Brent Fulton is the founder of ChinaSource.
Dr. Fulton served as the first president of ChinaSource until 2019. Prior to his service with ChinaSource, he served from 1995 to 2000 as the managing director of the Institute for Chinese Studies at Wheaton College. From 1987 to 1995 he served as founding US director of China Ministries International, and from 1985 to 1986 as the English publications editor for the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong.
Dr. Fulton holds MA and PhD degrees in political science from the University of Southern California and a BA in radio-TV-film from Messiah College.
An avid China watcher, Dr. Fulton has written and taught extensively on the church in China and on Chinese social and political phenomena. He is the author of China's Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden and co-authored China's Next Generation: New China, New Church, New World with Luis Bush.
Dr. Fulton and his wife, Jasmine, previously lived in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2017. They currently reside in northern California.
He is currently facilitating a network of member care professionals serving missionaries sent out from China. He also consults with other organizations on the impact of China's religious policy.
The church in China is often viewed through two prevailing and related paradigms. The "persecuted church" paradigm positions the church and the Chinese government in perpetual opposition to one another, while the "Christian China" paradigm sees Christianity as bringing a new moral order to China and foresees the day when the church will usher in political change.
The new year is upon us, and McKinsey China has come out with a new set of predictions for 2014. A key theme running through these predictions is a significantly changing labor market, particularly as a result of advances in technology and the way it is being utilized both in the workplace and by consumers.
Mention the church in China and the conversation invariably turns toward China's religious policy, the underlying assumption being that the Chinese government is bent on suppressing Christianity. In the most recent issue of ChinaSource Quarterly we take a closer look at this question. As with most things in China, both the stated policy and the observable reality belie a complexity that makes it extremely difficult to generalize about the relationship between church and state in China.
So here I am, eggnog latte in hand, seated in one of the ubiquitous branches of an internationally branded coffee chain. The city is not important. This could be Hong Kong or Beijing, New York or London. The festive holiday decor would be the same anywhere, along with the exhortations to "Create Wonder" and "Share Joy" stenciled on the front window.
Religious Freedom in China: Policy, Administration, and Regulation; A Research Handbook by Kim-kwong Chan and Eric R. Carlson
Reviewed by Brent Fulton
This volume provides reliable information about religious policy and its implementation in China.
A recent article appearing in Global Times, the English-language mouthpiece of the authoritative People's Daily, raises interesting questions about how China's leaders view the relationship between the official and unofficial church.
篇者的话: 这篇文章的原文刊载于华源协作中文版秋号2013
From the editor's point of view...
Chinas economic growth is unprecedented in recent history, and the effects have been jarring. Having been involved with China long enough to remember when ordinary citizens needed ration cards to purchase basic necessities, I can also recall my shock and surprise when I first saw advertisements for a new weight loss program plastered on the side of a bus in a prosperous southern Chinese city.
Rev. Samuel Lamb (Lin Xiangao) passed away in Guangzhou on August 3, 2013. He was 88 years old.
The "China Dream" which the country's newly installed leaders are promoting is largely a vision of economic growth and prosperity, couched in terms of national pride and increasing strength vis-a-vis the international community. This vision of a strong and prosperous country is not new; late-Qing reformers and May 4th activists alike sounded a similar call, and progress a century later is still measured against the backdrop of this longstanding national struggle.
China's Christians embrace commitment to world evangelization.
Christian leaders from China made history at the 2010 Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, not by their participation, but by their absence. Although some 200 leaders had made preparations and raised the necessary funds to attend, the vast majority were stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving China.
Nearly three years later, about 100 of these leaders were able to join their counterparts from around the world in Seoul, Korea, for the Asian Church Leaders Forum.