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Fr. Anthony Lam, senior researcher of Hong Kong's Holy Spirit Study Center expressed concern over the rules, however, saying that the wording was so loose that even friendly visits to any church could potentially break the regulations.

But Lam agreed with the house church leaders' opinion that there was little new in the provisions, saying, "The law is just there to legalize the government's policy."

Copyright © 2000 Compass Direct

Read more about China's religious freedom record at uscirf.org, or at human rights sites like Amnesty International, Freedom House, or Human Rights Watch.

Read the testimony of USCIRF's Commissioner, Elliot Abrams, to the House International Relations Committee on the state of religious oppression in China last May. The U.S. State Department's report on religious freedom in China is also available online.

Previous Christianity Today stories about China include:

China's Smack Down | 53 Christian professors, students, and church-planters detained. (Sept. 11, 2000)

House Approves Divisive U.S.-China Trade Pact | But will permanent normal trade relations status help human rights? (May 25, 2000)

China Should Improve on Religion to Gain Permanent Trade Status, Commission Says | Religious liberty in Sudan and Russia also criticized. (May 8, 2000)

China's Three Self Churches, Seminaries Bursting | Younger Chinese drastically changing congregational demographics. (Dec. 29, 2000)

A Tale of China's Two Churches | Eyewitness reports of repression and revival. (July 13, 1998)

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November (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44