China – Guangdong – Protestants – Catholics – Underground Churches
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Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: CHN30006 Country: China Date: 14 March 2006 Keywords: China – Guangdong – Protestants – Catholics – Underground Churches This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. What was the situation for the Protestant underground church in Guangdong from 1990 to March 1998? 2. What was the situation for the Catholic underground church in Guangdong from 1990 to March 1998? 3. What is the position nowadays for both churches? List of Sources Consulted Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports United Nations (UN) Non-Government Organisations International News & Politics Region Specific Links Topic Specific Links Search Engines Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/ Online Subscription Services Library Networks University Sites Databases: Public FACTIVA Reuters Business Briefing DIMIA BACIS Country Information REFINFO IRBDC Research Responses (Canada) RRT ISYS RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. RRT Library FIRST RRT Library Catalogue RESPONSE 1. What was the situation for the Protestant underground church in Guangdong from 1990 to March 1998? 2. What was the situation for the Catholic underground church in Guangdong from 1990 to March 1998? No detailed analysis on the situation of Protestants or Catholics in Guangdong Province was found among the sources consulted. The following reports provide some useful material, although some contradict each other. The reports are listed under three headings: those which refer to Christians in general in Guangdong during the 1990s; those which refer to Protestants; and those which refer specifically to Catholics. Some reports indicate that during the 1990s Guangdong was considered to be one of the more liberal provinces in its application of religious regulations. Other reports refer to periodic crackdowns, arrests of religious leaders, and to the banning of Christmas celebrations in the early 1990s. The introduction of new religious regulations in 1998 seemed to signal a hardening of attitude by the authorities in Guangdong. Christians in Guangdong The section on Guangdong Province in the 1999 book by Tony Lambert, China’s Christian Millions (which deals mostly with Protestants), states: Guangdong Province Population: 69.6 million Although Guangdong was the first province to be evangelised by Western Protestant missionaries as early as 1807, it is not in the forefront of church growth today. There were about 80,000 Protestants by 1949. Today official estimates put the number at only 200,000 which is doubtless very low, and does not take into account numerous house church believers. Nevertheless, the Cantonese-speaking southerners may be more resistant to the gospel than other Chinese, partly because of the infamous association of Christianity in their minds with the opium trade as a hated “foreign religion”. Guangzhou itself may have 50,000 Christians. Apart from several large TSPM [Three Self Patriotic Movement] churches in the city, Pastor Samuel Lamb has run a thriving unregistered house church over the last twenty years, at which thousands have come to faith and been baptised. The church appears o be strongest in the eastern part of the province. Shantou (Swatow) has at least 10,000 believers in eleven churches in the city itself, and 142 meeting-points in the surrounding countryside. The Hakka-speaking areas of Meizhou Municipality had 60,000 Christians in 1997. Another area which has seen spectacular growth is the Xuwen peninsular where there are over 10,000 believers. One meeting-point with only 40 members in July 1`993 had grown to 650 by September 1994. In 1991 there were reportedly 23 churches and four home meetings in the area (Lambert, Tony 1999, China’s Christian Millions, OMF Publications, p.211-212 – Attachment 1). The following news stories on Christians in Guangdong date from between 1990 and 1998. A 1996 report states that there had been “reports of a crackdown in provinces like Henan, An hui and Guangdong” (Kwan, Daniel 1996, ‘Christians freed in “good health”‘, South China Morning Post, 22 July – Attachment 2). A 1993 report states that three years before, “Christmas was officially cancelled in Guangdong province…All public celebrations of the Christian feast were banned outside government sanctioned churches. People were ordered not to put up any decorations and Chinese students were warned they shouldn’t engage in the bourgeois liberal practice of sending each other Christmas cards”. Ironically, Guangdong was a centre for toy manufacture (Goodspeed, Peter 1993, ‘China trying to contain religious ferment’, Toronto Star, 5 December – Attachment 3). A 1993 report states that “the Guangdong authorities maintain a relatively liberal – if wary – attitude towards religion and its adherents. As a result, the province’s Christian churches enjoy a level of freedom unmatched in the rest of China”. The report refers to an apparent flourishing of both Protestant and Catholic churches in Guangdong, but does comment on incidents of harassment of churchgoers, and the stationing of police outside one religious figure’s house (Goldstein, Carl 1993, ‘China – Free to keep the faith’, Far Eastern Economic Review, 8 April – Attachment 4). A 1990 report refers to the detention of a Christian leader on the grounds that he had violated religious regulations. Guangdong had issued its own regulations requiring that religious workers register with the Guangdong Three-self Patriotic Movement. The detention of the leader was endorsed by a senior Chinese government official, who said that the “Guangdong provincial government had the legal right to issue its own regulations governing religious activities in the province” (Kwan, Daniel 1990, ‘Guangdong rules on religion backed”, South China Morning Post, 10 March – Attachment 5). The following two RRT Research Responses examine the situation of Christians in Guangdong. They both cover a slightly later period than was requested, but contain some relevant information. Pages 6-7 of a 2001 response discuss the restrictive religious regulations that were introduced in Guangdong in May 1998 and the crackdowns that followed (RRT Country Research 2001, Research Response CHN14548, 19 March – Attachment 6). A 2000 response looks at incidents of arrest and harassment of Christians in Guangdong in 1999-2000 (RRT Country Research 2000, Research Response CHN14236, 1 August – Attachment 7). Protestants in Guangdong The following reports refer specifically to Protestants in Guangdong. A 1997 report discusses the detention of “an officially ordained pastor” of the Three Self Patriotic Church, for acting outside his authority: An officially ordained pastor in Guangdong has lost his job for preaching outside the province. The Reverend Li Lisheng, of Huizhou Protestant Church, went to Shaanxi in June and was detained by local public security officials for preaching without authorisation. According to Christian sources, Mr Li was arrested after he was found explaining the Bible and distributing religious pamphlets on a train to Shaanxi. He was held for two days before being sent back to Guangdong. On his return, his church held a meeting, where Mr Li was criticised. He was subsequently sacked and lost his pastorate. Hu Daxian, secretary-general of Huizhou Protestant Church, said Mr Li was sacked not for sharing the Christian faith but for failing to follow the church’s orders and the Government’s religious policy. Under religious regulations, itinerant evangelism is banned and religious practitioners cannot preach outside their designated venues. They must seek local authority approval before delivering sermons or holding services, even when officially invited by local churches (Kwan, Daniel 1997, ‘Pastor dismissed for preaching elsewhere’, South China Morning Post, 20 October – Attachment 8). A 1994 report states that five Christians from a Guangdong house church were detained after morning service and interrogated for four hours before being released. Bibles and religious materials were confiscated (Chan, Wai-Fong 1994, ‘Police question five Christians’, South China Morning Post, 17 August – Attachment 9). Another 1994 report mentions the closing down of “a large evangelical house church in Guangdong province” (Himmelfarb, Anne 1994, ‘Human Rights: China’s unholy war continues’, The Asian Wall Street Journal, 17 February – Attachment 10). A 1991 report discusses the well-known Baptist pastor Lin Xiangao (known in English as Samuel Lamb) who preaches to large congregations in a house church in Guangdong. Lin spent over twenty years in prison during the Cultural Revolution for his beliefs, and the authorities still detain and question him for short periods in an effort to pressure him to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (WuDunn, Sheryl 1991, ‘Guangdong pastor jailed twice but still preaching’, Straits Times, 29 June – Attachment 11). A 1990 article, also on Reverend Lin Xiangao, discusses a recent raid on his house church by 60 agents of the Public Security Bureau. The house was “stripped bare of all the bibles, hymnals, books and other essential equipment” and ordered