VZCZCXRO9110
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0126/01 1380615
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 180615Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2496
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3019

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENGDU 000126 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/18/2027 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI SCUL KIRF CH
SUBJECT: YUNNAN HOUSE CHURCH CHRISTIANS LEFT ALONE BY GOVERNMENT WHEN 
FOREIGNERS KEPT AT A DISTANCE 
 
REF: A) CHENGDU 100  B) 06 CHENGDU 699 
 
CHENGDU 00000126  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James Boughner,  Consul General, United States 
Consulate, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: According to two foreign missionaries and a 
Chinese Christian, the atmosphere for Yunnan house church 
Christians has improved in recent years and believers are able 
to worship with little government interference compared to other 
areas of China, if they are careful to maintain a distance from 
foreign religious groups.  Our interlocutors noted the absence 
of any "killings" of Christians over the last decade, and a 
sharp drop in arrests and detentions of house church believers. 
While in the past Christian house church leaders were 
self-taught, today's leaders are benefiting from theology taught 
in "underground seminaries" and in distance learning courses. 
The official Three Selves Patriotic Movement (TSPM) is also very 
active and attracts over 1,000 young people every week to 
participate in their youth programs.  Tightening of religious 
liberties has occurred in periods when "controversial" religious 
materials reached the public, but in general legally published 
Christian literature is widely available.  North Korean refugees 
are passing through Yunnan en route to Thailand and an 
officially registered church several years ago offered 
assistance to a group of refugees who tragically drowned when 
their boat overturned on the Mekong.  While the ability of 
Chinese citizens in Yunnan to practice their religious beliefs 
has improved, whether in the official TSPM Church or in 
unregistered house churches, foreign Christian NGO work has 
become more difficult in recent years.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) In three separate May 15 meetings, Congenoff met with 
two foreign missionaries who have worked in Christian 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Yunnan Province for 
over 15 years, and a 34-year-old Chinese Christian university 
professor.  While overt foreign missionary activity is strictly 
suppressed in China, most missionaries operate through NGOs and 
are not openly religious.  They usually quietly engage in 
missionary work separate from the NGO's other social and 
humanitarian activities.  In private conversations which 
appeared to be unmonitored, the three interlocutors discussed 
the growth of the Christian house church movement in Yunnan as 
well as the government-sanctioned Three Selves Patriotic 
Movement (TSPM). 
 
House Churches Worship With Little Interference 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶3.  (C) The two foreign missionaries and Chinese Christian 
described an "open" and "tolerant" atmosphere in which Yunnan 
Christians are able to worship with little government 
interference.  Kunming has over 300 house churches, according to 
a foreign business consultant involved in the Christian NGO and 
missionary communities.  (Note:  the term "house church" implies 
that the church is not registered with the Chinese government. 
In some cases, however, house churches in Yunnan and Sichuan 
Provinces have been permitted to register with the Religious 
Affairs Bureau or the TSPM (Ref. B).  End Note) Ten of these 
churches have over 150 members, and many have well over 50 
believers.  When queried about how many new house churches were 
established in 2006, the consultant said that around 30 had been 
established in Kunming alone. 
 
¶4.  (C) In another meeting, a doctor working with a Christian 
NGO made a distinction between house churches in Yunnan and 
house churches in northeast China.  He opined that house 
churches in northeast China were more frequently oppressed by 
government authorities because they "presented an 
anti-government voice."  In contrast, Yunnan house churches have 
no "political agenda," and are allowed to exist with minimal 
interference, he said. 
 
¶5.  (C) The majority of Yunnan's house churches are 
unregistered, but many have tried to register, the consultant 
said in another meeting.  He opined the government allowed them 
to exist unofficially because it wanted to maintain a measure of 
control in case it needed to clamp down or close them in a time 
of social instability.  The contact cited the example of the 
unregistered Wenzhou Church, which has over 150 members. (Note: 
Members of the Christian community in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province 
are known for setting up churches throughout China to minister 
to Wenzhou people who have migrated.  End Note) He speculated 
that the reason the government does not interfere with the 
church's activities may have something to do with the fact that 
many of its members are wealthy Wenzhou businesspeople with 
close connections to the government. 
 
Religious Freedom in Yunnan Has "Improved Greatly" 
 
CHENGDU 00000126  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶6.  (C) A medical doctor whose Christian NGO works primarily in 
the health and education fields urged Congenoff to take a broad 
view of the progress in religious freedom in Yunnan over the 
past 15 years, which he opined had "improved greatly."  He 
stated that in the early 1990s, house church pastors were 
sometimes beaten to death by Chinese authorities.  To his 
knowledge, there have been no Christian leaders "killed" in 
Yunnan for the past eight to nine years. 
 
¶7.  (C) Another indicator of improvement is the decrease in the 
number and length of arrests and detention of believers.  The 
doctor said that most detentions are only one day or less. 
There is an occasional detention of one to two months, and only 
in extremely rare cases is a Christian held for two to three 
years.  He added that there were no Christians currently in jail 
that he knew of.  When asked about a 2005 raid on a house church 
in Kunming in which several house church pastors were reportedly 
detained, the doctor acknowledged that this raid occurred in an 
unregistered house church in his housing complex.  He said he 
believed the group attracted the attention of authorities only 
because two foreigners were participating in the service. 
Several pastors were detained, but were questioned and released 
quickly, according to the doctor.  Two foreign missionary 
families were asked to leave the country. 
 
¶8.  (C) The doctor's NGO has been operating openly in Yunnan for 
15 years and has had no major problems with Chinese authorities. 
 He acknowledged that the atmosphere for foreign NGOs had become 
tenser, but that in spite of this, his organization's work on 
HIV/AIDS is welcomed by the authorities and by local Chinese. 
 
Foreign Missionaries Maintain Distance from 
House Church Worship Services 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶9. (C) Both foreign NGO contacts separately agreed that house 
churches run into problems with Chinese authorities when 
attention is drawn to them because of the presence of 
foreigners.  One Christian NGO prohibits its members from 
leading any house church worship service.  They are also 
encouraged not to even attend such services.  The NGOs emphasize 
to their workers that the missionary's role should be to 
"disciple" and "minister to" house church leaders and believers 
in contexts outside of the formal worship services. 
 
Theology Training for House Church Leaders 
------------------------------------------ 
¶10.  (C) Most house church founders and pastors are generally 
self-taught, according to one interlocutor.  They are dynamic 
preachers who start small prayer or bible study groups that then 
rapidly grow in number.  One of the important tasks of the 
foreign missionary community in Yunnan is to provide support for 
these church leaders, said the physician.  Missionaries run 
"underground" seminaries to teach theological principles. 
Another method by which Christian NGOs train pastors is 
Theological Education by Extension (TEE), a type of 
correspondence course in which missionaries conduct training for 
short periods of time and pastors study on their own in the 
intermediate periods. 
 
¶11.  (C) In separate conversations, both foreign Christian 
representatives expressed optimism that house church leaders 
were slowly developing from being self-taught and relying on 
their own charisma to lead believers, to being educated and 
well-versed in Christian theology in order to guide believers. 
The doctor remarked that, in general, local government tolerance 
of Christian NGO activities and Chinese-only house church 
gatherings makes the missionaries' calling much easier. 
According to the consultant, in a couple of cases officials from 
the Public Security Bureau (PSB) have encouraged house church 
leaders to attend the official TSPM-run seminary so they can 
earn a certificate and be allowed to preach legally.  Some TSPM 
pastors interact unofficially with house churches, according to 
the doctor.  One TSPM pastor asked a house church leader for 
advice on organizing charitable projects in the education field. 
 He commented that these types of examples show the "tolerance" 
Yunnan officials have for the house churches. 
 
Active Community of Christians in Three Selves Church 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶12.  (C) Turning to the official Christian church, one 
interlocutor described the active communities in the 
government-sanctioned TSMP churches in Kunming.  He specifically 
referred to St. Anthony's and Holy Trinity which each have youth 
ministries that attract upwards of 1,000 young people every 
week.  In another meeting, a 34-year-old Chinese University 
professor told Congenoff she "switched" to the TSPM after being 
involved with the house church movement for over ten years, and 
Campus Crusade for Christ for six years.  She acknowledged that 
 
CHENGDU 00000126  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
she developed Christian foundations through the guidance of 
foreign missionaries, but that she is now disillusioned by house 
church pastors and believers who have become too "rigid in their 
beliefs" and "dictatorial in their 'guidance' to believers." 
She prefers the atmosphere of the TSPM which is not so 
"structured."  The professor added that house church Christians 
tended to view Catholicism as a cult similar to the Falun Gong, 
a view she disagreed with.  She added that these types of 
"extreme" ideas develop under the influence of fundamentalist 
and evangelical foreign missionaries. 
 
Sensitive Periods Relate to Inflammatory Material 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶13.  (C) When queried about his opinion on the 2003 book "Jesus 
in Beijing," which presents a history of the development of 
Christianity in China, one foreign NGO contact expressed his 
unhappiness with what he referred to as the "deceptive tactics" 
used by the author to gather information from the Christian 
community in Yunnan and his subsequent inclusion of individual 
names in the book.  While the foreign missionaries named in the 
book experienced some mild questioning from authorities, many of 
the Chinese Christians were detained or arrested. 
 
¶14.  (C) The contact explained that in 2003 there was also 
controversy over the release of the Chinese movie "The Cross," 
which described the history of Christianity in China, and also 
contained a 20-minute political anti-government "diatribe."  The 
movie was banned soon after its release.  Both the book and the 
movie were presented to the National People's Congress, and 
Chinese authorities initiated a period of general tightening of 
religious freedom during that time, the doctor said. 
 
Christian Literature Plentiful 
------------------------------ 
¶15.  (C) The doctor from the Christian NGO recounted that in 
April one of the NGO's Chinese staff members was detained while 
he was distributing legal Chinese-published Bibles.  He was 
questioned for a day and then asked to leave the prefecture. 
The NGO gave him a new job in a different prefecture. 
 
¶16.  (C) The contact said the "old days" of distributing illegal 
smuggled Bibles published overseas are basically over.  There is 
plentiful Christian literature available at bookstores run by 
the TSPM as well as by private house church believers.  Amity 
Press, which used to publish Christian materials in Hong Kong, 
is now affiliated with the TSPM and publishes a large number of 
Christian materials on the mainland.  There is really no need 
for people to take the risks of distributing illegal Bibles 
anymore, he concluded. 
 
Assistance to North Korean Refugees 
----------------------------------- 
¶17.  (C) When queried about NGO assistance to North Korean 
refugees passing through the province en route to Thailand 
through Laos or Burma, the business consultant and doctor both 
separately affirmed they were aware of refugees passing through, 
but did not have any idea about the numbers.  The consultant 
recounted a situation from two to three years ago when his NGO 
worked with an officially sanctioned church in Xishuangbanna 
that tried to assist between six and twelve North Korean 
refugees.  (Note:  In minority areas, registered churches are 
not part of the TSPM, but are managed by the Ethnic and Minority 
Affairs Bureau.  End Note) The church arranged and paid for a 
boat to transport the refugees down the Mekong River to 
Thailand.  Tragically, the boat capsized and the refugees all 
drowned.  In an earlier conversation, the doctor implied the NGO 
stayed away from assisting North Koreans because of the 
politically sensitive nature of the issue and their desire to 
"keep a low profile." 
 
Vibrant Expatriate Christian Community in Kunming 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶18.  (SBU) There are three large expatriate Christian groups in 
Kunming, our contacts said.  Two groups have 300 members, and 
another group of South Koreans has 150 members.  None of the 
groups are officially registered, but all meet regularly with no 
problems. 
 
Comment 
------ 
¶19.  (C) Our foreign missionary contacts impressed upon us that 
even while foreign Christian NGO work has become more sensitive 
and difficult in recent years, the ability of Chinese citizens 
to practice their religious beliefs, whether in the official 
TSPM Church or in unregistered house churches has steadily 
 
SIPDIS 
improved in Yunnan.  We have observed similar government 
openness toward Muslim communities in southern Yunnan when the 
believers are not openly involved with foreigners (Ref. A). 
While our contacts did not go so far as to claim a symbiotic 
 
CHENGDU 00000126  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
relationship between the Chinese Government and house churches, 
they repeatedly used the word "tolerant" to describe local 
officials in Yunnan.  Those officials are "well aware" of the 
existence of hundreds of house churches and thousands of 
Christian believers, yet keep their distance in the absence of 
obvious foreign involvement in formal worship services. 
BOUGHNER