 |
| The Shanghai exhibition. (Photo: Bitter Winter) |
“Christianity Loves the Party” Exhibition Unveiled in Shanghai
Shanghai is where the CCP was founded on July 1, 1921, and it is also where the government-controlled Protestant Three-Self Church has unveiled on June 25, in preparation for the anniversary, an exhibition titled “One Heart, One Virtue, One Path: Chinese Christianity Loves the Party, the Country, and Socialism Theme Exhibition” (同心同德 同向同行——中国基督教爱党爱国爱社会主义主题展). (In fact, the exhibition was opened to selected visitors even before the June 25 ceremony).
The Three-Self Church is known for willingly serving as a relay for CCP propaganda, but the Shanghai exhibition is extreme and embarrassing even for its own believers. Signs proclaim that “Without the Communist Party, there would be no New China, no socialism with Chinese characteristics, and it would be impossible to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” These slogans are ubiquitous in public buildings, but this is an exhibition allegedly organized by a Christian church.
The exhibition tells the story of Christians who helped the first Communists, with some becoming members of the CCP. However, what the exhibition does not tell is that many of these Christians were later expelled from the Party and even executed, while the CCP clarified that only atheists can become Party members. One such hero of the exhibition is the “mysterious red priest,” Dong Jianwu, who was a pastor of the Episcopal Church. Dong became an active member of the CCP, worked as a spy for the Party, and ran a kindergarten in Shanghai where he took care of the three young sons Chairman Mao had left in the city when he moved to the Jinggang Mountain.
…
Xu also stated that “the Chinese Communist Party has been inextricably linked to Christianity from the day of its birth.” “I hope he will not be punished—one believer who attended the grand opening half-jokingly told Bitter Winter—since normally in China you can surely say that Christianity is Communist, but you cannot say that the Chinese Communist Party, which is fiercely atheistic, is Christian.”
For full article and additional pictures:
ChinaAid Media Team
Cell: +1 (432) 553-1080 | Office: +1 (432) 689-6985 | Other: +1 (888) 889-7757
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here