SHANDONG (UCAN): Qianwang Catholic Church in Huashan town, Jinan, in Shandong province, China, was demolished by authorites on August 13, with more than 170 officials engaged in the action.
 
The church is the third in the Diocese of Jinan to be subjected to the wreckers’ ball. Liangwang Catholic Church was bulldozed on July 17 following the demolition of Shilihe Catholic Church (Sunday Examiner, August 12), however a Catholic source said that the latter would be rebuilt in another location.
 

GANSU (UCAN): Father Wang Yiqin of Hui county and Father Li Shidong Two from the unofficial Church in China’s Gansu province were removed after being accused of holding a summer camp for a Bosco Youth Group at the Maijiqu Ganquan Catholic Church in Tianshui Diocese of Leling city of Shandong province. The priests were sent back to their hometowns.
 
The church is one of only two venues used by the unofficial community in the Diocese of Tianshui.
 

TIANJIN (UCAN): The Walk with the Lord summer camp for young people in the Diocese of Tianjin in northern China, was forced to close on July 21 by authorities who cited the country’s revised religious regulations, which came into effect in February. Authorities also removed two priests and shut down a youth camp in Tianshui in Shandong province.
 

Peter Lui
 
A prominent figure within the Catholic Church in China once wrote in one of his books that “seeking to survive within a crevice” is a kind of wisdom for dealing with officially atheist China.
 
Moreover, amid all the commotion caused by recent rumours of an imminent Sino-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops, some figures on the Chinese mainland and overseas who favour such a deal have used the metaphor of living inside an ever-shrinking birdcage.
 

Jinan (UCAN): Liangwang Catholic Church was demolished by authorities in Jinan province, China, the second to have suffered from this fate, while a third church is expected to face the wreckers ball soon.
 
Local Catholics prayed at the site and protested the unreasonable behaviour of authorities.
 
Shilihe Catholic Church was demolished earlier this year and sources expect Wangcun Catholic Church to soon be reduced to rubble.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): Paul, a doctor in China said that revelations that major vaccine makers violated safety standards showed that the country has no moral boundaries, leading people to do whatever they want for their own interests. He quoted a priest in his parish who said: “China’s leaders and bigwigs at all levels have no beliefs and no moral boundaries, so they will do whatever they want.”
 
Public anger has been mounting since the information came to light in July.
 

HONG KONG (UCAN): Father Ding Yang a parish priest in Tongnan, Chongqing, southwestern China, rushed to help people in need after a major flood swamped houses and damaged villagers’ livelihoods on July 12.
 
The country’s most populous municipality sits at the confluence of the Yangtze River and Jialing River, while the Minjiang River, Qujiang River and Wujiang River also run through it.
 

Beijing (AsiaNews): Protestant Christians in China “are not a force in disagreement, an error to be managed or rectified, the chosen objective of veiled or direct attacks. Thinking this way is wrong, it’s a fundamental mistake,” said an appeal signed by 34 unofficial congregations.
 
Domestic Protestant Churches have been hit by yet another round of restrictions on their religious freedom.