A Mega-Church Fixation
The Chongyi Three-Self Church in Hangzhou, which seats up to 14,000 people. [Pieter Kwant]
The 2010s got underway with the struggle between the Communist authorities and the Church in Zhejiang taking a breather, before the conflict reached fever-pitch later in the decade.
Throughout the province the apparent infatuation of many church leaders with large church buildings continued, despite the brutal campaign that had reduced more than 1,000 church buildings to rubble just a few years earlier.
As more Christians in the major cities of Zhejiang became financially richer due to China's booming economy, church leaders found the offerings they received enabled them to construct massive worship halls. A number of Western-style mega-churches emerged throughout the province, among both Three-Self churches and the registered house church congregations of Wenzhou.
Many Zhejiang Christians now had the means to travel overseas, and were often impressed by the giant church buildings they saw in the United States and elsewhere. 'Bigger is better' appeared to be the motto of the day, and church leaders in Zhejiang now had the money to fulfil their ambitions.
In Hangzhou, the Chongyi Three-Self Church had a humble beginning, when the China Inland Mission purchased a plot of land and built a small worship hall in 1901. A hundred years later, in 2003, after collecting 40 million Yuan (US$ 6.7 million) from its members, the Chongyi Church began constructing a massive new edifice, which was finally completed in May 2005. The enormous building regularly hosted a crowd of 5,500 believers in the main auditorium, but on special occasions much larger gatherings were held. In 2008 the American evangelist Franklin Graham addressed 12,000 people there, while in 2014 Luis Palau spoke to an estimated 14,000.
Similar huge buildings surfaced in Wenzhou and other parts of Zhejiang, leaving some visitors thankful to God at the presence of these overt religious symbols in places the Communist authorities had once vowed would be 'religion-free zones'. Other Christians, however, felt very uncomfortable with this new emphasis on buildings. They failed to see the wisdom in spending vast sums of money on facilities dedicated to worshipping a God who declared that He "does not live in temples built by human hands" (Acts 17:24).
The contrast between the mega-churches of urban Zhejiang and the humble house church gatherings that continued to be the backbone of Christianity in the province was stark. China expert Brent Fulton pointed out some of the dangers of the 'mega-church' mentality in China, writing:
"With the highest Christian population of any Chinese city, Wenzhou has become famous for its many towering structures, some of which, resembling European-style cathedrals, are quite striking. In the words of one observer,
'Competition to build churches had almost become the order of the day. As soon as a new church was built, it was torn down and rebuilt again! Before the new building was even filled with people, they began to build an even bigger and more luxurious one.... Many believers mistakenly think that tithing to support building a church building is the same as building a congregation. Since they believe this pleases God, they happily tithe to build a church building. Congregations often use church building projects as a means of uniting believers." 1
As the years went by, indications emerged that many church leaders in Zhejiang were growing tired of the fixation with large buildings. They saw that the structures didn't bring the spiritual life and presence of the Holy Spirit they had once known in smaller gatherings, while the financial cost had become an unnecessary burden on their congregations. By 2013, some China observers had noted a shift in emphasis, with one remarking:
"On top of the financial concerns, a church building in China brings with it a whole new set of challenges, unlike anywhere else. There is always the possibility that the church will become regarded as a political threat, not to mention that a change in policy may lead to the meeting place being confiscated or even torn down at short (or no) notice....
Several pastors in Wenzhou concede that some of the larger venues in their city have become white elephants. A congregation of a few hundred people is dwarfed by their newly constructed 1,000-seat premise.... In another church, about 1,000 faithful regularly gather each week for worship in a venue that can accommodate more than 3,500. It is no longer a given that a new church building is a positive testimony. It can be something that is laughed at by officials and the local community." 2
An Unexpected Twist
Worshippers at the Three-Self Church in Leqing, Zhejiang. [RCMI]
At various times throughout the 2010s, the authorities in Zhejiang launched attacks against church buildings and believers. The pressure had reached boiling point by the middle of the decade, when a new and sustained campaign to remove crosses and to demolish church buildings commenced in earnest.
Often the government's justification for destroying church buildings was that the correct permits had not been obtained, or that obscure building code violations had been committed. While this is undoubtedly true in some cases, most of the time the crackdowns were launched without any legal basis, revealing that the real motive was to stop the spread of Christianity rather than to enforce local laws and regulations.
A sign of what was to come took place in August 2010, when a large group of 200 Public Security officers burst into a prayer center known as 'Prayer Mountain'. The facility, owned by the Taishan Christian House Church in Taizhou City, was a place where believers could stay for times of concentrated intercession. On the morning of August 30, however, several elderly Christians were disturbed and pushed aside by the officers, who then proceeded to dismantle the building until it was a pile of rubble. 3
By 2014, the Christian landscape in Zhejiang had experienced a shocking twist, with many registered Three-Self churches also finding themselves in the government's cross-hairs. One of the highest profile cases was the demolition of the large Sanjiang Three-Self Church, which had become something of an architectural landmark on the Wenzhou skyline. More than 200 church members rushed to the church when news spread that a team of highly-trained special forces had surrounded the property and were dismantling the building piece by piece.
Protests continued for weeks after the demolition, as angry believers demanded justice from the authorities. Their cries fell on deaf ears, and more than 200 Christian demonstrators were arrested and taken to prison.
At least ten more registered church buildings were destroyed in May 2014, as China's atheist leaders appeared determined to reverse the growth of Christianity in the province. Unlike in previous years, they seemed unconcerned about the negative worldwide publicity their actions attracted. In July 2014, the large Salvation Church in Pingyang County near Wenzhou was the latest church targeted for demolition, but hundreds of members barricaded themselves inside the building and fought the riot police.
In an era of immediate global communications, the clash between the helmeted riot police and believers was captured on video and broadcast around the world, including by CNN. 4 The footage showed police savagely beating the protestors and dragging them away, as hundreds of people surged against the officers, trying to stop them from entering the building.
The Anti-Cross Campaign
The government removed thousands of crosses from churches in Zhejiang during a sustained campaign from 2014 to 2017. [VOM]
From 2014 onwards, the pressure against Christians in Wenzhou appeared to focus more on removing the red crosses adorning churches in the city, and less on demolishing entire buildings. One China expert offered this explanation:
"The attack on the visible image of the cross and, by extension, upon the church's public presence, is rooted in the Party's deeper concern about any group in society that may pose a threat to its power. Christianity has attracted younger, well-educated followers in recent decades, who have developed not only a strong personal loyalty to the faith but also relational ties to Christians overseas....
If the main purpose of the anti-cross campaign is to reduce the church's visibility, perhaps what is happening in Zhejiang is less about control and more about the 'not-in-my-backyard' attitude of Party officials toward the Church's public presence. In any case, whether in public or private, the Church will continue to thrive." 5
The dramatic scene when the cross atop the Dongyang Church burst into flames as the government removed it in June 2015. [China Aid]
The anti-cross campaign in Zhejiang, which began in 2014 and was still in progress as this book went to print, expanded into other forms of persecution as it gathered momentum. The success in striking the visible symbols of Christianity in Zhejiang appeared to embolden officials in other provinces, with Christians being openly attacked in other parts of the country, including distant Inner Mongolia.
Officials in Wenzhou instituted a new policy called 'Three Rectifications and One Demolition,' which enabled them to move, close or destroy any church buildings if they determined it would enhance the neighborhood where they were located. In May 2016, the legally-registered Zhuyang Three-Self Church was negotiating with the government about where the congregation could relocate to, when all of a sudden more than 100 officers razed the church building to the ground.
A touching scene ensued the following Sunday, when church members held a service among the ruins of their building. As they knelt amid the rubble to pray and worship, protest banners were erected which read, 'We are strongly opposed to this brutal, violent forced demolition,' 'Illegal law enforcement is intolerable,' and 'The powerful are headstrong'. 6
Believers in Zhuyang pray among the rubble of their church in 2016. [China Aid]
A Return to Brutality
Although the removal of crosses from church buildings was largely symbolic, in 2015 the authorities in Zhejiang intensified their persecution of Christians. Instead of focusing on brick and mortar, they began targeting key church leaders, sending many of them to prison on extremely serious, trumped up charges.
An ordained Three-Self pastor, Zhang Chongzhu, was arrested and placed under 'residential surveillance in a designated location' in September 2015. These places are also known as 'black jails,' where inmates are tortured mercilessly in undisclosed facilities such as abandoned factories and old junk yards, or in highly-fortified apartment buildings. After being formally expelled from the Three-Self Church, Zhang was charged with "stealing, spying, buying or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to entities outside China." 7
In early 2016 a married couple, Bao Guohua and Xing Wenxiang, who served as pastors of the Holy Love Christian Church, were sentenced to 14 and 12 years imprisonment respectively after they opposed the removal of crosses.
Many other pastors were similarly charged and sentenced to prison throughout Zhejiang, and in 2017 the government installed video surveillance cameras in many Three-Self churches to monitor church activities and sermons, and to help officials identify church members with the latest facial-recognition software.
The most significant arrest was that of Joseph Gu Yuese, the pastor of the huge Chongyi mega-church in Hangzhou, where well-known Western evangelists Franklin Graham and Luis Palau had preached to large crowds.
Gu's troubles began after he boldly criticized the government's cross removal campaign in 2014, even though at the time he was one of the main leaders of the Zhejiang TSPM and China Christian Council. In January 2016, he was forcibly removed from the ministry, and after being interrogated at a secret facility, he was charged with embezzling church funds. Gu was described as "the highest profile Christian official to be targeted since the Cultural Revolution," and his arrest caused great concern—"It will shake the spirit of the government-sanctioned church leaders and the congregations throughout China. All these factors will have a ripple effect." 8
The Kingdom Marches On
Although the many high-profile arrests and persecutions grabbed the headlines in Zhejiang throughout this difficult period, the kingdom of God continued to quietly advance, with hundreds of thousands of hungry souls entering through the Door of Salvation. Two letters received from Christians in Zhejiang helped remind people in other parts of the world of the daily struggles faced by millions of believers throughout the province. The first letter was from a young Christian woman recently diagnosed with cancer:
"I have breast cancer. In the face of my illness I'm terribly frightened. I am just 36-years-old. Despite being a believer, I'm not ready to die. I am still young and have not yet really lived the Christian life. I also want to influence others for Christ. I am afraid of death. My son is just six and needs so much of my care. My husband is a good man, making it hard for me to let go. I must be strong and not fall into bitterness as a result of the painful treatment." 9
A Three-Self church in Wenzhou in 2018. The sign says: "The Party and government orders that Communist Party members, government officials, children, students, and military people are forbidden to attend any church activities."
In a province where many urban churches had chased after expensive buildings and were now counting the cost in both financial and spiritual terms, it was easy to forget the numerous rural districts throughout Zhejiang where millions of Christians live, eking out a living from the land while demonstrating simple faith in Jesus. Asia Harvest received the following letter of appreciation after delivering a load of Bibles to a rural house church in the province:
"Words cannot express the gratitude that our family feels for the Bibles you provided to us. We treasure them and read God's Word every day. Learning the words of our Lord makes our hearts overflow with joy. For so many years we longed to know the truth, and now we understand more every day and our faith has become stronger. God bless you for your sacrificial giving so that we can know the truth!" 10
A pure faith. Worshippers at Ningbo, Zhejiang. [RCMI]
A Socialist Bible
The pressure against the Church was ramped up in 2017, as local authorities gradually implemented President Xi Jinping's draconian campaign to eradicate what he calls 'illegal religion' in China. Sunday schools were ordered to close throughout Zhejiang, and many Christian day-care centers had their business licenses revoked. 11
The government appeared to be particularly determined to stop missionaries going out from Zhejiang to unreached nations. In January 2018, 14 Wenzhou believers who were involved in their church's Middle East mission program suddenly went missing in China. For weeks no news was received about their whereabouts, until they re-emerged in mid-February. The details of what had taken place and the conditions of their release were not clear. 12
In some places, Christian families were visited and told to pull down Christian posters and banners from their home and replace them with pictures of Mao Zedong or Xi Jinping. Elderly believers who relied on their government pension to survive were told to abandon their faith and embrace socialism. Some were even ordered to stop thanking God for their daily provisions, but to give thanks to the Communist Party instead and to recognize it as their source of blessing.
In late 2018, news emerged of the government's strategy to implement a five year plan to revise parts of the Bible, in order to "promote the Sinicization of Christianity." The Christian Post reported:
"The plan, finalized at a meeting this March, proposes 'cultivating and implementing the socialist core values' and will be supervised by the national Religious Affairs Bureau. To 'sinicize' (bring under Chinese control) Christianity, the government plans to 'retranslate' the Old Testament and provide new commentary to the New Testament....
A retranslation would be a summary of the Old Testament with some Buddhist scripture and Confucian teachings, and new commentary for the New Testament....
The five-year plan advocates 'incorporating Chinese elements into church worship services, hymns and songs, clergy attire, and the architectural style of church buildings.' Church leaders must pledge their loyalty to the Communist Party. The first criteria they have to pass is whether they can publicly pledge they will uphold the Party's words and path." 13
Meanwhile, Zhejiang appeared to be at the center of President Xi's campaign to control Christianity. According to a report, in October 2018
"More than 300 Christian children in two high schools in Zhejiang were asked to fill out a form stating that they did not follow a religion....
Schools in China are government-controlled and financed and therefore Communist in ideology, and Christian children have sometimes faced 'shaming' incidents, but the extent of such shaming was to prevent them from joining the Communist Youth League, thereby denying them any of the perks that come with a progression to Communist Party membership later in life....
In the first school, which has around 200 Christian students, the teacher demanded they rewrite the questionnaire, stating that they had 'no religion.' But when filling out the next questionnaire, half of the children maintained that they were Christians. Following further warnings, in the end all but one child complied.
In the other school, which has around 100 children, it was the class prefect who forced the Christians to resubmit their papers, stating that they had no religion....
Children who do not comply are reportedly denied access to opportunities at school, such as being elected as a class representative for special events. They could also potentially face the danger of not receiving a leaving certificate from their school and therefore not be able to attend university. Such incidents are also recorded in the child's personal file which is held by local government departments, and the information can hamper their future employment opportunities." 14
The fanatical crackdown on the Church in China continued to intensify. At the time of this book going to print, many Zhejiang church leaders were under grave pressure, with some saying they were experiencing the most brutal attack on the faith since the darkest days of the Cultural Revolution.
By early 2019, many Christians in Zhejiang had gone into survival mode. In a return to the atmosphere of life in the 1960s, large congregations broke down into small groups of four or five believers, who discreetly gathered together for Bible study and prayer. Many house church pastors went into hiding, turning off their phones and other electronic devices because of the government's invasive ability to track its citizens.
Footnotes:
1. Fulton, China's Urban Christians: A Light that Cannot be Hidden (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2015), p. 51.
2. Wang & Sam, Christian China and the Light of the World, p. 162.
3. "Prayer Center Destroyed by Force," China Aid (September 1, 2010).
4. The report and video can be viewed at: www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/world/asia/china-christians-church/
5. "Why Crosses? Why Zhejiang?" ChinaSource (August 24, 2016).
6. "Wenzhou Christians Hold Service in Church Ruins after Brutal Demolition," China Aid (June 13, 2016).
7. "Wenzhou Pastor Ousted from Position, Loses Preaching Certificate," China Aid (November 18, 2016).
8. Stoyan Zaimov, "Chinese Pastor Re-Arrested in Highest Profile Case Targeting Christians since Cultural Revolution," The Christian Post (January 12, 2017).
9. Far East Broadcasting, May 2013.
10. Letter to Asia Harvest from Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, September 2012.
11. See Christian Shepherd and Stella Qiu, "In China's Jerusalem, Christians say faith trumps official Sunday School ban," Reuters World News (December 24, 2017).
12. See "Conditions Unknown after 14 Vanished Christians Released," China Aid (February 16, 2018).
13. Samuel Smith, "China Trying to 'Rewrite the Bible," The Christian Post (September 28, 2018).
14. "China: Christian Schoolchildren Forced to Tick 'No Religion' Box," The Christian Post (October 6, 2018).
© This article is an extract from Paul Hattaway's book 'Zhejiang: The Jerusalem of China'. You can order this or any of The China Chronicles books and e-books from our online bookstore.