new picture, no problem

what you wrote made the thread up, many thanks

打字习惯只针对物理键盘吧，触屏键盘也一样？！？

黑客继续袭击老子的WIFI华为网络路由器致使网络中断，  中断时段 13:40--15:50 , 1.Aug.2015

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1936年纳粹德国奥运会也成了

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Posted 2015/7/31


https://frontlinedefenders.org/node/29231

Update: China - Health of imprisoned human rights defender Gao Yu continues to deteriorate as authorities pressure her to confess

Imprisoned journalist and human rights defender Ms Gao Yu continues to suffering from deteriorating health and extended periods of questioning.

Further to the Front Line Defenders' Urgent Appeal issued on 7 July 2015 regarding the health of Gao Yu, medical checks carried out on the human rights defender since that time have revealed the growth of a number of abnormal lymph nodes on her neck. Further laboratory tests are needed to determine whether the growths are malignant or benign. Doctors have also told her that she has clogged arteries and is at risk of a heart attack.

Gao Yu is a 71-year-old outspoken journalist and prominent advocate of press freedom. She was detained on 24 April 2014 and later charged with 'leaking state secrets abroad'. It is believed this charge relates to the posting of a Chinese Communist Party circular, referred to as Document No. 9, on websites outside of China. The document contains instructions to party cadres to prevent the spread of certain 'political risks' within China, including 'Western constitutional democracy', 'universal values', 'civil society' and 'the West's idea of journalism'. The person to whom Gao Yu was accused of leaking the document, which had already become widely available online, has denied that it was Gao Yu who leaked it to him.

As reported in the Urgent Appeal, Gao Yu also suffers from a variety of other ailments, including heart problems, high blood pressure, skin allergies and spells of dizziness. Notwithstanding this, she continues to be questioned for lengthy periods each day, with authorities reportedly promising her that she would be released if she admitted her 'guilt'. She refuses to do so. Furthermore, Gao Yu has been subjected to pressure to fire her lawyers, fellow human rights defenders Messrs Shang Baojun and Mo Shaoping. Shang Baojun and Mo Shaoping have stated that they intend to apply for bail for Gao Yu on medical grounds, though previous bail applications on similar grounds were rejected.

Front Line Defenders reiterates its grave concern at the deteriorating health of Gao Yu and calls for her release on bail on medical grounds. Front Line Defenders further reiterates its belief that Gao Yu's detention and the charges brought against her are solely a result of her peaceful and legitimate activities in the defence of human right.

BULLSHIT DREAM

不出意料

无话可说

国际奥委会， 老子为你竖中指！！

Beijing Wins Bid to Host 2022 Winter Olympics in Spite of Warnings on Human Rights
2015-07-31 

Beijing on Friday won its U.S.$1.5 billion bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in spite of widespread warnings from the country’s human rights activists and ethnic minorities of a worsening climate for human rights and the likelihood of more abuses to come.

IOC President Thomas Bach made the announcement at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur after the IOC voted on presentations by Beijing, which will likely rely on man-made snow for the event, and Kazakhstan's former capital, Almaty.

Beijing received 44 votes to Almaty’s 40, making it the first city to hold both a Winter and a Summer Games, the IOC said in a statement on its website shortly after the vote.

Beijing’s presentation to the IOC on Friday showed a slick time-lapse montages of busy cities, Chinese medalists winning at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, as well as a snow-covered Forbidden City, Summer Palace and Great Wall, in an apparent bid to ward off criticism that the country has no serious snow suitable for winter sports.

Almaty’s bid, meanwhile, focused on the widespread popular enjoyment of winter sports among ordinary people, showing men, women and children checking out ski equipment and enjoying winter sports amid thick blankets of snow.

While IOC Vice President Yu Zaiqing said the bid represented “the Chinese people’s passion” for the Winter Olympics, the Chinese delegation included some of their most successful medalists from previous Olympics and World Championships, all of whom were handpicked and fast-tracked by a state-backed training regime that critics say has little to do with public involvement in sport.



'Slap in the face'

The decision comes after international rights groups, activists in China and ethnic minority groups representing Tibetans and mostly Muslim Uyghurs, made repeated appeals to the IOC not to award China the Games, citing a slew of repressive measures surrounding the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

“[The] awarding of the 2022 Olympics to China is a slap in the face to China’s besieged human rights activists,” Sophie Richardson, China director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), tweeted in reaction to Friday's announcement.

“In choosing China, the IOC just failed the first test of its own new human rights commitments,” Richardson told RFA in written comments by private message.

“Discrimination, labor abuses, ever expanding restrictions on the freedom of expression, China has it all,” she said.

Even before the decision was announced, there were signs that the authorities are beginning to search out those who speak out against the Games for questioning and intimidation.

Beijing-based rights activist Du Yanlin was among 40 Chinese activists who signed an open letter opposing the Winter Games, an act which in itself put him at risk of official harassment and retaliation.

“The police showed me the documents related to the petition, and asked me what it was,” Du told RFA in an interview ahead of the IOC vote. “They said that their leaders were furious when they saw it, because I’m still out on bail.”

“They said there weren’t many people in China [who dared to oppose the Games] and that I was the worst, even worse than [Beijing rights activist] Hu Jia.”

Hu, who has also spoken out against China’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, served a three-and-a-half-year jail term for "incitement to subversion" after he wrote online articles critical of Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Summer Games.

Du said he is now under police surveillance, including of his mobile phone and social media accounts.

“China’s human rights situation has got worse and worse since the [last] Olympics,” he said.

“For China to host an Olympic Games is a humiliation for the Olympic spirit.”



Bracing for arrest

HRW spokeswoman Minky Worden said in a video statement that Beijing’s winning bid comes amid “the worst crackdown on human rights in China in more than two decades.”

“Ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, HRW documented forced evictions without compensation, migrant labor abuses building stadiums like the Bird’s Nest, crushing of civil society and arrests of activists, and journalists being threatened and intimidated,” she said.

A HRW report on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics cited a number of human rights concerns linked to the event, including the eviction of local residents without compensation, the destruction of drinking wells, and the exploitation of migrant workers.

Activists and journalists who sought to criticize or document Olympics-related abuse faced pressure, harassment, and in some cases, arrest and prosecution, it said.

Germany based journalist Su Yutong said she was “extremely disappointed, even angry” at the result.

“Everyone knows that we are in the middle of an extremely serious human rights crackdown that is unprecedented internationally,” Su said. “Hundreds of rights lawyers have been detained, called for questioning, terrorized and threatened.”

“Actually there should have been a lot of lessons learned from the 2008 Olympics … and we are naturally disappointed that the IOC can’t see that,” she said.

According to Hubei-based rights activist Hu Junxiong, the entire bid is about boosting the prestige of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

“They are doing it for their own prestige, and they hope to achieve international recognition by doing this sort of thing,” Hu Junxiong said. “They want to be able to say that the whole world has given us the Olympics to host, and that means China is respected, and that its government is legitimate.”

Beijing said it aims to use the Games to accelerate the development of a new sport, culture and tourism area, and to encourage interest in winter sports in a region that is home to more than 300 million people in northern China.

“Thanks to an additional contribution from the IOC of approximately 880 million US dollars to support the staging of the Olympic Winter Games in 2022, Beijing is confident that it will either break even or make a profit,” the IOC statement said.

The newly published host city contract for the 2022 Winter Olympics, signed by Chinese officials shortly after the announcement, makes dozens of mentions of the word “rights,” but in the context of commercial rights such as broadcasting or intellectual property.

Back in China, Hu Junxiong said he has made mental preparation to be targeted by police as a direct result of his public opposition to the Games.

“I’m not afraid. If they want to arrest me, they'll arrest me,” he said. “I wanted to say this because I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Reported by Wen Yuqing and Wong Si-lam for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

11:29 AM， 31.7.2015

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Activists Urge Committee to Reject Beijing’s Bid for 2022 Winter Olympics
    
BY: Daniel Wiser     
July 29, 2015 5:00 am

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/activists-urge-committee-to-reject-beijings-bid-for-2022-winter-olympics/

Prominent Chinese activists are urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reject Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics amid what rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissidents.

The IOC will vote on Friday to select the host for the 2022 Winter Games. The competition has come down to two finalists: Beijing or Almaty, Kazakhstan. Beijing is regarded as the favorite due to China’s growing international clout.

However, activists say the Chinese government has not improved its record on human rights since 2008, when Beijing hosted the Summer Games. In fact, the Communist Party’s actions have appreciably worsened, they say. Hundreds of human rights lawyers and advocates have been detained or interrogated in the past few weeks, part of a suspected effort by the party to crush incipient forms of civil society that oppose the government.

A group of Chinese activists, including prominent dissidents Chen Guangcheng and Hu Jia, wrote a letter to Thomas Bach, the IOC’s president, on Friday and called on him and the committee to boycott Beijing’s candidacy.

Rewarding China with the Winter Games while it continues to repress its own people, they said, would violate the Olympic Charter’s pledge of “promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

“If the International Olympic Committee awards Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics, a great event intended to promote solidarity, brotherhood and human development will once again serve a corrupt dictatorship,” the activists wrote. “It will endorse a government that blatantly violates human rights.”

During the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, the party reportedly evicted more than 1 million people to clear space for construction and arrested dozens of activists who sought to protest the event.

Some athletes who were dissidents were banned from participating in the games. Fang Zheng, a record-holding discus thrower in China, was barred from competing in the 2008 Paralympics because a tank crushed his legs during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989—a violent government crackdown on student demonstrators that the party has attempted to keep out of public discussion.

Liu Xiaobo, a prominent Chinese activist and Nobel Laureate, was detained just months after the conclusion of the Summer Games in 2008. He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence on charges of “subversion” that critics say are politically motivated.

“The 2008 Summer Olympics made a mockery of the fine principles that the Olympics stands for, and brought more humiliation than dignity and more sadness than joy to the people in China,” the activists wrote in the letter.

Additionally, about 300 activists were detained or harassed during last summer’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

The United States has previously boycotted Olympics events in authoritarian countries, such as the 1980 Games in Moscow. That year’s Olympics followed the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the campaign to reject Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Games. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Activists have become increasingly concerned about an escalation in repression under President Xi Jinping, who is widely regarded as the most authoritarian Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. According to the group Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), nearly 2,000 human rights advocates have been arbitrarily detained since Xi rose to power in 2013. In the latest crackdown on lawyers, 29 are being held in secret facilities or have effectively disappeared, CHRD says.

Beijing passed a new national security law at the beginning of this month that has enabled police to curtail dissent and jail activists, critics say. There is also draft legislation for other measures regarding Internet security, counterterrorism, and foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) that could soon lead to more detentions.

The controversy surrounding Beijing’s Winter Olympics bid comes amid heightened scrutiny of international sporting events in authoritarian countries. Russia, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and will host the 2018 World Cup, was accused of massive corruption after the completion of construction projects for the 2014 event. Both Russia and Qatar, which is set to host the 2022 World Cup, could lose the marquee soccer events if an investigation proves that the nations bribed FIFA officials.

Beijing also might have a more climatic problem with hosting a Winter Games—a lack of mountains and snow. Chinese officials say events such as skiing would be held in more mountainous cities about 100 miles northwest of Beijing. Water sources will also be present to produce artificial snow, officials say, despite persistent water shortages in the region.

Fears Grow For Gao Yu Amid Huge Political Pressure
2015-07-29 



Fears are growing over the health of veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu, who is serving a seven-year jail term for “revealing state secrets,” following a recent medical check-up and amid continuing political pressure on her in prison.

Gao, 71, was sentenced by the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court in April to seven years' imprisonment for "leaking state secrets overseas,” but she has repeatedly denied breaking Chinese law, saying that a televised "confession" on which the prosecution based its case was obtained under duress.

Gao, whose initial appeal was rejected, has come under increasing pressure from police to fire her lawyer, her defense attorney Mo Shaoping told RFA.

“The police are trying to make Gao Yu change her lawyer, but she has refused point blank,” Mo said. “They also want her not to plead not guilty at the second appeal, but to plead mitigating circumstances to achieve a sentence reduction.”

“Gao Yu’s response was that they could say that directly to her attorney, but that she respects the professional opinion of her lawyer.”

Freelance journalist Su Yutong, who has followed Gao’s case closely, said a recent medical check also revealed an enlarged thyroid gland, and doctors have yet to rule out cancer.

“They have to do a biopsy, and she also has … [signs] of atherosclerosis,” Su said. “Her life could be in danger at any time.”



Lawyers, relatives pressured

Everyone connected to Gao is also under huge political pressure, amid a nationwide clampdown on human rights lawyers and their associates, Su said.

“Her lawyers and her relatives are all under pressure to keep quiet … I felt I had to stay in touch with international organizations and overseas governments,” she said.

“This is a terrible situation.”

Meanwhile, online activists who launched a campaign in support of detained freedom of speech advocate Wu Gan, known by his online nickname “The Butcher,” said some of their number have been called in for questioning by police.

More than 10 activists in the central city of Wuhan who wore T-shirts in support of Wu said they were called in by police, including activist Wu Xinfa.

“I told them that I hadn’t broken the law, and how could a bunch of people getting together wearing T-shirts and taking photos break the law.” Wu Xinfa said.

“I think the authorities are a bit too jittery.”

He said police had wanted to know who had made the T-shirts, and who had organized the activity.

“They didn’t say it was against the law; just that it was wrong,” Wu Xinfa said.

“They said some people had posted it online. But if I put it online, why does it matter? It’s not harmful to anyone,” he added.



'Miscarriage of justice'

Wu, 42, known by his online nickname "The Butcher," was initially detained by police during a performance protest he titled "selling my body to raise funds" in  Nanchang city in eastern Jiangxi province.

He was trying to help finance a legal defense for Huang Zhiqiang, Fang Chunping, Cheng Fagen, and Cheng Lihe, who were jailed in Jiangxi's Leping city for robbery, rape, and dismembering a corpse.

The four received suspended death sentences in 2000 that were later commuted to jail terms, but their lawyers and rights activists say their confessions were obtained through torture, and that the men are victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Initially handed a 10-day administrative sentence, which is often given to perceived troublemakers by police without the need for a trial, Wu was then immediately placed under criminal detention on charges of "libel," "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," and the more serious "incitement to subvert state power."

A May 28 article in the state-run news agency Xinhua linked the claims of libel against Wu to his criticism of the police shooting of a man at a railway station in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang in May.

Rights groups say he has been "subjected to lengthy interrogations for days in a row" since his detention, and his lawyer Yan Xin has repeatedly been denied permission to meet with him, citing "state security" linked to the subversion charge.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

赵楚：强拆十字架，正在上演的中国宗教战争
请看博讯热点：宗教迫害
(博讯北京时间2015年7月31日 转载)
   
    最近在大陆很多地方，都在发生政府强行拆毁基督教礼拜设施的事件。这件事的奇怪之处在于，这些教堂和礼拜场所绝大多数都不是自来就有的，而是近30年来陆续建成的，当其逐步建设成型，当地的政府实际上是眼开眼闭，宁愿不管的，否则，以大陆现行的管制体制，这些设施根本不可能建设起来。换言之，今日的全国范围的望十字架而兴师的大规模平毁行动是出自新领导班子的意志，因此，这些设施今日的强行拆毁与教众的坚定维护对抗就成了观察中国社会和政治政策的一个指标性对象。
     


    宗教信仰在历史上引起的社会剧烈冲突是常见的，中世纪基督教欧洲国家与新兴的伊斯兰力量的十字军战争固然早已为人所知，在欧洲自中世纪向近代化民族国家转化的过程中，不同基督信仰族群的冲突也是无比惨烈的，30年战争才为这一冲突大致划下句号。无论在欧洲国家内部，还是在伊斯兰信仰族群的内部，因为宗教派别不同而导致致命对抗可以说至今仍在中东各种热点问题上馀烬复燃。抛开对宗教和信仰真理的价值讨论不谈（因为一旦涉及此点，则很可能引起不必要的争议和分歧），宗教及国家相关政策在历史与社会发展中状况本身也包含着严肃的社会与治理研究意义。
   
    中国大陆近30年来宗教信仰热情的复兴是显而易见的事实。曾经在1949之后被污名化和严厉制裁的宗教界首先因为改革开放政策的需要而重新赢得正面形象，因为执政党历史上三大战略法宝之一为统一战线政策，宗教界本是统一战线工作的重点之一。在中国环境下，宗教又与新疆、宁夏、西藏和青海等地的民族聚居地区政策相关，因此，对宗教压制采取纾缓的政策，可以说是在这些地区推行管制的前提之一。
   
    就内地地区来说，特别是在经济发达的地区及中产阶级色彩的人群中，基督教为代表的信仰扩张迅猛，这直接地由于一个原因，那就是，在布尔什维克的信仰代用品彻底失败之后，社会需要在一个万花筒般剧烈变动的世界上寻找心灵的归宿，以便依托这种归宿重建足以令个人安身立命的伦理生活。质言之，基督教信仰的扩张虽有外部交流扩大，外部宗教的传教努力重新找到接口的原因，但其内生条件却是主要和首要的。这些年来，对各种家庭教会与非官方控制的信仰团体屡加打压，但丝毫未能削弱信仰的热情。这便是明证。
   
    30年来的政治和社会变迁实际上对中国大陆本身的旧有政治与权力结构也造成了翻天覆地的变化。虽然其刚性的结构未变，但实际上，这些结构已经做出了适应时代的巨大修改。很多人没有意识到，“中国特色的社会主义”这个术语本身就表明，当局已经承认，曾支付难以计算的鲜血代价建立布尔什维克信仰政教合一国家已经失败；而奉行几达30年的“一切以经济建设为中心”战略则等于宣布，国家的权力虽然仍竭力保持专政的状态，但已经退缩到经济生活的领域，因而把曾经尽力把持和包办的心灵与精神生活领域还给了社会与个人。这也是一心忙于各种发展项目的地方政府对宗教浪潮眼开眼闭的原因。
   
    细心的观察者会发现，在过去30年大部分时间里，一般来说，虽然政府理论上反对各种不受官方控制宗教发展，但事实上对此并未采取类似先进的强力对抗政策。就在经济高速发展，社会各阶层经济利益上升的时期里，经济发展，宗教也发展，权力也忙着搞钱，大家相安无事，直到现在。所以，要分析和理解今日的宗教强力打压政策，必须考虑当前中国社会严重和综合性的社会危机。这种危机首先是经济层面的，即国家经济大局与金融等核心经济领域的崩溃危机，地方财政与行政能力的崩溃危机，因为各种经济与发展议题引发的大规模社会对抗，以及由此点燃的全社会性的反抗危机，等等。总之，当地方政府违背历来做法，不计代价强行对宗教开战，这背后折射的实际上最高当局对大局的判断与基本政治意图。
   
    由于总体经济资源与效率的枯竭，令当局恐慌的是政权本身的基本安全，特别是在西藏和新疆这样的宗教与民族可以几乎合一的地区出现大的问题之后，宗教信仰本身成了可能威胁政权安全的一大因素。最近发生的恐怖袭击事件不过把这一问题以更突出的方式显现出来。现实中的宗教信众，特别是基督教信众与宗教人士往往都表现出对现实政治及社会问题相当审慎的态度，尽管如此，基督教还是成为本次打击的优先对象，可见新一轮的宗教打压与具体的宗教信众的社会行动并无直接的关系，而是出自其他的考量。
   
    这些考量的最根本要点是：第一，当社会危机前景越来越明晰，基于信仰的人群所体现的群体认同感和召感力是可能转化为社会抗争的大规模力量框架的，这在苏东及南非的转变中教会的作用里已有强大证据，在本次各地信众保护教堂的无声对峙中也已经可以看出端倪；其二，长期以来，基督教教会为代表的信仰系统拒绝接受官方管控，这使得一切基于权力直接控制的政权当局感到潜在的社会对抗的意志。这也正是历来大陆当局所绝对不能容忍的，此前的冲突和摩擦也主要为围绕此点进行。所谓君子无罪，怀璧其罪，这些潜在的社会与政治能量，正是基督教招致不妥协打压的基本原因。这一点犹有更深层的社会意义。
   
    选择打击十字架，还有个技术性的因素也必须列入考虑，那就是，其他主要宗教都牵涉复杂的民族地区局势问题，只有基督教信众主要地生活于内地的现行行政区域内，加之如上所述，他们又在政治上较为低调，因此，他们被选择为首要的打击对象可能较少引发复杂的政治对抗局势。这不代表对其他宗教就不会采取同等的打击措施。事实上，这些年来，围绕寺庙和伊斯兰习俗等问题，西部省区已经陆续采取了许多压制性的措施。
   
    总之，应对现实社会总危机的思路是既定的，既然不能在政治上彻底抛弃过去，以宪政和民主构架重建政策思维与体系，由此建设宗教与社会宽容的新体制，则回到过去，重建一元化和一体化的新版本斯大林体制就在逻辑上成了唯一选项和不得不做的选择。在此过程中，拒绝接受官方直接监管的宗教信仰活动与现实的暧昧和平状态也就自然走到了其终点。所以，从目前不宣而战的新宗教战争中，我们看到，信众与当局的对抗与其说是信仰与世俗世界的对抗，倒不如更准确地说，实质上是两种生活方式的根本抉择——通过斗争选择一个可以自由从事信仰活动、也容忍他人有不同信仰方式、把心灵与精神生活还给人们自己的世界，还是就此告别自由的信仰，把身家性命像1949之后的30年那样重新托付给宗教局与走马灯一样的书记市长。
   
    从这个意义上说，目前的中国21世纪版宗教战争，也注定会像历史上的那些宗教冲突一样，除非自由信仰的一方获胜，社会因为基础政治条件的变化而能在制度上支持宗教的多元和宽容，否则永无妥协之可能。以此我们也可以初步预测这一冲突的未来走势，那就是，当局会更加严厉和蛮横，而本来一贯政治上低调的基督徒们必然会滋生更广泛与自觉的现实政治关切。这与当初在东欧和南非发生的情况也是一样的，并没什么中国特色或宗教特色。
   
    来源：基督工场 (博讯 boxun.com)

12:15 PM， 30.7.2015

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03:10 PM， 30.7.2015

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怕死就别出来混，出来混就一定要还，早晚的事。谁也别想逃

China Detains Christian Pastors For Resistance to Cross Demolitions
2015-07-29



A Christian church in Oubei, outside the city of Wenzhou that was demolished by Chinese authorities, April 30, 2014.
 AFP


Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang are pressing ahead with a demolition campaign targeting “illegal” Christian crosses amid growing resistance from local believers.

Government-backed demolition gangs have taken down crosses from the tops of churches in provincial capital Wenzhou, Taizhou, Huzhou and Jinhua cities in recent days, in a slew of demolitions billed in state media as a building safety campaign.

A total of 16 believers and pastors were taken away by police following scuffles with a cross demolition gang last week, and eight have yet to be released, a lawyer for the church members told RFA on Wednesday.

“They were detained because they refused to allow the cross to be taken down, and so they arrested them,” lawyer Pang Kun said, adding that only seven of the detainees were known to be under criminal detention, while the status of the eighth had yet to be confirmed.

“They are all being held on suspicion of ‘running an illegal business,’ ‘obstructing official duty,’ and ‘running secret accounting procedures,’ random stuff like that,” Pang said.

“This is about the fact that they were opposed to the removal of the cross from their church, and this is a form of revenge against them,” he said. “They want to send any church that doesn’t comply into disarray.”

“This is an unreasonable act of revenge, which seriously violates the rights of these believers to freedom of religious belief,” Pang added. “It is also against the law.”



Pastors hauled away

Meanwhile, Christians in Wenzhou said that the authorities had detained eight local Protestant pastors and preachers, none of whom had been released by Wednesday evening local time.

“They were called in for a chat and I don’t think they’ve come out since, because I have asked about them,” a pastor who declined to be named said. “It is probably something to do with the crosses.”

According to a church member in Wenzhou’s Pingyang county, where a large cross was removed from a local church last week, pastor Zhang Chongyang was also taken away by police on Tuesday evening.

“He was called in for questioning by police, and he … is now under formal summons,” the church member said.

Church members in Zhejiang’s Cannon county said their pastor Liang Pu was among those hauled in for questioning.

And a pastor in Yuyaocheng village said local Protestant church members have tried to adopt civil disobedience principles in the face of the cross demolition campaign.

“As a pastor, I believe that we should stand firm but ensure no blood is shed,” the pastor said. “We need more people power, to run a non-violent resistance campaign to the bitter end.”

In Pingyang county’s Qihu church, some congregants were sent to hospital after a government-backed gang smashed down the church doors, sending them flying to the floor, before dragging them out of the church and beating them unconscious.

“He is still undergoing medical tests,” the wife of injured Qihu church member Lan Tiansi told RFA from the hospital. “The doctor wants to talk to me; I’ll speak to you later.”



'Safety and beauty'

According to the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, Zhejiang authorities said they are merely “relocating” the crosses from the roofs of churches to the interior, “for the sake of safety and beauty,” it quoted local religious affairs officials as saying.

The removal is part of a three-year urbanisation and beautification campaign, which orders local governments to "revise" old neighborhoods, old industrial sites and urban villages and demolish illegal structures by 2015, it said.

A Pingyang county resident who declined to be named said the government’s cross demolition program is seen as a direct attack on the region’s Christians, however.

“It’s not as simple as pulling down a cross; it’s an attack on our beliefs, and we must rise up to resist it,” the man said. “Our resistance will be non-violent, however, because we are opposed to any form of violence.”

“The government does use violence, frequently. We believers are very angry, but we have to forgive them, right?”

Meanwhile, photos of Christians in Wenzhou, known as “China’s Jerusalem” because of the high proportion of believers, were widely retweeted on social media sites this week as they got together to make wooden crosses as part of the civil disobedience campaign.

Hong Kong media reported that the Christians plan to display the roughly-made and red-painted crosses all across the province as a form of protest against the authorities’ demolition program.

China is home to an estimated 23 million members of the government-backed Three-Self Patriotic Movement, as well as an unknown number of worshipers in unofficial “house churches.”

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Economic Left/Right: -1.63
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.31

the problem between atheism and Religion normally among individuals, that is philosophical problem.

religious freedom problem such as  this thread  talking about especially involving autocratic government is about human right, that is political problem.

so simple, no more explanation.

other nonsense i have no time to feed back, sorry