VZCZCXRO0306
OO RUEHGH
DE RUEHCN #0022/01 0281224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281224Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3712
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4435

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENGDU 000022 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/IRF EMILIE KAO 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI CH
SUBJECT: SW CHINA CHRISTIANS: RELIGION AND CHARITABLE WORK IN 
SICHUAN 
 
REF: A) 09 Chengdu 289; B) Chengdu 16 
 
CHENGDU 00000022  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (U) This cable contains sensitive but unclassified 
information - not for distribution on the internet. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: Pastor Richard Cai, the founder of Huamei, a 
faith-based organization in Sichuan, recently provided an 
overview of Protestant church groups and faith-based work in 
Sichuan.  Christian "meeting points" and house churches have 
enjoyed strong growth, while approval to build new churches has 
been difficult to obtain.  With an emphasis on being "legal and 
open," Huamei seeks primarily to be a social-services 
organization that supports the government's social stability 
goals, citing this approach as the most effective.  He 
characterized Chinese Christians in Sichuan as 
disproportionately elderly, poor, uneducated, sick, and/or 
female.  In urban areas, young professionals tend to congregate 
in unofficial "house churches," instead of formal churches and 
meetings points.  Sichuan Theological Seminary struggles to keep 
pace with the growing demand for pastors in southwest China. 
End Summary. 
 
 
 
Explosive Growth of Meetings Points and House Churches 
 
As Government Slows Recognition of Formal Churches 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) In a January 5 meeting with Consul General, Richard 
Cai, a second generation Chinese pastor who is also Vice 
Chairman of the Sichuan Christian Council, discussed his 
faith-based organization Huamei and broader religious issues in 
China.  After studying English at the University of Southern 
Mississippi, Cai completed his master's degree at McMaster 
Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, and spent another year in 
Canada as a pastor for the Windsor Chinese Alliance Church. 
Upon returning to China in 2002, Cai went on to establish Huamei 
in 2005, and also helped support the establishment of the 
Chengdu Thanksgiving Church in 2007. 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) Cai divided the structure of Chinese Protestant 
congregations into three types: 
 
 
 
A) Formal Churches: 
 
Registered under the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) and approved 
at the provincial level, these represent the largest and best 
organized of Chinese congregations in Sichuan.  Obtaining 
approval, however, is no easy task.  Churches must demonstrate 
that they have a proper building, land, and an approved leader; 
the Sichuan government has been reluctant to approve new 
churches.  Protestant groups applied for eight churches to 
replace earthquake-damaged churches, and three entirely new 
churches.  The RAB approved the eight replacement churches, but 
rejected the three new churches.  Many of the approved "new" 
churches are, in reality, old churches that had been closed 
during the Cultural Revolution. 
 
 
 
B) Registered Meeting Points: 
 
Cai clarified the legal status of religious venues [zongjiao 
huodong suo] "meeting points" or "meeting places," which are 
legally recognized at the prefectural level, and distinct from 
illegal house churches (Ref A).  These meetings points must be 
affiliated with a local church congregation that is already 
approved by the RAB.  Since approval does not require a building 
or land, growth of meeting points has been rapid.  As of 
year-end 2009, there were over 500 meetings points in Sichuan 
alone, almost double the number of five years ago.  Growth in 
numbers of official churches has been slower.  In 2009, Cai 
reported that Sichuan had about 140 official churches, up from 
about 100 five years earlier. 
 
 
 
C) Unregistered House Churches: 
 
 
CHENGDU 00000022  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
House churches are small, unregistered, and illegal gatherings 
of Christians that are tolerated or not depending upon their 
membership size and locality.  Pastors of local churches are 
involved with some house churches, and they often become 
registered (and therefore legal) meeting points when they grow 
too large.  There are also large networks of house churches that 
have sprung up which are not affiliated with any pastor or 
registered entity.  Using English, Cai described some house 
churches are "cults."  He mentioned "Eastern Lightning," a large 
movement in the Sichuanese countryside led by a woman who claims 
to be the second coming of Christ. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Cai said there are no consistent criteria regarding the 
size of house churches in Sichuan.  Typically in Sichuan, if a 
group reaches about 50 members, the government will try to force 
the group to formalize as a meeting point.  Alternatively, the 
government might try to force them to split into smaller, more 
manageable groups.  This number, however, depends heavily on the 
conditions of the locale, attitudes of local government leaders, 
the local RAB, etc. 
 
 
 
Huamei's "Legal and Open" Approach to Social Welfare 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Huamei is jointly registered as a "Non-Profit 
Organization" (NPO) under both the Labor and Civil Affairs 
Bureaus.  "Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)" have an 
uncertain legal status and are hard to register, so many 
organizations like Huamei register as NPOs or as businesses. 
Cai firmly believes that, through cooperation with the 
government, Christianity will spread more effectively in China. 
Huamei seeks to be a "Christian organization that is not a 
church," and ties its success to two factors: 
 
 
 
A) Emphasis on being "Legal and Open": 
 
During our meeting, Cai repeatedly referred to Huamei's emphasis 
on "operating within Chinese law."  In line with this 
philosophy, Huamei seeks to formalize as many house churches as 
possible.  Drawing on Cai's reputation and strong relationship 
with the China Christian Council, Huamei remains one of a few 
faith-based organizations allowed to operate in the aftermath of 
the Sichuan earthquake.  (Note: In addition to Huamei, some 
other FBOs we know of that are active in post-quake recovery 
efforts include Amity, and the Taiwan-based Buddhist 
organization Tzu Chi.  These organizations tend to de-emphasize 
their religious nature, instead focusing on the earthquake 
relief effort, allowing them to operate with minimal government 
interference.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
B) Aligning Government Goals and Huamei's Social Welfare Work: 
 
Much of Huamei's work focuses on poverty alleviation, 
educational programs, and public health in the poorest 
prefectures of Sichuan.  Cai believes that the Chinese 
government understands that faith-based organizations can 
promote social stability, and is becoming more accepting of 
religion.  While acknowledging that working with the government 
can be difficult, he was generally optimistic about his strategy 
of cooperation and working within the framework of Chinese law. 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: While other church groups agree that 
faith-based and other NPOs have been effective in providing 
social services, not all share Cai's optimistic outlook on the 
prospects for cooperation between the government and faith-based 
groups in providing social services.  In a meeting with Beijing 
Poloff, Dr. Chan Kim-Kwong of the Hong Kong Christian Council 
stated that the current strategy of "contracting" out social 
services to NPOs will face pressure from the government in the 
long-run.  Chan argued that under the current system, less 
effective government departments will be obviated by NPOs, 
threatening the government's own credibility and weakening its 
control.  For now, the government seems content with its current 
strategy of outsourcing social services to non-government 
groups.  However, how this will play out in the long-run is 
 
CHENGDU 00000022  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
uncertain.  End Comment. 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Huamei's emphasis is on serving poor prefectures 
through educational and medical projects.  Huamei currently 
provides tuition assistance of about 50,000 RMB per student per 
year to 10 students in Sichuan.  These scholarships are only 
available to non-Christian students who demonstrate financial 
need.  As a stipulation, students must participate in volunteer 
projects and receive their scholarship money through 
participating local churches.  "While there is no expectation 
the students will become Christians, many have since become 
believers," he said.  (Comment: In the PRC, proselytizing 
outside churches/religious venues is highly restricted.  It 
appears Huamei is using these scholarships to double as a 
recruitment tool for the local churches.  End Comment.)  In 
Yunhe prefecture, Huamei has an ongoing project with a primary 
school there to provide book bags and computers to its students. 
 Throughout Sichuan, Huamei also stresses improving literacy 
among the elderly so they can pass on their reading skills to 
their grandchildren. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) In terms of medical projects, Huamei has established a 
series of clinics in Sichuan's poorest areas.  In Wuzhou, 
Dazhou, and Yinong prefectures, Huamei has already successfully 
established full clinics, and provides medical professionals to 
staff them.  They are currently establishing a clinic in 
Bazhong, Sichuan's poorest prefecture, with plans to open new 
clinics elsewhere.  Huamei also supports smaller churches which 
establish "medicine rooms" for sick members of their community. 
 
 
 
Christian Demographics: Largely Still Poor, Elderly, and Female 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------------ 
 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) Cai said that most Christians in Sichuan and China at 
large are disproportionately poor, elderly, sick, uneducated, 
and/or female.  In urban areas, there is a stronger presence of 
young professionals, but they tend to congregate in unofficial 
and unregistered house churches.  Many young professionals first 
start practicing religion in informal groups in college; some 
become members of churches after graduation.  Many formal 
churches have started holding special evening ceremonies for 
young professionals in an effort to attract more members.  Party 
members are still discouraged from having any religion; however 
many quietly pursue their beliefs.  Cai gave the example of a 
judge from an outlying prefecture in Sichuan who drove several 
hours to Chengdu to be baptized, presumably to avoid members of 
her community from knowing her Christian identity. 
 
 
 
Sichuan Theological Seminary Struggling to Keep Pace with Demand 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------------- 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Sichuan Theological Seminary (STS) was reopened in 
1984 after having been closed during the Cultural Revolution. 
According to Cai, with the end of the Cultural Revolution, 
interest in religion revived and demand for theological training 
for pastors and lay leaders surged throughout southwest China. 
STS currently offers two and four-year degrees, with a total 
enrollment of 75 students.  The seminary plans to expand since 
its enrollment is now limited by classroom space.  The STS, a 
regional seminary, serves Protestants in Sichuan, Chongqing, 
Yunnan, and Guizhou.  Yunnan and Guizhou also have their own 
provincial-level seminaries, and Chongqing has a training 
center, but not yet a seminary.  The STS supports these 
provincial level institutions through resource and training 
support.  In Yunnan especially, there is a high demand for lay 
leader training.  About 20 such lay leader training centers have 
been established in Yunnan, compared with only two in Sichuan. 
 
 
 
Future of Huamei 
 
---------------- 
 
 
CHENGDU 00000022  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Despite interest from other provinces to establish 
branches of Huamei, Cai aims to keep his focus on Sichuan, where 
he has established relationships with the Christian community. 
He has declined invitations to establish branches of Huamei in 
Guangxi, Zhejiang, and Guizhou.  He hopes like-minded 
individuals in those provinces will establish organizations 
similar to Huamei in their own provinces.  He hopes to split 
Huamei into two organizations, one as the existing NPO, and the 
other as a "public donations foundation" (gongmu jijin), which 
would have important tax benefits.  Under the current NPO rules, 
Huamei is charged a three percent tax on all revenue in their 
operations.  While he is hopeful for such a change, the 4 
million RMB capital requirement for such a structure is a 
formidable challenge. 
BROWN