Official Chinese surveys now show that nearly one in three Chinese describe themselves as religious, an astonishing figure for an officially atheist country, where religion was banned until three decades ago.
The last 30 years of economic reform have seen an explosion of religious belief. China's government officially recognizes five religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Daoism. The biggest boom of all has been in Christianity, which the government has struggled to control.
Credit: Ariana Lindquist for NPR
One way it has tried to do that is by establishing government-sanctioned churches. In one such church in the east of the country, China's Protestant heartland, parishioners bow their heads as the pastor says grace. Hundreds are huddled around circular tables to eat lunch.
The official church is part of what's called the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the state-sanctioned Protestant organization. Three-Self refers to the strategy launched in the 1950s of removing foreign influences from Chinese churches — self-governance, self-support, self-propagation.
The church is marking husband-and-wife day, which is an annual celebration of faith and community. A thousand people each week from dozens of nearby villages pack into this church, situated about 300 miles from Shanghai.
Among them is Yao Hong, a 38-year-old woman in a maroon jacket who became a Christian almost two decades ago, seeking comfort after her husband at the time had an affair. She believes it's patriotic to be Christian.
"God is rising here in China," she says, gesturing around the cavernous church. "If you look at the U.S. or England, their gospel is very advanced. Their churches are rich, because God blesses them. So I pray for China."
EnlargeAriana Lindquist for NPR
Worshippers attend a service at a church in China's Protestant heartland in the country's east. By some estimates, China now has 100 million Christians, more believers in Christ than Communist Party members.
In the past, she has left the village to work in Shanghai. She says her belief in Christ was a lifeline in the alien metropolis and her church acted as her family.
"Whether they know you or not, they treat you as a brother or sister," she says. "If you have troubles, they help out with money or material assistance or spiritual aid."
As China urbanizes and millions of rural migrants experience the social and economic dislocation of traveling to new cities, Christianity can provide them with an instant community.
Many believers sitting on the hard wooden benches of the village church are older. They tell stories of the rewards of faith and how prayer cured illnesses and ended beatings from husbands.
Pastor Ni is in charge of this church. (NPR agreed to withhold his full name to protect his identity.) He says there is total religious freedom in China, and he characterizes relations between state and the church as extremely good.
EnlargeAriana Lindquist for NPR
Pastor Ni leads a service at a state-sanctioned church. He says he believes there is total religious freedom in China. Relations between church and state, he says, "are extremely good."
"The government never interferes with our internal affairs," he says. "There are no orders, no coercion. That doesn't exist and we get on well."
In this part of the country, every small village has at least one church, and each shows signs of being carefully tended. One has a door curtain made from a patchwork of rice sacks; another, a hand-sewn altar curtain, complete with a white appliqued cross.
Local ministers say that about 10 percent of the population in this part of China is Protestant, but all believe that the real figure may be much higher.
Gray Areas Governing Religion
No one knows exactly how many Christians there are among China's population of 1.3 billion. There are an estimated 21 million members of the government-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic movement, but nobody knows how many Protestants worship in unregistered house churches.
Some recent surveys have calculated there could be as many as 100 million Chinese Protestants. That would mean that China has more Christians than Communist Party members, which now number 75 million.
About 30 miles from Pastor Ni's church in a dusty country town, a group of women from another state-sanctioned congregation pray ahead of a public performance they have planned for the day. China's constitution protects freedom of religion, but proselytizing in public places is forbidden. However, the gray areas are growing ever greater, and these women are exploiting those blurred lines.
More In The Series
Overview: Chinese Turn To Religion To Fill A Spiritual Vacuum
July 18, 2010
The women chat and laugh as they carefully apply their makeup. They're wearing traditional pink silk pajamas for the first act, with thick red down jackets on top. They set up on a noisy street, and their show opens with a folk dance. A woman dressed as an old man whips a woman in a donkey costume.
A crowd quickly gathers, mostly elderly people, bringing their own wooden stools with them.
The next skit hits the audience with Christian messages. Two women dressed up as husband and wife wear traditional big-head papier mache masks that engulf their entire heads. They argue, come to blows and ultimately are brought back together by finding God.
The troupe's show goes on for two hours. They sing traditional opera, adding Christian messages. They perform classical dances, swirling pink and white fans in unison. They even don black sequined jerseys and long black boots to groove to pop songs.
EnlargeAriana Lindquist for NPR
A woman from a government-sanctioned church performs in a Christian-themed dance and theater show on a noisy street in China. The group is spreading the word of God through traditional skits and plays.
Wang Meizhen, the troupe's unofficial leader, says its members "use traditional art to bring in the non-believers."
"It's difficult for them to walk away. Then we include Christian messages. We want to bring them to God," says Wang, who converted to Christianity 10 years ago.
'Boss Christians' And 'China's Jerusalem'
Not far off on a windswept hillside, an elderly caretaker gives a tour of an enormous, newly built church, complete with its own baptism pool. It's an example of how informal networks of rich urban Christians are helping the spread of rural Protestantism.
The church was built with funding donated by Christians from the coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, about 500 miles away.
Wenzhou is known as "China's Jerusalem." It has more than 1,000 churches, and at least 12 percent of the population is Christian. It's also one of the richest cities in China, where private business is booming. These two factors form a recent trend: the Christian entrepreneur or — as they're called in Wenzhou — the "boss Christian."
The biggest of all the boss Christians is a man named Zheng Shengtao.
For him, finding riches was intertwined with finding God. His start in life was humble: delivering goods on a three-wheeled bike. Back then, private business was still banned, and in 1983 his attempts to make money landed him in jail.
Credit: Credit: Adrienne Wollman/NPR
"I stayed in prison for 69 days," Zheng says. "There was a charge of speculation and profiteering. I hadn't thought about Jesus much before. But I started to think about him all day long. It wasn't that I believed in him. I just prayed he would get me out as soon as possible."
The experience convinced him to become a devout Christian.
Despite his rocky start as an entrepreneur, Zheng flourished after private business became acceptable.
Now, he is a member of the provincial Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the government, and director of the Wenzhou General Chamber of Commerce. He has been ranked by Forbes magazine as the 395th richest man in China, with assets estimated at more than $400 million.
His consortium is called the Shenli Group, a name which translates literally as "God's power." It encompasses mining projects, real estate development and machinery.
Zheng believes that making money is literally doing God's work.
"We have to be the salt of the earth. We don't bribe officials to make money or make fake products or harm the customers' interests or evade tax. We don't think the wealth belongs to us. We're just like bank clerks. It's God who gives you the career and the wealth and asks you to manage them," he says.
We have to be the salt of the earth. We don't bribe officials to make money or make fake products or harm the customers' interests or evade tax. We don't think the wealth belongs to us. We're just like bank clerks. It's God who gives you the career and the wealth and asks you to manage them.
- Zheng Shengtao, leading Christian entrepreneur, or 'boss Christian'
Boss Christians like Zheng are literally invested in the current political system. So they are tolerated — welcomed even — in this part of China. But the fact that the economic elite are pouring resources into religious activism could be unsettling for China's atheist leaders.
Churches That Follow God, Not Government
One example is an unofficial church in an unmarked building in Wenzhou's suburbs where a steady stream of imported cars drops off worshipers for a prayer meeting on a weekday night.
"The state was trying to control us," says one worshiper, who asked not to be named, "so we set up our own church not to follow the government, but to follow the God of the Bible."
As the prayer meeting begins, a woman at the front of the room starts crying and praying into a microphone. Hundreds of people are kneeling on mats on the floor, wailing and rocking, tears dropping down their cheeks.
This is the new face of Christianity in China: the up-and-coming urban middle classes. Material needs met, they are now seeking spiritual comfort.
It's clearly a charismatic gathering, even though Christianity in China is supposed to be non-denominational. It's also technically illegal, since the prayer leader isn't approved by the state-sanctioned church and the church is unregistered.
Although leaders of some larger unofficial churches have been harassed and persecuted, the authorities largely turn a blind eye, unwilling — or perhaps unable — to deal with this explosion of faith.
Now, there is public discussion about whether these gatherings should be legitimized. Recently the state-run media has been running pieces featuring these "house churches," raising expectations they may be recognized.
Thomas Banchoff, director of Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, has held discussions with officials from China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, or SARA.
EnlargeAriana Lindquist for NPR
A group of traveling evangelical students sing religious songs in a rural village. Technically they are breaking the law against proselytizing, but authorities tend to turn a blind eye to the preaching.
"I understand there are quite a few different perspectives within China among the leadership about whether to accommodate these groups, whether to set strict limits and how to proceed," he says.
Officials from SARA refused repeated requests for interviews for this story.
Faithful Continue To Push Boundaries
Their powers to govern religion do, however, seem to be waning. That seems clear in a rural village in eastern China, where young people are openly trying to gain converts in defiance of the laws prohibiting proselytizing in public places.
They claim not to be aware of such laws. A crowd of villagers is listening, perched on tractors and low benches, their feet swimming in a sea of mud.
In a fiery sermon, one young missionary makes oblique references to rampant materialism, corruption and the immense wealth gap between rich and poor. It's a message that hits home in this hardscrabble part of China.
"In China, a lot of so-called atheists treat money as their God," storms the young man who is preaching to the gathered crowd. "But only in God's truth can you find real freedom."
China's Christians are pushing back the boundaries, and the authorities don't seem to know how to respond. Recent reports say some leaders of larger unofficial churches are harassed and persecuted and their congregations are prevented from meeting in their previous places of worship.
But in this rural part of China, these young missionaries are operating without hindrance.
After their performance, theu climb into a trailer pulled by a tractor, which will take them to their next destination. They are intent on saving souls, one village at a time.
China's youth once trundled across the countryside spreading communism. Now, they're spreading God's word.
Source: NPR
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The new 380A train, also called He Xie, can reach speeds up to 236 mph. The train will start running in 2011 on a new Beijing to Shanghai track that is currently under construction. When that line is completed, the 380A train will be able to make the trip in less than four hours.
China has agreed to purchase 100 of these super-fast trains from maker Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., meaning a good amount of their growing rail network (an impressive 16,000 miles of track will be added by 2020) will run the 380A.
Source: Ecogeek
Note: China is also in discussions to sell its trains to California. In the 1800's -- Chinese coolies built the US rail network. In the 21st Century -- American coolies will build a more modern Chinese railroad system in the US.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
LING - LING: THE LOBSTER
Somewhere in New York, a group of dedicated PETA members prevailed upon the owner of a famous fish restaurant/bar to spare the life of a 20 lb. lobster calculated to be 140 years old. So, said lucky lobster was ferried back to Maine and brought down by frogmen to the ocean depths from whence he came.
The news release, terse as usual did not elaborate on the the story behind the story ... which is much more interesting, especially to readers of my Fray Paco Series.
It just so happens that a friend of one of my conversational English students, an entrepreneur, was in New York at this fishery when Ling-Ling was discovered. The story he told in class was much more interesting ... and shows yet again the difference between how the people from the West and the East view the world.
Having made a bunch of money - the Entrepreneur decided to treat himself and his Chinese friends to a lobster dinner. Rather than order several small lobsters - they asked about the possibility of sharing one big lobster. When the large 9 kg lobster arrived - the Chinese immediately told their host that this was a very special and ancient lobster and would bring them all good luck. Of course, they could not eat such a wonderful creature - as it was quite old and should be treated with respect.
Most ignorant gweilo or gweipo ( foreign devil men or women ) would just gone ahead and eaten the lobster - and had a grand old time. Most haven't a clue as to the wonderful joss a 140 year old lobster will bestow in a year of yet more calamities, deseases, financial crack-ups and wars, perhaps those that will end all wars including the human race.
Upon hearing the story of the Lobster, the rich Chinese patrons of this particular restaurant offered a princely sum of money to save the lobster they named Ling -Ling. It was ten times higher than the price of devouring the creature. They informed the owner that he should show off Ling- Ling to all the restaurant's clients first. Lest they be tempted to sell the lobster to an even higher bidder, they stated unequivocally that they would double any offer.
And that is the true and marvelous story in the midst of all the horror we are witnessing, of how luscious Ling-Ling was returned to his hunting and stomping grounds. Hurrah!
Now I will wager one of my rare books that the Chinese involved were Shanghailanders. I very much doubt the Cantonese possess such beau geste. I like the Cantonese, though I confess a great partiality for the inhabitants of Shanghai. Yet as far as their stomachs are concerned, the Cantonese will eat anything on four legs except a chair.
Now I have to admit - I am not an expert on Lobsters - and didn't know that lobsters could live 140 years. In fact -- lobsters can live forever. Unlike us Humans -- they actually become more active (sexually, their metabolism, their hearts, etc.) as they get older. In fact - they don't get older in the same way that we are familiar with - they just get bigger and bigger and in most ways are as active and energetic as smaller and younger lobsters. Unless something happens to them - like getting caught - they just keep growing and getting bigger. This is why many scientists the world over are researching Lobsters to learn more about what it is that allows them to keep going and going - in the hopes we can change our genetic makeup to allow us to live longer and more active lives.
According to the research I did, lobsters have a very complex nervous systems and are particularly sensitive to coitus and pain. I say Oo La La to the coitus. They probably make more whoopee than any of us ever do. We are far too busy making money or war to take the time for the " C " word - Coitus.
I shudder at the pain. I mean pain as in being slowly boiled to death. It must be sheer agony for them. Unlike humans they do not go into shock. Their suffering must be indescribable. I just realized for the 100 thousandth time just how selfish and uncaring we humans are.
I am not sure if this information will be a deterrent to my delight in consuming lobsters. Especially, since my in-laws live in Boston - where there is always a large supply of tasty lobsters to eat. If I am invited out for a lobster dinner - I will insist that they must only serve us the small ones.
Lobsters are subjects of meticulous study by scientists, biologists and gerontologists because in essence they just go on and on, like turtles. They could live forever. And they have a jolly good time of it too.
To learn more about Lobsters - I found this wonderful article and podcast on NPR (National Public Radio - which is one of the things I miss most about living in the USA). I highly recommend the podcast ... especially the singing interview with Leroy the Lobster. It's both entertaining and informative.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11382976
Leroy's song got me to thinking. Wouldn't it be something if the key to increasing our life spans were to become more lobster-like. I can see it now - in this future world people kept getting bigger, stronger, and more energetic as they got older.
Imagine a world where all the people over 60 were over 7 feet tall ... with the libido and energy of 20 year olds - and hundred year olds were over 8 feet tall, and even more energetic. Finally young people would have a completely different opinion of us oldsters. Of course, if this were to happen we probably wouldn't care about what young people thought about us because we'd be busy chasing each other around and having fun.
Makes me almost want to be a old lobsteresse.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
China: No Longer The Beaten, Trampled and Sleeping Giant
Authors Note: The first time I went to China was 1984. I was bright enough to see the opportunities that were developing and made the choice to be a part of it. Since then I have been more than 40 times. I am known to many there as the "Shanghai Lady".
Having grown up in Asia and lived in the West gave me an advantage in knowing how and what to do to help bring about this change. As a result I was able to help broker more than 20 major joint ventures between leading European companies and the Chinese.
The success of China's economy is now widely known … but I predict this will only be the beginning of their influence, an influence that will find a growing audience. One thing is for sure, never underestimate the Chinese.
Here is an essay I put forth for your consideration, entitled:
CHINA: NO LONGER THE BEATEN, TRAMPLED AND SLEEPING GIANT
How shall an Occidental ever understand the Orient? Not even a lifetime of devoted scholarship would suffice to initiate a Western “student” into the subtle and labyrinthine character to say nothing of the secret lore of the East.
It is important to note that less than sixty years ago, China belonged to everyone except to herself. Every country that could afford to send armed contingents into China did so and sliced a piece of her. Adventurers, mercenaries, gangsters and thieves of the most rapacious sort left Europe, America and Asia to make their fortunes in China - mostly in the Shanghai Concessions where true laissez faire capitalism was given free reign. Filled with self-hate and loathing, the Chinese vented their impotence and rage against themselves as well as against the gwailo-foreign devil.
Behind China’s political chaos, their natural disasters, their eternal struggles without and within, their fearsome wars; behind this surface that now appears to alien eyes, is the oldest and richest of living civilizations: a long record of philosophy - practical, yet idealistic; profound yet intelligible; a tradition of poetry from 1700 years before the birth of Christ, the most effective morality to be found among the peoples of anytime, a social organization that has held together more human beings and has endured upheavals through more centuries than any other known to history. They survived Jingis - Genghis Khan and captivated him so completely that his nephew Kublai Khan reigned over the Middle Kingdom.
China is the Middle Kingdom because the Chinese believe that their Kingdom is between Heaven and Earth.
Their mastery of Painting and Ceramics is unequalled to their kind. They have always displayed an easy perfection in all the Minor Arts. Try as they will, the potters in the West have been unable to equal the ethereal forms of Chinese porcelain. Anyone who has felt with eyes and fingers and every nerve of Beauty of Chinese porcelain will understand these valuations and not consider them as sacrilege.
“Chinese porcelain is one of the noblest things men have created to make their species forgivable on earth,” said historian Will Durant.
What is the secret of this durability of government, this poise and depth of soul, this artistry of hand? There is no people in the world more vigorous or more intelligent; no other people so adaptable to circumstance, so resistant to disease, so resilient after disaster and suffering, so trained by History to endurance and patient recovery. There is no nation so familiar with Time. What are centuries of pain and anguish? It will pass. Everything passes.
In the Third Millennium, Leadership is Leadership, wherever it is found. Emerging leaders are in all ranks of Society, most particularly if they have unequivocal links to Shanghai the Great. We should have continuous dialogue between Ling Tao (in the modern sense of Leader) from China, Singapore, and the Hoa Qiao - the Overseas Chinese Community in Asia as well as in the United States, Europe, South America and Africa.
Meetings and Conferences for Dialogue between China and the West should be dictated by Prudence - as in the sense of judgment and not in the sense of caution.
Everyone and his great-grandmother are now in China, talking Money. Is that enough? My answer is a resounding No! Now is the time to exchange cultural ideas, morals, values, music and other tenets of Knowledge. We should tread respectfully and softly after our history of brutality and rapacity. It will not be an easy undertaking. They have good reasons for their suspicion and distrust.
Our ideas are not original. What after all is Originality? Does it exist in any absolute sense? Is it not a simple ability to give freshness to what is old?
As the world stands at a crossroad in a dynamic world economy fueled by China and South and East Asia, and also stoked by India, unprecedented opportunities are emerging. The events unfolding in Russia too will influence political, economic and cultural movements throughout the planet.
Imagination cannot describe the possibilities of China mixing the physical, natural and mental resources with the technological and scientific discoveries of the 21st century. Very probably such wealth will be produced in China as well as the other countries in the Asia Pacific Rim, as even the United States and the European Union has never known.
Will China opt for Hegemony in the Pacific? In many ways she is already The Hegemon. She looks up to Europe despite our past wrongdoings because she unashamedly admires our Culture. In this respect, it is well known that China takes off her hat to German technology and engineering. This is not a new discovery. It has always been thus.
The military and political leaders in the United States have begun to experience difficulties in adjusting to this picture. Will these difficulties prove to be insurmountable? It is too early to make even informed predictions. But I will say this. I would not count on tiny Japan even with her millions of soldiers and other military bonbons to stand up and die for the “Gaijin” Outsider. Anyone who is not Japanese is defined and considered a Gaijin, even a most powerful ally such as the United States. They are not a forgiving people, nor will they ever forget. The Holocausts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are burned into their DNA. It is worth pointing out that both cities were also predominantly Catholic. Catholicism in Japan is vibrant and growing exponentially.
I knew the Superior General of the Jesuits, the late Pedro Arrupe. A formidable Basque. He was not only a learned man; he was also a medical doctor by profession. He happened to be in Hiroshima on that fateful day because the Jesuits had a novitiate where Arrupe was training young Japanese men as Jesuits. He saw the fiery mushroom cloud from his classroom. He headed the first rescue team to enter the most dangerous perimeter. His survival is one of those mysteries since the perimeter held what was left of the 150,000 people burned to a crisp within minutes if not seconds. He had pernicious anemia all his life, developed asthma and emphysema. In his thirties he had hypertension and arrhythmia. He claimed that meditation of Zen Buddhism helped him overcome many of his physical hardships.
No war, or financial manipulations on the West’s part can long suppress a “Planet” so rich in human resources. Her enemies and detractors will lose money and patience before the Chinese in China or elsewhere in the world will lose virility.
So far China the Chinese have been content to do what the West had been doing – better, cheaper, more efficiently. But soon we see China begin to lead the world in innovation, and one day they will realize that even more than materiality, they have something rich to offer the world.
China has died many times before, and many times she has been reborn.
“What the Chinese best know, cultivate the best and have brought to the greatest perfection is Morality,” said Voltaire who admitted freely his debt to Confucius.
To many disillusioned by the depravity in the West – who are tired of living in fear – I predict the middle way and morality of the Chinese will gain many adherents. I also predict the Vatican will play a key role influencing how this will come about. The rapidly growing number of Christians in China will help facilitate a more open exchange of ideas and values between the East and the West.
Having grown up in Asia and lived in the West gave me an advantage in knowing how and what to do to help bring about this change. As a result I was able to help broker more than 20 major joint ventures between leading European companies and the Chinese.
The success of China's economy is now widely known … but I predict this will only be the beginning of their influence, an influence that will find a growing audience. One thing is for sure, never underestimate the Chinese.
Here is an essay I put forth for your consideration, entitled:
CHINA: NO LONGER THE BEATEN, TRAMPLED AND SLEEPING GIANT
How shall an Occidental ever understand the Orient? Not even a lifetime of devoted scholarship would suffice to initiate a Western “student” into the subtle and labyrinthine character to say nothing of the secret lore of the East.
It is important to note that less than sixty years ago, China belonged to everyone except to herself. Every country that could afford to send armed contingents into China did so and sliced a piece of her. Adventurers, mercenaries, gangsters and thieves of the most rapacious sort left Europe, America and Asia to make their fortunes in China - mostly in the Shanghai Concessions where true laissez faire capitalism was given free reign. Filled with self-hate and loathing, the Chinese vented their impotence and rage against themselves as well as against the gwailo-foreign devil.
Behind China’s political chaos, their natural disasters, their eternal struggles without and within, their fearsome wars; behind this surface that now appears to alien eyes, is the oldest and richest of living civilizations: a long record of philosophy - practical, yet idealistic; profound yet intelligible; a tradition of poetry from 1700 years before the birth of Christ, the most effective morality to be found among the peoples of anytime, a social organization that has held together more human beings and has endured upheavals through more centuries than any other known to history. They survived Jingis - Genghis Khan and captivated him so completely that his nephew Kublai Khan reigned over the Middle Kingdom.
China is the Middle Kingdom because the Chinese believe that their Kingdom is between Heaven and Earth.
Their mastery of Painting and Ceramics is unequalled to their kind. They have always displayed an easy perfection in all the Minor Arts. Try as they will, the potters in the West have been unable to equal the ethereal forms of Chinese porcelain. Anyone who has felt with eyes and fingers and every nerve of Beauty of Chinese porcelain will understand these valuations and not consider them as sacrilege.
“Chinese porcelain is one of the noblest things men have created to make their species forgivable on earth,” said historian Will Durant.
What is the secret of this durability of government, this poise and depth of soul, this artistry of hand? There is no people in the world more vigorous or more intelligent; no other people so adaptable to circumstance, so resistant to disease, so resilient after disaster and suffering, so trained by History to endurance and patient recovery. There is no nation so familiar with Time. What are centuries of pain and anguish? It will pass. Everything passes.
In the Third Millennium, Leadership is Leadership, wherever it is found. Emerging leaders are in all ranks of Society, most particularly if they have unequivocal links to Shanghai the Great. We should have continuous dialogue between Ling Tao (in the modern sense of Leader) from China, Singapore, and the Hoa Qiao - the Overseas Chinese Community in Asia as well as in the United States, Europe, South America and Africa.
Meetings and Conferences for Dialogue between China and the West should be dictated by Prudence - as in the sense of judgment and not in the sense of caution.
Everyone and his great-grandmother are now in China, talking Money. Is that enough? My answer is a resounding No! Now is the time to exchange cultural ideas, morals, values, music and other tenets of Knowledge. We should tread respectfully and softly after our history of brutality and rapacity. It will not be an easy undertaking. They have good reasons for their suspicion and distrust.
Our ideas are not original. What after all is Originality? Does it exist in any absolute sense? Is it not a simple ability to give freshness to what is old?
As the world stands at a crossroad in a dynamic world economy fueled by China and South and East Asia, and also stoked by India, unprecedented opportunities are emerging. The events unfolding in Russia too will influence political, economic and cultural movements throughout the planet.
Imagination cannot describe the possibilities of China mixing the physical, natural and mental resources with the technological and scientific discoveries of the 21st century. Very probably such wealth will be produced in China as well as the other countries in the Asia Pacific Rim, as even the United States and the European Union has never known.
Will China opt for Hegemony in the Pacific? In many ways she is already The Hegemon. She looks up to Europe despite our past wrongdoings because she unashamedly admires our Culture. In this respect, it is well known that China takes off her hat to German technology and engineering. This is not a new discovery. It has always been thus.
The military and political leaders in the United States have begun to experience difficulties in adjusting to this picture. Will these difficulties prove to be insurmountable? It is too early to make even informed predictions. But I will say this. I would not count on tiny Japan even with her millions of soldiers and other military bonbons to stand up and die for the “Gaijin” Outsider. Anyone who is not Japanese is defined and considered a Gaijin, even a most powerful ally such as the United States. They are not a forgiving people, nor will they ever forget. The Holocausts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are burned into their DNA. It is worth pointing out that both cities were also predominantly Catholic. Catholicism in Japan is vibrant and growing exponentially.
I knew the Superior General of the Jesuits, the late Pedro Arrupe. A formidable Basque. He was not only a learned man; he was also a medical doctor by profession. He happened to be in Hiroshima on that fateful day because the Jesuits had a novitiate where Arrupe was training young Japanese men as Jesuits. He saw the fiery mushroom cloud from his classroom. He headed the first rescue team to enter the most dangerous perimeter. His survival is one of those mysteries since the perimeter held what was left of the 150,000 people burned to a crisp within minutes if not seconds. He had pernicious anemia all his life, developed asthma and emphysema. In his thirties he had hypertension and arrhythmia. He claimed that meditation of Zen Buddhism helped him overcome many of his physical hardships.
No war, or financial manipulations on the West’s part can long suppress a “Planet” so rich in human resources. Her enemies and detractors will lose money and patience before the Chinese in China or elsewhere in the world will lose virility.
So far China the Chinese have been content to do what the West had been doing – better, cheaper, more efficiently. But soon we see China begin to lead the world in innovation, and one day they will realize that even more than materiality, they have something rich to offer the world.
China has died many times before, and many times she has been reborn.
“What the Chinese best know, cultivate the best and have brought to the greatest perfection is Morality,” said Voltaire who admitted freely his debt to Confucius.
To many disillusioned by the depravity in the West – who are tired of living in fear – I predict the middle way and morality of the Chinese will gain many adherents. I also predict the Vatican will play a key role influencing how this will come about. The rapidly growing number of Christians in China will help facilitate a more open exchange of ideas and values between the East and the West.
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