[The moves also come as China is engaged in negotiations with the Vatican to end the split between the underground and government-run Catholic church. This would end a nearly 70-year split between the Chinese government and the global church, which Beijing traces to the Vatican’s historically strong anti-Communist stance.]
By Ian Johnson
 |
|
Worshipers
reading from the Bible at a underground church in Tianjin, China.
The
Bible is printed in China but legally available only at certain bookstores.
Credit
Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
|
BEIJING
— The Chinese government has
banned online retailers from selling the Bible, moving in the wake of new rules
to control the country’s burgeoning religious scene.
The measures to limit Bible sales were
announced over the weekend and began taking effect this week. By Thursday,
internet searches for the Bible came up empty on leading online Chinese
retailers, such as JD.com, Taobao, and Amazon, although some retailers offered
analyses of the Bible or illustrated storybooks.
The retailers did not respond to requests for
comment, although Thursday is the start of a long holiday weekend in China.
The move aligns with a longstanding effort to
limit the influence of Christianity in China. Among China’s major religions —
which include Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and folk beliefs — Christianity is the
only one whose major holy text cannot be sold through normal commercial
channels. The Bible is printed in China but legally available only at church
bookstores.
The advent of online retailers created a
loophole that made the Bible easily available. This was especially important in
China given the growing dominance of online shopping.
The closing of that loophole follows new
government religious regulations that have effectively tightened rules on
Christianity and Islam, while promoting Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion as
part of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to promote traditional values.
The moves also come as China is engaged in
negotiations with the Vatican to end the split between the underground and
government-run Catholic church. This would end a nearly 70-year split between
the Chinese government and the global church, which Beijing traces to the
Vatican’s historically strong anti-Communist stance.
Observers said the new measures could be a
sign of a broader crackdown. At a news conference on Tuesday outlining
Beijing’s approach, a government spokesman said the Vatican would never be
allowed control over the clergy in China. That came after a recent government
reorganization in which a hard-line Communist Party department took over
management of religious policy.
“It sounds like the opposition force within
the Chinese authorities who oppose the Vatican-China relations have their
voice,” said Yang Fenggang, head of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society
at Purdue University. “It clearly shows that they worry or are concerned about
Catholics as well as Protestants.”
Texts for other major religions are available
online in China: The Taoist classic the Daodejing is for sale on JD, Taobao,
and Amazon, and Buddhist sutras are available commercially.
The Quran was also sold online, perhaps
reflecting Islam’s status as a faith practiced by minorities who sometimes
enjoy more privileges than the majority ethnic Chinese population. The Quran is
also available commercially in bookstores and, unlike the Bible, has the
Chinese equivalent of an ISBN, a numeric book identifier.
Both Christianity and Islam, however, have
come under heavy government pressure.
From 2014 to 2016, more than 1,500 crosses
were removed from churches in one Chinese province with close ties to Mr. Xi.
At the same time, the government has stepped up measures against what it sees
as excessive public displays of the Islamic faith, such as men wearing long
beards or women wearing headscarves, as well as shops and restaurants that do
not sell pork products, tobacco or alcohol.
At the same time, government policy has
encouraged faiths that it sees as more indigenized, for example by subsidizing
Taoist music or folk religious pilgrimages. Mr. Xi has also spoken favorably
about Buddhism, calling it integral to Chinese people’s cultural and spiritual
life.
This overall approach to faith was reflected
in a report issued Tuesday that shows the extent of the country’s religious
revival. The previous report, in 1997, showed that China had 100 million
followers of all of its officially sanctioned religions. The new report doubles
the number.
Although other surveys show higher overall
numbers, the new report is significant because it represents official
recognition of China’s religious boom.
The report shows that most religions in China
have been quickly increasing their reach. The number of Buddhist or Taoist
believers was not counted because those faiths lack membership rolls, but their
growth can be seen in the increasing number of temples — to 33,500 and 9,000
today from 13,000 and 1,500 in 1997.
Christianity presented a more bifurcated
picture. Catholicism grew during the same period to six million worshipers from
four million, while Protestantism increased to 38 million adherents, from 10
million. Most surveys and experts, however, believe that these figures
represent only about half the total number of believers, because each has a
strong underground church that roughly matches the number of believers in
government-run churches.
In China, Islam is defined as being practiced
by most members of 10 non-Chinese ethnic groups, especially the Hui and
Uighurs. Their populations totaled 20 million in 2018 versus 18 million in
1997, according to the report.
Both Christianity and Islam were singled out
for contributing to problems in China. According to the report,
government-appointed Muslim figures condemned violence, especially in the
heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang, which is the site of longstanding unrest
against control by Beijing.
Christianity was linked to historic troubles,
especially China’s decline in the 19th century — the “century of humiliation”
that Mr. Xi has vowed to reverse. The report says that Catholicism and
Protestantism were “controlled and utilized by colonialists and imperialists.”
The new report stated that Chinese publishers
have printed 160 million copies of the Bible, exporting it to more than 100
countries. About half were published in Chinese, according to the report.
Assuming none of those were exported, that would roughly mean one Bible for
each of the faith’s adherents.
Raymond Zhong contributed reporting.
