The Chronicles of China- Chapter 1

Prologue- I have spent
all of March, the 9^th month since leaving home on the World Race, in
the People’s Republic of China. I unfortunately was unable to use the internet
this past month because Christian missionaries are not welcome here in China. Under
the rule of the Communist authorities governing this nation there are many laws
and regulations that prohibit anyone speaking of Jesus Christ the Savior, the
Holy Spirit and of God, the Father. All electronic communication is monitored
by the government meaning that every e-mail, text message and phone call is
combed through to protect the People’s Republic. I have kept an account of my
month here in China that I have turned into a blog series called the
‘Chronicles of China’. Now that I have left the country I am able to post the blogs.

                I can still remember when
I was a little kid learning about planet Earth back in elementary school. My
teacher would do her best to try and explain how the world was round and how
gravity worked yet many of us were left with a long list of questions and a
stupid look on our faces. 

If the world is round,
then wouldn’t people on the other side of the world, like the people in China,
be upside down? Wouldn’t the blood rush to their heads?

Then of course there came the ultimate 7 year old epiphany:

So if we dig a hole
deep enough… we will end up in China.

                I set
out one lazy weekend afternoon to accomplish such a feat in my very own backyard.
I was fascinated with the absolute alien world that was China. All I knew about
China at the time was that they talked funny, my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
toys were ‘Made in China’,  the fried
rice from the Chinese restaurant over on 3^rd street in Laramie,
Wyoming was killer, Jackie Chan was a kung-fu king, and that people wore large
‘rice field’ hats like Raiden from Mortal Combat. Sounds ignorant and
racist?  Possibly. Growing up, I never
learned about the far East in school so my young mind did the best it could to
tie the little I bits and pieces of Asian culture I knew about together.

 

 Out of the eleven
scheduled countries to visit on this mission trip, no other country was quite
as hyped as China, and for good reason. My own personal lack of knowledge
combined with a sense of secrecy from the World Race organization made the
country all the more fascinating. The secrecy was implemented to ensure our
safety and the safety of our contacts we were working with because China is a
closed country.

                There
is a branch of the Chinese government called the Public Security Bureau (PSB)
that aims to keep the public safe as the name implies. The PSB is specifically
interested in suppressing Christian belief and keeping missionaries out of the
country. Christians today, much like the first band of brothers and sisters
that proclaimed the Good News of Jesus over two-thousand years ago, are being
persecuted and imprisoned for their beliefs. Here in China, there were laws
passed deeming what is acceptable for people to believe regarding religion. For
example certain government-sanctioned churches (Three-Self Churches) may teach
about Christ, but not about his resurrection or returning. Teaching or talking
about the final book of the bible, Revelations is prohibited. Bibles as
Westerners know them are illegal to own, and only modified versions of the
bible are ‘legal’ to own. The Chinese government is exercising excessive and unjustified
control that is based out of fear. Fear that the 1.6 billion inhabitants might
rise up, find a voice, discover the Truth and over throw the powers that be.

                In
speaking to the people who live here in China it is disturbing to hear about
the oppression exerted by the government. Truth is being distorted and twisted
to ‘keep order’.  Like mentioned in the
prologue, ALL electronic communication runs through a filter. If ‘Big Brother’
doesn’t like what it sees it will block, edit and delete information and seek
to detain the source of the information. There have been major disputes between
China and Google because of the government allegedly spying into Gmail
accounts. China has gone so far as disabling ‘Youtube’ and ‘Facebook’ through
the entire country to keep communication down and more easily monitored. There
was a major earthquake in a northern province here that was kept a secret by
the government from foreign nations and even other provinces so no one would
panic. Major news websites like CNN are currently being blocked so that people
will not be able to read about the debacle in Libya and northern Africa. The
riots happening over in those nations might give the Chinese people ideas about
rising up against their own government. 
Protests happen all of the time here in China, but no news coverage is
allowed to broadcast so no one ever hears about them. In an attempt to protect
the public, the tyrannical government has successfully created a manipulated,
brainwashed, disheartened society.

                I was
shocked as I learned these new things that the Western world simply does not
hear about. I took on an attitude of a learner this month to help absorb the
new culture and thoroughly soak it all in.

The thing that I love the most about China is that all of
the odds are stacked against the people, yet the battle is being won. Despite
unfavorable conditions here in China, God allowed us to enter and to embody the
change that this nation needs. We were a handful joining the thousands, if not
millions of people who are already making a difference in this country. We
simply came in and fanned the flames that are already burning brightly in the
underground.

Light always penetrates darkness and darkness can never
overcome the Light.

Keep reading-

The Chronicles of China:

Chapter 2- Goodbye American Asia, Hello Other American Asia