Communist Crackdown Worries Chinese Church

CHRISTIANITY TODAY/July 14, 1989

In the aftermath of a massacre and subsequent arrests, believers wait anxiously for party leaders’ next steps.

Church and missions leaders continue to watch events in China with concern for the well-being of Chinese church officials and believers who supported the prodemocracy demonstrations last spring. Though there were no reports by press time of reprisals against Christians, the surprisingly open identification of some believers with the student protests has led many observers to fear it may only be a matter of time before the church in China feels the tightening grip of Communist party hardliners.

With the massacre of hundreds—perhaps thousands—of people in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, the events in China took a turn toward what China church watchers had previously labeled a “worst-case scenario.” The violent development put an apparent end, at least in the short run, to the gradually warming relationship between churches in the West and China. Most Western Christians serving in China as teachers, students, medical personnel, and business consultants have left the country.

At the same time, however, the crisis has prompted much soul searching among the Chinese people. News filtering out of the country includes reports of packed churches and enthusiastic conversions to Christianity. And hopes run high that in the long run, the legacy of the protests will bring greater freedom, including religious freedom, to China.

Christian Presence

The most significant Chinese church connection to the protests came in mid-May, before the imposition of martial law. At that time, Bishop K. H. Ding, leader of the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, issued a statement that said the two groups “wholeheartedly affirm” the demonstrations in Beijing. “We sincerely hope and call upon the top-level leaders of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council to carry on a dialogue with the students as soon as possible,” the statement said. It was the first time the state-approved church group had issued comments critical of the government.

Ding’s statement, as released in the U.S. by the National Council of Churches, also included a message to American churches: “I wish to add that I am glad that Christians are making their presence felt in these demonstrations. Students in Nanjing Theological Seminary are taking an active part. They not only join the demonstrations, but also try to serve their fellow students by sending them drinking water and bread.”

Seminary students marched with banners emblazoned with the name of their schools and Scripture verses, said Britt Towery of the Southern Baptist’s Cooperative Services International, who witnessed the march.

In Tiananmen Square, one group of marchers carried a banner suggesting the democracy movement was “Arranged by God.” Beijing Seminary students skipped class to join the demonstrations, in spite of threats of expulsion. In the atmosphere of freedom on the square, Christian witness flourished (see sidebar).

Not all Christians were as openly supportive, however, and what seemed to govern their attitude, according to Ron MacMillan, News Network International correspondent, was age. “If they were under 40 and hadn’t been aware during the Cultural Revolution of the full wrath of the state, they were generally very anxious to get involved in the protest. If they were over 40 and had suffered in some way from the Cultural Revolution period, they were much more wary of making a demonstration against the government,” he said.

Next In Line?

The elders’ caution proved warranted. As hardliners within the Communist party took control, first by the imposition of martial law on May 19, then by the attack on Tiananmen Square, Ding and others who backed the protesters found themselves on the losing side of the power struggle. And as party officials arrested hundreds connected with the protest, anxiety over the fate of Christians rose.

Most observers agree that so far, party officials have had more pressing concerns to deal with than the church. Leftist leaders are unlikely to attribute much importance to religion, MacMillan said. And they are unaware of the size of the Protestant church, which by some estimates includes 50 million people, but which is still, MacMillan pointed out, a relatively small group in a country of more than one billion.

Rumors had circulated that Ding was detained by party officials soon after the hard-liners took control, but such stories were entirely false, said Ewing Carroll, executive secretary for the Asia/Pacific region of the World Council of Churches. Daily communiques from Ding report that he and all other church leaders are fine, Carroll said.

However, “it will not have escaped the officials’ notice that Bishop Ding was quick to support the students,” MacMillan said. “Once they feel they’ve got the student movement under control, they will turn their attention to other communities.” And the church, he said, could be next.

David Adeney, vice-president of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, who spent 24 years in China and Hong Kong, fears that “leftist cadres will now take the opportunity to brand evangelicals as antigovernment and antirevolutionary.” The result could be increased intimidation and arrests, especially of house-church believers, but also of outspoken members of the official Three-Self churches. “It is a step back to the Dark Ages, for months, perhaps years, to come.”

On the Square

Tony Lambert, a researcher with Overseas Missionary Fellowship, was in Tiananmen Square just days before the massacre. CHRISTIANITY TODAY asked Lambert to describe the prodemocracy demonstration.

The good-humored crowd in Tiananmen Square surged around me, Chinese citizens hungry for democracy. They waved banners and shouted slogans: “Freedom! Democracy! Down with corruption!”

Doctors and nurses in white coats joined students with white head-bands holding up cartoons satirizing the Chinese government. And as truckloads of factory workers roared into the “Square of Heavenly Peace,” the crowd clapped and shouted its approval.

But the greatest applause was reserved for trucks of young army cadets who came into the square to show solidarity with the students. For the first time in recent Chinese history, the workers were joining the students in demanding more democracy.

There were other expressions of freedom in the square, just as surprising and exciting. For the first time in 40 years, Christians openly witnessed to their faith in Tiananmen Square. Holding aloft a huge banner proclaiming, “God loves the world,” one group of students marched around the square singing hymns.

One church leader carried a ten-foot cross. His congregation served porridge to the hungry students. House-church Christians were actively distributing tracts. As the Christian students sang “Rock of Ages,” dozens of other students and bystanders gathered, many tape-recording the hymns.

Two days later, martial law was declared and the world watched in amazement as the citizens of Beijing blocked the advance of armed troops and tanks into the center of the city, often with their own bodies. That morning, as workers and students began to build barricades, I managed to weave through the back streets of Beijing to the airport.

Two weeks later the massacre of thousands would plunge the country into a darkness similar to that of the Cultural Revolution. But the people of Beijing will never forget the freedom they enjoyed during those days in May. Nor shall I.

Americans Out

Though missionaries have not been allowed into China since 1953, about a dozen agencies help send as many as 600 Christians into the country each year as teachers and business people, with the express purpose of witnessing, according to an official of one missions agency. Many more believers also enter the country on their own, not connected with any Christian organization, he said. When the U.S. government recommended in early June that all Americans leave China immediately, Christian organizations promptly urged their people to go.

For example, Friends of China Foundation (FOC), based in Hong Kong, withdrew about 40 of its workers, a move that an FOC spokesman described as temporary.

Forty-five Southern Baptist students and teachers sponsored by Cooperative Services international (CSI) left the country, and CSI director Lewis Myers announced cancellation of summer teaching programs. Another English-teaching program withdrew 140 people and also cancelled its summer program for 150, but hopes to see its teachers return to campuses throughout China next fall.

Farewells were difficult for the Americans. One couple, both teachers who did not want to be identified for fear of actions against their former students, said they did not have the funds to buy tickets out of the country until their pupils, with uncharacteristic outspokenness, demanded that the school administration help. Students lined the drive of the campus as the couple left. “Hands were reaching out to us; faces streaming with tears. The outpouring of love was overwhelming,” the husband said. “It was a mixture of love, and bewilderment over what was happening, and fear for their future, fear that they were being abandoned,” the wife added.

In spite of the turmoil, the Amity Foundation in Nanjing has continued to print Bibles throughout the past several months, according to the American Bible Society (ABS), and American manager Peter MacInnes has remained at work in the city. Amity, which also issued a statement in support of the prodemocracy protesters, did cancel its summer teaching program, but planned to begin a new teacher orientation for its fall program, reported Bill Cedfeldt of the ABS.

Legacy Of Freedom

Most observers are optimistic for the long-term future of China. “Things look very dark for now, but this is the turning point for China,” said Tony Lambert, a 20-year veteran of China affairs. “Chinese communism appears to be dying. In a sense the nation, and in particular the intellectuals, have gone up a cul de sac for the past 70 years. Now they are looking for a new foundation, and we have an opportunity to show Christianity as the basis for regeneration and rebuilding of Chinese society.”

“The legacy of the students is not going to die,” said Brent Fulton, U.S. director of China Ministries International. “The impetus for reform and change will continue. It’s just a matter of time before greater openness and change. But that cannot happen unless there is a spiritual change in the hearts of the leaders. That is what we must pray for.”

By Ken Sidey.

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