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The official religious communities in China are cooperation partners of the government. That is no surprise. After all, Christian CP organizations were founded on Mao’s behest to eliminate any spiritual competition for his ideology. This still works today. Pictures of Xi Jinping are more prominently placed in state churches than those of Jesus.
Nevertheless, Christianity has found its own profile in China. Hong Kong, on the other hand, still has thriving Christian communities dating back to British times. The city’s recently inaugurated Catholic bishop thus occupies a key role for Chinese Christians. Fabian Peltsch’s analysis looks at the current state of Christianity in China and the challenges of the new bishop who finds himself between deeply devout communities and an unsympathetic government.
Religion is not exactly the specialty of the atheist CP leadership. It is more proficient in industrial development. China is already so far advanced in this regard that even the Americans come knocking looking for expertise – in autonomous driving, for example. Google’s sister company Waymo is teaming up with Geely subsidiary Zeekr. As a testing ground, China has the advantage that autonomous cars can gain field experience in the harsh conditions of everyday life, analyzes Frank Sieren.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Hong Kong’s papal bridge builder
It took Stephen Chow Sau-yan months of consideration in prayer before accepting the post of bishop of Hong Kong. “I didn’t feel the call in myself to be bishop,” the 62-year-old explained in a press conference. In the end, it was a handwritten letter from Pope Francis that convinced the Jesuit. “The Holy Father wrote something in his handwriting that he believed I should be the bishop … and so, for me, this was a sign.”
The Hong Kong-born cleric, who trained as a psychologist in the United States, now has the difficult task to build “a bridge between the government and the Church in HK, and between the Catholic Church, fellow Christian denominations, and other religions,” he said in his inaugural speech in December. Just over 12 percent of the city’s citizens identify as Christian. Schools, universities, and social institutions often have a Christian background.
The political turmoil in Hong Kong has left deep cracks within the Christian community. “The political situation is causing great uncertainty among Christians,” said Pastor Tim Buechsel in an interview with China.Table. The German-American has been working for the Vine Church in Wanchai District since 2018. Many church members have fled the city, he says. The Vine Church still had 2,500 members at the end of 2019. Now there are some 1,300 left. A considerable proportion fears that they will soon no longer be able to practice their faith freely under the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party.
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