Print Version    Email to Friend
Dicey time for religion in China

HONG KONG (SE): “Everybody is out there… trying to reify that part of life which is not filled by bread alone, by commerce alone,” Orville Schell, the director of the Asia Society Centre on relations between the United States of America and China, said during a panel discussion on religion in China held at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University on May 1.
 
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
A media mouthpiece for Beijing

 HONG KONG (SE): The 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders places China at number 176 out of 180 regions across the world, sharing with Vietnam the distinction of being named “the world’s biggest prisons for journalists and bloggers.”
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
Unofficial Church worried over investment in city

HONG KONG (UCAN): The unofficial Catholic community in the northern Hebei province of China is worried that an enormous economic project will increase government suppression of their faith.
 
In one of the cities that will be affected by the proposed Xiongan New District development, Catholics say that they believe the government will use the project to act against the Church.
 
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
What’s in a name? In Xinjiang a lot

HOTAN (SE): “What’s in a name?” is a frequently asked throwaway line, but it seems that if you are a Muslim and live in Xinjiang province of China there may be a lot more than meets the eye.
 
Provincial authorities have banned dozens of names that have a religious connotation and are widely used by Muslims in other parts of the world from being given to babies.
 
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
Hebei province tops the baptism ladder

HONG KONG (UCAN): The region of Hebei in China recorded 4,446 baptisms over Easter, the highest number so far reported.

 

Provinces with over 1,000 on record include 1,593 in central Shanxi, 1,327 in southern Guangdong, 1,234 in northwestern Shaanxi, 1,169 in eastern Shandong, 1,168 in eastern Zhejiang and 1,097 in central Henan.
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
Farewell to aged bishop in Guizhou

HONG KONG (UCAN): The retired Bishop Anicetus Wang Chongyi passed away in a Guizhou hospital on April 20 at the age of 98.
Father Peter Wang, from Huangguoshu parish in the bishop’s hometown, said that Bishop Wang had spent the month prior to his death under palliative care.

“His last Easter was spent in hospital,” Father Wang said.

The staff at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Guiyang released a notice asking people to pray for the deceased bishop.

Bishop Wang was recognised by both the Vatican and the Chinese government.
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
Crackdown on unofficial Church strongholds intensifies

HONG KONG (UCAN): Local officials in northeastern Heilongjiang province of China have moved to close down an unofficial Catholic community that had organised a Mass on April 20, a weekday.

A 10-second video clip circulated online showed several police arguing with people who were trying to stop them from detaining a lay community leader and Father Shen Yanjun, who began working at the Qingshan Church in Wudalianchi City seven months ago.
The video clip was later removed.
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
Think twice about work in China

HONG KONG (SE): Although successive presidents of The Philippines have run the line that they will work to provide decent jobs for their people at home in order to prevent the mad exodus overseas, the fact is that the numbers keep increasing and the urge to get away becomes more desperate.
More from this section






Print Version    Email to Friend
The shadow of my Filipino face

Believing that a lot more than money should be looked at before taking up a contract as a migrant worker in China, one Filipino has shared something of her experience of living and working on the mainland

I arrived in Central China two years ago in July and even though I can say that I am equipped with enough Chinese language to get around, I still find myself hiding my Filipino face in the obscure shadows of my identity.
More from this section