Suna in Wonderland

Last Christmas eve (2009), after having cheese fondue and three bottles of wine with friends, we decided to go to Church for midnight service. I recall that every Christmas eve, Catholic Church would usually have Christmas mass.

We quickly googled and found one church near by the house, which took about 10 min by taxi. (St Peter’s Catholic Church (圣伯多禄堂)

When we arrived, church was closed and guard said, there is no mass in this late night. We asked if there is any other church that would have midnight Christmas mass but he was so certain that no church in Shanghai would provide a mass at this time even though it is Christmas!!

Next day I searched for Christmas mass schedule in shanghai and attended French mass. While I was searching for mass schedule, I was surprise that there is not so much mass provided in Shanghai. It seemed there is restriction and limitation on religious service in China. This means not only Catholic Christian but also other religion such as Buddhism, Islam and protestant e.t.c.

Religion in China is allowed only if it is registered to government. For Chinese citizen, house meeting for religious purpose is illegal. I asked my Chinese colleague if Chinese people need to register themselves to the government if they are religious. She said they do not need to as long as they go to registered church. Then I started to get curious why Chinese people would risk gathering illegally rather than going to registered church.

Through the research (it was not so easy since lots of website related to this issues are blocked) I found out that apparently there is existing Chinese priest and even bishops. The thing is bishops are appointed not by Vatican but People’s Republic of China’s communist government. And it has long history from 1958. So since bishops are not appointed by Vatican, many of Christian Chinese feel that these priests are not real Christian priests but more like government officers.

Anyhow, I wonder where China draws line between communist belief and economic growth. Definitely there are more religious places than old days in China which represents demand is increasing. There are so many foreigners in China, especially in Shanghai and they are one of important factor that helps China develop rapidly. However for these foreigners to live in China they need to able to satisfy their living standard including their religion. I am sure in 10 years, there will be more churches and other religious building established in China.

We all know that China is very powerful due to their ability of self-sufficiency. However I don’t think china is willing to be isolated, even if they can sustain themselves. In that case, china needs to find the balance between their communistic system and increasing demand from educated (religious) Chinese and foreigner. What would be their countermove?