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Viewing cable 07SHANGHAI47, WENZHOU: CHINA'S "JERUSALEUM"

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07SHANGHAI47 2007-01-23 08:57 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Consulate Shanghai
VZCZCXRO5418
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0047/01 0230857
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 230857Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5465
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0766
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0410
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0392
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0506
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0415
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0349
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 5815
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 000047 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND DRL/PHD 
NSC FOR WILDER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/23/2032 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF CH
SUBJECT: WENZHOU: CHINA'S "JERUSALEUM" 
 
REF: A) SHANGHAI 44, B)SHANGHAI 45 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Veomayoury Baccam , Acting Section Chief, 
Political/Economic Section, U.S. Consulate Shanghai. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
1. (C) Summary: During a December 14-15 visit to the coastal 
city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, Congenoffs visited three 
official churches in the city and discussed religious issues 
with a few local citizens.  Congenoff also discussed Wenzhou's 
religious situation with a researcher in Shanghai who 
specialized in Protestant communities, as well as Shanghai 
Catholic Bishop Jin.  All agreed that Wenzhou had a dynamic 
religious situation and that the number of believers had 
increased.  They attributed this increase to the independent 
spirit of the people and the hands-off attitude of the local 
government.  Cables on Wenzhou's economic development were 
reported reftels. End summary. 
 
 
 
Local Officials' Refuse To Discuss Religion 
 
------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
2. (C) Wenzhou is famous for its entrepreneurial-fueled economic 
development and its religious communities.  While local 
officials were eager to discuss economic issues (reftels), they 
refused to discuss religious issues and denied requests for 
meetings with the local Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and 
religious leaders.  Congenoffs trip was arranged by CHINT 
President Nan Cunhui.  CHINT is an electrical equipment 
manufacturer and one of the largest enterprises in Wenzhou 
(reftel b).  This was not the first time that Consulate 
employees had been denied access to religious leaders in 
Wenzhou, requests by previous CGs and Poloffs were also denied, 
most recently in April 2005.  When Congenoffs raised religious 
issues during a meeting with Vice Mayor Chen Hongfeng, he merely 
said that the local government policies were in line with 
national policies.  (Note: Chen's portfolio included religious 
affairs.  End note.)   Fred Hong, a legal advisor to CHINT, 
raised Congenoffs requests for religious meetings during a 
conversation with Congenoffs on December 14.  He was not 
surprised that the requests for meetings on religious issues had 
been denied.  He noted that religious groups in Wenzhou operated 
with little government interference as evidenced by the 
abundance of registered churches.  He suggested that local 
government officials might be worried that by discussing the 
situation with foreigners, this would lead to more attention 
from Beijing, thus jeopardizing the current situation. 
 
 
 
Churches In Every Neighborhood 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
3. (C) Despite the local government's lack of assistance, 
Congenoffs were able to get a glimpse of the vibrant religious 
situation in Wenzhou.  Wenzhou is known to many Christians as 
the Jerusalem of China because of the large number of churches 
in the city.  During Congenoffs' trip, we found churches in 
almost every neighborhood and had no problems obtaining 
directions from locals to nearby churches.  Several official 
churches were even marked in the local tourist map.  According 
to the Bible Society International website 
(www.biblesociety.org), there were 1,180 registered churches in 
Wenzhou with 31 ordained pastors and 132 non-ordained pastors. 
(Note: Bible Society International jointly owns Amity Printing 
Press which is responsible for printing all official Protestant 
bibles in China.  See reftel.  End note.)  The local Chinese 
Christian Council/Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CCC/TSPM) also 
built a training center for lay members of the church, which 
provided instruction on preaching, hymns and music studies, 
congregation management and laws or religious practice.   The 
CCC/TSPM also established an old people's home in 1992 which 
takes care of Christians over 60 years of age. 
 
 
 
SHANGHAI 00000047  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
4. (C) Congenoffs visited two registered Protestant churches and 
one registered Catholic church.  The Catholic church served as 
the Headquarters of the Catholic Patriotic Association and know 
as the Central Catholic Church of Wenzhou.  Its sanctuary and 
main building was built by Polish missionaries in 1848, but is 
currently not useable for structural reasons caused by 
land-subsidence caused by a high rise construction project on 
land adjacent to the church.  Other, old buildings built by 
Italian missionaries were still in use.  The church currently 
held services in recently-constructed temporary building built 
using donations from outside of China.  This facility, built on 
a piece of land prone to flooding, could hold approximately 
1,000 worshipers.  According to a church volunteer by the name 
of Xu Yongli, the church would need at least three million USD 
to fully repair the church and this money would need to come 
from abroad.  Plans for the renovated sanctuary called for a 
seating capacity of 3000 congregants.  The church held four 
daily services, and had a growing congregation with university 
students and young professionals making up the bulk of new 
members.  Xu said that while its congregation was one of the 
fastest-growing Catholic congregations in Wenzhou, it was not 
growing as fast as some Protestant churches. 
 
 
 
5. (C) Congenoffs also visited the Cheng Xi Church which is an 
officially-recognized protestant church.  It held three services 
every Sunday and had bible study classes on Monday and Friday. 
Next to the church was a Christian bookstore that was open 
Monday to Saturday from 8:00 to 5:00 PM.  Besides copies of the 
Bible, New Testament, and writings of St. Francis of Assisi and 
others, the bookstore sold Christian music CDs and DVDs, as well 
as a Chinese-language edition of "The Purpose Driven Life." 
Congenoffs also visited the Flower Garden Lane Church, another 
officially recognized Protestant church.  The three-story church 
was located in a poor area of Wenzhou and, according to the 
Bible Society International website, regularly received 600 
believers for evening prayer services.  During Congenoffs' 
visit, volunteers, most of whom were women, were busy preparing 
for a Christmas party that evening.  A volunteer provided a tour 
and said that the congregation consisted of people of all ages 
and evenly divided between male and female congregants.  She 
said that most of the congregants were Wenzhou people, although 
there were a few migrant laborers who came from other cities. 
 
 
 
 
Why Wenzhou? 
 
------------ 
 
 
 
6. (C) A few contacts were willing to discuss the religious 
situation in Wenzhou.  CHINT Vice President Lin Kefu during a 
lunch on December 15 noted that there were churches throughout 
the city.  He said while most CHINT employees were not religious 
since they were young and not from Wenzhou, the employees who 
came from Wenzhou were very religious.  These employees had no 
problems attending religious services at nearby churches.  He 
attributed the growth of Christianity in Wenzhou to the fact 
that Wenzhou was a port city, with more exposure to foreigners. 
In addition, many Wenzhou people traveled abroad for business 
reasons and while abroad, became Christians.  Many of these 
people brought back Christianity when they returned to Wenzhou. 
 
 
 
7. (C) In a conversation with Congenoff on December 18, East 
China University of Politics and Law Professor Li Feng said 
there were historical reasons behind the growth of Protestants 
in Wenzhou.  Li was doing his post-doctorial work at Fudan 
University and had written a book on Protestants in Wenzhou. 
According to Li, Wenzhou had a long history of welcoming foreign 
missionaries.  The Methodists and Seventh Day Adventists sent 
many missionaries to the area and were very successful in 
converting Wenzhou people.  In addition, many of the same 
factors that led Wenzhou to become a haven for entrepreneurs 
contributed to the growth of Christianity.  Wenzhou was 
historically very poor and isolated.  It was shielded by 
mountains and Beijing had difficulties exerting control over it. 
 Therefore, Wenzhou people learned not to rely on Beijing and 
 
SHANGHAI 00000047  003 OF 003 
 
 
became very independent and free-thinking.  This made it easier 
for Wenzhou people to practice Christianity without interference 
from the central government.  Li added that the Wenzhou language 
was also helpful in this area.  The Wenzhou dialect was very 
difficult and few people outside of Wenzhou understood the 
dialect.  Since it was almost impossible for outsiders to 
understand the language, Wenzhou people had been able to 
communicate more freely with each other. 
 
 
 
8. (C) Li added that the hands-off attitude of the local 
government also contributed to the growth of religions in 
Wenzhou.  The Wenzhou government, in general, was very open and 
did not interfere in the lives of local citizens unless citizens 
were involved in political movements or threatened national 
security, such as the Falun Gong.  The local government had a 
mixed record in controlling religious groups.  For example, a 
few years ago, the local government became concerned about 
Sunday Schools because they provided religious education to 
minors.  The local government tried to force churches to cancel 
Sunday School classes.  The churches fought back and brought the 
issue to local courts.  The courts ruled in favor of the 
churches.  Li said that since this incident, the Wenzhou 
government has been reluctant to take on local churches.  He 
added that many local government officials were also Christians 
and supported the churches.  Some CCC/TSPM officials were 
genuine believers and came from the community.  (Note:  Per the 
Bible Society International website, the Vice-Chairman of the 
Wenzhou CCC was also the pastor at the Flower Garden Lane 
Church.  End note.)  When possible, these officials sided with 
local churches. 
 
 
 
9. (C) He said that it was difficult to estimate the number of 
unregistered churches in Wenzhou.  The CCC/TSPM essentially 
controlled the process since any church that wanted to register 
was required to obtain the approval of the local CCC/TSPM 
representative.  He said that there were two types of 
unregistered churches.  The first type had never registered and 
opposed CCC/TSPM and the central government's control over 
religions.  The second type used to belong to the CCC/TSPM, but 
had separated from the official church.  The leaders of these 
churches resented the CCC/TSPM's control and did not want to 
share power and resources with the CCC/TSPM. 
 
 
 
10. (C) Li noted that other religions in Wenzhou were also 
increasing in popularity and, in particular, the number of 
Buddhists and Catholics were growing quickly.  Like the 
Protestants, Wenzhou Buddhists and Catholics were also very 
independent.  In a meeting with Poloff on November 30, Shanghai 
Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian had a similar view about Wenzhou 
Catholics (reftel).  He said that there were 120,000 Catholics 
in Wenzhou who were evenly divided between the official and 
underground church.  The Bishop of Wenzhou, James Lin Xili, was 
not recognized by Beijing and had been arrested in September 
1999.  According to Jin, Bishop Lin suffered from Alzheimer's 
disease.  In addition, two underground priests from the diocese 
were charged in November 2006 for attempting to illegally visit 
the Vatican.  Li shared Bishop Jin's view on Catholics in 
Wenzhou and said that it was impossible for the local government 
to completely and continuously control religious groups in 
Wenzhou.  There were too many groups and they were becoming too 
powerful. 
JARRETT