un garçon de 5 ans et une fille de 15 ans, étaient arrivés aux Etats-Unis mercredi et allaient demander l'asile politique.

Li Fangping, un autre avocat célèbre pour son engagement en faveur des droits de l'Homme, a estimé que Gao pouvait se trouver à Pékin.

"Si sa famille est partie de Chine sans que les autorités ne le sachent, ils peuvent exercer des représailles ou des pressions sur Gao Zhisheng", affirme-t-il.

Mais, ajoute-t-il, Gao, âgé d'une quarantaine d'années, devrait être soulagé de savoir sa famille désormais en sécurité, même si cela sera difficile.

"Maintenant, il n'y a plus que lui, cela ne va pas être facile car il n'a pas de proches à qui parler -- cela peut-être un gros problème pour lui", a ajouté M. Li.

Gao, avocat et autrefois membre du Parti communiste, s'est fait connaître pour avoir pris la défense des chrétiens clandestins, des cyberdissidents, mais aussi des adeptes du Falungong, mouvement spirituel qualifié de secte par Pékin et interdit en 1999.

En novembre 2005, il avait été radié du barreau et placé sous surveillance policière après avoir appelé à la fin des persécutions contre le Falungong. En décembre 2006, il avait été condamné à trois ans de prison avec sursis pour subversion puis placé sous résidence surveillée avec mise à l'épreuve pendant cinq ans.

En 2007, il avait affirmé avoir été torturé après avoir envoyé une lettre au Congrès américain.

16/03/2009 18:52

Le site du Vatican bientôt accessible en chinois (La Croix)

Le site Internet du Vatican sera accessible à partir du jeudi 19 mars en chinois

Le site internet du Vatican, déjà traduit en sept langues (l'italien, l'anglais, français, espagnol, l'allemand, le portugais et le latin), va désormais avoir une version en chinoise.

"Grâce à ce nouveau service, les internautes du monde entier pourront accéder aux textes (...) du pape Benoît XVI traduits en caractères chinois traditionnels et simplifiés", commente le Vatican. Les catholiques chinois sont estimés entre 12 et 14 millions (voir notre dossier sur les catholiques en Chine).

La Chine et le Saint-Siège n'ont plus de relations diplomatiques depuis 1951. Le rétablissement de ces relations est un enjeu pour Pékin, qui souhaite améliorer son image à l'étranger, mais le Vatican, qui cherche aussi à améliorer ses rapports avec les autorités chinoises, y met comme condition la possibilité de réunir sous l'autorité du pape tous les catholiques actuellement divisés entre "officiels" et "clandestins".AFP

Sons of heaven (the Economist)

Oct 2nd 2008 | BEIJING AND SHANGHAI

From The Economist print edition

Inside China_s fastest-growing non-governmental organisation

ZHAO XIAO, a former Communist Party official and convert to Christianity, smiles over a cup of tea and says he thinks there are up to 130m Christians in China. This is far larger than previous estimates. The government says there are 21m (16m Protestants, 5m Catholics). Unofficial figures, such as one given by the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts, put the number at about 70m. But Mr Zhao is not alone in his reckoning. A study of China by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, an American think-tank, says indirect survey evidence suggests many unaffiliated Christians are not in the official figures. And according to China Aid Association (CAA), a Texas-based lobby group, the director of the government body which supervises all religions in China said privately that the figure was indeed as much as 130m in early 2008.

If so, it would mean China contains more Christians than Communists (party membership is 74m) and there may be more active Christians in China than in any other country. In 1949, when the Communists took power, less than 1% of the population had been baptised, most of them Catholics. Now the largest, fastest-growing number of Christians belong to Protestant _house churches_.

In a suburb of Shanghai, off Haining Road, neighbours peer warily across the hallway as visitors file into a living room, bringing the number to 25, the maximum gathering allowed by law without official permission. Inside, young urban professionals sit on sofas and folding chairs. A young woman in a Che Guevara T-shirt blesses the group and a man projects material downloaded from the internet from his laptop onto the wall. Heads turn towards the display and sing along: _Glory, Glory Glory; Holy, Holy, Holy; God is near to each one of us._ It is Sunday morning, and worship is beginning in one of thousands of house churches across China.

House churches are small congregations who meet privately_usually in apartments_to worship away from the gaze of the Communist Party. In the 1950s, the Catholic and main Protestant churches were turned into branches of the religious-affairs administration. House churches have an unclear status, neither banned nor fully approved of. As long as they avoid neighbourly confrontation and keep their congregations below a certain size (usually about 25), the Protestant ones are mostly tolerated, grudgingly. Catholic ones are kept under closer scrutiny, reflecting China_s tense relationship with the Vatican.

Private meetings in the houses of the faithful were features of the early Christian church, then seeking to escape Roman imperial persecution. Paradoxically, the need to keep congregations small helped spread the faith. That happens in China now. The party, worried about the spread of a rival ideology, faces a difficult choice: by keeping house churches small, it ensures that no one church is large enough to threaten the local party chief. But the price is that the number of churches is increasing.

The church in Shanghai is barely two years old but already has two offspring, one for workers in a multinational company, the other for migrant labourers. As well as spreading the Word, the proliferation of churches provides a measure of defence against intimidation. One pastor told the Far Eastern Economic Review last year that if the head of one house church was arrested, _the congregation would just split up and might break into five, six or even ten new house churches._

Abundant church-creation is a blessing and a curse for the house-church movement, too. The smiling Mr Zhao says finance is no problem. _We don_t have salaries to pay or churches to build._ But _management quality_ is hard to maintain. Churches can get hold of Bibles or download hymn books from the internet. They cannot so easily find experienced pastors. _In China_, says one, _the two-year-old Christian teaches the one-year-old._

Because most Protestant house churches are non-denominational (that is, not affiliated with Lutherans, Methodists and so on), they have no fixed liturgy or tradition. Their services are like Bible-study classes. This puts a heavy burden on the pastor. One of the Shanghai congregation who has visited a lot of house churches sighs with relief that _this pastor knows what he is talking about._

Still, the teething troubles of the church are minor compared with the vast rise in the number of Christians. After the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 many disenchanted democrats turned to Christianity: six of the 30 or so student leaders of the protests became Christians. China_s new house churches have the zeal of converts: many members bring their families and co-workers. One Confucian Chinese says with a rueful smile that most of the pretty girls at university were Christians?and would date only other Christians.

Holier and trendier than thou

Christianity also follows Chinese migration. Many Christians studied in America, converted there and brought their new faith home. Several of the congregation of the Shanghai house church studied abroad, as did Mr Zhao. In 2000, says one Beijing writer and convert, most believers were in the countryside. After 2000 they brought their faith into the cities, spreading Christianity among intellectuals.

All this amounts to something that Europeans, at least, may find surprising. In much of Christianity_s former heartland, religion is associated with tradition and ritual. In China, it is associated with modernity, business and science. _We are first-generation Christians and first-generation businessmen,_ says one house-church pastor. In a widely debated article in 2006, Mr Zhao wrote that _the market economy discourages idleness. [But] it cannot discourage people from lying or causing harm. A strong faith discourages dishonesty and injury._ Christianity and the market economy, in his view, go hand in hand.

So far, Christianity_s spread has been largely a private matter for individual believers. The big question is whether it can remain private. The extent of its growth and the number of its adherents would suggest not. But at the moment, both Christians and Communists seem willing to let a certain ambiguity linger a while longer.

_Christians are willing to stay within the system,_ says Mr Zhao. _Christianity is also the basis for good citizenship in China._ Most Christians say that theirs is not a political organisation and they are not seeking to challenge the party. But they also say clashes with public policy are inevitable: no Christian, one argues, should accept the one-child policy, for example.

Formally, the Communist Party forbids members to hold a religious belief, and the churches say they suffer official harassment. The president of the Beijing house-church alliance, Zhang Mingxuan, was thrown out of the capital before the Olympic games and told he was unwelcome when he returned. In early June, the state government of Henan arrested half a dozen house-church members on charges of illegally sending charitable donations to Sichuan earthquake victims. CAA claims harassment of house churches is rising.

In fact, the state_s attitude seems ambivalent. In December 2007, President Hu Jintao held a meeting with religious leaders and told them that _the knowledge of religious people must be harnessed to build a prosperous society._ The truth is that Christians and Communists are circling each other warily. But it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Christianity will have a political impact one day. _If you want to know what China will be like in the future,_ concludes Mr Zhao, _you have to consider the future of Christianity in China._

Mainland Chinese bishops absent at Vatican (IHT)

The Associated Press

Friday, October 3, 2008

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican said Friday that no bishops from mainland China will be attending a worldwide meeting of prelates in Rome next week _ a clear sign there has been no breakthrough in the Vatican's efforts to improve relations with Beijing.

Officials say 253 bishops will attend the meeting that will discuss the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics. They include bishops from Macau and Hong Kong, but none from the mainland.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi says there were no requests from the bishops "because the conditions weren't there."

"It's quite obvious knowing the Chinese that if one can't reach an agreement, they (the bishops) can't come," he told reporters.

Pope Benedict XVI has made the improvement of relations with Beijing a priority of his papacy.

Ties between the Vatican and China's communist government are long strained. Beijing objects to the Vatican's tradition of having the pope name his own bishops, calling it interference in China.

China appoints bishops for the state-sanctioned Catholic church. In recent years, some of those bishops have received the Vatican's tacit approval.

Still, many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church with bishops loyal to the pope.

In May, the China Philharmonic Orchestra performed for Benedict in a landmark concert at the Vatican. China's ambassador to Italy attended the concert, even though China's officially atheist Communist Party cut ties with the Vatican in 1951.

The Vatican meeting, known as a synod of bishops, will run from Monday through Oct. 26. Chinese bishops have not been allowed to travel to similar meetings in the past.

A document prepared for the meeting rejected a fundamentalist approach to the Bible and said a key challenge was to clarify for the faithful the relationship of scripture to science. A rabbi will address the conference on Monday, believed the first time a Jew has participated at such a meeting.

Benedict on Sunday will read a Biblical passage on Italian television to kick off a marathon televised Bible reading.

Losing my religion: the Jews of Kaifeng (SCMP)

Zhang Xingwang belongs to a small community of Jews living in a rundown mainland city - but no one is sure how they came to be there. Now, an academic is questioning their faith and claims they are victims - or even perpetrators - of a hoax

Didi Kirsten Tatlow

Updated on Oct 12, 2008

Zhang Xingwang, a former sports teacher with brown eyes and a bushy, salt-and-pepper beard, invites the children of Kaifeng's Jewish community to his home on Friday or Sunday afternoons. The flat Zhang shares with his wife is filled with symbols of Judaism: menorah (seven-branched candelabra) stand on tables; a Star of David flag pokes out of a flower pot; copies of the Torah, the holiest Jewish scriptures, line a shelf. Photographs of Zhang, 61, with visiting Israeli dignitaries and scholars hang from a wall.

Wrapping a voluminous tallit (prayer shawl) around his shoulders, Zhang sits at the head of his dining table and tells the children stories about their Jewish heritage and the Lost Tribes of Israel. "Just stories. That's all. I don't proselytise," he says.

Judaism has no official status on the mainland and domestic Jews are classified as Han Chinese or Muslim on their identity documents. Zhang knows proselytising is illegal and is careful to stay within the law. Yet despite the obstacles, the former member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for Kaifeng, a city of nearly 5 million in Henan province, is determined to pass on his knowledge of Judaism. He also wants his ashes to be interred in Israel when he is dead. "I want to go back to the land of my ancestors."

The story of Kaifeng's Jewish community, which numbers between 300 and 900 (depending on who you talk to), is an object of fascination among Chinese and Jews alike. It has spawned dozens of newspaper stories and even research departments at universities, some helped by overseas donations. Established after the resumption of diplomatic ties between the mainland and Israel in 1992, the Nanjing University Institute of Jewish Studies changed its name in 2006 to the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies, following donations by wealthy American real-estate developers Guilford and Diane Glazer.

The story goes like this: about a millennium ago, a small tribe of Jews left the Holy Land on an arduous 7,000km voyage to China, where they settled in the flourishing Northern Sung capital of Kaifeng. Here they made their homes in Pluck the Sinews Lane (a reference to the Jewish practice of removing sinews from meat before cooking), built a temple, traded, joined the Confucian scholar hierarchy, inter-married and assimilated.

Or did they?

In a bold new theory, Hong Kong University historian and Judaic scholar Zhou Xun says the established story of Kaifeng's Jewish community is a "hoax". Her research suggests the Jews of Kaifeng are at best deluded, or may be exploiting a status they don't deserve.

Underpinning her controversial idea with historical irony, Sichuan-born Zhou - who gained a master of arts degree in Judaic studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and wrote her thesis at the University of Oriental and African studies in London - says the Jews were really Muslims, and that the whole theory arose over a misunderstanding by 17th-century Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci - specifically, over a hat.

According to Ricci, Kaifeng scholar A Tian visited the Jesuit Mission in Beijing in 1605. There, A Tian told Ricci he belonged to a religion that believed in the one true God, yet was not a Muslim. That statement, plus other clues, led Ricci to decide that a blue hat worn by A Tian identified him as a Jew, since Muslims wore white hats.

Later, says Zhou, that encounter was taken up by 19th-century Protestant missionaries schooled in the popular story of the Lost Tribes of Israel, the 10 tribes cast out of their homeland by the Assyrians some 2,700 years ago.

The missionaries hoped China's Jews, cut off from the Middle East for centuries, might own an uncorrupted version of the Scriptures. They also hoped it would be easier to convert Jews to Christianity than Buddhists, who were proving hard to convince. First of all, they had to persuade the Chinese themselves they were Jewish.

Unfortunately for the Christians, says Zhou, a fact-finding mission to Kaifeng ordered by the Anglican bishop of Hong Kong in 1850 failed to find any evidence of a Torah. Undaunted, a second trip was planned.

"The 'miracle' happened on July 20, 1851," says Zhou. This time, Chiu Tiansheng and Chiang Jungchi, two emissaries of the London Missionary Society, brought back Torah scrolls and two Jews, although they were reluctant to confirm the scrolls had anything to do with the Kaifeng community.

"It is very likely that these scrolls were copied down locally in Kaifeng, under the instruction of the two delegates," says Zhou. "For the locals in Kaifeng, a place of overwhelming poverty, selling fakes to westerners had become a reasonably profitable business."

Other key evidence of Kaifeng Jewry includes two stone pillars, or steles, that reportedly date from the 15th and 17th centuries. Only one survives. There are photographs of them in an unofficial museum set up by Zhang. Engraved with accounts of religious stories, Jewish rituals and details of their Kaifeng temple, they are said to also contain reports of the Torah scrolls. The surviving stele is in the Kaifeng Museum, but its script is faded and unreadable. Calls to the museum are fruitless; it is closed for renovation. The second stele has not been seen since it disappeared from the gates of an Anglican church in the early part of last century, after the synagogue site was sold to Christians in 1912. Anyway, says Zhou, neither stele has ever been scientifically dated.

Despite that, the Jews of Kaifeng have grown in reputation and a small, but growing, trickle of emigration to Israel has begun. Although Zhang is content to wait for death before fulfilling his dream of going "home", others are not.

Yecholya Jin, 24, is one of four young women who left for Israel in 2006, helped by Shavei Israel, or Israel Returns, a Jerusalem-based organisation active around the world in its search for the lost tribes. Once there they were all "made aliya", or converted, since Israel's powerful Rabbinical courts did not automatically recognise them as Jews. China's is a patriarchal society and Jewish8ness can only be handed down the female line.

All converted successfully. Michael Freund, the founder of Shavei Israel, says Jin ran circles around the rabbis. When they challenged her chosen name, Yecholya, she pointed to where it appeared in a little-known book of the Scriptures, and to what it meant: "God can do anything."

Today, Jin lives in Jerusalem, where she is studying for her university entrance exams. She has no plans to return to the mainland, though she left her parents and younger sister behind in Kaifeng. "This is my home now," she says. "Since I was very small my father told me I was Jewish. Our family didn't eat pork, we had a mezuzah [parch8ment inscribed with Hebrew verse] on the door and our gravestones were different from other people's. My parents really supported me in returning 'home'.

"I like it here. Israel is an immigrant country and people come from everywhere and treat you well. You can learn a lot."

Like all the Kaifeng Jews, Jin had little to go on to confirm her ancestry beyond her father's statement that she was Jewish.

"All they had is that one sentence," says Freund. "It's fascinating how through the transmission of that sentence they were able to keep alive the spark of Jewish consciousness."

Kaifeng is an hour's drive east of Henan's capital, Zhengzhou. It's an unlovely place, despite having been capital of several Chinese dynasties. Its roads are lined with broken paving stones and most of its buildings are dirty.

Kaifeng-born Shi Lei, 30, says he just "knew" he was Jewish. He speaks fluent Hebrew, having studied for three years at Bar-Ilan University, in Israel. "My family always told me I was Jewish."

Shi is momentarily floored by Zhou's theory but rises to the debate. "That's K quite brilliant," he says. "Maybe A Tian was Muslim. But for me, I'm quite sure I am a Jewish descendent."

Zhou's theory has angered overseas Jews. US-based Beverly Friend, executive director of the China Judaic Studies Association, likened it to Holocaust denial. "If anything is a hoax, I think it is this article, and you can quote me on that," Friend fumes in an e-mail.

Yet on the ground in Kaifeng, the Jews exist in a limbo of hope and loss. In large part, this is because they have no synagogue to provide focus. Henan authorities have blown hot and cold on the issue, tempted by the opportunities for tourism yet scared off by the political sensitivities. For years, says Zhang, police harassed him, warning him off Jewish activities. The government recognises just five religions - Buddhist, Daoist, Muslim, Catholic and Protestant - and while the authorities tolerate religious activity by overseas Jews in Shanghai, Beijing and other major cities, experts says it is unlikely they will permit the building of a synagogue for native Chinese.

Professor Xu Xin, doyen of Chinese Jewish studies and head of the Nanjing institute, has long urged the authorities to allow a synagogue and help the community revive. "It [would] show a positive side of Chinese culture, that [Jews] were never persecuted here, it shows China is a multiethnic and multicultural society, in a way."

The political sensitivity of the topic is reflected by Zhang's skittishness as we tour old Kaifeng. He was born in 1947 in what is today known as Jiaojing hutong, or Teach the Scriptures Lane, a narrow, long path lined with rundown houses. His childhood home houses several families and looks like a slum. "When I was born, it was called Tiaojing hutong [Pluck the Sinews Lane]."

Some scholars say it is unlikely such a name would have been made up by Protestant mission8aries, who would have thought it derogatory.

Two lanes away from the former Jewish quarter is the modern Muslim quarter. These days, Zhang doesn't normally bring visitors to the Great Eastern Purity mosque. "[The police] are very worried about ethnic harmony," he says.

Inside the rambling, flower tree-filled compound, Zhang points at two lines of blue tiles on a green-tiled roof and whispers: "They stole them from our synagogue, you know."

Outside, among the crowding ranks of peddlers, he greets the Imam. Zhang, born and raised in these streets, knows everyone. Back then, he says, Jews and Muslims lived next door to each other and got on well.

Several kilometres away in Millennium City Park, a Northern Song theme park, Zhang has set up the Kaifeng Jewish Culture Museum in a two-storey courtyard-style house. The museum has thrived under the protection of the park owner, a rich businessman Zhang declines to name. All requests to the government to set up a museum on state-owned property have been rejected.

Shi Lei's father, Shi Xinguang, also runs a private museum about the mainland's Jews. In two small rooms in a modern brick courtyard of the old family home - about to be demolished - the exhibits consist mostly of photographs and include one from the mid-20th century taken to commemorate the Muslim festival of Eid. It shows rows of young men in front of a banner belonging to the "Central-South Muslim and Jewish Academy".

Shi Lei believes there are about 900 Jewish descend8ants in Kaifeng, though - curiously - he claims to have never heard of Zhang Xingwang. Shi's quest to revive his religious identity was prompted by contact with overseas Jews, and he was full of curiosity and buoyed by his growing sense of Jewishness when he arrived at university in Israel - only to be confronted by a shock.

"It was like being hit by a big hammer, or having cold water thrown on me," says Shi, who was 23 at the time. "Everyone said to me, 'You're not Jewish', because if your mother isn't a Jew then you're not a Jew. But in China, everything is passed down through the father's line."

Rabbi Seth Farber runs Itim, the Jewish Life Information Centre, which helps navigate rabbinical bureaucracy. Despite success stories such as that of Jin, Farber says it's hard for Kaifeng's Jews to immigrate. Although the 1971 Law of Return declared anyone who could prove his grandparents were Jewish had the right to Israeli citizenship, in practice the bar is set much higher by the official Rabbinate, which is suspicious of imposters.

Two types of people from China contact Itim for help proving Jewish ancestry; women who want to marry Israelis and Kaifeng Jews.

"Every once in a while we get a call or an e-mail, about four or five a year. We tell them we're all for helping them but in the absence of proof that you are a member of the world Jewish community it's hard to grant them that status."

Tudor Parfitt is professor of modern Jewish studies at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. He has written extensively on the Lost Tribes and says colonists and mission8aries imagined Jewish communities everywhere.

"Anywhere where you get Protestant mission8aries in a quasi-colonial context you're going to have the construction of Jewish identity as part of the whole symbiosis between occupied and occupier," says Parfitt. "They would find all kinds of behaviour that they found weird and would then decide was Biblical, and so Jewish."

Whatever the truth about the Jews of Kaifeng, one thing is for sure: spurred by a steady flow of visitors from the US, they are learning how to be Jewish again.

"When I was at school my Jewish ancestry was not so important to me," says Shi. "But as I started to meet more and more Jewish visitors I began to learn more and realise it is in my blood. Basically you can say the Jewish descendants are on a learning curve. They are picking up what we have forgotten in previous generations."

Religion, la révolution silencieuse

(Le Monde) LE MONDE | 19.08.08 | 14h17 _ Mis à jour le 19.08.08 | 14h17 PEKIN, ENVOYE SPECIAL

Le crucifix noir se découpe sur le blanc du mur. La pièce est d'une clarté vive, comme irradiée par la lumière qui perce les vitres de cet appartement perché au sommet d'une tour HLM de Pékin, non loin du village olympique.

Derrière son pupitre de fortune, le pasteur Li, livre des psaumes à la main, chante à gorge déployée. A ses côtés, une adepte l'accompagne au piano. En face, une vingtaine de croyants entonnent à leur tour les louanges évangéliques. Ils sont assis sur des chaises métalliques au dossier rembourré. La plupart sont des trentenaires et des quadras. Variés, les profils mêlent femme au foyer, intellectuel à lunettes, fille branchée en débardeur ou garçon coiffé en hérisson.

Yu Jie se tient en léger retrait de l'assistance. Il est plongé dans le recueillement. Teint pâle et visage rond, il tient la Bible entrouverte dans ses paumes. Il la feuillette quand le pasteur prêche "l'amour de Dieu". Sa discrétion est trompeuse : Yu Jie est en fait une personnalité de poids de cette église officieuse qui célèbre le culte ce dimanche après-midi de juillet. L'église de l'Arche, née d'un groupe de prières lancé par sa femme, doit beaucoup à son abnégation, à son prestige personnel aussi.

Yu Jie est ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler un "dissident". Essayiste libéral, admirateur de la démocratie américaine - et à ce titre, bête noire des nationalistes chinois les plus ultras - il est surveillé de très près par la Sécurité d'Etat, qui le laisse toutefois libre de ses mouvements. A l'issue d'une longue réflexion politique et spirituelle, il a embrassé la foi chrétienne en 2003. Figure de la mouvance pékinoise des "églises à domicile" - structures officieuses tolérées mais évoluant dans un environnement précaire -, il est aujourd'hui l'un des intellectuels protestants les plus en vue de la capitale. Avec deux de ses coreligionnaires, il a même été re*u en 2006 à Washington par George Bush, déclenchant la fureur du régime chinois.

FOI ET POLITIQUE INTIMEMENT LIEES

Yu Jie n'est qu'un exemple parmi tant d'autres. Il incarne une petite révolution silencieuse : un nombre croissant d'intellectuels libéraux dans la Chine urbaine se sont ralliés ces dernières années au protestantisme. Outre Yu Jie, les plus connus sont Wang Yi, Li Baiguang, Gao Zhisheng, Jiao Guobiao, Li Heping, Li Jinsong, Ai Xiaoming. La plupart sont des professeurs et des juristes impliqués dans la défense des droits civiques. Ils sont la pointe émergée d'un phénomène plus large : après les zones rurales dans les années 1980, la ferveur religieuse - notamment chrétienne - est en train de gagner les grandes villes, en particulier au sein d'une classe moyenne en quête de valeurs spirituelles par réaction au matérialisme dominant. Les chiffres officiels sous-évaluent cette résurgence de la foi. Selon les estimations plus crédibles de certains spécialistes, la Chine compterait aujourd'hui entre 40 et 50 millions de protestants pour 10 à 12 millions de catholiques, soit des communautés chrétiennes représentant près de 5 % de la population. Une part encore très minoritaire mais en expansion. Dans le cas de Yu Jie, foi et politique sont intimement liées. Agé de 35 ans, il est trop jeune pour avoir pris part au printemps étudiant de 1989 sur la place Tiananmen. Mais l'écrasement sous les chars du rêve démocratique n'a cessé de le hanter. Au fil de la réflexion, la religion s'est imposée comme un substitut à un idéal politique inaccessible. Et dans cette recherche-là, le christianisme est apparu comme la plus séduisante des tentations. "Les valeurs libérales trouvent leur source dans le christianisme, analyse-t-il. La tradition chinoise ne me satisfait pas de ce point de vue : on ne trouve pas de références à la liberté et aux droits de l'homme dans le confucianisme."

Yu Jie a beaucoup lu, s'est plongé dans l'histoire de l'évangélisation en terre chinoise, a réfléchi au lien entre christianisme et modernité. Il a pu mesurer le rôle du protestantisme dans la formation des élites réformistes en Chine à l'aube du XXe siècle, en particulier chez Sun Yat-sen, le fondateur de la République. "Plus je lisais, plus je découvrais que la religion chrétienne avait contribué à la modernisation de la société chinoise avant la révolution de 1949, poursuit-il. Or, cet apport est totalement occulté par nos manuels d'histoire officiels, qui présentent le christianisme comme l'instrument de l'impérialisme occidental."

"J'AI FINI PAR NOURRIR UNE HAINE DE LA SOCIETE"

Wang Guangze est un autre de ces intellectuels néoprotestants. Journaliste dissident, ancien du Quotidien de la loi et de Reportage économique du XXIe siècle - dont il a été exclu pour ses opinions démocrates -, il a le même âge que Yu Jie. Comme chez ce dernier, le traumatisme de Tiananmen a pesé lourd dans son évolution spirituelle. En mai 1989, soit avant la répression du mouvement, il n'était qu'un lycéen de la province du Henan (centre), mais il s'était mêlé aux manifestations de soutien qui avaient alors enfiévré la jeunesse à travers le pays. L'intervention sanglante des chars sur Tiananmen l'a totalement "désespéré".

"J'étais tellement désabusé, se souvient-il, que j'ai fini par nourrir une haine de la société, cette société devenue l'esclave du pouvoir." Au sortir de ses études de droit, il cherche à se guérir de cette rage. Les traditions chinoises, comme chez Yu Jie, ne lui sont guère d'un grand secours. "Le confucianisme est une pensée de l'élite, grince-t-il, et le bouddhisme ne vise qu'à devenir un saint." Mais il continue à chercher, à lire, à débattre des voies du salut avec ses amis. Ce qui le révèle soudainement au christianisme, explique-t-il, c'est la "notion de péché". Il tient là - enfin ! - la clé qui lui permet de s'arracher à l'exécration du monde. "Nous sommes tous des pécheurs, dit-il. Il n'existe pas de gens plus nobles que d'autres." "C'est ainsi que j'ai apaisé ma colère contre le Parti communiste, continue-il. Les communistes sont des pécheurs comme moi, même s'ils servent un système qui opprime." Wang Guangze devient donc "tolérant", "modéré", il estime qu'il "faut s'entraider entre pécheurs". Il a fondé une association prônant la "réconciliation" en Chine sur le modèle sud-africain.

Fan Yafeng, lui aussi, a retrouvé la paix de l'âme grâce à Dieu. Juriste à l'Académie des sciences sociales, il avait 20 ans en 1989. Il était monté de sa province de l'Anhui à Pékin vivre aux premières loges la fronde étudiante. "Après la répression, je suis devenu totalement déprimé, témoigne-t-il. Pendant des années, je me suis senti faible, fragile, vide." Il s'essaie au bouddhisme mais celui-ci ne répond pas à ses "interrogations sur le sens de la vie". L'hiver 1996, c'est la révélation. Un ami pasteur qui, lui, était passé de l'hindouisme au protestantisme l'invite au culte d'une "église à domicile". "Là, j'ai vu les gens respirer de bonheur, des gens très simples, une coiffeuse, une employée d'assurance, se souvient-il. Leur visage était illuminé." Quelques mois plus tard, Fan Yafeng est baptisé. Si 1989 a précipité ses tourments passés, il ne veut toutefois pas politiser à l'excès sa découverte de la foi : "Nos églises permettent de sauver les âmes, pas la société."

Tous les néoprotestants de Pékin ne baignent pas dans pareille béatitude. Cheveux longs à mèches rousses, Wang Wangwang, est un artiste peintre, célèbre concepteur d'affiches prisé de l'avant-garde de la capitale. Il s'est converti en 2004 car, malgré ses succès et son enrichissement, il éprouvait "un vide spirituel". Quatre années plus tard, il a pris du recul. "J'ai senti en moi, dit-il, une contradiction, un conflit entre valeurs occidentales liées au christianisme et les valeurs chinoises dont je suis porteur." Depuis, il s'efforce de les "harmoniser". Il est aujourd'hui parvenu, souligne-t-il, à une "synthèse satisfaisante". Mais au prix d'un désengagement de l'"église à domicile" qu'il avait rejointe. Il préfère "pratiquer" seul, chez lui, dans le capharna&UGRAVE;m de ses tableaux o* le Christ s'affiche au coude à coude avec Mao.

Un pasteur de l'église clandestine arrêté près du temple où George Bush a prié

Frédéric Bobin, Article paru dans l'édition du 20.08.08 LE MONDE | 12.08.08 | 14h41 _ Mis à jour le 12.08.08 | 14h41 (à Pékin)

La photo de George Bush entouré de jeunes chrétiens chinois sur le seuil d'un petit temple protestant pékinois a été diffusée depuis dimanche, mais un incident est resté hors champ : un pasteur de l'église clandestine chinoise a été arrêté alors qu'il tentait de se rendre à vélo à la cérémonie.

Frédéric Bobin, Article paru dans l'édition du 20.08.08Le temple de Kuanjie, o* le président américain a assisté à l'office en chinois, appartient à l'église protestante officielle, chapeautée par le Mouvement patriotique des trois autonomies, et donc par l'Etat-parti. Pour échapper à cette tutelle, de plus en plus de protestants chinois pratiquent à domicile, et dans la clandestinité : ils seraient près de 40 millions, quatre fois plus que les membres de l'Eglise officielle. Le pasteur Hua Huiqi est l'un des activistes le plus en vue de cette église souterraine. Il s'est aussi impliqué dans la défense de protestataires, ce qui lui a valu d'être tabassé par la police en octobre 2007 et de passer six mois en prison. Assigné à résidence et surveillé de près pendant les Jeux, Hua a pourtant tenu à se rendre au temple de Kuanjie : "Je lui ai dit que la période était sensible et qu'il valait mieux s'abstenir, a déclaré son frère Huilin à l'Irish Times. Il m'a répondu qu'il était déterminé à s'y rendre, parce que c'est dans ce temple qu'il a été baptisé. Il était inflexible."

Frédéric Bobin, Article paru dans l'édition du 20.08.08Dimanche matin, des gardes du bureau des affaires religieuses ont appréhendé le pasteur Hua et lui ont confisqué sa bible. Gardé au secret, il a pu s'échapper, profitant de ce que son garde s'était endormi. Sur les marches du temple, George Bush avait déclaré : "Aucun Etat, aucun homme, aucune femme, ne doit craindre l'influence d'une religion d'amour." Peu après, il a remercié le président Hu Jintao d'avoir arrangé cette visite au temple. On ne sait pas s'il était alors au courant de l'arrestation.

China's repression of civil society will haunt it

(FT) By Minxin Pei Published: August 4 2008 19:21 | Last updated: August 4 2008 19:21

International visitors to Beijing during the Olympics will be impressed by the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium, the millions of flowers adorning the streets of China's capital and the freshly repainted façades of its buildings. What they may not realise is that all this represents the power of the state. In the run-up to the games, the government has mobilised unimaginable resources to make its capital a shining symbol of its success. Missing in this picture is China's civil society: non-governmental organisations have been conspicuously absent in the preparations.

For a nation known for its top-down, state-centric political system, this anomaly might seem trivial. But for those who have been hoping that China's rapid economic modernisation will foster a vibrant civil society which will push for future democratisation, the weakness of Chinese NGOs must be a rude reminder that the political evolution historically associated with economic development is not taking place in China - or at least not as quickly as one might have hoped.

Of course, China's economic development and opening to the outside world have given its people unprecedented personal freedom. In the 1980s, Beijing's policy on civil society was also relatively liberal. NGOs faced fewer restrictions and flourished. However, following the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, the Chinese government imposed registration requirements that made it very difficult for genuine NGOs to register and operate legally. The party feared that independent civic organisations would have the potential to challenge its authority.

Consequently, the growth of Chinese civil society, as measured by the number or quality of its NGOs, has woefully lagged behind China's economic growth. China has more than 350,000 legally registered NGOs, but perhaps only about 10 per cent of them can be considered genuine NGOs in the western sense. Most of the rest are so-called "government-organised non-governmental organisations", or Gongos, an appellation that would make George Orwell proud. As a rule, Gongos are affiliated with a government bureaucracy, headed by retired officials and funded by the state. They have no genuine autonomy.

Even among genuine NGOs, one cannot find civic groups, such as independent labour unions, student unions and religious groups, which are capable of large-scale collective action. Most Chinese NGOs are small groups engaged in leisure activities, environmental protection and local charity work like health and education. A promising development may be the formation of local chambers of commerce in Zhejiang province, where the private sector accounts for more than 90 per cent of the economic output. But this is the exception that proves the rule.

The hardline policy toward civil society was vindicated several years ago when the so-called "colour revolutions" swept through the Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. In China, as well as Russia, western-supported NGOs were seen as having played an outsized role in the ousting of unpopular regimes. Restrictions on Chinese NGOs were subsequently further tightened.

The Communist party perhaps knows better than anybody else the potential of even the most innocuous civic groups. In the 1920s, the party operated like today's NGO to win the hearts and minds of the masses. It offered free literacy classes to workers, set up clinics for the downtrodden and formed independent labour unions and peasant associations to defend their rights. Today, as the ruling party, it can be forgiven for suspecting the revolutionary potential of modern NGOs.

Ironically, the government's restrictions on civil society have been so effective that it is beginning to pay the price of success. It has limited Beijing's ability to provide adequate social services, fight corruption and manage state-society conflict. The party needs to see that suppressing civil society also implies assuming unlimited political liability for itself. Without alternative civic organisations to provide relief, aggrieved Chinese citizens naturally hold the government responsible for its failings. A civil society is a stabilising buffer between the state and the masses.For now, the party will stick to its post-Tiananmen strategy: relying on growth to maintain legitimacy and prevent the emergence of an organised opposition at all cost. This has worked wonders for the party since 1989 and the Beijing Olympics will give the party no reason to alter its course.The writer is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Avec la secte de "Mentu" aux confins du désert de Gobi

(le Figaro) François Hauter, notre envoyé spécial à Yulin (Shaanxi) 04/08/2008 | Mise à jour : 19:48 |

Les congrégations religieuses qui fleurissent dans les campagnes représentent un réel danger de déstabilisation du pouvoir.

Aux confins du désert de Gobi et du plateau de loess chinois, la nature n'a rien d'accueillant : les plantes rampent sur le sable, tant le vent souffle fort, et sous la lumière blanche d'un ciel écrasant, la petite ville de Yulin (300 000 habitants) a des airs de Far West. N'étaient des mines de charbon et des gisements de gaz, Yulin ne serait pas la ville champignon, réputée pour ses vingt restaurants servant des plats de chiens, qu'elle est aujourd'hui.

A quarante kilomètres de là, c'est encore un autre monde : dans le village de Yuxing, la misère règne. La campagne est ravinée, le ma_s pousse vaille que vaille sur les maigres lopins de terre. Des slogans sont peints en rouge sur les murs en terre : "Les filles sont aussi bien que les gar*ons"! ou "Moins d'enfants, c'est la fortune plus rapidement". Mais pour Hua, une paysanne de 40 ans qui en paraît vingt de plus et qui vit dans une ferme troglodyte, la seule réalité de ce monde, c'est "Mentu", la troisième réincarnation du Christ. Elle s'adresse à lui matin et soir, nous explique-t-elle, avec ferveur.

Car ce "Mentu", selon Hua, guérit toutes les maladies dès que l'on croit en lui. Il offre également de bonnes récoltes, sans utiliser d'engrais, et protège le bétail. La femme et ses amies ne croient en rien d'autre qu'en ce prophète. Elles ignorent que le fondateur de leur secte, un paysan nommé Ji, originaire du village de Yaoxian, a été tué en 1997 dans un accident de voiture ; que son successeur Wei Shiqiang est mort en 2001 d'un cancer ; et que la &CCEDIL;troisième réincarnation&EGRAVE; de "Mentu", Chen Chirong, est en prison... Ces sectes n'ont rien d'anodin en Chine. "Mentu" aurait 350 000 disciples dans 15 provinces, mais la seule région du Shanxi en compterait une trentaine d'autres. Parmi elles, celle du "Dieu éclair" annonce des catastrophes pour la Chine, l'arrivée d'une femme messie, et évidemment l'inutilité de toute médecine. Comme ces sectes fondent leur recrutement sur le mécontentement des paysans ou des chômeurs, elles annoncent que leurs membres se doivent de &CCEDIL;renverser le parti mafieux&EGRAVE;(le Parti communiste chinois, NDLR) ou d'abattre le &CCEDIL;gros méchant dragon rouge&EGRAVE;. Dans ces sectes, les affaires d'escroqueries et de viols sont monnaie courante. Les malades décédant parce qu'ils refusent d'être soignés se comptent en milliers chaque année, à Yulin et aux alentours.

500 millions de personnes à déplacer Hua, sur son lit, prie sous l'affiche portant une croix rouge (le crucifix est rouge, en Chine), mais n'a aucune notion de ce qu'est le christianisme, le catholicisme ou le protestantisme. Elle re*oit, à l'égal des autres adhérents de "Mentu", la visite impromptue d'autres paysans, payés pour recruter et colporter la fable de prétendus &CCEDIL;miracles&EGRAVE;.

Pékin a créé le bureau 610 pour lutter contre les sectes, après l'avènement du Falungong en 1999. Mais depuis cette époque où la répression fut féroce, la stratégie de l'état se veut plus fine et intelligente : le gouvernement investit massivement dans les campagnes. Une belle route goudronnée conduit depuis peu au village de Yulin jusqu'à Yaoxian. Le bureau de la police a été renforcé, les paysans n'y paient plus l'impôt sur le revenu comme partout ailleurs en Chine. Depuis peu, ils sont les bénéficiaires d'une assurance-maladie. Le chef local de la police nous l'assure : à Yaoxian, "les sectes c'est du passé".

C'est malheureusement faux, et les pasteurs des églises chrétiennes officielles de Yulin sont les premiers à le déplorer : "La progression des sectes est foudroyante, assure l'un d'eux". Les cibles de ces groupes d'illuminés restent toujours les mêmes populations : les paysans pauvres, malades et mécontents, les employés des petites villes de province, tout juste arrivés de leurs villages. Des femmes principalement.

Dans l'histoire chinoise, les sectes et les sociétés secrètes ont toujours joué un rôle capital dans le processus de renversement des dynasties, excitant paysans et citadins contre un ordre établi défaillant. L'état chinois affronte en la matière une période difficile. Aujourd'hui, la Chine a une population composée de 58 % de ruraux. Les paysans ne devront plus représenter que 20 % des habitants d'ici à 2033. Soit 500 millions de personnes à déplacer vers les villes. "Si vous ne sentez pas assez finement les besoins de ces migrants, vous ne sentez pas les crises et les révolutions qui se préparent", nous explique un haut fonctionnaire du Conseil des affaires d'Etat (l'équivalent de notre gouvernement).

Les dizaines de milliers de caméras déployées à Pékin pendant ces JO surveilleront en priorité ces dizaines de milliers de Chinois anonymes, qui tous peuvent être des sectaires illuminés à la recherche d'une publicité inespérée.

Liberté religieuse : "signaux" de Pékin

(AFP) 04/08/2008

Le secrétaire d'Etat du Vatican, le cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a estimé que Pékin, qui s'apprête à accueillir les jeux Olympiques, avait envoyé des "signaux positifs" concernant la liberté religieuse, lors d'une interview à la télévision publique italienne. "Nous savons qu'il y aura à Pékin trois églises dans lesquelles il sera possible de prier et d'assister à la messe et nous savons aussi que les évêques de Macao et de Hong Kong sont invités aux jeux Olympiques: ce sont des signaux positifs qu'il ne faut pas négliger", a déclaré le cardinal Bertone. "Les jeux Olympiques seront aussi l'occasion pour le monde d'inciter le peuple chinois à plus de sagesse et d'harmonie", a ajouté Mgr Bertone, à quatre jours de l'ouverture des jeux.

La Chine et le Saint-Siège n'ont plus de relations diplomatiques depuis 1951. Le rétablissement de ces relations est un enjeu pour Pékin, qui souhaite améliorer son image à l'étranger, mais le Vatican y met comme condition la possibilité de réunir sous l'autorité du pape tous les catholiques actuellement divisés entre "officiels" et "clandestins". Le pape Benoît XVI avait souligné en mai que les jeux Olympiques de Pékin étaient "un événement de grande valeur pour l'humanité entière".

En Chine, Bush ira à l'église et parlera de liberté de religion

(AFP) 1.07.08

Le président américain George W. Bush assistera à un service religieux pendant son séjour en Chine pour les Jeux olympiques et fera ensuite une déclaration sur la liberté de religion dans le pays, a indiqué un haut collaborateur de la Maison Blanche mercredi.

La Maison Blanche a par ailleurs sérieusement douté que les aires dédiées par les autorités chinoises aux manifestations lors des Jeux permettent véritablement de protester, et a réclamé qu'elles soient ouvertes non seulement aux Chinois, mais aussi aux étrangers. M. Bush se rendra dans une église pour y suivre le culte le dimanche 10 août, a indiqué Dennis Wilder lors d'une conférence de presse.

"Il fera ensuite une déclaration dans laquelle il dira ses positions sur la liberté religieuse en Chine", a dit M. Wilder, directeur pour les affaires asiatiques au Conseil de sécurité nationale, qui conseille le président. La liberté de culte, à commencer par celle de la communauté chrétienne, en Chine, est une grande préoccupation de M. Bush. M. Wilder a répété que M. Bush se rendait à Pékin avec l'intention de ne pas politiser les Jeux, mais aussi de soulever la question des libertés en dehors du stade, lors de ses entretiens politiques avec les dirigeants chinois. "On peut délivrer le message de liberté sans politiser l'événement lui-même que sont les Jeux", a-t-il dit.

Selon lui, les Etats-Unis attendent de la Chine qu'elle profite de son exposition à l'attention internationale pendant les Jeux pour montrer qu'elle ouvre sa société.

"Je suis dé*u qu'ils aient sévi contre l'internet", a-t-il rapporté.

M. Bush voudrait voir libérer les prisonniers politiques dont le gouvernement américain a soumis des listes aux autorités chinoises, a-t-il ajouté.

"Les Chinois ont annoncé qu'il y aurait des manifestants. Nous espérons vraiment beaucoup que ces aires de protestation seront ouvertes, non seulement aux citoyens chinois, mais aux étrangers", a encore déclaré M. Wilder.

Le président américain a dit espérer aussi que ceux qui voudront manifester dans ces zones pourront effectivement le faire. "Que les Chinois soient vraiment en train de prendre cette direction reste à démontrer", a observé le collaborateur de M. Bush.

China forces underground pastor from Beijing

(Reuters) Sun Jul 20, 2008 12:04am EDT

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese police have removed a prominent Beijing-based pastor and his wife from the capital as it steps up efforts to control dissidents in the run-up to the Olympics, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, told the Hong Kong newspaper he and his ailing wife, Xie Fenglan, had been whisked off to neighboring Hebei province on Friday night after a week of harassment.

Police told the church figure, who has often met foreign officials visiting China, that they do not want him in Beijing during next month's Olympics to prevent him from meeting foreigners, the article quoted Zhang as saying. Beijing police, reached by Reuters by telephone, declined to comment.

China's ruling Communist Party is wary of religious and other groups that could challenge its grip, including unregistered Christian "house churches", and regularly detains pastors and priests.

China has about 40 million active Christians, with their numbers evenly divided between state-run and underground churches, according to expert estimates.

The newspaper quoted Zhang as saying around seven plainclothes officers on Friday raided a guesthouse they had been staying in and told them to leave.

Zhang and his wife had rejected repeated demands during the week by police from various districts to leave Beijing, it said, adding that the couple had to move from guesthouse to guesthouse six times during the week.

The newspaper said Zhang was placed under house arrest after meeting U.S. congressmen Frank Wolf and Christopher Smith last month, and was also detained for 31 hours last month while he and his interpreter were on their way to meet Bastiaan Belder, of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson)

Christian Groups Step Delicately in Sichuan

(WSJ) Relief Missions Cope With Beijing's Rules Against Proselytizing By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER May 30, 2008

CHENGDU, China -- After the May 12 earthquake that devastated China's Sichuan province, Jonathan Bright, a 30-year-old American teacher at a Christian school in South Korea, gathered disaster supplies and headed to the quake zone to help. He never made it.

Before his flight got under way from Beijing to Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, Mr. Bright dropped a card with references to scripture and details about a Christian radio station in the airplane's restroom, drawing the attention of the crew. Chinese police boarded the plane and questioned him about his intentions before releasing him to take another flight to the quake zone if he wished. Mr. Bright decided to return home. "They cared only because they thought I was trying to make new Christians," he says.

In the wake of the disaster, China has opened its doors to outside aid in the form of money, supplies and volunteers. One caveat on the more than 160 million yuan ($23 million) that the government says has come in from religious groups, from inside and outside China: no missionary work. Mr. Bright's experience reflects the tensions and suspicions kindled by Christian aid to Chinese who are suffering in the quake's aftermath. Communist Party leaders and evangelicals, long at odds over religious freedom, are now feeling out new terrain. Within the evangelical community itself, the unusual situation has raised questions about how closely to hew to Beijing's strictures.

Franklin Graham, president and chief executive of the aid organization Samaritan's Purse and son of evangelical pioneer Billy Graham, says he has no qualms about holding back on religious activity if it enables him to deliver aid to the quake victims.

"When people are dying, you demonstrate the love of God by just being there with them and responding," he says. "This isn't the time that you want to preach. There are opportunities for that later."

When the quake struck, Mr. Graham was in China on an official visit with government religious-affairs officials and Chinese-sanctioned churches. He immediately promised $300,000 for the officially registered churches and used his access to begin negotiating with authorities for a much larger airlift of supplies. Mr. Graham says his was the first U.S. nongovernmental organization to land supplies in Chengdu. Officials never explicitly told Mr. Graham that his organization couldn't engage in evangelism, he says, but he "knew the ground rules" going in. "We never asked to preach in Sichuan," he says. "We just said we are Christians."

China's State Administration for Religious Affairs says foreigners pursuing religious activities in China must abide by a set of rules, which include bans on religious brochures and proselytizing without permission, among other activities.

When Samaritan's Purse launched a 747 filled with supplies from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Chengdu on May 23, the group was joined at a news conference by a representative of the Chinese embassy. The supplies, which included more than $1 million in tents and water-filtration systems, were distributed through the Chinese government and military after training sessions in how to use the equipment by Samaritan's Purse staff.

Another large Christian charity organization working in Sichuan, Operation Blessing, says it never proselytizes anywhere in the world and has a longstanding relationship with the Chinese government.

Christian organizations that are distributing aid to quake victims through less official channels say they appreciate the efforts of the groups going the official route but that their work comes with fewer strings attached. Bob Fu, president of the U.S.-based China Aid Association, says his group sent volunteers into China on Monday with 20 family-size tents. They plan to personally deliver the tents to the needy through their contacts at nonsanctioned Chinese churches in the area.

"We give out the tents and say, 'Jesus loves you,'" says Mr. Fu. "We want to pray for them, comfort their hearts and give them counseling. What these victims need is holistic, not just physical needs of water and food." That can put his volunteers, and those from other unofficial Chinese churches, in danger. He says he has already heard reports of three Chinese Christian volunteers being detained by police for praying while delivering aid. The Sichuan religious-affairs bureau didn't respond to questions on the matter.

Carl Moeller, the Los Angeles-based president of religious-freedom group Open Doors, says he thinks religion should transcend any political concerns.

"When Jesus said go out to the world and preach the gospel, he didn't say just go to those places where you can get a visa," he says. "To do evangelism in its purest sense is not about politics."

Mr. Bright, the teacher who was taken off his flight to Chengdu, says that before he left China a friendly taxi driver in Beijing took him to a government agency collecting donations, where he dropped off his supplies. "It seemed to be a direct answer to prayer," he says.

--Juliet Ye contributed to this article.

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com

In China, Ethnic Tension Expands

(WSJ) Muslim Group Draws Attention; More Angst in Tibet By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH April 8, 2008

SHANGHAI -- Chinese paramilitary police sealed off a market town in central China last month and detained dozens of ethnic Uighurs, said local residents and a government official.

The arrests, which occurred in late March in Henan province but weren't reported at the time, appear to be part of an expanding Chinese government effort to prevent dissatisfaction among Turkic Uighurs from exploding into the kind of unrest that has swept Tibetan areas of the country.

Witnesses said hundreds of armed police descended on the Henan town of Shifosi, where there is a significant population of Uighur jade traders. "About 50 Uighurs were arrested," said a local government official.

Unrest in Tibetan areas has continued. On Sunday, police attempted to prevent a group of Tibetans from joining a religious procession with Buddhist monks in Sichuan province, sparking a confrontation, according to a local Tibetan resident.

Tibetans threw stones at the police, who responded by firing nonlethal antiriot rounds at the crowd, injuring several, the resident said. Calls to the police station in the town where the incident occurred went unanswered on Monday.

Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) are predominantly Muslim and are the largest ethnic group in the northwest border region of Xinjiang, which covers about a sixth of China's territory and is rich in oil and other resources. Uighurs' grievances with the government are similar to those voiced by Tibetans. Many complain of restrictions on civil liberties and religious practices and say that they also face economic discrimination by China's majority Han Chinese. On March 23, before the police arrived in Shifosi, Uighurs in the southern Xinjiang city of Hotan raised banners and passed out leaflets calling on fellow Uighurs to join an independence movement. Those demonstrators were quickly arrested, the government says. Hotan is the source of some of China's most prized jade.

The Hotan government says the protests involved a "small number" of people, but Uighur exile groups say the actual number may have been in the hundreds.

Uighur activists say that once unrest started in Tibetan areas in early April, Chinese authorities began rounding up suspected Uighur dissidents in an effort to forestall similar protests in Xinjiang during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August.

Xinjiang "has so many natural resources, so the Chinese government has been extremely ruthless when it comes to cracking down on Uighurs," said Rebiya Kadeer, president of the Uyghur American Association in Washington.

Ms. Kadeer, a Uighur human-rights campaigner who was imprisoned in China for more than five years, said China is intent on creating a "very stable situation" to avoid disruptions to the Olympic torch relay, which is scheduled to pass through Xinjiang in late June.

"Every day, Uighurs are being detained or arrested. Uighurs are paying a tremendous price for the Olympic torch relay," Ms. Kadeer said.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who was in Beijing for meetings Monday, said the committee "has expressed its serious concern" about the situation in Tibet and "calls for a rapid peaceful resolution" there.

Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com

China's Ethnic Tension Isn't Limited to Tibet

(WSJ) Tension in Xinjiang Remains High Between Local Turkic Uighurs and Han Settlers By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH April 5, 2008

This outpost of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps is home to nearly 20,000 ethnic Han Chinese, transplanted from China's eastern heartland to this arid border territory -- which is home to a large Turkic Muslim population.

Such settlements, combined with large infrastructure investments and, at times, heavy-handed measures to silence dissent, were supposed to cement government authority in Xinjiang. But a new protest by Turkic Uighurs and continued unrest in Tibetan areas illustrate the limitations of Beijing's approach to dealing with minorities.

Roughly 2.3 million Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group, now live in settlements set up by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, an outgrowth of the People's Liberation Army forces that occupied Xinjiang in 1949. The Corps has built highways, railroads, power plants and universities.

Coupled with this drive for economic advancement is a second function: security. The Corps says its plays "an irreplaceable, special role" in "cracking down" on separatists. Members can function as an armed militia to work side-by-side with the army and police forces.

"The battle against ethnic separatism and invasion has never stopped," Zhao Guangyong, the Corps' vice secretary general, said in an interview. The Corps plays a "very important role in promoting national unity."

The Corps' dual duties reflect the central government's general approach toward ethnic-minority groups: Try to win them over with economic growth, while stamping out opposition to Beijing. In Xinjiang, that has meant restricting both religious freedoms and civil rights.

"It's a very volatile situation," says Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group. "People feel their cultural identity is being threatened." As China this past week sought to contain unrest in Tibetan areas following violent riots in Lhasa on March 14, it acknowledged for the first time that a protest had also taken place in Xinjiang. On March 23 demonstrators in a market in the southern Xinjiang city of Hotan unfurled banners and handed out fliers urging their fellow Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) to join an independence movement, the government there says. Police moved quickly to silence what authorities described in a statement issued Tuesday as "a small group" of Uighurs trying to "trick the masses into an uprising."

Fu Chao, an official with the Hotan district administration, said the Uighur protesters had been inspired by events in Tibet and that they were calling for the creation of an independent Islamic state in Xinjiang. Security in Xinjiang has been stepped up. Uighur activists say that as soon as protests started in Tibet, China began detaining suspected Uighur dissidents in an effort to prevent unrest from spreading to Xinjiang, which shares a long border with Tibet. Tensions had already been building. Chinese officials say they arrested a Uighur woman last month who was part of a failed Muslim separatist plot to hijack a Chinese jetliner. In February, Chinese police also raided what they said was a meeting of Islamic terrorists and shot and killed two men and arrested 15 others near Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi.

China's state-controlled Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that fresh protests occured Thursday night in a Tibetan area of the southwestern province of Sichuan. Xinhua said one government official was injured in the unrest.

The International Campaign for Tibet on Friday released its own account of the incident, saying at least eight people were killed on Thursday in western Sichuan province after armed police fired on a crowd of several hundred monks and local residents. The protests took place outside the Tongkor monastery 60 kilometers from Ganzi town, the pro-Tibet organization said in a statement.

Chine: un nouvel évêque pour le diocèse de Canton, avec l'accord du Vatican

(in Le Monde) AFP 04.12.07 | 11h58

Le nouvel évêque de Canton, dans le sud de la Chine, a été ordonné mardi par l'Eglise catholique officielle chinoise, apparemment avec le soutien du Vatican, a-t-on appris de source officielle.

La cérémonie d'ordination de Joseph Gan Junqiu, 42 ans, s'est déroulée dans la cathédrale du Sacré-Coeur de Canton mardi matin, a indiqué à l'AFP le porte-parole de l'Eglise catholique officielle, Liu Bainian.

Gan Junqiu remplace Lin Bingliang, décédé en 2001, a précisé M. Liu.

Sa désignation intervient après celle, intervenue vendredi, de Francis Lu Shouwang, 41 ans, comme nouvel évêque de Yichang, dans la province du Hubei (centre), ont indiqué les autorités religieuses chinoises.

Selon l'agence spécialisée dans l'information religieuse Asianews, la nomination de Gan est intervenue en novembre 2006, puis approuvée par le pape, mais la cérémonie a été longtemps retardée, car le prêtre avait fait publiquement allégeance au pape.

Tout comme celle de l'évêque de Canton, celle de Francis Lu Shouwang a reçu le feu vert du Vatican, a affirmé l'agence.

Le porte-parole de l'Eglise officielle chinoise a refusé de se prononcer à ce sujet, indiquant seulement que de telles informations étaient un signe encourageant.

"Si ces informations sont vraies, c'est de bon augure pour les relations entre la Chine et le Vatican", a-t-il dit.

Il a également précisé que durant la cérémonie, Mgr Gan s'était engagé à respecter "les lois de l'Etat, à sauvegarder l'unité sociale et la stabilité sociale et à contribuer à l'édification d'une société socialiste harmonieuse".

Tous les responsables de l'Eglise officielle sont tenus à de tels engagements, a précisé M. Liu.

Asianews souligne que le nouvel évêque de Canton "a de bonnes relations avec le gouvernement, qui a participé à la restauration de la cathédrale de Canton, dédiée au Sacré-coeur et rouverte au public en février".

La Chine a rompu ses relations diplomatiques en 1951 avec le Vatican, qui venait de reconnaître Taiwan. La rupture est devenue définitive en juillet 1957 avec la création d'une Eglise officielle contrôlée par le régime communiste.

Il y a, selon le Vatican, entre 8 et 12 millions de fidèles catholiques qui sont restés fidèles au Saint Siège et font partie de l'Eglise "clandestine".

China's Official Catholic Church To Ordain New Bishop (WSJ)

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

December 3, 2007 7:45 p.m.

GUANGZHOU (AP)--China's official Catholic church planned Tuesday to appoint a new bishop who has publicly declared his loyalty to the Vatican, religious officials said.

The Rev. Joseph Gan Junqiu's appointment will be held at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in the booming southern city of Guangzhou, once known as Canton, said Lu Guocun, a vice chairman of the state-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

Appointing bishops has been a major sore point between Beijing and the Vatican. China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power.

Chinese authorities have repeatedly refused to consult with the Holy See when choosing new bishops, saying the pope should not meddle in the country's internal affairs. But there has been growing consultation between the official church and Rome on appointments. Many bishops named by China have later sought - and received - the Vatican's blessings.

Lu told The Associated Press he did not know whether the Vatican supported Gan's ordination.

"Our Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association really doesn't concern itself with such things," Lu said.

In Rome, however, a Vatican official who requested anonymity due to the issue's sensitivity told the AP that Gan, 43, has the Holy See's approval because he has publicly declared his fidelity to Pope Benedict XVI. The pope requested the loyalty of Chinese bishops in his letter to the faithful earlier this year.

AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency, has also reported that Gan had publicly declared his loyalty and that the Vatican thus approved his appointment.

The Chinese Catholic Web site http://www.cncatholic.org said that Gan was a native of the southern province of Guangdong and had studied in Belgium, France and Hong Kong.

Olympics Bible ban 'blatant lie' (SCMP)

Bocog slams religious censorship reports

Peter Simpson in Beijing

Updated on Nov 08, 2007

Beijing Olympic organisers have accused European newspapers and religious global news agencies of "blatantly lying" after claims that Bibles are to be banned from the Games next year.

The Catholic News Agency published a report drawn from the popular Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and the Spanish daily La Razon, which said Bibles and other personal religious items carried by athletes, coaches and managers were banned at Olympic venues.

The allegations were also circulated on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"This is not true. There has been a misunderstanding," said Wang Hui , executive deputy director of Bocog. "Athletes and other individuals can bring with them their own Bibles. But no one can bring in multiple copies for public distribution."

Earlier, another official from the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games gave an angrier response to an inquiry by the South China Morning Post.

"These reports are nothing but blatant lies," the official said. "Bibles and religious scriptures of the major faiths brought by athletes into the Olympic village are allowed, as are places of worship within the Olympic Village. This is the same as in all other Olympiads."

La Razon said the Bible-ban "rule" was "one of a number of signs of censure and intolerance towards religious objects, particularly those used by Christians in China".

The reports appeared to contradict policies released at an Olympic world press briefing last month, during which Bocog revised its religious promotion policy paper for the purpose of clarity. It stated that individual Bibles and other religious items would be allowed, while promotional material, banners and mass copies of religious literature meant for distribution would be banned.

While the policy is clearly aimed at Falun Gong members threatening activism, groups advocating Tibetan independence and the like, the reports - which have been widely circulated among the world's 1.1 billion Catholics - have angered Bocog.

Such claims are likely to put further strain on the already tense ties between the Vatican and Beijing.

"Currently in China, five bishops and 15 priests are in prison for opposing the official church," the Catholic News Agency said in its version of the report.

An International Olympic Commission spokeswoman said Article 61 of the Olympic Charter prohibited religious, political and commercial propaganda but allowed faiths to be worshipped by individuals.

She blamed a misunderstanding, "maybe from the translation service", for the "incorrect reports".

"We have been in contact with the journalists who originally wrote these stories and clarified the policy. Athletes will be allowed personal religious items in Beijing."

Beijing does not have diplomatic ties with the Vatican and has clashed frequently with it over the right to appoint bishops on the mainland.

La mort suspecte d'un évêque chinois clandestin suscite l'inquiétude du Vatican (le Monde)

Article publié le 12 Octobre 2007 Par Henri Tincq Source : LE MONDE Taille de l'article : 388 mots

Extrait : DANS un commentaire critique de L'Osservatore romano daté du 9 octobre, le Vatican a exprimé son étonnement et son inquiétude après la mort et l'incinération, jugées suspectes, de Mgr Jean Han Dingxiang, évêque clandestin du diocèse de Yongnian (Hebei), décédé le 9 septembre à l'âge de 68 ans dans un hôpital de Shijiazhuang, capitale de la province. Le Vatican aura mis un mois à réagir, sans doute pour des besoins de vérification de l'information venue de la Fondation dite du cardinal Kung , siégeant aux Etats-Unis. Selon cette source, Mgr Han s'est éteint sans avoir reçu les derniers sacrements.

Activists arrested and beaten in 'worst crackdown in five years'

(SCMP)

Didi Kirsten Tatlow in Beijing Oct 12, 2007

The weeks before a major political meeting on the mainland are traditionally tense, but activists say the run-up to the Communist Party's 17th National Congress, which opens on Monday, has been marked by the severest wave of repression in years.

Dozens of arrests, detentions, beatings and abductions have taken place since August, peaking during the week-long holiday following National Day on October 1, activists say.

Targets have included Christians, lawyers, petitioners, Olympics critics, writers and democracy activists.

"My husband Hu Jia says that this year's National Day, which we normally call guoqingjie [national celebration day], has been a guoshangjie [national mourning day]", said 24-year-old Zeng Jinyan, eight months' pregnant with the couple's first child. Mr Hu and Ms Zeng, well-known campaigners on a range of issues including Aids, the environment and free speech, are finalists for the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, to be announced at the end of the month.

Mr Hu has been under house arrest since May. On October 5, police permitted him to accompany his wife for a regular pre-natal checkup - along with 12 plainclothes policemen. Since October 7 he has been confined to home again.

"I don't know what will happen when she gives birth, if I am allowed to go to hospital, or what if I need to go out and fetch something for her when she's in hospital?" Mr Hu said.

Ms Zeng said: "The police always say, `if you take the opportunity of going out to do anything else or meet anyone else, don't be surprised if we turn nasty'."

Christian activist Hua Huiqi, who was beaten by police yesterday, had suffered weeks of harassment beforehand, his family said.

Their troubles began on October 1, when a dozen policemen surrounded their Beijing home, trapping Mr Hua, his wife Wei Jumei and their 11-year-old child inside. Last week police smashed windows in their home and turned away Mr Hua's brother, who tried to deliver badly needed food supplies.

"We're down to eating garlic," Ms Wei said on the telephone. Then the line went dead.

Nicholas Becquelin of Human Rights Watch said it was the most severe crackdown in years. "This crackdown came very gradually, very systematically. They are proceeding layer by layer," he said. "Earlier this year they tightened up the media, then universities were told what meetings and workshops they could not hold. Then they took out the petitioners and the thuggish tactics we are seeing now are the last wave."

Mr Hu said it was "the worst I've seen in five years".

"Things are always tight before, say, a National People's Congress meeting," he said. "But this time it's worse, because it's the party congress, and power in China resides with the Communist Party, and they are determined to hold on to complete power."

Nor are the authorities seemingly reined in by considerations of their image a year ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Mr Hu said they were rushing to get rid of people they considered trouble-makers before the world focused on China next year. "They are doing 80 per cent of the work now in order to only have to do 20 per cent next year."

Mainland authorities generally justify such sweeps in the name of maintaining social stability and harmony. Beijing police refused to comment.

Other high-profile victims include Christian and rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Gao's family say he disappeared on September 22.

Also missing is Yao Lifa, a well-known election activist from Qianjiang in Hubei province, whose son, Yao Yao , says he has been unable to contact his father since Sunday. Olympics-related eviction protester Ye Guozhu, his brother, Ye Guoqiang and son Ye Mingjun, have been arrested or unofficially detained, family sources said.

Lawyer Li Heping, an advocate for people he says are victims of miscarriages of justice, says he was abducted and beaten for four hours on September 29. Mr Li believes the attack was linked to moves to build a case against the use of laojiao, or re-education through labour, a form of extra-judicial punishment.

Major targets of the laojiao system are petitioners, tens of thousands of whom travel to the capital every year to seek justice for abuses of power by local officials.

"Locking up petitioners in laojiao camps is illegal and against our constitution", said Mr Li, who says he began gathering evidence against the widespread practice in June. Currently, thousands of petitioners are on the run in Beijing, the hostels they normally stay in closed or knocked down. Petitioners are a major target of the pre-congress sweep, with the government fearing they may stage demonstrations.

Still others who have disappeared include Huang Yan, 36, reportedly kidnapped on September 22. Mr Hu says he received a panicked phone call from her during which she said she had been beaten in police custody for three days before being taken back to her native Jinzhou, in Hubei, on September 26. There she slipped out of custody while her captors played mahjong but was recaptured soon afterwards.

Similarly, Zheng Dajing, a Beijing resident and native of Yunxi county in Hubei who is active in the defence of petitioners, was reportedly abducted at the end of August and has not been heard of since.

Pastor Liu Fenggang, reached by telephone at his home in Beijing's Haidian district, said he, his wife and eight-year-old son were allowed out only after lengthy negotiations with police.

"I have to tell them where I'm going, who with, to do what, and promise I won't meet other people," said Mr Liu, who was released in February after a three-year jail term related to his Christian activism.

"Since I got out it's been like this all the time. They lock me up for National Day, when there are foreign dignitaries in town. The other day there was an Olympics cycle race and they locked me up for that. It's endless."

While Mr Liu's case is known to international rights activists, other, less well-known people have also disappeared, such as 50-something Beijinger and internet democracy activist Zhang Wenhe, last seen by his family on September 29. Mr Zhang's family believes he is being held in a psychiatric hospital. Other high-profile arrests include Hangzhou writer Lu Gengsong and land activist Yang Chunlin, who collected signatures for a petition calling for "Human rights, not Olympics". Mr Yang's sister said he had been tortured in jail in Heilongjiang province.

Outspoken internet commentator Zhang Zuhua was asked to leave Beijing during the congress, sources said.

Activist beaten as rival police clash in melee

(SCMP)

Campaigner knocked unconscious Didi Kirsten Tatlow in Beijing

Oct 12, 2007

Dozens of police from rival city districts in Beijing fought a pitched battle yesterday over Christian activist Hua Huiqi, who was knocked unconscious during the melee and admitted to hospital.

Four factions took part in the battle that saw Chongwen district police and security guards, whom witnesses said worked for New World China Land (SEHK: 0917) - a subsidiary of Hong Kong's New World Development - squaring off against police from Fengtai district and plain-clothes national security officers, who had been monitoring Mr Hua for weeks.

"You killed my brother!" Hua's sister, Hua Yaping , screamed at men in street clothes believed to be officers from Mr Hua's local police station who had beaten him.

Mr Hua lay immobile on a gurney in Tiantan Hospital for an hour, eyes shut, before being treated. His trousers were wet from urine and dirty from the beating, according to another sister, Hua Huilin .

A woman answering the telephone at the district police station declined to comment, adding the officers were all in a meeting. She also declined to take questions.

Attempts to contact New World in Hong Kong and its office in Beijing for comments were not successful because office staff said the managers responsible were not available.

The incident, a complex one involving police and private security forces representing both political and economic interests, illustrates what human rights activists say is a growing trend on the mainland - attacks by private security guards, often representing companies involved in property deals with local governments, are on the rise.

Mr Hua, under scrutiny by the authorities due to his long history of underground church activism, also has a history of opposing home evictions in the capital.

He has been detained repeatedly in recent years for leading a house church, as well as for his rights defence efforts on other issues.

Recently, Mr Hua began helping petitioners from the provinces who travel to Beijing seeking justice. He was released from jail in July after serving six months for "obstructing justice".

Under heavy police guard, Mr Hua moved out of his Chongwen district home on Monday and was taken to Fengtai district, in the southwest of the city.

But Fengtai police did not want him in their jurisdiction, and yesterday he returned to Chongwen with a dozen Fengtai policemen.

He was greeted by Chongwen policemen and the developer's security guards, according to witnesses.

Both those groups were equally intent on not letting him return to his home, which is slated for demolition.

Late yesterday Mr Hua was still in hospital. Family members said doctors were refusing to discuss his condition, and the family was being watched by police.

Christian group: Businesses closed in western China for 'religious infiltration' (IHT)

The Associated Press Wednesday, October 10, 2007 BEIJING: China has closed two businesses whose owners allegedly sought Christian converts in traditionally Muslim western China, and revoked the visa of an American citizen for illegal proselytizing, a rights monitoring group said Wednesday.

The companies' business licenses were pulled last month by authorities in the Xinjiang region after they were accused of distributing religious material, converting Muslims and conducting "infiltration activities," the U.S.-based China Aid Association said in a news release.

The group did not identity the American, citing ongoing legal issues within China. It wasn't immediately clear whether the individual had been deported.

The report follows word this summer that China had kicked out more than 100 suspected foreign missionaries, including many in Xinjiang, in a campaign to prevent proselytizing ahead of next year's Beijing Summer Olympics.

Christian mission groups from around the world say they plan to quietly defy the Chinese ban on foreign missionaries and send thousands of volunteer evangelists to Beijing next year.

Evangelicals worked the crowds at the Olympics in Athens, Sydney and Atlanta but the groups say the Beijing Games offer an opening like no other, in a communist country that conservative Christians have long reviled.

China bans open proselytizing and worship outside the Communist Party-controlled official church. However, foreign faithful who live in China are often able to evangelize privately while working as English teachers, humanitarian workers or in business.

Efforts to contact the companies cited by the association on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

At one, a branch of Xinjiang Pacific Agricultural Resources Development Company, Ltd., no one answered the phone. The other company, Xinjiang Jiaerhao Foodstuff Company Limited reportedly owned by a Muslim convert, had no listed number.

A woman who answered the phone at the regional government's religious affairs bureau said she had no information about the companies or the accused American.

L'ordination d'un nouvel évêque à Pékin marque un dégel des relations avec le Vatican

(Le Monde)

LE MONDE | 22.09.07 | 15h38 Mis à jour le 22.09.07 | 15h38

P&EACUTE;KIN CORRESPONDANT

L'ordination, vendredi 21 septembre, du nouvel évêque de Pékin, Mgr Joseph Li Shan, 42 ans, est sans doute le signe d'un réchauffement des relations entre la Chine et le Vatican. Membre de l'Association des catholiques patriotiques de Chine - l'Eglise "officielle" -, Joseph Li Shan avait été élu le 16 juillet par un collège de prêtres, religieux et personnes priv_ess du diocèse, pour succéder à Mgr Michael Fu Tieshan, décédé en avril.

Cette élection n'est pas conforme au mode de désignation des évêques qui est le seul privilège du pape. Mais l'Osservatore Romano, organe officiel du Saint-Siège, a déclaré, vendredi, que Benoît XVI avait " concédé la communion" à ce nouvel évêque de Pékin, considéré comme un homme de foi et un vrai pasteur, ainsi qu'à Mgr Xiao Zejiang, ordonné évêque coadjuteur de Guiyang le 8 septembre.

C'est un geste de "bonne volonté", dit-on à Rome, vis-à-vis du fonctionnement de la partie officielle de l'Eglise chinoise qui compterait, au total, 12 millions de fidèles, clandestins et officiels. Cette double approbation par le pape d'un évêque dans la capitale et à Guiyang démontre le souci de Rome de poursuivre un processus menant au rétablissement des relations diplomatiques interrompues depuis 1951.

En 2006, trois évêques avaient été nommés autoritairement par le régime, sans consultation de Rome. Le pape avait réagi à cette " provocation". La lettre envoyée en juin 2007 à tous les catholiques chinois par Benoît XVI, dans laquelle il appelle de ses voeux la libre nomination des évêques et la réunification des deux Eglises avait été accueillie avec réserves par les autorités de Pékin.

Le Vatican laisse régulièrement entendre qu'il est prêt à rompre ses relations diplomatiques avec Taiwan afin de reconnaître la République populaire. Mais l'un des points d'achoppement reste cette épineuse question de la nomination des évêques, dont le Saint-Siège veut faire son domaine réservé. Pékin ne peut se résoudre à cette issue et met en avant le concept de "non-interférence" dans ses affaires intérieures. Le régime veut continuer à contrôler le choix de ses cadres catholiques.

Une nouvelle génération se lève d'évêques "officiels" nommés par Pékin, avec la fiction d'une élection par la base, mais ayant reçu a posteriori l'approbation du pape. Les élus cherchent même à recueillir la bénédiction du pape avant leur ordination, mais ils le font discrètement de peur de provoquer l'Eglise officielle. Le pouvoir sait que le rétablissement de liens diplomatiques avec le Vatican contribuerait à rehausser le prestige de la Chine à l'étranger, mais les responsables de l'Association patriotique redoutent qu'une telle perspective ne les dépouille de leurs prérogatives.

Bruno Philip

Article paru dans l'édition du 23.09.07

Beijing's Catholics tread carefully in installing a bishop (FT)

By Mure Dickie and Tom Mitchell

Published: September 21 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 21 2007 03:00

Acolytes at Beijing's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception have been practising hard for today's planned ordination of a new bishop,even if the man about to lead China's highest-profile diocese has remained out of the public eye. "Father Li is on a retreat. We don't know where he is," one member of the cathedral staff offered during a visit this week.

Li Shan's retreat has not taken him out of the spotlight, however. His planned enthronement puts him at the heart of one of the most sensitive issues in ties between communist Beijing and the Vatican: a battle for the loyalties of a new generation of Chinese bishops.

If all goes to plan and he reappears for his ordination today, Father Li will be the seventh bishop installed since April last year, when the elevation of a cleric approved by the Chinese government - and not Pope Benedict XVI - ruptured a fragile truce. He will also be the latest 40-something bishop to replace octogenarians and nonagenarians who have been dying at the rate of about one a month.

China and Rome have for two years been discussing the possible restoration of diplomatic relationssevered in 1951 and Chinese Catholics make clear they want to see an end to hostilities.

"We all hope the government and the Vatican can resolve their differences," said one Beijing parishioner who asked to be identified only as "Maria". "As Catholics we will of course obey the Pope, but as Chinese we also have to listen to the Chinese government."

The appointment of a bishop of Kunming, in south-western Yunnan province, was the first of three installations last year without Pope Benedict's approval. Three other recent appointees have enjoyed both Beijing's and Rome's blessing, illustrating the complex relationship between China's state-sanctioned church, overseen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, and an "underground" church loyal to Rome.

The Vatican has remained silent on Fr Li's status. Liu Bainian, CCPA vice-chairman, told the Financial Times he did not know whether Rome's ap-proval had been secured "because there is no official communication channel be-tween China and the Vatican".

However, one person fam-iliar with the situation says Fr Li is in possession of a papal bull, drafted in Latin, confirming the Pope's approval. "He has been approved and he has been informed," the person said. "It is a good augur for the future. The Holy See didn't want another Bishop Fu."

Fu Tieshan, the capital's last Catholic bishop, died in April. Never approved by the Vatican, Bishop Fu held a senior government position - vice-chairman of the Nat-ional People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament - and was buried with full state honours.

The former bishop of Beijing was 76 when he died - young compared with some. One bishop, Meng Ziwen, died in January at the age of 104.

The huge generation gap between China's elderly bishops and their 40-something successors arises from decades of church persecution under Mao. But it has also ensured that Fr Li, who is 42, and his peers will lead the church in China for decades to come. About eight new appointments, all expected to be acceptable to the Vatican and in their 40s, are expected in the next six months.

While the schism between China's official and underground church often appears stark, the relationship is in fact more complex.

"It's no good talking about two churches - they are so intertwined," says Audrey Donnithorne, a retired scho-lar and expert on China's underground church, who estimates that more than80 per cent of bishops in the country are recognised by both the CCPA and Rome.

For bishops who refuse to have anything to do with the CCPA, however, the consequences remain severe. The US-based Cardinal Kung Foundation says: "Every one of the approximately 45 bishops of the underground Roman Catholic Church is either in jail, under house arrest, under strict surveillance or in hiding."

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

Freedom to worship a fundamental right, says Beijing

(SCMP)

Reuters

Sep 21, 2007

Beijing yesterday denounced as groundless a US report that accused it of curbing religious freedoms, calling it interference in its internal affairs.

In an annual report, the US State Department last week accused Beijing of persecuting Tibetan Buddhists, Uygur Muslims and Christians outside state-sanctioned churches.

"During the period covered by this report, officials continued to scrutinise and, in some cases, harass unregistered religious and spiritual groups," the State Department said.

Beijing expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with and "firm opposition" to the report, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said yesterday.

"Respecting and protecting citizens' right to worship freely is a long-standing, fundamental policy of the Chinese government. It is a fact that cannot be denied," Ms Jiang said.

"We demand the US side stop interfering in China's internal affairs and do more things that help boost mutual understanding and trust."

While the US report listed cases of abuse, it also noted some "improvements" in Beijing's respect for religious freedom as the government emphasised the role of religion in promoting a "harmonious society".

Vatican approval for new bishop (SCMP)

Ambrose Leung

Sep 20, 2007

The Vatican has given its approval for the ordination of Father Joseph Li Shan as bishop of Beijing, after a last-minute effort to ensure the mainland's selected priest gained recognition by the Holy See.

The approval came as Catholics in the capital prepared for a Mass tomorrow at which Father Li will become the first mutually recognised bishop in Beijing in almost 50 years.

Last night, church sources confirmed that the Vatican had given its approval, although officials from the Holy See have made no announcement of the decision.

It has brought relief to church members, who had been concerned that the ordination could be considered "illicit" by the Vatican - as were three cases last year - if papal approval could not be granted in time.

Father Li, who is known as a down-to-earth priest with strong pastoral experience in the diocese, was named bishop-elect by Beijing in July. However, the Vatican had difficulty contacting him, which was a condition for the approval process to proceed.

Last night, Anthony Liu Bainian , a vice-chairman of the state-backed Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which controls the mainland's church, said he had heard about the Vatican's decision. But he stressed that there had been no official contact between Beijing and the Holy See due to a lack of diplomatic relations. He added that the Holy See's recognition of Father Li's status was a gesture of goodwill.

"I am sure this will be beneficial to improving Sino-Vatican relations," Mr Liu added.

The Union of Catholic Asian News agency reported that several mainland bishops were invited to participate in the ordination Mass, with Bishop Fang Xingyao of Linyi as principal celebrant.

The episcopal see of Beijing is considered important and politically sensitive. The position was left vacant after the death of Michael Fu Tieshan earlier this year, a cleric who was unilaterally ordained by Beijing in 1979 without Vatican approval.

Vatican to pursue Beijing ties

(FT)

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: September 12 2007 03:00 | Last updated: September 12 2007 03:00

The death in Chinese custody, and hurried secular funeral, of a Roman Catholic bishop who was operating "underground" in the country have cast a shadow over efforts by Pope Benedict XVI to normalise relations between the Vatican and China.

However, observers said that in spite of the crude treatment of Bishop Han Dingxiang at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the trend towards closer ties between the Vatican and China - one of the pope's diplomatic priorities - appears set to continue.

Bishop Han Dingxiang of Yongnian in Hebei province, who spent a total of 35 years in prison, died on Sunday, aged 71, a Vatican source confirmed. He had been ill with lung cancer and had spent the last eight years in custody.

However, in a further sign of rapprochement between China's officially recognised Catholic church and the Vatican, a new bishop was ordained on Saturday in Guiyang in southern China by the state organisation with the approval of the Vatican.

AsiaNews, which is affiliated to the Vatican, reported that bishops and priests from the underground church, knowing of the Vatican's approval, decided to participate with the official church in the ordination of Paolo Xiao Zejiang. This was possibly the first joint celebration and marked an important step in reconciliation as requested by the pope in his landmark letter of June 30 to the Chinese people, AsiaNews said. The letter urged the underground faithful and followers of the state-run church to overcome decades of animosity and distrust.

The Vatican's insistence on its right to appoint bishops is one of the most significant obstacles preventing restoration of the relations severed by the Chinese Communist party in 1951.

The US-based Cardinal Kung Foundation, which has close ties to China's "underground" Roman Catholic movement, said Chinese authorities hurriedly summoned a few close relatives to Bishop Han's bedside in the hours before his death.

He was cremated and his ashes buried within six hours of his death in a public cemetery with no priests present. The Foundation says four underground bishops remain in prison.

Liu Bainian, the conservative head of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association which risks losing authority and wealth through reconciliation, last week accused the Vatican of wanting to impose anti-communist bishops. He said China should accelerate the appointment of new bishops to meet a serious shortage in the country.

China Says Vatican Trying To Appoint Anti-Communist Bishops (WSJ)

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

September 5, 2007 11:32 p.m.

BEIJING (AP)--The Vatican is pushing to get anti-communist bishops appointed on the mainland, a senior official in China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church said in comments published Thursday.

Pope Benedict XVI has been reaching out to Beijing, eager to bring China's estimated 12 million Catholics under Rome's wing. But the two sides have been at loggerheads over the Vatican's insistence on naming bishops.

"While Chinese Catholics want to select those (bishops) with good religious knowledge and love toward the country and the people, the Vatican wants those who oppose the Communist Party (of China)," Liu Bainian was quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.

No specific examples of Vatican bishop choices were mentioned. The two sides have no formal ties but are believed to quietly confer on some bishop choices.

Liu told the paper the dispute over the bishop selection process remained the key obstacle to improving Sino-Vatican relations.

China wants to speed up the bishop selection and ordination process because many of the country's current bishops are elderly and 40 of the country's 97 official Catholic diocese have no bishop, Liu said.

"We are in dire need of bishops," Liu was quoted as saying.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the Pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations that are not registered with the authorities.

China has said before it also wants the Vatican to cut ties with Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing considers part of its territory.

Bishop Of Underground Chinese Catholic Church Detained (WSJ)DOW JONES NEWSWIRESAugust 23, 2007 4:02 a.m.

BEIJING (AP)--An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained by police for the second time this year, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

Bishop Jia Zhiguo, 73, was taken away Thursday by security agents in Zhengding, a city in northern Hebei province, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement.

It wasn't immediately clear why he was detained, the group said.

A woman from Zhengding Public Security Bureau, who refused to give her name, said she wasn't aware of the case. The phone of Zhengding Religious Affairs Bureau rang unanswered.

China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions remain loyal to the pope and worship in secret, but priests and members of their congregations are frequently detained and harassed.

In June, Pope Benedict XVI made his most significant attempt to unite China's Catholics, issuing a letter urging the underground faithful and followers of the state-run church to overcome decades of animosity and distrust.

The foundation said that since the release of the letter, Jia was told several times by the religious affairs bureau that he wasn't allowed to publicly support and promulgate the letter.

It said more police had been watching Jia in the last five days and that anyone visiting him was questioned.

The statement said the action "by the Chinese government is not only contrary to the spirit of the China letter issued by the Pope almost two months ago, but also contrary to the generally accepted principles of human rights and to the spirits of the Olympic games."

Jia, who was ordained in 1980, has been detained at least 11 times since January 2004, according to the Kung Foundation. The most recent time was in June, but it isn't known for how long he was detained.

Jia's Zhengding diocese, 240 kilometers southwest of Beijing in Hebei, is a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China.

The rights group said a priest, Father Wen Daoxiu, of Qingyuan County in Hebei, was also detained on Aug. 15 for unknown reasons.

It said Wen, in his mid-50s, was in poor health.

A man named Li who answered the phone at the Qingyuan Public Security Bureau and another official surnamed Zhao from the Qingyuan Religious Bureau said they weren't aware of Wen's case. Both refused to give their full names.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation is named for the late Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pinmei of Shanghai, who spent 30 years in Chinese prisons and died in the U.S. in 2000 at age 98.

Report: Bishop Of Underground Chinese Catholic Church Detained (WSJ)

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

August 23, 2007 4:02 a.m.

BEIJING (AP)--An elderly bishop in China's underground Catholic church has been detained by police for the second time this year, a U.S.-based monitoring group said Thursday.

Bishop Jia Zhiguo, 73, was taken away Thursday by security agents in Zhengding, a city in northern Hebei province, the Cardinal Kung Foundation said in a statement.

It wasn't immediately clear why he was detained, the group said.

A woman from Zhengding Public Security Bureau, who refused to give her name, said she wasn't aware of the case. The phone of Zhengding Religious Affairs Bureau rang unanswered.

China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions remain loyal to the pope and worship in secret, but priests and members of their congregations are frequently detained and harassed.

In June, Pope Benedict XVI made his most significant attempt to unite China's Catholics, issuing a letter urging the underground faithful and followers of the state-run church to overcome decades of animosity and distrust.

The foundation said that since the release of the letter, Jia was told several times by the religious affairs bureau that he wasn't allowed to publicly support and promulgate the letter.

It said more police had been watching Jia in the last five days and that anyone visiting him was questioned.

The statement said the action "by the Chinese government is not only contrary to the spirit of the China letter issued by the Pope almost two months ago, but also contrary to the generally accepted principles of human rights and to the spirits of the Olympic games."

Jia, who was ordained in 1980, has been detained at least 11 times since January 2004, according to the Kung Foundation. The most recent time was in June, but it isn't known for how long he was detained.

Jia's Zhengding diocese, 240 kilometers southwest of Beijing in Hebei, is a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China.

The rights group said a priest, Father Wen Daoxiu, of Qingyuan County in Hebei, was also detained on Aug. 15 for unknown reasons.

It said Wen, in his mid-50s, was in poor health.

A man named Li who answered the phone at the Qingyuan Public Security Bureau and another official surnamed Zhao from the Qingyuan Religious Bureau said they weren't aware of Wen's case. Both refused to give their full names.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation is named for the late Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pinmei of Shanghai, who spent 30 years in Chinese prisons and died in the U.S. in 2000 at age 98.

China and its Catholics

Cardinal principles (The Economist)

Jul 5th 2007 | BEIJING AND HONG KONG

From The Economist print edition

An historic chance of reconciliation with Catholics, if not democrats

IF THEY were seeking to justify their deep suspicion of Catholics, Chinese officials would have felt vindicated. On July 1st tens of thousands of Hong Kong citizens chose to mark their first decade under Chinese rule by marching through the streets to demand more democracy. Among them was Hong Kong's top Catholic, Cardinal Joseph Zen. But once easily riled, China is learning to swallow its anger.

So too are some of its critics. Pope Benedict, whose church has long upbraided China for its suppression of religious freedom, is now trying to make friends. In a rare and lengthy letter to Catholics in China last week the pope wrote in conciliatory terms about China's state-controlled Catholic church and bishops in it who have been appointed without the Vatican's approval. He also stressed that the church in China had no mission to change the country politically.

Ten years ago, when the British left Hong Kong, many Chinese officials expressed fears that pro-democracy politicians would plunge the territory into turmoil. They worried that they would also step up pressure on the Communist Party to change its dictatorial ways. But much has changed. After ten years of rapid economic growth, and with little social unrest, the party today seems less plagued by thoughts of its possible sudden demise.

There were far fewer pro-democracy marchers this year than in 2003, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets on July 1st in what has since become an annual ritual. The Hong Kong Transition Project, an academic group studying the impact of China's takeover, believes China's image has improved. In a survey in April it found nearly 70% of 800 respondents were satisfied with China's management of Hong Kong's affairs. Just before the British withdrawal, only 45% thought China was handling things well.

The demonstration was part of a well- oiled series of events marking the ten-year anniversary that day. As dragon-dancers and marching bands wound up their street celebrations, the democrats began their protest. They stuck to an authorised route finishing outside the Hong Kong government's headquarters. Few in Hong Kong believe the local authorities have much say in the territory's political development. But mainstream democrats diplomatically refrain from protesting outside the central government's local offices.

Such restraint allowed China's president, Hu Jintao, three days in Hong Kong largely untroubled by signs of dissent-he left just before the march. Mr Hu's duties included swearing in Donald Tsang, knighted by the British and a devout Catholic, for another five years as Hong Kong's chief executive. Also sworn in, as the new financial secretary, was John Tsang (no relation), a former private secretary to Hong Kong's last British governor, Chris Patten. Ten years ago China was nervous about giving top jobs to those with colonial links. Now it is far less concerned. Among those deployed to marshal the demonstration was a sprinkling of British officers.

Cardinal Zen's participation was condemned by a senior official from China's state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The official, Liu Bainian, was quoted by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post as asking how the Vatican could win China's trust if it appointed people like the cardinal.

China's response to the pope's letter has been muted, which Cardinal Zen sees as a good sign. In fact, China may well be quietly pleased. One of the letter's aims was to discourage Catholics in China from shunning the state-sponsored church. This was established in 1957, six years after China severed ties with the Vatican and expelled foreign priests. Many local priests were imprisoned. Several are still in jail because of their opposition to the government church. China says it now has about 5m Catholics, but there are believed to be many millions more who worship in "underground" churches with priests not recognised by the state. The pope's letter said Catholics could worship in state churches, even if their priests had no links with the pope, if finding Vatican-approved clergy caused "grave inconvenience".

One of the main obstacles to improved relations between China and the Vatican has been the Vatican's insistence that it appoint bishops. China objects, fearful of losing control of the church. But there are signs of a possible compromise. In recent years it has often allowed names to be submitted to the pope in advance for his secret approval before its "official" ordination takes place. Last year, however, China made three appointments without Vatican clearance. Many believed this was partly prompted by Pope Benedict's decision to make Joseph Zen a cardinal in February 2006. Cardinal Zen, who dismisses any link with his appointment, described the ordinations as "acts of war".

The pope's letter was more tactful. It said some bishops who had been ordained under pressure without the Vatican's approval had subsequently asked for the pope's acknowledgement. He said he had granted this, taking into account "the sincerity of their sentiments and the complexity of the situation". The letter said the "very small number" of bishops who had not asked for or received the pope's blessing were "illegitimate". But they were still considered "validly ordained" as long as it was by validly ordained bishops.

Taiwan vaut bien une messe

China has strong motives to work out a deal. A rapprochement with the Vatican would do a lot to improve its human-rights image in the West. It would also deal a huge diplomatic blow to Taiwan. Last month Costa Rica switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, leaving Taiwan with just 24 states that still officially recognise it. The Vatican is by far the most influential of them.

For all Cardinal Zen's misgivings, China is not in a pugnacious mood. As it prepares to host the Olympic Games in Beijing next year, it is anxious to project a softer image. In Hong Kong Mr Hu, normally stiff and uncharismatic, briefly played table-tennis with a 13-year-old in front of television cameras.

China has railed against a proposal by Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, to hold a referendum next year on whether Taiwan should apply to join the UN under the name Taiwan instead of the island's official title, the Republic of China. (To China, this sounds too much like a cutting of links with the mainland.) But so, in more diplomatic terms, have the Americans, who have much to lose if the Chinese get truly angry. For now, they are not.

Vatican Letter Tries to Bridge Chinese Divide

(WSJ)

By ANDREW BATSON

July 2, 2007BEIJING -- Pope Benedict XVI published an open letter to Chinese Catholics that seeks to resolve decades of rancorous division among the nation's believers and to speed the restoration of official ties between the Vatican and Beijing.

In his most significant statement on China since becoming the head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, Pope Benedict reached out to Chinese officials long suspicious of Catholicism. He said the church doesn't aim to challenge the Chinese government's authority, and he praised China's ancient civilization and recent progress. While calling for greater religious freedom, he said the Vatican is open to negotiations and believes an agreement for restoring relations with China is possible.

"This situation of misunderstandings and incomprehension weighs heavily, serving the interests of neither the Chinese authorities nor the Catholic Church in China," Pope Benedict wrote in the letter, dated May 27 and made public Saturday.

The letter marks the culmination of Vatican efforts in recent years to heal a decades-old rift that has hindered the growth of Catholicism in China. The Vatican and China haven't had formal ties since the 1950s, when the officially atheist Communist Party expelled foreign priests and placed Catholics under the direction of a state-sponsored organization. That official repression has led China's estimated 12 million Catholics into an often-bitter split between those who accept government supervision and those who reject it. Many Catholics worry that those internal divisions, and the uncertainty over relations with the Vatican, have handicapped the church's ability respond to a growing interest in religion in China.

Catholics are heavily outnumbered in China by various Protestant denominations, which have expanded rapidly. Pope Benedict seemed to share that assessment, calling such splits "a weakness in the church that causes concern."

A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said officials were aware of the letter, but didn't comment on its contents. China is "willing to continue frank and constructive dialogue with the Vatican in order to seek a solution to the two sides' differences," the spokesman, Qin Gang, said in a statement.

The pope's letter, addressed to individual believers and clergy, urged Chinese Catholics to put aside past grievances and focus on their shared faith. He praised adherents of underground churches, who have often been harassed and imprisoned in China.

Pope to mend relations with Beijing

(FT)

By Robin Kwong in Hong Kong

Published: July 1 2007 16:22 | Last updated: July 1 2007 16:22

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed confidence that the Vatican and China can resolve their differences over bishop appointments, one of the long-standing barriers to normalisation of relations between the two.

The Pope extended the olive branch in a letter issued at the weekend. In the first official papal letter addressed to all Chinese Catholics in 49 years, he also renewed calls for "respectful and constructive" dialogue between the Holy See and Beijing, which have not had official diplomatic relations since 1951.

China's 11m Catholics are courted by both "underground" churches loyal to Rome and state churches operating under the auspices of the Catholic Patriotic Association. Unilateral bishop appointments, which China resumed in 2006 after a six-year hiatus, exacerbated tensions between the world's most populous nation and the Vatican, which claims a global following of 1.1bn Catholics.

According to an informal arrangement dating back to 2000, the Holy See was given time to review and tacitly endorse bishopric candidates before their anointment by the CPA. But that truce was broken last year when Beijing ordained two of its own bishops. China appeared to be reacting to Pope Benedict's elevation of Hong Kong bishop Joseph Zen, an outspoken advocate for democracy and religious freedom, to cardinal.

In his letter, Pope Benedict maintained that the right to appoint bishops was "a constitutive element of the full exercise of the right to religious freedom", but hoped an agreement could be reached regarding choice of candidates, the publication of bishop appointments and the government's recognition of new bishops.

He gave individual bishops in China's underground churches the right to decide whether they should seek formal recognition from Beijing ? provided church principles were observed.

The Pope also issued new directives allowing Catholics to attend mass celebrated by "illegitimate", or state-appointed, bishops.

China's foreign ministry reiterated that diplomatic ties cannot be resumed unless the Vatican ceases its recognition of Taiwan and forswears "interference" in China's internal affairs.

Liu Bainan, the hardline vice-chairman of the CPA, said the official church would continue unilaterally appointing bishops until Sino-Vatican relationships were normalised.

Benoît XVI défend ses ouailles en Chine

(Libération)

Pékin critique les accusations portées par le pape sur la liberté de culte. Par P.N. (avec AFP, Reuters)

QUOTIDIEN : lundi 2 juillet 2007

La Chine est un pays officiellement athée, et le Vatican n'a pas à s'immiscer dans ses affaires intérieures au nom de la religion, rappellent les autorités de Pékin à Benoît XVI. Dans une longue lettre envoyée samedi aux catholiques chinois, le pape a critiqué les restrictions exercées par le pouvoir chinois sur la liberté de culte, qui étouffent l'activité pastorale et sèment la division parmi les fidèles, réclamant une authentique liberté religieuse.

Réaliste. S'il est prêt à améliorer les relations avec la Chine, le Vatican doit agir plutôt que de créer de nouveaux obstacles, a répliqué dans un communiqué très court le ministère des Affaires étrangères, rappelant son leitmotiv : Le Vatican doit interrompre ses prétendues relations diplomatiques avec Taiwan et reconnaître que la République populaire de Chine est le seul gouvernement. Une attitude réaliste, selon Pékin. Benoît XVI, qui souhaite une normalisation, a pourtant mis les formes, dans sa lettre publiée en mandarin sur le site du Vatican et surtout destinée aux 8 à 12 millions de pratiquants chinois : Il est vrai que, ces dernières années, l'Eglise jouit en regard du passé d'une plus grande liberté, le Saint-Siège demeure ouvert aux négociations qui sont nécessaires pour dépasser le difficile moment présent, ajoute-t-il, mais on ne peut nier que demeurent de graves limitations qui touchent le coeur de la foi. Je suis conscient que la normalisation demande du temps et qu'elle présuppose la bonne volonté des deux parties, dit aussi Benoît XVI, qui a raison sur ce point.

Durcissement. L'histoire est déjà longue entre les deux Etats. En 1951, le Vatican a reconnu Taiwan, où s'était enfui le nonce apostolique. Le gouvernement de Pékin, obsédé par le retour de l'île rebelle dans la mère patrie, a alors obligé les -catholiques à couper tout lien avec le Saint-Siège, et a cessé ses relations diplomatiques. Depuis 1957, les fidèles ne sont autorisés à pratiquer qu'au sein de l'Association -catholique patriotique de Chine, entièrement contrôlée par l'Etat communiste. Persécutés -durant la Révolution culturelle, ils ont profité des -années 80 pour se réorganiser, certains dans le giron de l'Eglise -patriotique. Les autres, 30 à 40 % selon le -Vatican, ont créé des Eglises -clandestines, qui sont plus ou moins tolérées aujourd'hui en Chine.

Il y aurait 130 diocèses, 80 évêques officiels en Chine, dont 90 % sont reconnus par -Rome, selon les spécialistes. Le principal écueil, pour des -relations normalisées, reste la nomination des évêques, dont Pékin veut garder la prérogative. En 2006, l'ordination de trois évêques de l'Eglise -patriotique sans l'accord du Vatican a provoqué un durcissement très net. Après deux millénaires européens et américains fastes pour les catholiques, le pape espère que le troisième sera asiatique : Une grande moisson de foi sera recueillie dans le vaste et vivant continent asiatique, écrit-il dans sa lettre aux Chinois. Cela ne semble pas entrer dans les projets immédiats de -Pékin.

http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/monde/264649.FR.php

_ Libération

Guiding China's Catholics

(WSJ)

July 3, 2007

The Vatican released a pastoral letter from Pope Benedict XVI to China's Catholics on Saturday, and its major theme was, as expected, reconciliation. Most commentators will focus on what that means for diplomatic relations between the Vatican and China. But the Pope's more important advice is aimed squarely inside the Chinese Church itself.

Since the Party expelled the Vatican's representative in 1951, many Catholics in China have worshipped in underground churches. They had good reason to do so; as it did to other religious groups, the Party unleashed waves of terror onto the Catholic community that exists to this day. The Communists then set up their own, state-run churches -- no small irony for a godless ideology.

The situation created a conundrum for the Catholic faithful: Should they worship underground, at personal risk, or above ground, at a church not recognized by the Vatican? Many parishioners view the state-run churches as heretical; others didn't believe underground bishops who claimed to be recognized by the Vatican -- as most are. The Vatican further confused matters by maintaining that Beijing-ordained priests could give communion in some circumstances.

Enter Pope Benedict. China's bishops, he writes, can pursue reconciliation with the state-run church so long as it's safe to do so and they can maintain their devotion to the Vatican. "The clandestine condition," he writes, "is not a normal feature of the Church's life." And, "especially where there is little room for freedom . . . to evaluate the morality of an act it is necessary to devote particular care to establishing the real intentions of the persons concerned."

Benedict's letter may upset Chinese Catholics who have suffered at the hand of the Party. It might also distress those in the Vatican who would prefer to take a harder line, insisting that China ease religious curbs before the Vatican strikes a softer note. In any event, the Pope is stepping out on a limb, as his advice to underground bishops to come out in the open may encourage the Party to crack down harder on those who remain in hiding.

Still, the Pope's broader message carries a nugget of advice for China's Communist policy makers, too. After all, how moral are the Party's intentions toward its faithful? And how will those policy makers be judged?

Le ton monte entre le pape et la Chine

(le Figaro)

L.S. (lefigaro.fr) avec AFP.

Publié le 30 juin 2007

Actualisé le 30 juin 2007 : 14h58

Pékin oppose une fin de non-recevoir aux demandes de Benoît XVI sur la liberté religieuse.

Il faudra du temps et de la bonne volonté des deux parties pour parvenir à la normalisation des relations avec la République populaire de Chine , avait prévenu Benoît XVI, en adressant une lettre à la Chine et aux Chinois. Le pape ne se trompait pas, mais Pékin ne semble pas disposé, à l'heure actuelle, à afficher sa bonne volonté . En guise de réponse, la Chine a en effet a appelé le Vatican à adopter une attitude réaliste , à ne pas créer de nouveaux obstacles à l'amélioration des relations bilatérales, et à ne pas s'ingérer dans les affaires intérieures de la Chine au nom du catholicisme , selon un communiqué du ministère chinois des Affaires étrangères.

Dans sa lettre rendue publique samedi, le pape demandait à la Chine le respect d'une authentique liberté religieuse et rejetait l'idée d'une Eglise soumise aux autorités chinoises et indépendante du Vatican.

Le Saint-Siège et la Chine n'entretiennent plus de relations diplomatiques depuis 1951 et la reconnaissance de Taiwan par le Vatican. La Chine a rappelé dans son communiqué les deux conditions du rétablissement de ces relations : la rupture des relations diplomatiques entre le Vatican et Ta_wan, que la Chine considère comme une province, ainsi que le pouvoir de nommer les membres du clergé. Le souverain pontife indique de son côté ne reconnaître aucune légitimité au collège des évêques catholiques de Chine constitué sous l'autorité du pouvoir politique, ni à l'association patriotique qui contrôle l'Eglise officielle, et réclame de pouvoir nommer seul les évêques chinois

Le pape veut renouer le dialogue avec la Chine, mais exige la liberté totale des catholiques

(le Monde)

LE MONDE | 02.07.07 | 14h50 _ Mis à jour le 02.07.07 | 14h51

Renouer le dialogue avec la Chine est l'une des grandes ambitions de Benoît XVI. Depuis la rupture de 1951, un pape a publié pour la première fois, samedi 30 juin, un document complet, précis, sans langue de bois, pour signifier à la Chine sa volonté de dialogue, en maintenant toutes ses exigences. Les catholiques de Chine sont un "petit troupeau" (8 à 12 millions), exemplaire par sa "fidélité", témoin d'une foi "persécutée", écrit le pape, mais sa "normalisation" serait un pas de géant pour les libertés.

Indépendance par rapport à l'Etat, unité des fidèles et du clergé dans une seule Eglise, liberté de nomination des évêques : tels sont les trois messages que le pape a adressés à Pékin.

Concernant l'indépendance, l'Eglise en Chine ne réclame "aucun privilège". Elle n'a d'autre ambition qu'un "service humble et désintéressé" de toute la population. Les catholiques se conduisent comme "de bons citoyens, des collaborateurs respectueux et actifs du bien commun". En contrepartie, ils exigent un exercice totalement libre de leur religion.

Le pape admet qu'"au regard du passé, l'Eglise de Chine jouit d'une plus grande liberté". Mais il ajoute que "de graves limitations touchent le coeur de la foi" et "étouffent" encore l'activité des croyants. Il ne veut plus de la situation de "conflit permanent", sans pour autant tomber dans la "complaisance". Jamais un pape n'avait établi aussi fermement l'agenda de reprise d'un dialogue.

Le deuxième message est celui de la réunification d'une Eglise coupée en deux depuis la Révolution chinoise : d'une part, les catholiques "officiels", dépendant de l'Association patriotique créée il y a cinquante ans - organisme étatique de direction et de surveillance du clergé et des fidèles - ; d'autre part, les catholiques "clandestins". Benoît XVI dénonce "la prétention de ces organismes imposés, voulus par l'Etat, de se placer au-dessus des évêques et de vouloir guider la vie de l'Eglise". Pour lui, l'Association patriotique est une anomalie, de même que le "Collège des évêques catholiques de Chine", qui ne peut pas se prévaloir du statut d'une Conférence épiscopale.

DES &EACUTE;V&ECIRC;QUES LIBREMENT NOMM&EACUTE;S

Le pape lance donc un appel à l'unité des fidèles et du clergé chinois au sein d'une seule Eglise indépendante de l'Etat, libre de sa direction et de ses relations avec l'Eglise universelle, symbolisée par le pape à Rome. "La clandestinité ne rentre pas dans la normalité de la vie de l'Eglise", insiste-t-il. Les actuels prêtres et évêques clandestins doivent être reconnus sans tarder par les autorités civiles.

Reste l'irritante question de la nomination des évêques, soit le contrôle à la base des communautés, prétexte à des démêlés réguliers. La plupart des évêques "officiels" sont nommés par les autorités et leur situation est régularisée a posteriori par Rome au cas par cas. Pékin n'entend pas renoncer à cette prérogative qui, pour le pape, est intolérable. C'est à lui qu'il appartient de nommer les évêques (4 500 dans le monde), afin de garantir l'unité de direction de son Eglise. Tout contrevenant s'expose à des sanctions.

Pékin accuse le Vatican d'ingérence dans les affaires chinoises. Benoît XVI répond qu'il n'a aucune intention de "léser la souveraineté" de la Chine. Des nominations d'évêque ont pu se faire récemment d'un commun accord entre Pékin et la diplomatie vaticane. Mais l'ordination de trois d'entre eux en 2006, sans l'accord préalable de Rome, a provoqué un rude conflit. Le pape rêve d'une "liberté totale" de nomination des évêques chinois, d'un accord définitif pour résoudre les contentieux liés au choix des candidats, à la publication de leur nom, à leur reconnaissance. Il y a urgence. La Chine compte 148 diocèses : 49 évêques sont morts depuis 2000 et les deux tiers ont plus de 80 ans !

Cette lettre de Benoît XVI avait été d'abord soumise aux dirigeants chinois. La première réaction du ministère des affaires étrangères n'augure pas d'un changement d'attitude. Elle rappelle les deux conditions que pose Pékin à tout rétablissement des relations : la rupture du Vatican avec Taiwan (Pékin sait que le Vatican n'y fait plus obstacle) et sa souveraineté sur les nominations. Un an avant les Jeux olympiques, le ton ouvert de cette lettre est pourtant une chance inespérée de reprise d'un dialogue.

Henri Tincq Article paru dans l'édition du 03.07.07

Benoît XVI demande à Pékin de garantir aux citoyens catholiques le plein exercice de leur foi (le Monde)

LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | 30.06.07 | 14h12 _ Mis à jour le 30.06.07 | 14h17

Dans une lettre au clergé et aux catholiques de Chine publiée samedi 30 juin, le pape Benoît XVI demande à Pékin "le respect d'une authentique liberté religieuse" et rejette l'idée d'une Eglise soumise aux autorités chinoises et indépendante du Vatican.

Cette lettre du pape était attendue depuis le 20 janvier, quand s'était tenue au Vatican une réunion sur la situation de l'Eglise en Chine, où vivent 8 à 14 millions de catholiques. Le Saint-Siège et la Chine n'entretiennent plus de relations diplomatiques depuis 1951 et la reconnaissance de Taiwan par le Vatican. La rupture entre les deux Etats s'est encore aggravée en juillet 1957 avec la création sur le continent d'une Eglise catholique patriotique ("Association catholique patriotique de Chine"). Les persécutions de la Révolution culturelle visant tous les croyants aggraveront encore la situation. Avec les années 1980, et début de l'ouverture et des réformes économiques, les catholiques de l'Eglise clandestine se renforcent et un début de normalisation des rapports entre les deux églises prend forme.

"DU TEMPS ET DE LA BONNE VOLONT&EACUTE;"

Dans sa lettre, le pape adresse des signes de bonne volonté au pouvoir chinois, demandant aux fidèles d'être "de bons citoyens, des collaborateurs respectueux et actifs en faveur du bien commun de leur pays". En contrepartie, il appelle l'Etat chinois à "garantir à ces mêmes citoyens catholiques le plein exercice de leur foi, dans le respect d'une authentique liberté religieuse". Benoît XVI demande ainsi à Pékin la liberté de nommer les évêques et souligne que l'idée "d'une Eglise indépendante" du Vatican "est incompatible avec la doctrine catholique".

En ce sens, Benoît XVI ne reconnaît aucune légitimité au collège des évêques catholiques de Chine constitué sous l'autorité du pouvoir politique, ni à "l'association patriotique" qui contrôle l'Eglise officielle. "La prétention de certains organismes, voulus par l'Etat et étrangers à la structure de l'Eglise, de se placer au-dessus des évêques et de guider la vie de la communauté, ne correspond pas à la doctrine de l'Eglise", répète-t-il.

"Ouvert aux négociations", le pape souhaite cependant "que l'on trouve un accord avec le gouvernement pour résoudre certaines questions concernant soit le choix des candidats à l'épiscopat". Réaliste, le souverain pontife souligne cependant qu'il faudra "du temps et de la bonne volonté des deux parties" pour parvenir à "la normalisation des relations avec la République populaire de Chine".

NEWS ALERT: China Detains Eight House Church Leaders in Shandong and Shaanxi Provinces

Wednesday, 27 June 2007 (11 hours ago)

BosNewsLife News Center (in the Economist)

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Eight Chinese 'house church' leaders from China's Shaanxi and Shandong provinces remained detained and faced the prospect of serving time in labor camps Wednesday, June 27, after a police crackdown on Bible distribution and worship services, rights watchers and fellow Christians said.

Shanghai Bishop Hopeful For Vatican-China Progress

(WSJ)

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

June 11, 2007 9:29 p.m.

ROME (AP)--The government-backed Catholic bishop of Shanghai says he hopes the Vatican and China can restore ties, but warns that reconciling believers from the official and underground churches won't be easy.

In an interview with the Italian religious affairs magazine 30 Days, Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian said the faithful from China's official church were eagerly awaiting an upcoming letter from Pope Benedict XVI on the state of the Catholic church in China.

But the faithful in the underground church were worried, he was quoted as saying.

"They underground faithful cannot help but have some concerns, or the fear of being repudiated," he said, according to the magazine.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome. Many unofficial congregations hold services openly, but in some regions they are routinely harassed and their priests and bishops arrested.

Benedict has been reaching out to Beijing, eager to bring China's estimated 12 million Catholics under Rome's wing. But the two sides have been at loggerheads over the Vatican's insistence on naming bishops.

In a landmark move, the Vatican and the Chinese government agreed on the nomination of Jin's auxiliary bishop, Joseph Xing Wenzhi, who was consecrated in 2005. But not even that nomination has gone over smoothly with the underground faithful, Jin said.

"We had at first hoped that the underground faithful would recognize him, because he was nominated by Rome. But reality isn't so simple," Jin was quoted as saying.

Many Catholics in Shanghai reject the authority of Jin and others in the official Church. They regard another elderly priest in the underground church, Joseph Fan Zhongliang, as Shanghai's true bishop.

"Reconciliation and the return of unity of the registered and non-registered community will find great difficulties," Jin reportedly said.

Jin, 91, said he was hoping Rome would name Xing coadjutor bishop of Shanghai and make him his successor. "I truly hope that his consecration becomes a model," he said, according to the magazine

Jin said he hoped the Beijing government would understand the Vatican's insistence on naming bishops, and said the pending nomination of Beijing's new bishop would be something to watch.

Beijing Bishop Fu Tieshan of the official church died April 20.

"I hope that the Holy See and the Chinese government will develop good contacts to avoid unnecessary problems" in naming Fu's successor, Jin was quoted as saying.

Jin acknowledged that some officials of the official Patriotic Association were opposed to any restarting of ties between the official church and the Vatican.

"But I personally believe that the Patriotic Association cannot intervene in China's political decisions. All we need is some high-level political official to decide to relauch relations with the Vatican, and the Patriotic Association won't have the ability to create obstacles," he was quoted as saying.

Chinese priests in property dispute return home

The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/12/26/chinese_priests_in_property_dispute_return_home/

By Ben Blanchard and Chris Buckley | December 26, 2005

BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of Chinese Catholic priests and nuns locked in a property dispute with a city government went home over the weekend, but another group of nuns remain holed up in a historic chapel demanding that its ownership be returned to the Church.

Nuns belonging to the Sisters of Charity have occupied the abandoned chapel in the northern port city of Tianjin since August, demanding the building be returned to their hands, one of the nuns, who gave her surname as Liu, said on Monday.

It is the second land dispute in Tianjin between the city government and the Catholic Church, highlighting the tensions between religion and government control in China, even as Beijing courts diplomatic ties with the Vatican.

The priests and nuns are all members of China's official Catholic Church, which respects the Pope as a spiritual leader but rejects his administrative authority.

Liu said the chapel has "historic significance" for her order. In 1870, the building, an adjoining orphanage and nunnery, as well as other Tianjin churches were burned down in anti-Western riots, and 10 nuns were killed.

In 1903 the chapel was rebuilt and it remained in Church hands until after the Communist takeover in 1949. In later decades the chapel disappeared behind new buildings and the nuns, who regrouped in 1980, assumed it was destroyed.

But in 2003 the demolition of a handkerchief factory revealed the chapel had survived, and the nuns have since been demanding its return, Liu said.

About 10 nuns have occupied the chapel day and night since August, when developers moved to demolish it.

"If we didn't move in, they would have taken it away from us," said another nun, who asked not to be named. "The place means a lot to us, but officials have just ignored our requests for its return."

HEADING HOME

The other religious property protest in Tianjin petered out over the weekend when the last of a group that originally numbered almost 50 returned to their home province of Shanxi.

The mayor promised that if the remaining 13 priests, nuns and seminarians went home, he would deal with the dispute, one of the priests said.

"We've not given up our demand," the priest said by telephone from Shanxi. "But we had to give the mayor face. He said the deadlock could not go on as it would make the situation even harder to solve."

The low-rise, colonial-style building in the former Italian concession in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing, was owned by the Shanxi Catholics before the 1949 Communist revolution.

The building was then seized by the government and has never been handed back despite a 1993 promise to do so, the priest said.

"We believe that if the Tianjin government has given their word, it will be solved soon. We still want them to give the building back so we can manage it," he said, before the line was abruptly cut. He could not be reached again.

The Tianjin city government declined comment, but sent a fax of an article from the official Xinhua news agency dated December 23 on the dispute.

"The Tianjin government has a firm and clear policy on religious properties and the protection of the legal rights of religious groups," it quoted a spokesman from the State Bureau of Religious Affairs as saying.

Chinese police regularly harass members of the underground Roman Catholic Church, but generally leave religious services alone.

Beijing has had no ties with the Vatican since 1951 and insists relations cannot be resumed unless the Holy See severs links with self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

Since China restored officially controlled religion in the 1980s, it has selectively returned confiscated land to Catholic churches. But in many places land remains in dispute.

Chrétiens en ombres chinoises

(le Monde)

LE MONDE | 23.05.07 | 14h45 _ Mis à jour le 23.05.07 | 14h45

ENVOY&EACUTE; SP&EACUTE;CIAL &AGRAVE; FENGXIANG ET DANS LA PROVINCE DU HEBEI

Mgr Li Jinfeng est un drôle de paroissien : l'évêque de Fengxiang, gros bourg poussiéreux de la province du Shaanxi, fait partie de la mouvance catholique de l'Eglise clandestine chinoise et exerce illégalement son ministère tout en s'étant assuré du soutien bienveillant des responsables locaux du Parti communiste... Une situation singulière mais plus si inédite dans la Chine d'aujourd'hui : les rapports évoluent entre l'Etat et certains "résistants" d'une communauté de catholiques pour lesquels seule comptait autrefois l'autorité du Vatican.

L'évêque vit dans le petit presbytère situé derrière une église de style pour le moins baroque, sorte de monumentale pâtisserie architecturale que personne ne pourrait qualifier de clandestine. Elle domine de sa vingtaine de mètres une grande cour ouverte sur l'une des grandes rues de la ville. Plantée au coeur de Fengxiang, mais dépourvue de toute existence légale, l'église symbolise ces "zones grises" qui, en Chine, bousculent les lignes séparant l'interdit, l'autorisé et le toléré.

Les relations qu'entretient l'évêque avec les autorités sont le signe de changements intervenus entre les deux Eglises : l'officielle, dépendante du régime, non reconnue par Rome, et la souterraine, qui obéit au Vatican et résiste depuis des lustres au pouvoir chinois. Quatre millions de fidèles appartiennent à la première, entre cinq et neuf millions à la seconde. Monseigneur est un petit homme de 87 ans, bon pied, bon oeil malin derrière une grosse paire de lunettes. Il parle et lit le latin, a appris des rudiments d'italien et même de français en solitaire.

Son passé résume à lui seul les vies brisées des catholiques de Chine populaire. Arrêté en 1958, sept ans après la rupture des liens entre le Vatican et Pékin et alors que la répression s'était durcie contre les croyants de toutes religions, il sera, jusqu'à la fin de sa peine, en 1973, ballotté de prisons en camps de travail. Puis il est forcé d'intégrer une unité pour anciens détenus. Il devient mineur.

"J'ai réussi, grâce à Dieu, à traverser toutes ces épreuves sans trop de mal, observe-t-il aujourd'hui, assis dans son petit bureau croulant sous les livres. A la mine, j'étais gardien et l'on ne m'obligeait pas à descendre au fond du trou, même si je le faisais parfois pour gagner un peu d'argent supplémentaire."

Mgr Li retrouve la liberté en 1979. Son prédécesseur, malade, très âgé, lui demande de prendre la succession. Le 25 avril 1980, il est nommé évêque, dans la clandestinité absolue. "La bulle du pape en peau d'agneau annonçant ma nomination a été envoyée à Hongkong, car je ne pouvais directement la recevoir ici..."

Le prélat n'a jamais accepté d'adhérer à l'Association patriotique des catholiques, créée en 1982. Celle-ci rassemble les catholiques d'une Eglise aux ordres du pouvoir, qui nomme elle-même ses évêques le plus souvent au mépris du Saint-Siège. "Les envoyés de l'Association, qui connaissaient évidemment mon existence, m'ont demandé de les rejoindre à plusieurs reprises. J'ai toujours refusé, estimant qu'il ne m'était pas possible de devenir membre d'une organisation ne reconnaissant pas le Saint-Père..."

Mais, malgré sa résistance au "formatage", l'évêque a forgé "une très bonne relation avec les cadres locaux", selon son expression. Un modus vivendi qui lui permet de garantir la sécurité de ses 20 000 fidèles, de ses 40 prêtres - dont 10 étudient à l'étranger, l'un d'eux en France - et de ses 39 moines et religieuses. "Cette situation est un cas assez unique", admet-il.

Un jour, des cadres communistes sont venus le voir pour lui demander de coopérer avec le gouvernement. Après moult discussions et négociations, on a fini de part et d'autre par choisir le compromis, le refus d'une confrontation stérile. Après tout, Mgr Li est aussi le garant pour le pouvoir de la bonne conduite de ses fidèles... Des catholiques de l'Eglise souterraine sont venus le voir il y a quelque temps. Ils n'arrivaient pas à croire qu'il était encore membre de leur mouvance. "Je ne menace pas le pouvoir en portant la mitre et la crosse, dit-il avec malice. A l'exception des questions religieuses, je suis tout à fait d'accord avec les autorités !" Quel contraste pour le vieil évêque ! En novembre 2001, des policiers avaient fait irruption au presbytère, lui enjoignant "de prendre beaucoup de vêtements", l'arrêtant pour plusieurs semaines avant de lui conseiller vertement de suivre des "sessions de rééducation" !

La situation de Mgr Li est "inédite". Mais il n'est plus le seul à avoir choisi la voie du compromis, comme le prouvent plusieurs exemples de "collaboration" avec les autorités de la part de prélats autrefois clandestins. Ce nouveau type de relations a contribué à détendre l'atmosphère dans tout le district. Il suffit de sortir de Fengxiang pour s'en convaincre. Non loin de la ville, à environ une demi-heure de piste à travers les hauts plants de mais, une église à deux clochers, construite en 1995, rompt la monotonie du paysage. Au bout, c'est le village de Wa Yaoutou, 400 âmes dont 300 catholiques.

"Nous n'avons aucun problème avec les autorités", explique M. Wang, un paysan dont le père et le grand-père étaient catholiques. Assis dans le minuscule salon de sa maison bâtie dans l'unique rue, au pied de l'église, il se félicite qu'en "cas d'éventuelles difficultés il suffit d'aller en parler à l'évêque". A quelques centaines de mètres de là, les religieuses "clandestines" d'un couvent tiennent un discours semblable. La Mère supérieure se souvient qu'"il y a trois ans des gens du gouvernement local sont venus nous demander de ne pas habiter ensemble. Ils venaient de découvrir qu'ici c'est un couvent ! Mais depuis deux ans, tout va bien. Des cadres du parti viennent même discuter tranquillement avec nous." A quelques dizaines de kilomètres de là, plus loin dans la campagne, dans un autre couvent de moines franciscains, les Frères admettent que leur situation de "clandestins" s'est considérablement améliorée. Le couvent s'organise autour d'un ensemble assez vaste de bâtiments, une grande chapelle, un réfectoire, une cuisine, des cellules monastiques, des salles de travail, un potager... tout ce qu'il faut pour garantir à la dizaine de reclus un certain degré d'autarcie.

1 | 2 | suivant

Bruno Philip

Article paru dans l'édition du 24.05.07.

Une explosion des religions sous étroite surveillance

(le Monde)

LE MONDE | 23.05.07 | 14h45

Garantie par la Constitution depuis 1980, après la fin des années du maoisme athée radical, la liberté de croyance en Chine suscite un grossissement continu des rangs de presque toutes les grandes religions.

Sous l'oeil sourcilleux d'un pouvoir qui a relâché son contrôle sur l'individu mais reste très attentif à l'émergence du fait religieux, le désir spirituel renaît. Mais le régime est autant soucieux d'instrumentaliser les religions à son bénéfice quand il exalte les "valeurs morales" que de se prémunir contre l'émergence incontrôlable de groupes religieux pouvant menacer le monopole du parti. Les chiffres officiels concernant le nombre de fidèles, toutes religions confondues, sont très inférieurs à la réalité. Un sondage récent, réalisé par l'Université normale de Shanghai, fait état d'un total de 300 millions de croyants en République populaire, soit trois fois plus que les chiffres du régime...

De source officielle, il y aurait ainsi 5 millions de catholiques. En fait, si l'on y ajoute le nombre des croyants appartenant à l'Eglise clandestine, 11, voire 14 millions de Chinois seraient catholiques. Même chose pour les protestants. Officiellement, ils sont 16 millions. En réalité, les différentes sectes pentecôtistes, évangélistes, anglicanes ou luthériennes ont le vent en poupe et pourraient totaliser une quarantaine de millions de fidèles. Ici comme ailleurs dans d'autres régions du monde, le protestantisme séduit de plus en plus, notamment parce qu'il fait miroiter à l'individu les avantages d'une religion plus personnelle, déconnectée des commandements temporels d'une "superstructure" autoritaire comme le Vatican.

Le nombre de musulmans, que cela soit les Huis, descendants de commerçants arabo-persans, ou les Ouigours, turcophones de la province occidentale du Xinjiang, est estimé à une vingtaine de millions de personnes. Les Ouigours, souvent hostiles à la colonisation des Chinois hans sur leur territoire et dont une minorité est tiraillée par des velléités d'indépendance, suscitent la méfiance de Pékin, qui réprime sans pitié religieux et militants séparatistes dans ces lointaines marches de l'empire. Les Huis, dispersés dans tout le pays, ne sont en revanche pas perçus comme une menace politique, même si un nombre croissant de jeunes musulmans partis faire des études coraniques en Arabie saoudite ou dans d'autres pays arabes reviennent en Chine ragaillardis par les préceptes d'un islam plus rigoureux, voire plus intégriste sur le plan des valeurs morales.

La liste serait incomplète si elle ne mentionnait pas des religions plus... chinoises qui, elles aussi, redeviennent de plus en plus populaires. Les bouddhistes sont les plus nombreux en Chine, leurs fidèles étant estimés à 8 % de la population, soit plus de 100 millions de personnes, par un rapport du service des libertés religieuses du département d'Etat américain. Officiellement, les statistiques sont inexistantes. Mais un nombre croissant de Chinois hans se rendent au Tibet, pas seulement pour des motifs commerciaux liés aux opportunités offertes par le Grand Ouest chinois, mais aussi pour des raisons liées à la fascination exercée par le bouddhisme lamaique...

Quant au taoisme, qui est autant une religion qu'une philosophie, il ferait continuellement de nouveaux adeptes sans que les fidèles des préceptes de Lao Tseu puissent être répertoriés.

Article paru dans l'édition du 24.05.07.

Top Law Firm for Human Rights Suspended After Filing Parole Papers for Jailed Beijing Church Leader

To: National & International Desks

Contact: Bob Fu, China Aid Association, 267-205-5210, 432-689-6985, bobfu@ChinaAid.org

MIDLAND, Texas, Nov. 4 /Christian Wire Service/ --China Aid Association learned that November 4, 2005, a top law firm in Beijing known for defending human rights was ordered closed for one year by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice.

According to reliable reports, Mr. Gao Zhisheng, the director of Beijing Shengzhi Law Firm, received a formal government notice that all of his law firm operations are suspended for one year. Hours before receiving the closure notice, Mr. Gao filed parole documents with the Beijing People's Court of Haidian District for Ms. Xiao Yunfei, the wife of jailed house church leader Pastor Cai Zhuohua. He is one of the defense lawyers for Pastor Cai, his wife Ms. Xiao Yunfei and two other family members who were arrested last September. The Chinese government accused them of "illegal business practices" for printing and distributing hundreds of thousands of copies of the Bible and other Christian literature. They are being held following their trial and awaiting a verdict.

In an interview with Bob Fu, president of CAA the morning of November 4 following the parole paper filing he stated that the arrests of Pastor Cai and other family members and the more than one year continuous detention following a trial without a verdict is illegal according to Chinese law.

It's widely believed that the retributive actions taken against Mr. Gao and his law firm by the Chinese government is due to his active role in defending human rights and religious freedom cases like Pastor Cai's case. He also defended several other high profile cases including persecuted Falun Gong practitioners. After days of intensive investigations and interviews with numerous victims, he issued an open letter to both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao a few weeks ago demanding that they stop persecuting peaceful Falun Gong practitioners.

"It is a very dark day and a devastating blow to the rule of law in China," said Bob Fu, President of CA. "Instead of holding the human rights and religious freedom violators accountable, the Chinese government chooses to suppress these conscientious defenders of human rights."

People of conscience around the world are urged to pray for and protest against the barbaric actions by these related government agencies.

Emails and phone calls of encouragement can be sent at the following address:

Mr. Gao Zhisheng +86-10-81990759 Email: gaozhisheng@263.net

Issued by China Aid Association, Inc. November 4, 2005

Two Chinese priests detained

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Vatican_China_Priests_Detained.html

Sunday, October 30, 2005 _ Last updated 5:52 p.m. PT, Associated Press

ROME -- Two priests from China's underground Catholic Church have been detained, a Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency reported. The two had reportedly just given a rare interview to a foreign journalist.

The AsiaNews missionary agency said Friday that the Revs. Shao Zhumin and Paul Jiang Sunian, from the underground church in Wenzhou on China's southeast coast, were detained Thursday after celebrating Mass.

The report said the detentions were unusual because the situation of underground priests in Wenzhou had been "calm" for some time.

On Friday, however, the Italian newsweekly Espresso published a two-page article in which it said it had interviewed the two priests, as well as a third, and that they had "risked arrest" by speaking to a foreign journalist.

The article said that two days after the interview was conducted, Chinese police followed the reporter and took her interpreter to the police station.

In the interview, the priests spoke of previous detentions, with Shao saying he had been asked after his Sept. 7, 1999, detention to make a declaration "to evaluate whether I had become patriotic."

China allows worship in government-controlled churches and appoints its own priests and bishops. Chinese Catholics who meet outside the sanctioned churches are frequently harassed by authorities.

Pope Benedict XVI has been reaching out to the Beijing government in hopes of restoring diplomatic relations and bringing all of China's estimated 12 million Catholics under Rome's wing.

China releases Protestant church activist

By CHRISTOPHER BODEENASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 _ Lastupdated 6:08 a.m. PT

SHANGHAI, China -- A prominent activist in China's underground Protestant church has been released from a labor camp after serving a two-year sentence, a U.S.-based monitoring group reported Wednesday.

Zhang Yinan, 47, left a camp near the central China city of Zhengzhou on Sunday, according to the China Aid Association, headquartered in Midland, Texas.

China's officially atheistic Communist authorities allow worship only in tightly controlled state churches, and those who meet outside - often in members' homes - are routinely harassed and fined, and sometimes sent to labor camps.

While underground church organizers can receive sentences of several years in prison, China Aid Association President Bob Fu said international attention given to Zhang's case had persuaded China to give him a relatively light punishment.

"We urge the Chinese government to release all the prisoners of conscience like Mr. Zhang," Fu said in an e-mailed statement.

After Zhang's release, police confiscated his identification card - needed to check into hotels and board planes - apparently to restrict his travel, the group said.

Officers who answered phones at Zhengzhou's two labor camps for men said they were not authorized to release any information about prisoners.

Zhang was sentenced in 2003 without trial as permitted by Chinese regulations on the charge of attempting to subvert China's government and political system.

Zhang had been active in documenting the history of the underground church movement and advocating unity among its various sects, which often compete for converts and bicker over religious dogma.

Up to 50 million Chinese are believed to worship in unofficial Protestant congregations, far more than the 10 million followers claimed by the official Protestant church, which is called the "Three-Self Patriotic Movement."

Xinjiang: Apparent Tolerance of religious belief, but with tight state controls

April 4th 2005 - China (PRC)

Religious believers in Ghulja (Yining in Chinese), a Xinjiang provincial town with Muslim, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox communities, do not on first glance currently appear to experience difficulties from the Chinese state. Authorised Christian and Muslim places of worship are frequently built at state expense, Forum 18 News Service has found. But the state tries to keep all religious organisations under complete control, and also, so Forum 18 has been told, limits the size of Catholic and Muslim places of worship, as well as restricting the number of mosques. "I have land and the money to build a mosque, but the authorities think it inexpedient to open a religious building in the new housing districts," Abdu Raheman, Muslim owner of Ghulja's largest honey-producing company, complained to Forum 18. Unregistered Chinese and Uighur Protestant communities do exist, but they mainly have to operate in secret. Although Jehovah's Witnesses have been in Ghulja, as far as Forum 18 has been able to establish they have not set up a religious community.

Law and Religion News, http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=537

U.S. President George W.Bush said on Wednesday he would raise religious freedom in China on the last leg of his three-nation tour of Asia.

[LatelineNews: 2002-2-19]

The issue has been a major sticking point in U.S. ties with Beijing's atheist leadership.

Speaking after talks with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, Bush told a news conference he would continue a discussion he had with Chinese President Jiang Zemin on religion in Shanghai last year and urge Beijing to hold talks with the Vatican.

"In my last visit with President Jiang, I shared with him my faith. I talked to him in very personal terms about my Christian beliefs."

He said he told Jiang last October: "I would hope that he, as a president of a great nation, would understand the important role of religion in an individual's life."

"I will do so again. I will bring up ... that I would hope the government would honour the request of the Papal Nuncio to at least have dialogue about the bishops

that are interned there."

China and the Holy See have no diplomatic relations and China does not recognise the Pope. China's crackdown on religious groups not under state control has ensnared many clergy among millions of Chinese Catholics who profess loyalty to the Pope.

Asked by a reporter whether he would meet Chinese political dissidents, Bush said he was uncertain about his itinerary. Reuters

Bible smuggler back in Hong Kong

Sunday, 10 February, 2002, 15:56 GMT

A Hong Kong businessman who was sentenced to two years in prison for smuggling thousands of bibles into China has been allowed to return to Hong Kong.

Li Guangqiang, was released from prison on Saturday.

The official Chinese news agency Xinhua said that the decision to release him was made on health grounds ?

Mr Li is suffering from hepatitis B - and that he would remain under the surveillance of the authorities.

Mr Li was arrested last May and accused of spreading an evil cult, a charge which can carry the death penalty in

China.

But last month, the charges were downgraded to carrying out illegal business activities.

US President Bush, who is to visit China later this month, had expressed concern about Mr Li's case.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

China accused of crackdown on Christians

By Joe McDonald

Feb. 11, 2002 | BEIJING (AP) --

Chinese authorities have killed 129 people and arrested nearly 24,000 in a crackdown on Christian churches that operate outside government control, a group of Chinese religious activists said Monday.

In a report released in New York, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China published what it said were official documents outlining a campaign that includes torture to stamp out independent worship.

The report accused senior Chinese leaders of approving the violence.

The accusations come at a sensitive time for China, a week before President Bush makes his first official visit to Beijing. A Hong Kong businessman imprisoned for smuggling Bibles to a banned Church was released this weekend after Bush expressed concern about him.

China's communist government allows only state-monitored

worship. It is struggling to rein in new religious movements that have attracted millions of followers in recent years.

The most prominent target has been the Falun Gong spirituel movement, banned in 1999 as a threat to public safety and communist rule. But other targeted groups span the spectrum from Roman Catholics to Buddhists to newer organizations with unorthodox views.

"The level of persecution aimed against unregistered Christians in China is high," said the report. "The persecution against underground Christians has escalated and originates at the highest central levels of the Chinese government."

The committee is run by Chinese Christians living abroad. Robin Munro, a British human rights researcher who has no connection to the committee, said he reviewed the documents that it gathered and believed they were genuine. He said it was the biggest quantity of internal Chinese government documents that he had seen assembled by one group.

"It paints a pretty frightening picture of the Chinese security authorities' attempt to suppress a wide range of spiritual groups," Munro said by telephone from London.

Calls seeking comment from China's Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Public Security and the official Roman Catholic and Protestant organizations weren't answered Monday. Most government offices were closed on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Estimates by foreign religious scholars of the number of

underground, or house, church members run as high as 60 million.The official Christian churches have about 15 million followers.

The 141-page report released Monday cites documents that it said were supplied by activists in China and officials who oppose the crackdown.

They include a report that says the United States and Taiwan are using Falun Gong and other religious groups to undermine China's stability.

In addition, researchers investigated house churches in 20 provinces and found that 129 people had been killed, 23,686 arrested and 4,014 sentenced to re-education, according to the report. It didn't say how most of the deaths were alleged to have taken place or how the research was carried out.

The report accused Chinese authorities of using criminal charges against religious leaders to avoid criticism about damaging freedom of worship.

It noted the case of Gong Shengliang, founder of the banned South China Church. Gong was sentenced to death in December on charges of rape and using a cult to undermine the law, according to members of his church and human rights monitors.

According to the report, 63 other South China Church leaders have been detained and some sentenced to up to seven years in prison. It said one was missing and may have been killed.

The report cited statements by followers of other groups who said they suffered rape, beatings, electric shocks and other abuse.

The group claimed to have obtained documents showing that the harsh tactics were approved by senior leaders including Vice President Hu Jintao, who is expected to succeed President Jiang Zemin as China's next leader.

China Detains 47 Christians As Bush Urges Freedom of Worship

BEIJING, Feb 22, 2002 -- (dpa) China detained 47 Christians at a church meeting in suburban Beijing on Thursday, a Hong Kong rigottes group said on Friday, as U.S. President George W. Bush ended his visit to China with a call for freedom of worship in China.

Some 70 police raided the meeting of Christians from from five areas of northern China, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Police charged the group with holding an illegal gathering, but released 55 of them with a caution on Friday, the center said.

Changping district police body-searched the Christians, confiscatoire their Bibles, and did not allow them to drink or go to the toilet, it said.

One 70-year-old man needed emergency treatment after suffering a recurrence of heart problems while in detention.

Bush urged China to allow freer worship and promote democratic reform, as he addressed students at one of the country's top universities on Friday.

"My prayer is that all persecution will end, so that all in China are free to gather and worship as they wish," he said.

"Regardless of where or how these believers worship, they are no threat to public order; in fact they make good citizens."

On Thursday, at a joint press conference after talks with Bush, Chinese President Jiang Zemin defended China's religious freedom and said that anyone imprisoned must have broken the law.

"Whatever religion people believe in, they have to uphold the law," he said.

Bush urged Jiang to hold dialogue with the Dalai Lama and the Vatican.

China only allows state-supervised religious groups.

Earlier this month Amnesty International highlighted the case of five leaders of the banned South China Church, who face execution after they were sentenced to death for crimes including subversion, rape and causing serious injury. All five denied the charges.

Scholars Discuss Evils of Canonized Missionaries in Beijing

BEIJING, Oct 5, 2000 -- (BBC Monitoring) Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Over 20 Chinese experts on history and religions held here today, exposing the crimes committed by canonized foreign missionaries and their followers.

Scholars listed a number of facts to illustrate that in modern history Catholic missionaries' activities were closely linked with foreign forces' invasion of China.

Prof Dai Yi said, "lots of foreign missionaries followed the warships of foreign aggressors to China in and after the Opium War [1840-1842], and actually foreign aggression and missionaries activities are combined into one. That is, missionaries' activities were an integral part of invasion, missionaries acted as guides and tools for foreign aggressors and in return, aggressors paved the way for the missionaries' activities."

Some participants elaborated on the historic background and inner causes of "religious cases" in history, stressing that it is the foreign missionaries that should answer for the consequences because their monstrous evils exasperated the Chinese people and eventually fused the outburst of the Yihetuan (known as Boxers) Movement [referring to the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), an anti-foreign uprising, when the Boxers killed Western missionaries, their families and

Chinese converts].

Participants pointed out that foreign missionaries executed in certain "religious cases", such as Auguste Chapdelaine, Franciscus de Capillas and Albericus Crescitelli, had only themselves to blame for still being hated by people today, because they had stopped no evil. The Holy See, disregarding the strong opposition from the Chinese people, "canonized" these infamous missionaries, which reveals the Vatican's vicious intention to intervene in China's internal affairs through religious activities, the scholars said, pointing out that the canonization tramples on the sovereignty of the Chinese Catholic Church, as well as a severe provocation to the 1.2 billion Chinese people.

The scholars all voiced their protest over the perverse and vicious deeds of the Vatican, saying that the present China

is strong enough to protect its national security and national dignity and any attempt to distort history and humiliate the Chinese people is doomed to failure. According to the sponsors of the symposium, the participants are professors and researchers from the People's University of China, the Beijing University, the Beijing Normal University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other

academic institutes, who specialize in history or religion.

China Asks Hong Kong Church to Keep Low Profile over

Canonizations

HONG KONG, Oct 4, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) China has told the Hong Kong Catholic Church to avoid huge celebrations

to mark the Vatican's canonization of 120 Chinese missionary martyrs, a report said Wednesday.

But the request from the Beijing officials here to keep a low profile over the canonizations has left the leaders of the

territory's Catholic Church baffled, Bishop Joseph Zen Zekiun said quoted by the independent Chinese-language Ming Pao. "How do you measure 'high' and 'low" profile? I think we have no political motive in celebrating what is an important

religious affair," said Zen, deputy to Cardinal John Baptist

Wu Cheng-chung.

The request was made by the official from Beijing's liaison office in the territory at a meeting on September 18 with the

Hong Kong diocese which was not attended by Bishop Zen. "We don't have to listen to him ... There is no problem of

religious freedom in Hong Kong," he said, adding that "from Hong Kong's point of view, he was seemingly trying to

interfere, which may be serious."

Bishop Zen said the mainland authorities did not like the Hong Kong diocese to have contact with their mainland

counterparts and the slightest communication would attract a warning from the liaison office.

The church in mainland China however is strictly controlled, and Beijing broke off ties with the Holy See in 1958. The

official Catholic Church in China does not recognize the pope and has about four million followers.

China Meddles with Hong Kong Catholic Church, Cleric Says

HONG KONG, Oct 4, 2000 -- (Reuters) A leader of Hong Kong's Catholic Church has accused Beijing of meddling with

religious freedoms in the territory, one of the most serious accusations against China since it took back the former

British colony in 1997.

Bishop Joseph Zen, in an article he contributed to Hong Kong's Ming Pao daily newspaper, said Beijing had tried to interfere with local church celebrations of the Vatican's recent canonization of 120 Roman Catholic martyrs. "The Liaison Office urged the Hong Kong diocese to handle the canonization in a low-key manner," wrote Zen, who is deputy

to local Catholic leader Cardinal John Baptist Wu. The celebrations went ahead in Hong Kong churches over the weekend. Religious freedom is widely seen as a key indicator of Beijing's promise to leave Hong Kong's internal affairs untouched for 50 years following the 1997 handover from Britain.

The Chinese government has been vitriolic in its condemnation of the Vatican for canonizing 87 Chinese and 33 missionaries

on Sunday, saying the act glorified a century of Western imperialism in China.

Beijing has also taken offence at the timing of the

canonizations, which coincided with the 51st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Zen hit out at what he termed Beijing's "violent suppression" of both the overt and underground churches on mainland China recently. "What hurts the feelings of countless Chinese citizens and peace-loving people all over the world is the violent suppression by central authorities of churches in the country," he wrote. "It leads one to recall some of the campaigns in the early

years of the People's Republic of China, even the Cultural Revolution," Zen said, referring to Mao Zedong's campaign of political persecution from 1966 to 1976.

Zen said the Liaison Office had tried to dissuade him from

communicating with his counterparts across the border in

China after he spoke briefly with a Catholic leader on the mainland.

Pope Apologizes To China Over Missionary Errors

VATICAN CITY, Oct 3, 2000 -- (Reuters) Pope John Paul has

extended an olive branch to China, which is angry at the canonization of martyrs it calls "evil-doing sinners", by apologizing for any errors committed by Western missionaries in colonial times.

At an audience on Monday for pilgrims who came to Rome for Sunday's 120 canonizations, the Pope said the Church was not passing a positive judgment on colonial times nor on the behavior of some governments towards China in the past.

He said criticism of missionary activity in colonial times was often the result of "a partial and non-objective reading of history which sees only limitations and errors..."

He added: "If there were any (errors) - and is man ever free of defects? - we ask forgiveness."

The Pope offered his apology as an irate Beijing kept up attacks. The Chinese government exploded in anger at the

weekend when the Pope made saints of 87 Chinese Roman Catholics and 33 missionaries who were killed in China between 1648 and 1930.

The canonizations were even harder for Beijing to swallow because the ceremony took place on the 51st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Vatican said the ceremony was held on October 1 because it was the feast of St Teresa of Lisieux, patroness of missions.

In his homily on Sunday the Pope said the canonizations were an attempt to honor all Chinese people.

On Sunday night Beijing fired the latest salvo in its war of words by providing what it said were details about two of the

new saints.

A spokesman for China's State Administration of Religious Affairs cited examples of "monstrous crimes" committed by two of the new saints against the Chinese people, including one who he said slept with all the brides of his followers.

Alberto Crescitelli, an Italian missionary killed in 1900, "was notorious for taking the 'right to the first night' of

each bride under his diocese", Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

A second missionary, Auguste Chapdelaine of France, who was executed in 1856, instigated the second Opium War and the

burning of the imperial Summer Palace in 1860 after he was punished for felonies, the spokesman said. "Did they represent God's 'true love' to the Chinese people like the Vatican said?" asked the spokesman.

The Vatican says the martyrs were killed because they were loyal to their Christian faith. China says most were traitors executed for breaking laws when colonial forces invaded China during the 1839-42 Opium War, and during the 1898-1900 Boxer Uprising.