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Fascinating days. China elevates a bishop without the approval of Rome, and the Vatican responds by declaring them excommunicable. Brings out just how severely China controls church affairs. Did you know that with the official state Protestant church, China controls finances even down to what make of car employees are permitted to drive? Amazing.
So some interesting tidbits, learned in a conference today on the Laogai forced labor gulag system:
- Soviets designed the first Chinese gulags, down to the windows being slanted in barrack so that there would be no ledge to grab.
- However, Soviets weren't really interested in thought control or reform, unlike in China, where the gulag concept shifted from primarily a source of cheap labour to also a place where the state could exert its authority.
- The purpose is to reform you, make you a new social man. That explains why some categories of people such as Tibetan nuns, monks, and Catholic priests, spend a much longer time there than others because they cannot be reformed--they will not renounce their faiths.
- The United States is the only country in the world forbidding the import of products made by forced labour. US customs will seize and destroy known imports of such origin. One American company recently lost 2 million USD in inventory and paid 500,000 USD in fines as a result.
This is very sad. Does anyone know if China is trending towards reform in any of these areas? Are they less severe than they used to be, remaining the same, or getting worse? Without religious freedom, stable property rights, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, China's economic development will eventually become stifled. I have no idea how this will play itself out -- there will be huge stakeholders in maintaining the current political system and huge stakeholders who grow more powerful and incentivized as China's economy grows. I don't understand their culture or political system well enough to make a guess as to the eventually conflict or resolution of this tension.
China's economy has grown mainly in low-tech manufacturing sectors. Without releasing control on information flow and ability to express and debate ideas, I China hitting a huge wall towards economic growth.
We were talking about China's religious freedom with one of my professors not long ago. His take is that China realizes that trying to eliminate religion from society has been a no-win strategy. They do not fear Christianity as much as other, smaller and more dangerous sects. (Think of the cult that gassed the subway in Tokyo to get an idea about what types of groups may emerge. I think many more of these cults will emerge in China due to lower education levels, restricted communication/information, and higher levels of poverty and oppression.) Because of this fear, China is currently limiting the large-scale gathering of any religious, economic or political groups. I'm not sure how accurate this analysis is, but sounds like it has the ring of truth to it.
Is anyone more familiar with China and the situation over there? Their persecuted people definitely need our prayers and our support.
In more positive and related news, it appears Chinese Christians outnumber members of the Communist Party. Read some interesting thoughts here and here about how China may eventually become the biggest Christian missionary sending force in the world.
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