THE OLY MPICS – LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

On August 8, 2008 the Olympics open in Beijing! After years of preparation, the entire Chinese nation will see the culmination of its expectations fulfilled. The world’s media will be focused on Beijing, which has been, to a considerable extent, rebuilt in honor of the occasion. The foreign athletes, tourists and correspondents who will pour in by tens of thousands will see a city totally transformed from the drab, gray city which only 30 years ago was struggling to put behind it the poverty of the Mao years. New stadiums, roads, flyovers and glitzy shopping malls will amaze the visitors. Local people, including the taxi-drivers, have made strenuous efforts to learn English to welcome the newcomers.

For the duration of the Games, Beijing’s streets will be cleared of beggars and carefully policed to ensure no demonstrations, especially terrorist incidents, will mar the festive atmosphere. Those whose homes have been demolished in the race to build new sporting and tourist facilities will be kept well away from the city center. Beijing’s notorious air pollution, which has soared since so many wealthy residents have purchased new cars, will also hopefully be diminished by the clever expedient of ordering taxi drivers and car-owners to only use the cities’ roads every other day by forbidding those with certain number plates from driving on certain days.

The government and many Chinese citizens want to celebrate the Olympics as China’s “coming of age” party. The rowdy demonstrations which dogged the passage of the Olympic torch through London, Paris, San Francisco, Australia and Japan were met in China first by bewilderment and then anger. They were seen as an affront to deep patriotic feeling. As soon as the torch arrived in Hong Kong, Macau and then passed into Mainland China, it was as if a

different world had been entered. This marks the gulf which still separates China from much of the rest of the world. Angry comments hummed along the internet between China’s more than 200 million users, outraged that the Olympic torch should have been snatched from the hands of a helpless Chinese girl athlete in a wheel-chair in Paris. Angry demonstrations urged outside French supermarkets in Beijing and Shanghai and a few foreigners narrowly escaped being lynched on the spot. As happened before in the case of anti-Japanese and anti-American demonstrations, the authorities were forced to dampen down patriotic and xenophobic sentiments which could bubble over into violence. All large gatherings—even such innocent events as the opening of a new supermarket—were banned.

The Olympics were hoped by many to symbolize a new era of openness in China, not least in religious affairs. Some Christian organizations overseas were planning to use the Olympics as a springboard for mass evangelism. However, in the present atmosphere of tight control and fear that extremist groups could sabotage the Games, such evangelistic efforts would seem unwise, as they could provoke a negative response which would ultimately harm China’s own Christian community most. By the end of this year, the Games will be just a memory (hopefully a happy one). Foreign athletes, journalists and Christian tourists will move on. But unwise actions could have longstanding repercussions. It would be tragic if misuse of the Games, a symbol of international harmony and sportsmanship, were to usher in a renewed era of greater suspicion and mutual incomprehension between China and much of the outside world. This could also lead to further repression of Chinese Christians, just when Chinese society in so many ways is opening up to the gospel, and Chinese Christians’ contributions in so many ways are being welcomed by the authorities. Chinese Christians are now active in setting up homes for the aged, kindergartens, medical clinics and hospitals, centers for educating and helping autistic and severely handicapped children, and facilities to help drug users and those infected with HIV/AIDS. While cases of persecution still occur, the parameters for spreading the gospel are constantly widening—witness the quiet opening of possibly as many as 200 Christian bookstores in many cities in recent years and the development of children’s and youth work in both Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) registered and unregistered house churches.

China’s leaders have publicly recognized for the first time the role that religious believers play in helping create a “harmonious society.” Christians will pray that the Olympics pass peacefully and that the church will have even greater opportunities in the near future to express the love of Christ in self-effacing, Christ-like service. A key verse from Paul to help us in prayer: I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Tim. 2:1-2)

A MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE HITS SICHUAN

A massive earthquake measuring almost 8 on the Richter scale devastated large parts of northern Sichuan province on the afternoon of Monday, May 12. The epicenter was in Wenchuan County, 60 km north of the provincial capital, Chengdu. The quake was felt 900 miles away in Beijing, and there have been 300 aftershocks. New China News Agency reported the same day that over 8,500 people had been killed, with tens of thousands missing. By later May the death toll had risen to over 60,000, and there are fears it could be higher as many thousands are still missing or buried under the rubble.

In Dujiangyan 900 students were buried as a school collapsed, and this was only one of many such disasters. Premier Wen Jiabao called for immediate relief aid to be focused on the epicenter, and an all-out effort is being made by 100,000 troops to rescue those trapped beneath the ruins. As many roads had been closed by landslides, bringing relief to remote mountainous villages and towns in northern Sichuan has proven difficult.

This is the most serious earthquake to have struck China in 30 years since the horrendous Tangshan earthquake of 1976, when more than 250,000 people died.

CHRISTIANS RESPOND

The initial phase of crisis management was handled incredibly quickly and efficiently by the Chinese army. Christians in China and overseas have moved under government guidance from rescue to relief and more long-term reconstruction. MSI Professional Services, a medical and community development agency that has been serving in Sichuan for 14 years, has mobilized teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan etc. to offer medical assistance, organize water supplies, and provide counseling and psychological care.

Another agency sent in drivers with relief teams to the worst hit areas. They will also plan reconstruction projects alongside local community leaders.

OMF International is supporting these initiatives, seconding their members to work alongside these agencies. If you would like to make a donation, please send a check payable to OMF International indicating your preference as “earthquake relief.”

WORLD CUP CHRISTIAN

It is a sign of the times in China that one of their leading female athletes is able to be quite open about her faith. Han Duan, aged 24, is China’s star female soccer striker. Last year she took a leading part in the World Cup in five cities around China, where 16 national teams vied for soccer supremacy.

Han scored 10 goals in her last four appearances with the Chinese soccer team. She said: “No matter where I go, I always take the Bible along with me. I love to read it because there are important lessons to be learned every day. I also find that the Bible is filled with wisdom and joy and instructs me how to live meaningfully.”

The United Bible Societies helped local provincial Christian councils throughout China to print a special edition of 150,000 copies of Mark’s Gospel, which also featured Han Duan’s testimony as an extra attraction for China’s many young soccer fans.