Olympic Countdown…

Three weeks from now China will attempt to pull off the greatest show on earth as the Olympics 2008 opens in Beijing. At exactly 8.08 on August 8, 2008 the curtain will rise on a spectacular opening night ceremony. The emphasis on the numeral 8 is not a coincidence. In Chinese thinking the numeral 8 is associated with hope and prosperity, the two things China craves more than anything else in its bid to dominate the world as Number 1. The theme will be One World, One Dream which summarizes the century’s old concept of China as the middle kingdom and center of world influence.

The government has been going to great lengths to spruce up the city and its people’s manners. A superhuman effort was underway to curb spitting by the use of severe fines. Loud talking and unseemly conduct on the streets is another challenge as Beijing prepares to welcome thousands of tourists. A recent traveler who just returned from Beijing reported that the 90,000 taxi drivers in Beijing were in a crash course to master rudimentary English. He did say, however, that his drivers didn’t seem to be making much progress.

Nevertheless, this frenzied effort is underway to thrust Beijing into the 21st century with a magnificent site for the Games. In an effort to beautify the city, 2 million trees have been planted and magnificent architectural masterpieces are beginning to change the skyline. There is no doubt that Beijing will be prepared to be China’s showcase for the world to see a magnificent city with fabulous ancient buildings of old China standing by the most modern architectural wonders created by man.

China is feverishly working to impress the world and some of the suggestions and plans run counter to everything this atheistic nation believes. The Chinese media reported that Liu Bainan, vice-president of the China Patriotic Catholic Association, which is the official registered Catholic Church equivalent to the Protestant Three Self Patriotic Movement, has urged the authorities to place Bibles in every hotel room during the Games. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Liu as saying that this would be a good move by Beijing in order to “clear up foreign misconceptions about religion in China.” He went on to say, “A large number of foreign athletes and tourists will swarm into Beijing for the Games, a majority of who have religious belief.” Xinhua continued his statement that “the Bible is a must at hotels in foreign countries.” Liu made these bold assertions on the sidelines of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top political advisory body.

The dilemma for China is to present to the world a country enjoying religious freedom in officially recognized churches while at the same time, pastors and church leaders from house churches are still being arrested and held for interrogation and sometimes severe beatings. Earlier in the summer, more than 100 foreign workers were expelled from China because their religious activities were involved with house churches considered by China to be an “evil cult.”

Mr. Zhou Heng, a Christian businessman has been under criminal detention since August. He was arrested while attempting to pick up 2 tons of Bibles sent from another province for distribution to local believers. Zhou is on criminal detention on suspicion of illegal business operations and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

It is difficult for foreigners to understand these actions by the government especially since Amity Press, sponsored by the Three Self Patriotic Movement, the registered church, and has officially printed more than 40 million Bibles during the past twenty-five years. Soon they will move into their new facilities which will be one of the largest and most modern printing presses in the country. Amity is now printing Bibles in many different languages for export, and promises to increase production of Chinese Bibles in the coming year.

In 2004, the government-backed Amity Press put the number of Christians at 18 million, however, China Aid Association reported several months ago that Mr. Yie Xiaowen, the director of the Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs said in two internal meetings held in Beijing University and the Chinese Academy of Social Science “that the number of Christians in China has reached 130 million!” It should be noted that the vast majority of Christians are part of the unregistered house churches.

The next few months will reveal how China will handle these sensitive religious matters as it seeks to reach for two worlds, their own repressive controls based on their atheistic beliefs and the approval of the world they one day hope to dominate in business. The US State Department’s 2006 report on international religious freedom said China had failed to live up to promises to respect citizens’ faith and persecutes Christians, Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists who refuse to accept official controls. The countdown to the Olympic Games 2008 will no doubt have a profound effect on the country and the world.

Until everyone has heard in the land…

Moving toward China 2010

In China’s rural areas many minorities, especially ethnic minorities, maintain age-old traditions. China recognizes 55 minority people groups totaling more than 100 million people. Missiologists recognize almost 500 minority people groups, subgroups divided by language that China lumps together for statistical practicality. Consider the Miao people group, numbering 9 million. Most outsiders consider them one minority group, but the Miao consist of nearly 40 completely different language groups. Most minority people groups are unreached by the gospel.

China’s urban situation is quite different. It took the United States and Western Europe 200 years to go through the Industrial Revolution. Nations such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan took about 25 years to become industrial nations. How about the Chinese city of Shenzhen? Try six months. That’s how long it takes for a nonliterate farm worker to migrate to the city and start working on some of the most sophisticated machinery in the world. Twenty years ago, Shenzhen was all rice paddies and salt ponds, with a population of 20,000 at best. Today, Shenzhen has a multimillion population churning out products at breakneck speed. Shenyang has a population of 6 million and is known as one of China’s famous industrial cities. Shanghai has been rated as the fourth-most expensive city in the world. The top five are all located in Asia.

Mark it down, by 2010, 300 million Chinese will have moved from the countryside to the urban cities. Visit train stations in any major city and be greeted by hundreds and hundreds of obvious out-of-towners, waiting, sleeping, gambling and eating on the sidewalks, surrounded by their belongings stuffed in grain sacks. This scene is characteristic of millions and is duplicated in every major city in China. When asked why they came to the big city, the answer is plain: “We heard a rumor that there were jobs here.” What kind of jobs? “It doesn’t matter,” they answer. “Anything. We need to eat.”

The pull of jobs in the big city, regardless of the labor, is too much to resist for millions of farmers and peasants who move to China’s cities each year. Thoughts of 300 million people, a population segment greater than the entire United States, moving to the cities is stunning to the Western mind, but what does it mean for China? First, remember that the population of China is more than 1.3 billion. As it stands now, there isn’t enough farming to go around, and the government knows that. So by taxing farmers even more, it forces people into the cities. For urban China, this translates into cold, hard cash.

As a nation struggling to gain international respect, China needs capital. If 300 million people move to the city that means China moves 300 million people from non-cash to a cash economy. Out on the farm these people raise their own food and barter for goods. As laborers living in the metropolis, they will have to spend money. The surge in China’s economy will be significant. Already the world’s fourth-largest industrial producer the prosperity is beginning to spread. In 1979, there were no millionaires in China. Now the top 100 richest people in China have an average wealth of $230 million. Another 10,000 or so are worth at least $10 million each.

What about the spiritual surge? The Chinese philosopher Confucius, who lived in the 500s B.C. and still influences Chinese thoughts today, valued harmony and conformity in society resulting from people observing their roles in relation to others. He taught these values: concern for others, honoring one’s parents, treating others as you would wish to be treated and ruling with moral standing and benevolence. The trauma of moving to the city, from an agrarian society to an industrial society, opens a door for the gospel. It leaves a lot of people open to new things. For the first time, nothing is familiar. Questions are raised and answers are sought. Are you willing to blaze a trail into their hearts?

Each year, 20 new cities in China join the list of 1 million or more inhabitants. Does this help the spread of the gospel? You bet it does. The Lord is bringing together concentrated areas of lost Chinese. In many of these areas, there may be one church at best. When much of the population is living in villages, saturating them with the gospel can be difficult. But put those people in rows upon rows of apartment blocks, and the saturation can begin much more easily. Will someone be there to tell them that Jesus is the answer?

Until everyone has heard in the land…