Nearly two months ago I attended a dinner with two Chinese and one foreign family. During that dinner, what I was doing in China was discussed. I mentioned that part of my work was to write a daily entry to my blog. I was asked if it had a password on it and I said it did. I was then asked why? I was asked if there was something I was trying to hide and if not then why did I not have it open for anyone to read?
It was made clear to me that being a Christian is not a problem in China. It is what you do in secret that is the problem. If you look back in history, you will discover that large social uprisings that have torn apart this nation have been born out of large groups organizing and planning in secret. With the growth of Christianity in China, there is the potential of Christians secretly organizing and planning something that might conflict with Government policy and cause social unrest.
Because of my close relationship with an important Chinese family I find it essential that anything I write could be read by them and thus by anyone else. I felt that I needed to remove the password and write responsibly or eliminate the blog. I discussed this with my leadership and a decision was made with guidelines to remove the password. Today is the first day of an open blog. It is open to anyone to read, but no one is permitted to post any comments to it. That way I am fully responsible for its contents and any consequences.
It was made clear to me that being a Christian is not a problem in China. It is what you do in secret that is the problem. If you look back in history, you will discover that large social uprisings that have torn apart this nation have been born out of large groups organizing and planning in secret. With the growth of Christianity in China, there is the potential of Christians secretly organizing and planning something that might conflict with Government policy and cause social unrest.
Because of my close relationship with an important Chinese family I find it essential that anything I write could be read by them and thus by anyone else. I felt that I needed to remove the password and write responsibly or eliminate the blog. I discussed this with my leadership and a decision was made with guidelines to remove the password. Today is the first day of an open blog. It is open to anyone to read, but no one is permitted to post any comments to it. That way I am fully responsible for its contents and any consequences.
