China Insight Newsletter — May-June 2008

Edited by Tony Lambert, OMF China Researcher

Henan: Home of the Gospel — and of Cults

Henan province has seen the greatest increase in Protestant Christianity of any province in China. In 2007, according to official Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) statistics, there were “more than 2.63 million” Protestants in Henan —a very conservative figure which only includes registered, baptized adults associated with the TSPM churches and meeting points. However, TSPM pastors as long ago as 1996 and again in 1998 estimated that there were 3-5 million believers, if unregistered “seekers” were also included. (See the appendices to my book, China’s Christian Millions, 2007.) There are very large numbers meeting independently in unregistered house churches, many of whom belong to huge networks based in Henan, such as the China Gospel Fellowship, the Fangcheng network and the Born Again group. It is impossible to give an accurate figure for both TSPM-related and house-church Christians. However, we may “guesstimate” some 5-10 million—possibly even more.

In 1949 the total number of Protestants Christians in Henan was only 70,000, according to the TSPM—or possibly 120,000, according to the official Mainland religious-studies journal Dangdai Zongjiao [Modern Religion] in 1994. (The discrepancy is probably because the larger figure is of the wider Christian community rather than strictly communicant members.) A median figure would be about 100,000 in 1949. This figure remained static even after severe persecution so that on the eve of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 there were also 100,000 Protestants in the province. We are thus faced with the staggering reality that, even if we accept the very low official figures, the church in Henan has grown 26 times over the last 40 years or so. (100,000 in 1966 compared to 2.63 million in 2007.) There are now more than 6,000 registered churches and meeting points in Henan (compared to about 300 in 1949.) There must be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of unregistered churches both small and large in addition.

In the light of the central importance of Henan to the growth of the church in China since the Cultural Revolution, it is rather surprising that no in-depth studies of the church in Henan have been published in recent years. Quite a number of articles have highlighted the experience of the house churches in Henan and particularly the periodic severe repression they have suffered. (I wrote one or two myself back in 1982 and in 1983 when Henan Christians were particularly hard-hit by the “Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign” during which hundreds of house-church people were arrested.)

So it is good news that an excellent book has been published in Hong Kong which examines in depth the Henan Christian experience. It is written in Chinese by Cheng Hiu-chun [Zheng Xiaochun in Mandarin] and was published by the Hong Kong Alliance Seminary in 2007. This seminary has a faculty of Christian academics who have produced several high quality studies of the church in China, both past and present, in recent years. These should be better known overseas, so I plan to use two or three editions of China Insight to introduce the book written by Ms. Cheng.
The title of the book is given in English rather clumsily as Why is Henan a Christian Province but Full of Vicious Sects? The Chinese title, Zheng Ye Henan, Xie Ye Henan is rather more pithy, and could also be translated as Henan—Home to the Gospel and to the Cults. What we have here is a well-written, thoroughly researched academic study of the cause of recent growth of the gospel in Henan, and also the growth of several “Christian” cults (such as Lightning from the East).

Reading this book, I was struck by the great amount of information that is available on social, economic and even religious affairs in Henan on Chinese websites. Out of the 105 pages of text there are only two or three which do not have detailed footnotes. An appendix gives no less than 18 pages of detailed references to many websites, books and articles which provide authoritative source material. This is of vital importance as sometimes articles written by Christians on the house churches in Henan have been rather sloppily written and speculative, based on very partial information. That cannot be said of this book.

The appendix of source materials is divided into eight sections, which I list below, as they show clearly the overall contents of the book:
1. Henan: General Information
2. The Rural Situation
3. Migrant Workers
4. AIDS
5. History of the Christian Church
6. The Church Today
7. Heresies, Cults, New Religions, Folk Religion, Secret Societies
8. Other

The book itself sets the growth of the church and of the cults firmly in the overall historical, economic, political and cultural setting. This is important, as sometimes overseas the rural house churches have been divorced from their setting and placed on a pedestal which bears little relation to reality. This is not to deny the very real work of God that has taken place (and continues to take place) in rural Henan, but to recognize that God uses means; the gospel has triumphed precisely in the context of poverty and lack of medical facilities among people deeply influenced by folk religion and their ancestral clans. I believe Ms. Cheng has set a high academic standard which all researchers and writers on the Chinese church need to uphold.

Her book is divided into two main sections—on the growth of the church, and the growth of cults. Let us use the remainder of this issue of China Insight to look at some of the socio-economic facts which she introduces to put the church growth in context.

Firstly, Henan will have a population of 100 million people sometime next year (2009). It is China’s most populated province and also has the most Christians, as we have seen. Henan has a rich history, straddling the Yellow River, but its people have had more than their fair share of floods, famines and political upheaval. In the great drought of 1877, 13 million people died in Henan and Shanxi. In 1942-43 (during the Japanese occupation) several million more died due to drought. In 1958-1961 just in the prefecture of Xinyang (which was the site of the first People’s commune), 500,000 people starved to death due to Mao’s policies according to later official statistics, although the real figure may have been more than 1 million.
In the 19th century, despite rampant poverty, the Henan people generally rejected the Christian gospel. In fact, at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, they destroyed 70-80% of the Christian churches in Henan. So dire poverty alone is not a sufficient explanation for the remarkable turning to Christ in recent decades.

More than 70% of the population in Henan are farmers. The Henan farmer struggles to survive on very small patches of land. Henan has 7.5% of China’s total population, but has to feed them on only 1.7% of China’s arable land. In 2001 the average peasant annual income was 2,097 RMB (about US$270). This is below the national average income of US$303. What is worse, rise in incomes has stagnated, meaning many Henan peasants are actually earning less every year because of inflation.

Many Henan peasants are poorly educated. Most have only 8 years at primary school. People struggle to pay all the expenses now needed to educate their children. Even if one looks at the 18 cities in Henan, with the exception of Zhengzhou and Loyang, the number of children who go on to secondary education or university is much lower than in most other Chinese cities. Even Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, is placed 42nd in a list of 50 Chinese cities, comparing them in terms of economic and social opportunity. Henan lags behind other provinces in terms of industrialization and investment. So “Let’s Leave Henan!” has become the popular slogan of millions of poor farmers and workers, desperate to get better paid jobs outside the province.

Henan also has a higher death rate than any other province. At the end of 2001, Henan had less than the national average number of hospitals, beds and medical personnel. In 1997 Henan was at the bottom of the league table nationally in terms of average amount of money spent on medical expenses per capita. The plight of the farmers in terms of lack of medical facilities is truly shocking. A survey showed that in 2000-2001 the average Henan peasant was forced to spend more than 10% of his meager annual income on medical expenses. About 95% of them have no medical insurance whatsoever.

It is not surprising that many people in Henan are attracted to Christianity by the promise of healing. A Mainland survey in 1992 showed that about 40% of people turned to Christ for healing. In 1989 a scholar visited Nanyang, an area of house-church growth, and found out that one third of the people becoming Christians had done so to overcome mental worries.

AIDS has ravaged many Henan villages, where poor farmers have sold their blood and been infected through dirty needles. There are more than 2,300 orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. Although the central government has tried to bring relief, local government is still often in a state of denial. Many church members have also been infected, and the church is in the forefront of education and medical efforts, as well as caring for orphans. This practical outworking of the love of Christ has led many sufferers and their relatives to become Christians.

Henan people often complain about corrupt local officials who still maintain out-of-date Maoist attitudes and policies. Many desperate people have gone to Beijing with petitions—more than 57,000 from Henan and Shaanxi alone. However, the return to family farming has led to the nigh collapse in some cases of local control, and traditional clans and religions have resurfaced. As people have become alienated from the Party, so they have turned to the churches for support. In a society where lawful, democratic aspirations are stifled by bureaucratic corruption, the church is one area of society in which ordinary people can have a say in the election of pastors and elders. The collapse of Maoism as a system providing basic education and health care has left a void which has been rapidly filled by the Christian church.

None of the above socio-economic factors can explain the rapid spread of the gospel in Henan. We must point above all to the sovereign work of God whose Spirit “blows where he will” in converting power. But combined, they nevertheless go far to explain why many poor, rural people in Henan have become receptive to the gospel message when brought by their fellow countrymen who demonstrate the love of Christ.

In future issues I plan (d.v.) to look in more detail at the growth of the church and of the cults in Henan, using Ms. Cheng’s book as the major source.

Copyright 2008 by OMF International.