Religious persecution in China.

Rome -- Chinese authorities have released Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zheng Ding diocese whose arrest had sparked a protest from the Holy See. AsiaNews sources speculate that the police seized the bishop because of the proximity of Easter. To prevent what they define as "social disorders"--liturgical celebrations outside police control--public security officials arrested bishops and priests of the underground Church in the period from Holy Week to Pentecost.

The Chinese government has established a pattern of arresting Catholics associated with the underground Church just before major holidays or important political meetings. Bishop Julius' arrest came shortly before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress.

Other sources say that in November 2003 the government launched a campaign to permanently eliminate all unofficial cults, without differentiating between government-recognized religions--such as the Catholic Church--and sects or fanatics.

Bishop Jia, 69, a bishop since 1980, has been under house arrest many times, and has already spent 20 years in prison.

On March 5, 2004, Bishop Wei Jingyi, 45, of the Diocese of Qiqihar, of the underground Church loyal to Rome, was arrested in Heilogjiang in north-eastern China. The Bishop had gone to the Harbin airport to meet some foreign friends. He was arrested while paying at a tollbooth on his return from the airport.

The Chinese government accused him of having travelled abroad illegally. AsiaNews sources say that Bishop Wei is suspected of having "relations with a foreign state" because of his loyalty to Rome. The Bishop has spent time in labour camps from 1987 to 1989, and again from 1990 to 1992. He has been a priest since 1985, and bishop of Qiqihar since 1995. The National Catholic Register reported (March 28, 2004) that Bishop Wei was released on March 14.

News sources for details of persecution of Catholics in China include the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Mission (PIFM)'s AsiaNews, and the Cardinal Kung Foundation based in Connecticut, U.S.A. The former reports that there are approximately 60 bishops and priests in detention in China, some apparently permanently, others, like 84-year-old Bishop Zhao Zhendong, released after two weeks in custody. The Kung Foundation (Zenit 17 May, 2002) reported the arrest of two priests who intended to set up Natural Family Planning courses in Hebei province.

Despite these events, interest in the faith continues to grow in China. During Easter Vigil Masses in various regions of the country, 1,300 Catechumens entered the Church (Zenit, 13 June, 2004).

How many Christians?

According to official statistics, there are about 15 million Protestants and from five to ten million Catholics in China. But the true number seems much greater--as many as 80 million by some estimates, including millions of Christians who worship in secret underground "house churches," despite strict controls and persecution of the unofficial churches. By comparison, fewer than four million Christians existed in all of China in 1949 when the Communists came to power.

Even official spokesmen for the state-controlled churches have acknowledged that the number of Christians is increasing by about one million annually, although the real rate is probably higher. The most explosive growth is in evangelical Protestant churches, many of which are funded by American and Taiwanese Evangelicals.

In Beijing, building has begun on two new churches, each with space for 1,500 worshippers. They are the first new Protestant churches to be built in the capital in more than 50 years (Globe and Mail, February 21, 2004).

China's "gendercide" crisis

Geneva -- The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report in 1997 stating that more than 50 million women were deemed "missing" in China because of institutionalized killing and neglect of girls. Restricted to one child by China's population control program, most couples prefer boys.

The report's birth statistics showed that, in 1994, 117 boys were counted for every 100 girls in China. Now in 2004, the birth statistics are 120 boys to every 100 girls, and in some coastal areas it is 130 boys to every 100 girls. (The normal ratio is about 105 to 100.) Ten years later the same statistic remains true. The trend goes beyond the infancy stage, too, the report shows. Girls are at higher risk than boys of dying before the age of 5 in China--despite their natural biological advantages. Many girls are aborted--victims of ultrasound technology that reveals the baby's sex; others are starved to death after birth; some are the victims of violence; others are simply not treated when they become ill.

The demand for male children has fueled a major criminal industry in child kidnappings and the buying and selling of children. One recent government operation broke up a gang suspected of being behind a wave of abductions and reunited 63 children with their parents, after weeks or months of separation. The children, who ranged in age from 5 months to 13 years, changed hands several times--rising in value with each transaction.

Earlier, police in Guizhou province, in south-western China, arrested 45 people engaged in kidnapping and selling children.

So great is the shortage of young women in China that many men are taking to "purchasing" foreign "brides"--sometimes actually sex slaves. Recently three men were sentenced to death for kidnapping 32 young women.

Meanwhile the Chinese government grants benefits for one-child families, especially those in the countryside. Preferential treatment, such as financing, insurance, medical services, education, and employment, is used to encourage couples to stop after one child (WorldNetDaily, February 17, 2004).

A marginally more encouraging report appeared in the National Post (July 10, 2004). Perhaps cognisant of the problems inherent in gender imbalance, authorities in "a few rural corners" have started a Caring for Girls program which provides housing and educational assistance to parents of two daughters. The major condition for benefitting from the program is, however, sterilization of the parents. There is even talk about restricting abortions.

Shanghai -- The municipal government of this city announced April 13, 2004, that divorcees who remarry would be allowed to have a second baby. Until now, divorcees were allowed to have a second child only if their new spouse was childless. Those who broke the rules were forced to pay "social compensation," a fine of up to three times the annual household income.

If both partners are without siblings--increasingly likely after more than three decades of the one-child policy --the new regulations permit two infants, without worrying about the timing of the births. In the past, penalties were imposed unless a four-year gap was left between the offspring.

Far from permitting couples to decide for themselves, however, the new rules are aimed at addressing the growing imbalance between affluent urban residents and poor migrants from the countryside, where family planning rules are less rigorously enforced.

Demographic experts say that Shanghai--one of the first cities in China to adopt the one-child policy in the late 60s--will again be a pioneer in gradually unwinding the restrictions (The Guardian, April 14, 2004).

Beijing -- Faced with a population aging at an unprecedented rate, China has been warned it may grow old before it has a chance of achieving widespread prosperity. The proportion of over-60s in the population will rise from the current 11 per cent to 28 per cent--and possibly even as high as 32 per cent--by 2040. By then the country will have almost 400 million elderly people who, unless broad pension schemes are started soon, which is unlikely, will have no support.

Most will have to rely on the traditional old-age insurance, i.e. children. But the one-child policy enforced since 1972 has led to the so-called "4-2-1 problem" where one child will be expected to support two aged parents and four grandparents. The gender imbalance resulting from selective abortion of females also means that daughters, who do the actual caring for the elderly, will be in short supply.

The alert in a paper titled The Graying of the Middle Kingdom warns Chinese demographers that population imbalances could bring social turmoil.

It also comes as the Chinese government published details of unemployment, showing that, despite recent nine-per-cent economic growth, job creation was still far from employing the country's pool of surplus workers (The Sydney Morning Herald, April 28, 2004).

Comment

For whatever it is worth, pro-life authors have warned of the coming debacle of population imbalances for over 25 years.