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Revision as of 19:12, 28 June 2011 by George Ponderevo (talk | contribs) (→Persecution: ce)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Shouwang Church (守望堂) is a Protestant Chinese house church in Beijing, China, and the biggest of about 3,000 of such semi-covert congregations in the city. The word shouwang means "to keep watch" in Mandarin.
History and membership
The church was founded in 1993 by Jin Tianming, a chemical engineering graduate of Tsinghua University. Since then, the number of its members has increased from 10 to 1,000 as of June 2011.
The Shouwang Church's services are conducted at members' homes or in rented conference rooms; its other activities include 40 biblical reading groups, choir practice and catechism. Shouwang members typically belong to the medium and upper classes, and include professors, doctors, lawyers, students and Party members.
Persecution
Like other house churches, the Shouwang Church is subject to harassment by the Chinese authorities, who disapprove of religious groups that are not subject to state control. The church was forced to change headquarters more than 20 times, and was prevented from buying or renting a church building.
Persecution intensified in the context of the general 2011 crackdown on dissidents, following an announcement by church leaders that they would begin holding Sunday prayer meetings in public if they were not allowed to acquire premises. As of June 2011, several dozen Shouwang followers are detained every week and forced to sign a disavowal of their spiritual guide before being released, and six church leaders have been placed under house arrest. According to the German weekly Die Zeit, Beijing police use around 4,500 officers to provide surveillance of Zhongguancun Square and of the homes of about 500 church members, to prevent the church from congregating.
References
- ^ Gauthier, Ursula (2 June 2011). "Why Do Christian Groups in China Put Authorities on Red Alert?". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ Köckritz, Angela (19 June 2011). "Hier stehen wir! In Chinas größter Untergrundkirche proben sie jeden Sonntag den Aufstand gegen die Obrigkeit". Die Zeit. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- Davidson, Nicola (24 May 2011). "Chinese Christianity will not be crushed". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 June 2011.