Chinese Christians Vow To Make Thousands Of Crosses Amid Communist Crackdown

28 Jul, 2015 by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

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This is true courage and commitment as a Christian. What faith! In the face of persecution from the notorious Chinese communists, these Christians are making thousands of crosses that are forbidden by the authorities to spread everywhere across the countryside. It is a symbol of their devotion and faith. Since new leadership has taken hold in communist China, over 1200 crosses have been torn down and destroyed by the government. Flimsy reasons are given and whole churches have been demolished in the name of not complying with guidelines for crosses on churches.

Jason Lee / Reuters

From BuzzFeed:

A provincial government’s campaign has torn down more than 1,200 crosses from churches in China since late 2013.

Christians from eastern China’s Zhejiang Province are making thousands of small crosses and painting them red, as a way to protest against the local government’s sometimes violent campaign to tear down crosses from a growing number of Christian churches.

An anonymous follower told Radio Free Asia that the small crosses will be used “to hang at home, to carry around, or [to hang] in cars.” He added they hope to “‘let the crosses be everywhere,” and to “express their simple belief as Christians.”

According to the Financial Times, there are about 100 million Christians in China.

That makes them over 7% of the total population of the world’s most populous nation. Meanwhile the ruling Communist Party only has 86.6 million official members in comparison — meaning Christianity has already a bigger membership pool than Communism in China.
In Zhejiang, however, over 1,200 crosses have since been ripped off churches throughout the province, activists say. The crackdown has intensified after the local authority justified it by issuing a new 36-page draft regulation on religious venues:

“The cross” should be made according to the religions’ traditions. Usually it should be attached to the front façade of the religious building.

“The cross” should be shorter than 10% of the height of the front façade of the building.

Its color should match the façades of the church as well as the surrounding environment.

Via zjjs.gov.cn

This has led to the surge in cross construction that’s mostly taking place in Wenzhou, a coastal city known as the “Jerusalem of the East” for its number of churches.

Wenzhou church groups estimate more than 1.2 million people, at least 10% of the city population, attend Protestant congregations regularly.

Guo Baosheng — a religion analyst with China Aid Association, a Christian non-profit group that promotes religious freedom in China — has taken to calling the campaign the “Cross Movement.”

The movement isn’t isolated to Wenzhou. Red crosses are also being displayed in Taizhou, another city in Zhejiang Province where Christianity is booming. Authorities removed the cross at the top of Puqingtang Church on Monday.

According to Radio Free China, a cross was set on fire while being torn down on July 21 in Taizhou. Activists say that all the crosses on 54 churches in the Yuhuan area of the city will be torn down by the end of July.

In one government document, the Zhejiang campaign uses tactful language to refer to the campaign against churches it has carried out since 2013.

The document refers to “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” — the rectifications (or “corrections”) are performed on buildings referred to as “old residential neighborhoods, old industrial areas and villages inside cities” and the demolition is of “illegal buildings.”

Even crosses from churches over 100 years old are among the government’s targets. Some churches have been demolished entirely.

More than 260 church groups from all over China have taken part in a “fasting rally,” in which churches will be fasting in turn, each for 24 hours, until the end of the crackdown on churches.

Local worshipers are doing all they can to protect their faith. But when faced with the well-equipped law enforcement, all they can do is to cover the crosses with their bodies.

This 85-year-old man was photographed sitting on the top of a Wenzhou church, embracing the stone cross on top for its protection.

The pictures tell a moving story. Christians literally crawl on top of churches and hug crosses so they won’t be destroyed. But that doesn’t usually deter the Chinese government. They’ll just kill those that get in the way, or at the very least, imprison them. There are gulags across the planet filled with Christians now and graves numbering in the millions that contain recently murdered followers of Christ. Christians find themselves now the victims of global persecution and a burgeoning genocide that is attempting to wipe the most loving, peaceful religion to ever exist from the face of the earth. The teachings of Jesus Christ are being expunged and the trappings of faith are being destroyed. The Chinese communists are enthusiastically purging Christians from their midst, but they are far from alone. Who will stand for the faithful?

A man stands near the razed remains of a Catholic church in a village in Pingyang county of Wenzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. Didi Tang / AP