Last summer's crash of an Asiana jetliner in San Francisco shocked and saddened many in China. More than a hundred of the passengers were Chinese high school students enroute to a summer camp in California. The unfortunate tragedy also shone a spotlight on a growing trend of Chinese youth studying in US high schools. By one estimate 25,000 Chinese high schoolers are currently in private schools in the United States.
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.
An interview with Dr. Fenggang Yang, of Purdue University regarding the Forum for Chinese Theology Symposium.
It was an honor to be part of the sixth China Theology Symposium held this August at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. Centered on the theme "Christian Faith and Ideological Trends in China," the four days of meetings gathered intellectuals from China's major ideological groups, and encouraged them to engage one another with an eye towards elucidating what Christianity may or may not have to contribute to China's future.
篇者的话: 这篇文章的原文刊载于华源协作中文版秋号2013
当教会只关注成人事工，中国儿童及青少年群体的门徒培训就备受忽视。作者除指出教会所面对的挑战及不回应挑战的后果，更提出实际可行的对策。
Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the 25th National Catholic China Conference at Loyola University in Chicago. The United States Catholic China Conference sponsored the conference and the theme was "The American Catholic Church and China in an Era of Globalization."
A Chinese Christian highlights the the popularity of Confucianism as a warning against the 'popularization' of the gospel.
Last week I had the privilege of attending a consultation on education in China, co-hosted by ChinaSource. Below are some random gleanings from a day of note-taking:
When shopping in street markets in Asia, I'd often hear the reply, "Same same, but different." The one item was the same as the other but somehow different. Maybe they didn't have the one I wanted but this other item would be just as good. Same thing but different.
The autumn issue of the ChinaSource Quarterly (due out next week) deals with the effects of postmodernism on China and the church.
From the editor's point of view...
Historical events following Mao's death left an ideological vacuum in China. This has created a strong need for faith, even an urge, so as to avoid the risk of further social disruption and political instability. While postmodernism, with its relativity and lack of absolutes, is trying to fill this void, it also leaves people questioning and open to exploring faith.