[dotcoma]

China arrests Roman Catholic priests, detains Protestant church members Associated Press May. 17, 2004 07:15 AM SHANGHAI, China - Authorities in northern China detained two priests from the underground Roman Catholic Church as they were about to begin classes on natural birth control and theology, a Connecticut-based lobby group said Monday. Police in Dingzhou, a city in Hebei province, refused to comment on the Cardinal Kung Foundation's report that they detained Lu Genjun, 42, and Cheng Xiaoli, 40. The Stamford, Conn.-based foundation provides support to the Catholic church in China and monitors the communist government's efforts to suppress it. Lu, ordained in 1990, was recently released from a labor camp after spending three years there. The report said he was detained in Dingzhou. Cheng's whereabouts were unknown. China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in churches approved by the China Patriotic Catholic Association, a state-controlled body that does not recognize papal authority. Many Chinese Catholics, however, remain loyal to the pope and risk arrest by worshipping in unofficial churches and private homes. The state church claims 4 million believers, but the Cardinal Kung Foundation said the unofficial church has 12 million followers. Many believers and some priests move between the two churches. Hebei province, next to Beijing, is a stronghold of Catholic sentiment. A number of priests there have been detained, some for years. In a separate report, the New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China said Xu Shuangfu, founder of a Protestant evangelical group, was kidnapped last month while visiting the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. Dozens of church members have been arrested in a police crackdown, and one was beaten to death, the Committee said. Police in Heilongjiang would not comment on the report. Protestants also are required to worship in state-sanctioned churches, and independent church organizers and worshippers are routinely harassed and detained.

http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/s...5%5E401,00.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8BA...A5F12FEB9D4.htm
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus....R20020729b.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120136,00.html
http://www.tibet.ca/en/wtnarchive/1998/4/17_6.html
http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.a...=3&art_id=23824
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2156621.stm
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=25526
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/850704/posts
http://www.holyspiritcatholicchurch.org/vm...sp?art_id=18550

Chinese Catholic Priest Gets Six Years for Publishing Bible BEIJING, May 27 (AFP) - A Catholic priest in China has been sentenced to six years in prison for illegally publishing the bible in a Chinese county where seven underground churches have been closed recently, a rights group reported Saturday. Police charged Jiang Shurang with illegally publishing the bible and other religious books and for carrying out business illegally, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said. The Hong Kong-based centre said in a faxed statement however that Jiang, sentenced on April 25 following his detention in December, gave most of the books away to others and did not make money from their sale. An officer with a police detention centre in Cangnan county in eastern Zhejiang province confirmed Jiang was being held there but said he was not aware he had been sentenced. The centre said police had closed down at least seven unregistered Catholic churches in Cangnan county since February, while the whereabouts of five Catholic priests based there remained unknown after they had been taken into detention in January. Two Catholic churches co-exist in China. The official one pledges allegiance to the Communist Party and does not recognise the Pope's authority. The other clandestine church is loyal to the Pope. The official church has around four million followers, while the underground church claims around 10 million.

As you can see it's tough to be both Chinese AND free to control your own destiny. A lot of refugees have sought asylum in the US and Europe, where I formally resided. There are TONS of Chinese nationals in Dublin of all places. Did you know that? No? I must have made it up then....jackass.