Ideas

Editorial reflection and analysis on issues shaping Chinese Christianity.

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Reflections on China, 2014

I am back from six days in China where I traveled with Brent Fulton and met with pastors, seminary leaders and academics in Shanghai and Beijing. I preached twice at Beijing International Christian Fellowship and we also held our ChinaSource Board meeting in Beijing. It was a busy and fulfilling week. I have been asked to share a few highlights and reflections of my time.

To Conquer Characters, Rethink Radicals

When I began learning Chinese at age twenty-one, I was encouraged to discover that every character has a "radical", a component which communicates meaning. Characters containing the "three dots", for example, denote something to do with water. River and lake , wash and rinse , and sweat and tears all contain the water radical on the left.

Being Salt and Light Among the Disabled in China

James Palmer, a Beijing-based journalist has penned an excellent, yet disturbing, piece about the disabled in China, titled "Crippling Injustice." "Disabled people in modern China," he writes, "are still stigmatised, marginalised and abused." "What hope is there for reform?"

China does a lot of things.

It is common journalistic shorthand to attribute any policies, economic action, or military behavior that appears to emanate from Chinese officialdom to "China."