PREFACE
In October 1985, a group of 25 persons related to the
URM movement and drawn from the various continents (Asia-Pacific, North
America, Europe, Africa and South America), visited the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) for 15 days to meet with and learn from the
experiences of the Church and People in China today. For all the
participants this was their first visit to the PRC, which will remain a
memorable event. In this publication we try to share our experiences and
insights with others of the URM movement in the world as well as the
Churches at large. This report includes the proceedings of the 4-day
pre-visit orientation held in Hong Kong, the exposure visit of 14 days
in the PRC, and the post-visit Consultation in Hong Kong for 3 days.
Clearly this was not intended as a sight-seeing visit
to the PRC, and hence the pre-visit orientation tackled various
theoritical issues to provide the necessary background and prepare the
group for the visit. The day-to-day programme in the PRC and the summary
of discussions with church leaders, workers, peasants, women and
government officials will give the reader some idea of the actual visit
itself. The workshop reports of the post-visit Consultation provide the
reader with the main insights of the participants and their reflections
on the experiences during the visit.
The main objective of this WCC-URM/CCA-URM visit to
the PRC was to understand the life and concerns of the people in
post-Mao China, and to see the response and involvement of the Church in
the life and struggles of the nation and its people. The participants in
this visit were all, in one way or another, involved in struggles for
justice in their own respective countries, and it was through the
glasses of such experiences that they viewed and attempted to understand
present-day China. Since the duration of the visit was short, the group
does not claim to have really or fully seen or understood China — a
country so vast with a long history. We present to you this report with
this and other limitations.
In the past years a number of groups and delegations
have visited the PRC, all of them from varied backgrounds and different
expectations. Some would like to see China democratised with freedom of
expression as in Hong Kong or other countries. While others see the
process of modernization as a step backwards for socialist China and a
step forward for capitalist inroads. Christian radicals would expect to
see peoples organisations participating in a creative movement of
history towards building a just society in China. On the other hand,
Bible-waving Christians would like to see the newly-opened doors as
God’s gift to smuggle the Bible intended for the evangelisation of the
people of China. In short, groups of people go to the PRC with varied
motives, with different frames of reference to look at the Chinese
experience of nation-building.
Many URM groups also share this limitation and
whenever they try to probe deeper, both in terms of social analysis and
theological understanding, they get more or less the standard cautious
answers liberally shared with the First World. The church-related
visitor wants to see the Church in action in China and come out thanking
God for the new converts, house churches, Bible printing, etc. They
normally do not see how God is active in the movements in China mainly
through so-called ‘secular’ or ‘non-christian’ people and groups. In the
same way, questions on material wealth, human rights, freedom and
related concerns are raised based on conceptions and frameworks derived
from the experiences of the First world countries. But we know well that
such conceptions are based on a reality where such privileges are
confined to a dominant few while the large majority of people live under
an illusion. Thus, it seems even more important for us to rid ourselves
of preconceptions when we look at China today, and rather evolve a
specific and proper framework to understand the society and people of
China in their own specific context in the world today. During this
visit we realised that the framework used by the participants from both
the First and Third Worlds were insufficient to really understand China
today. However, the URM groups that participated in this visit made
sincere attempts through questioning, comments and reflection, to evolve
a proper understanding of the life and struggles of the Church and
people of China.
We would like to present this report to our friends
and fellow-workers in the hope that a serious discussion and study will
continue based on the experiences of the Chinese people in the People’s
Republic of China.
We take this opportunity to thank all those who
helped us in programming this visit to the PRC and to those who shared
their insights with us during the Conference before and after the visit.
Further, we thank CCA-URM and WCC-URM for making available the necessary
resources to facilitate this visit to China.
A. George Ninan
Christian Conference of Asia, Urban-Rural Mission, Hong Kong
