China’s government is ratcheting up a crackdown on Christian congregations in Beijing and several provinces, destroying crosses, burning bibles, shutting churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith, according to pastors and a group that monitors religion in China.
China
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
China rejects US lawmakers’ sanctions call over Muslim camps
China said Thursday that U.S. lawmakers were wasting taxpayer money by urging President Donald Trump’s administration to impose sanctions on Chinese officials allegedly tied to the mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims in camps in the far west.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
The otherworldly science fiction of China’s Cixin Liu
Cixin Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, a series of science-fiction novels first published in China a decade ago, has been called “the Chinese Star Wars.”
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
More people in Hong Kong are thinking of leaving. Why?
The heavy hand of Beijing in political and economic affairs has more people in Hong Kong exploring the possibility of escape.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Can Cantonese survive?
Hong Kong people fear Beijing’s promotion of Mandarin over Cantonese is just another step to suppress Hong Kong’s unique culture and values.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Pope Francis to Chinese Catholics: The church is praying for you “in the midst of difficulties”
The pope appeared to be alluding to the fact that since February there has been a crackdown by the Chinese authorities on religion in the mainland.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
China’s Cold War lesson: The Catholic Church has revolutionary potential
In Poland, the church created the space for people to breathe—physically, intellectually and spiritually.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
Why the Chinese government is targeting young Christians in its latest crackdown
The Chinese Communist Party sees young people turning to religion as an alarming trend.
Posted inFaith, News
In Henan, Chinese Catholics warned to follow rules on religious affairs
A clampdown on religious freedom has intensified in the province in recent months.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
One Chinese bishop’s fate shows the Communist Party’s power
It also highlights how high-level deliberations in the marble-columned splendor of the Vatican City and in Beijing’s walled leadership compound could have reverberations in places like rural Saiqi for generations to come.