Spotlight ~ “God is Red: The Secret Story of Christianity…in Communist China”

[The title phrase “God is Red” alludes to the song, The East Is Red--the de facto anthem of the People's Republic of China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The song title meant The East (China) is Red (communist). But God was moving in China, even when it “was red”.]

…Christianity's presence in China has been "hidden from the West for many years," says Wenguang Huang in…his translation of "God is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China" (HarperOne, Sept. 2011) by Liao Yiwu, a dissident writer whose previous book landed him in jail.

Wenguang reports there are about 70 million practicing Christians in China. "In a society tightly controlled by an atheist government, Christianity is China's largest formal religion," he says in the introduction. But for many years it was severely repressed by the Communist government. The book gives voice to numerous stories--from rural backwaters to big cities--of bravery and faith under extremely trying conditions.

The book's first-person narratives are one of its many strengths…Perhaps the most impressive story in the book is that of…Dr. Sun, who gave up a successful career as a surgeon to minister to impoverished communities in remote Yi and Miao villages where doctors are scarce and hospitals nonexistent. Sun introduces Liao to…people he'd never have found on his own.

"The Bible taught me to be in awe of God and to love, two important qualities that the Chinese people lacked. Too many Chinese will do anything for trivial material gains and have no regard for morality, ethics, or the law," says Sun in one passage. "How do we change that? Can we rely on the Communist Party? …Apparently not"

Liao also recounts the tale of Wang Zhiming, who lived and preached in China's Yunnan province. Wang was arrested in 1969 for his religious work, and executed in 1973. A statue of him stands at Westminster Abbey [London, UK], along with nine others recognized as Christian martyrs from around the globe.

The shadow of totalitarianism hovers over each interview. Though there are state-sanctioned churches in China now, many Christians refuse to be part of them, preferring to perform forbidden services in private homes [“house churches”] and other locales….

Liao suggests the remote places he has visited in order to find the subjects for his book serve as a sort of "center point" where East meets West. Though there has been a collision of cultures, Liao says, "there is now a new Christian identity that is distinctly Chinese."

Readers of this engaging book will find that even this "distinctly Chinese" identity contains multitudes [of evangelical believers].

Excepts from a review by Paul Bennett, 29 Dec, 2011 ENInews