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14 September 2005

Just how many Christians and communists are there in China?

Elinor Wong and Francis Wong
Hong Kong (ENI). Some Church scholars in Hong Kong doubt recent claims that Chinese Christians outnumber members of the Communist Party, but assert that China is deeply concerned about ever-increasing religious influences.

The American Bible Society at the end of August launched a special fundraising project to help provide paper to produce Bibles for distribution throughout China during 2005 through Amity Press, the officially recognised Christian printing press of the registered church. The Society said that "only the lack of Bible paper holds us back".

And in his book "Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power", David Aikman, a former senior foreign correspondent for Time magazine writes that out of China's 1.3 billion citizens, 70 million are Protestant and 12 million are Catholics, and he believed that Christianity will continue to grow in China.

In Hong Kong, Professor Ying Fuk Tsang, a divinity professor, said the number of Protestants in mainland China could definitely be more than 14 million - the number provided by official sources without counting believers in unregistered groups known as house churches. Yet he has reservations about reports which said Christians in China outnumber members of the Communist Party, which tally about 70 million.

"As official data are hard to obtain, it is difficult to make an accurate estimation of the number of home churches attendants in the mainland China," said Ying who teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and whose research interest is Christianity in China.

Some sources have said the number of mainland Protestants is estimated to be 70 to 80 million, or even 100 million. However, Ying contends that 30 to 40 million would be a more realistic estimation.

"Another point of contention is the definition of membership in the Protestant church. Should those baptised be considered church members, or should those attending church regularly be regarded as members?" Ying said in an interview with Ecumenical News International.

Asked if the growing number of Christians could become a group exerting pressure on the Beijing government, Ying said there are mechanisms regulating church activities in China, and the government would also try to have the informal house churches registered.

Still, Ying said, "The upsurge of Christianity is really a potential destabilising factor in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party," which is concerned that the concept of democracy might be spread by the Protestant church, impacting on the social situation of the state.

Some sources said a number of former democracy activists had converted to Christianity, Ying noted. The dramatic increase in Christians in mainland China is attributable to the resurgence of religious activities since the 1980s and a spiritual hunger that has accompanied the economic takeoff, he asserted, adding that changes had also been observed in the composition of believers.

"Such growth was seen mainly in rural villages in the past", but has already spread to big cities like Beijing. Among converts are university students and entrepreneurs, "showing that the urban population has an increasing interest in seeking the meaning of life", said Ying.

Another phenomenon cited by Ying is that more and more members of the Communist Party are taking part in religious activities. "Theoretically speaking, those joining the Communist Party have no religious belief, or it may be said that they believe in Communism. But nowadays it cannot be ruled out that some of them may have joined the Party merely due to pragmatic considerations."

Party members' participation in Christian activities may range from low profile attendance without being baptized, to participating only after retirement, or even withdrawing from the party after their participation, says Ying.

Anthony Lam Sui-ki, a Catholic researcher on the church in China, has also questioned the claim that Chinese Christians outnumber members of the Communist Party. He said the number of Catholic Church members in mainland China is 5.3 million according to official statistics, while researchers generally believe it to be 12 million. Even with 30 million Protestants, the total number of Christian believers would be far below the 70 million members in the Communist Party.

:: The five state-approved religions in China are Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Protestantism and Catholicism. The approximately 12 000 Christian Orthodox, mainly inhabitants of Inner Mongolia and north-western Xinjiang are a tiny fraction of Christian believers in mainland China.

© 1994 - 2006 Ecumenical News International.

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