Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.
Over the years many foreign faith-based entities have made what might best be described as a "survey trip" to China. The purpose is ostensibly to understand what is happening on the ground and to discern whether, and how, their particular organization could begin a China work.
The church in China is often viewed through two prevailing and related paradigms. The "persecuted church" paradigm positions the church and the Chinese government in perpetual opposition to one another, while the "Christian China" paradigm sees Christianity as bringing a new moral order to China and foresees the day when the church will usher in political change.
The new year is upon us, and McKinsey China has come out with a new set of predictions for 2014. A key theme running through these predictions is a significantly changing labor market, particularly as a result of advances in technology and the way it is being utilized both in the workplace and by consumers.
I recently ran across a post called "Pagan Practice in China's Shanxi Province," which included some intriguing photos of traditional customs.
The mainland think-tank Pacific Institute for Social Sciences recently translated an article by Professor Liu Peng, titled Three Issues Concerning Chinese House Churches. This article provides and excellent overview of the history and current situation for house churches in China.
It dawned on me recently that no one has commented on a recent phenomenon: famous Chinese movie directors injecting Christian and related religious elements into contemporary Chinese movies.
Mention the church in China and the conversation invariably turns toward China's religious policy, the underlying assumption being that the Chinese government is bent on suppressing Christianity. In the most recent issue of ChinaSource Quarterly we take a closer look at this question. As with most things in China, both the stated policy and the observable reality belie a complexity that makes it extremely difficult to generalize about the relationship between church and state in China.
Homelessness is not a social problem normally associated with China; however, it appears to be growing, particularly among the population of migrants who have moved into China's cities.
The guest editor's point of view
A Beijing house church pastor shares his reflections on the Asian Church Leaders Forum in Seoul, South Korea.
When I first went to China in the mid-1980s the rural/urban population ratio was 80/20. Today, after three decades of urbanization, that ratio is roughly 50/50.
A Chinese Christian calls on the church to be engaged in evangelism and global missions.