News from China and the Chinese Church

by Tony Lambert

THE PLIGHT OF THE PEASANTS

An exposé of the sufferings of the peasant farmers of China has rocketed into the country’s bestseller lists, pressuring the government to address the issue. Chinese Peasantry: A Survey discloses the poverty and corruption affecting the rural majority of 900 million, whose exploitation underlies the gloss of China’s urban economic miracle.

It describes farmers being beaten to death for complaining about embezzlement, officials conniving to hoodwink Party leaders about production levels, and a tax system which, in effect, forces the poor to subsidize the rich minority. It helps explain the exodus of peasants from the farms to low-paid, often dangerous, jobs in the booming coastal provinces or even further afield in Europe and America.

First published by a literary magazine, the work immediately struck a chord with the public. Many readers said they were in tears throughout. One journalist wrote a self-criticism on the People’s Daily website saying he felt ashamed. “If we do not take action, only one word can be used to describe those working in the Chinese media— degenerates,” he wrote. The magazine sold 100,000 copies and then in book form a further 150,000 copies in only a month.

The book’s authors, Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, had the idea for it when expecting their child four years ago. Wu saw another mother and baby die because she could not afford a hospital delivery. The couple, children of peasants themselves, spent three years living among farmers recording what they saw.

The book declares that, while economic reform may have initially benefited farmers, taxes and local “fees” have multiplied. A peasant pays three times as much in tax as a city dweller on a sixth of the income.

China’s amazing economic development has been uneven. The authors write: “Those who have not left the big cities think the whole of China is like Beijing or Shanghai. We have seen unimaginable poverty, unimaginable evil, unimaginable suffering and desperation, unimaginable resistance and silence.”

In one case, a villager named Ding demanded an audit of his local authority after finding his taxes were embezzled. He was arrested, beaten and killed. His neighbors protested and eventually those responsible were punished. But his family never received the promised compensation. His children were forced to leave school for lack of fees.

An overseas Chinese academic who met the authors recently, stated that the book fitted with the “Get Close to the People” strategy of the new Chinese leadership which may explain why such a critical work could be published. President Hu Jintao has been keen to emphasize his solidarity with China’s poor, partly to distinguish himself from his predecessor’s rule which is strongly associated in many people’s minds with economic growth, consumerism and widespread corruption.

It may be no coincidence that in the same month the authorities republished “Central Document Number 1,” a key statement of policy towards the countryside formulated in 1982 which demands an improvement in farm incomes. Both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have expressed concern about rural poverty. The widening disparity between the coastal areas and the interior is a potential source of serious social unrest. There is no reason to doubt the leadership’s wish to correct that imbalance. (Daily Telegraph 25 February 2004)

THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Soon after the Communists took power in 1949 they nationalized all Christian schools, hospitals, clinics and other social welfare projects. For 50 years the church was rigidly excluded from trespassing into an area which was regarded as strictly the prerogative of the Party and State. However, in recent years there are encouraging signs that the Chinese government is quietly allowing Christians to set up social welfare schemes. According to an official magazine published by the Religious Affairs Bureau, by last year churches associated with the China Christian Council had set up 23 old people’s homes, 20 kindergartens, 23 hospitals and clinics and 4 health centers in various parts of the country. (China Religion May 2003) This is not much considered nationally. However, it is a promising beginning and the number of such projects is likely to grow. In some cases, we know of house-church believers who are also quietly serving their communities in similar ways. In one city they have set up a school for physically and mentally handicapped children. In others, they have set up orphanages.

Why the change of heart on the part of the authorities? We suggest that China is becoming a more open society and the huge social problems which previously could be largely kept hidden are now becoming public knowledge. Faced with the growing needs of millions of physically and mentally handicapped people and having limited resources the government is now allowing Chinese Christians to make a valued contribution. Overseas Christian teachers, medical workers and other “foreign experts” are also welcomed. Let us pray that both Chinese and overseas Christians will be salt and light in a society where there are many people desperately in need of both physical and spiritual healing. OMF can play a vital role in facilitating qualified teachers, medical workers and other specialists to go to serve the Chinese people.

HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

The problem of gangs who control and use handicapped children for street begging is getting more serious. According to local Chinese media some gang leaders in Guangdong cut open the wounds of handicapped children every day so they can win more sympathy from passers-by. A report from the Chinese Disabled Association states there are 1.4 million handicapped children in China aged 1-6 years old. Their numbers increase by 200,000 every year. Many of them are mentally disabled, too. (Report in FEBC News February 2004)

AIDS VICTIMS IN HENAN

With brusque manners and outspokenness Grandma Gao, aged 76, has exposed the plight of central China’s dirt-poor, AIDS-infected villages, bullying health authorities into providing some limited care. Local farmers sing her praises and at the other end of the social scale she has been feted by prime ministers and China’s top academics.

In February the government unveiled new plans to tackle AIDS, which is ravaging Henan, China’s most populous province, mainly due to tainted blood donations.

Dr. Gao, a retired gynecologist, and China’s best-known AIDS activist, has spent eight years describing the greed and incompetence she blames for infecting hundreds of thousands of villagers. She uses her pension to buy anti-AIDS drugs. Her campaign started in 1996 when she was called to see a man with unusual symptoms which she correctly diagnosed as AIDS. He told her he had donated blood. When she investigated she found that Henan hospitals were provided with blood by a network of businessmen who went round poor villages paying farmers to donate. To donate more often, donors were injected with blood plasma. It came from an HIV-contaminated common pool, sending infection rates soaring. She toured the countryside and found village after village full of sick people, whole families dying. But her work and the publicity it brought were not welcome by the authorities. When she won an international award she was stopped from going abroad to receive it.

Five years after the scandal was uncovered the government admitted that parts of the story were true, culminating in an admission that China might have one million people infected with HIV/AIDS. The true figure may be far higher.

Her efforts seem to have sparked an attitudinal shift in the leadership. Last December Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was filmed shaking hands with AIDS patients. In February this year 76 officials were sent to the worst affected towns to live among the afflicted and monitor their treatment. Plans for a national AIDS committee have also been announced. Now Dr. Gao has a new project: to find adoptive homes among Henan farmers for those thousands of children orphaned by AIDS. (Daily Telegraph 21 February 2004)

RECORD NUMBERS LISTEN TO GOSPEL RADIO

In 2003 21,975 people in China responded to FEBC’s gospel programs— by letter, fax and e-mail. This breaks all records and is a 26 percent increase on 2002. Nearly 70 percent of listeners had a high school education, or higher. The number of college students responding has risen steadily from only 8 percent of all listeners in 1999 to 33 percent in 2003.

This is a wonderful "retirement gift" for Rev. Kenneth Lo who in January this year retired from being FEBC’s Chinese Program Director after many years faithful service. We wish him God’s blessing. We also pray that God will greatly use his successor, Raymond Lo, and that FEBC’s strategic gospel radio ministries will continue to evangelize China’s millions and equip the Chinese church.

Copyright OMF International 2004