Job Discussion Forums

kololam77 · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

I am seriously considering coming to China for ESL work.

I am a Christian and am concerned regarding the true state of religious freedom in China. Reports I have received seem rather mixed and aloof re: this sensitive subject.

With the reported number of Christians in China hovering at only about 100 million (a small percentage of the actual population), my concern is there may not be sufficient fellowship opportunities, or if there are such opportunities the fear of severe persecution lingers.

With China quickly becoming an economic powerhouse and major international market player, I assume changes in the area of human rights as they pertain to religious freedom are well in the works - but one cannot know for certain just how far along the government has moved in this arena.

Any information anyone has regarding what they have experienced in China (religiously speaking) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for the consideration. OH YES.....

Just a quick housekeeping question - Will the employer be certain to help me receive the z visa, medical exam, residence permit, and foreign expert paperwork necessary to work in China without any real hassle?

Lobster · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:27 pm Post subject:

You are free to practice your religion in the privacy of your home or to attend a church service. You are not free to come as a missionary disguised as a teacher and try to convert the locals to your belief system. Doing so may get you deported. Why you'd want to live among the heathen is beyond me. It would be better if you stayed in a healthy Christian environment. An employer can arrange all the paperwork but will lose everything if you get up to any Bob Jones style hijinks.

RED

pandasteak · Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Posts: 166

just curious...

you looking for a teaching job? or coming to spread the word?
If you're teaching, the visa is taken care of pretty quickly. Just be sure to leave your ulterior motive off of your visa application.

Here's a tiny bit of info that you may be interested in, regarding Christians in Dalian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/windowblock/sets/72157594268435031/

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

check with organizations such as ELIC which is a christian based teaching org and do influence thinking by incorporating christian stories and ideas into the lesson plan..and they are approved by the Chinese government...

InTime · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Posts: 1676 Location: CHINA-at-large

cj750...interesting
Officially approved Christian stories...

There's a popular book published in China/Chinese
"World's Greatest Salesman"...about Jesus-as-Salesman
Sounds like USAmerican-style Christianityism

NOTE also...the proslytizing Mormons are quite influential in China's EFL circles...because they can regularly supply large numbers of native speakers.

Sincere/dedicated (though often misguided) Christian folks-as-EFLTeachers-in-China offer valuable lessons for others, such as progressives, who prefer to curse what they see as Darkness, rather than light candles.

Also influencing China are the Moonies, who have been contracted to provide Sex Education in China's schools.NOTE the various perspectives/critiques BELOW. Abstinence? Orgies?

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30914FB3D5C0C718DDDA00894D8404482

daodejing · Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 39

I've heard of numerous situations where missionaries were teaching English or learning Chinese (or both) while giving out bible and preaching the Word. Situations such as these are yet more examples of how power in China is so localized--if foreigners are reliably providing cheap English lessons to a particular school, no local person has much incentive to report or investigate charges of unregistered missionary-ism. And I'm not sure one would want to admit on this board that one would be trying to convert Chinese people to Christianity because you would not recieve a warm reception--there have already been comments about "heathens".

If you just want to go to church, you'll be OK. Finding church in English may be difficult in most places. Private conversations are OK. Just don't hand out flyers criticizing the government or something wacky like that. And don't light yourself on fire in Tiananmen Square--they said the Falun Gong people did that.

A few years ago I visited a church in northwestern Yunnan, Weixi county, on the Mekong river. The whole area had large numbers of French missionaries 100 years ago and up until the Cultural Revolution I believe. A local man I talked to said that just previous to my visit, a foreigner Christian whom he hadn't seen in 30 years had come back to visit. I thought it was an amazing story.

sojourner · Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:10 am Post subject:

It's interesting to learn that the Moonies happen to control both sides of the sexual morality debate - abstinence (according to the NYT's article) and orgies ( as per the Larouche website) ! I'm also intrigued to read that Jerry Falwell is now controlled by the Moonies !

Open the complete Larouche article to gain an insight into how conspiracy theorists interpret history. It would appear that some of the antecedents of the Rev. Moon's Unification Church range from HG Wells and Bertrand Russell, to Frank Buchman (of MRA, or Moral Re-Armament fame) ! Anyway, if the Moonies do have so much influence in the public affairs of many nations - including the US and, possibly, China - there is certainly cause for concern. But, posssibly, it could be argued that policy makers (cabinet ministers, top bureaucrats) are fully aware of what various religious lobby groups are up to - and, are merely using them (ie the aforementioned lobby groups) to garner electoral support for certain policy initiatives, etc. Recently, I came across an online article that mentioned that some fundamentalist Christian lobby groups in the US are becoming disillusioned with the Bush Administration - feeling that they have been "used" rather than being regarded as "partners" whose views are seriously regarded, and taken heed of in the formulation of public policy.

Thus, it's quite possible that Beijing is fully aware of what the true nature of the Unification Church is; and, merely sees them as an effective instrument to push the CCP's current pre-marital abstinence line ( for the masses). I'm sure that the authorities would soon clamp down on the Moonies should the latter start pushing the Rev. Moon's theology !

Peter

Steppenwolf · Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 1769

As far as I know it is still illegal to IMPORT Bibles and to distribute them in China; you can, of course, bring with you a reasonable number of copies for your own use (I would suppose more than 2 copies would be unreasonable unless your famkily numbers 11 membrs).

China publishes its own Bibles, and interestingly, they mostly come in BILINGUAL (English/Chiense) versions. I got a xcopy of a Bible printed in Nanning that cost Yuan 26.

tw · Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 3898

My freshmen told me that they have to read the English version of the Bible as part of their Intensive Reading course taught by a Chinese teacher.