Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SHENYANG13
2008-01-24 01:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Shenyang
Cable title:  

PRC: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM A MIXED PICTURE IN YANBIAN

Tags:  KIRF PHUM PGOV PINR SOCI PREF KN KS CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9529
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHSH #0013/01 0240125
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240125Z JAN 08 ZDK
FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8334
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0086
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000013 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DRL, EAP/CM, EAP/K

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV PINR SOCI PREF KN KS CH
SUBJECT: PRC: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM A MIXED PICTURE IN YANBIAN
KOREAN PREFECTURE

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN.
REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHENYANG 000013

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DRL, EAP/CM, EAP/K

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2018
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV PINR SOCI PREF KN KS CH
SUBJECT: PRC: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM A MIXED PICTURE IN YANBIAN
KOREAN PREFECTURE

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN.
REASONS: 1.4(b)/(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Religious freedom is enjoying modest
improvement in a key ethnic minority enclave of Jilin
Province, near the PRC-DPRK border. Christianity is making
inroads among local Chinese, migrant workers, and North
Korean border-crossers. "House churches," many with links
to official churches, are popular, and Religious Affairs
Bureau (RAB) officials are in some cases easing their
interference with some officially-registered congregations.
Complaints persist, however, about RAB registration
procedures, official intimidation of house churches and
their clergy, and restrictions on foreigners proselytizing
to Chinese nationals. Falun Gong adherents remain active
in Yanbian, but with decreased visibility compared to years
past. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) This is the first in a series of cables on trends in
religious freedom in northeast China. A case study, it
draws on site visits throughout Jilin Province's Yanbian
Korean Autonomous Prefecture and interviews there with
official/unofficial religious leaders, adherents, and
Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) officials over the course of
the past fifteen months.

CHRISTIANITY MAKING INROADS, OFFICIALLY AND UNOFFICIALLY
-------------- --------------

3. (C) Christianity is a growth industry in Yanbian and has
made considerable inroads in recent years, both among Han
Chinese and the many ethnic Koreans that populate the
economically-struggling prefecture, whose fortunes are tied
as much to Seoul as Beijing. The heart of the increasingly
vibrant religious scene is Yanji, Yanbian's administrative
seat, where the official Catholic Church counts over 2000
members (eighty percent ethnic Korean, the remainder Han),
roughly 500 of whom attend services on a regular basis,
according to Father LIAN Changyuan (STRICTLY PROTECT).

Father Lian pointed to steady growth in his congregation,
especially among the younger generations. Yanji also
counts 28 officially registered Protestant congregations,
up from 21 in 2001, according to Pastor JIN (STRICTLY
PROTECT),who runs the small, 100-person-strong,
predominantly ethnic Korean, Ping'an Church, just outside
of town. Similar trends prevail even in Yanbian's more
remote parts, officials say. In Helong, a ninety-minute
drive south of Yanji, two percent of the city's 230,000
residents are registered believers (mostly Protestant),and
the numbers are growing every year, according to REN
Longquan, Director of the city's RAB. Unofficial estimates
put the actual number of believers in Helong and similarly-
sized Yanbian cities far higher.


4. (C) Christianity's inroads go beyond Yanbian's permanent
residents. An elder at the Chaoyang Church, one of only
two predominantly Han Chinese congregations in Yanji, told
Poloff of a new phenomenon at her congregation, situated in
one of the city's poorest sections: growing numbers of
migrant workers (mostly from Shandong, Anhui and Henan)
turning toward Christianity against the backdrop of their
hardscrabble existences. Another Yanji congregation, the
Korea Church, caters solely to South Korean expats--mostly
students, businessmen and long-term residents--and counts
roughly 200 congregants, according to staff there. Some
North Korean border-crossers are also becoming new coverts,
steered toward Christianity by some of the religiously-
minded Chinese and/or foreigners who discreetly offer them
aid in various parts of Yanbian.


5. (C) Numerous contacts, both Catholic and Protestant,
described large numbers of popular, unofficial Protestant,
"house churches" throughout Yanbian, though none could
offer reliable estimates. Pastor Jin of the Ping'an
Church, who himself used to head an underground, house
church until he registered his congregation in 2001,
regularly keeps in touch with many unofficial churches in
Yanji and surrounding parts of Yanbian. A staffer at
Yanji's Chaoyang Church described close, informal links
between official churches (such as hers) and networks of
house churches--some as small as a single family, others
larger--throughout town, a point highlighted by a number of
other local Chinese, as well as knowledgeable longtime
American expats in Yanji.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IMPROVING IN SOME CASES...
--------------

6. (C) On balance, our Yanbian contacts spoke of growing
improvements in religious freedom, despite ongoing

SHENYANG 00000013 002 OF 003


frustrations. Pastor Jin, the frank ethnic Korean who
heads the Ping'an Church, for instance, voiced no major
complaints about government interference with his church of
late. He pointed out how far policy had come since the
late 1980s and declared himself optimistic about the long-
term trajectory of religion freedom in the PRC,
difficulties notwithstanding. Like others Poloff
encountered, Jin felt that "normalizing" his unofficial
church in 2001 brought with it important benefits (e.g., an
end to the "psychological burden" of fearing a clampdown on
his illegal church, a sense of legitimacy, and the ability
to openly erect a cross) which he perceived as outweighing
the costs of official RAB supervision.


7. (C) Jin also pointed to a subtle easing of Yanbian RAB
regulations, which he pinpointed to late 2005. For many
years, he explained, RAB officials typically insisted on
inspecting his operation four or five times per year: once
at year-end to scrutinize the church's financial "books";
once for a pre-Christmas safety inspection; once for
Chinese New Year; and twice for fire-safety checks. But
starting in December 2005, RAB officials suddenly stopped
requiring the end-of-year meeting to scrutinize his
"books." When Jin inquired whether policy had changed, he
said RAB officials only smiled coyly in response,
implicitly acknowledging the shift.


8. (C) Clergy members generally reported maintaining decent
relations with RAB officials. Father Lian of Yanji's
Catholic Church described relatively smooth working
relations with Yanbian RAB officials; he still maintains a
friendship of sorts with RAB contacts from the
Helong/Longjing area of Yanbian where he previously worked
for many years. Father Lian, Pastor Jin and others all
noted, unsolicited, RAB officials gradually acquiring a
better substantive understanding of the religions they
supervise. All agreed this was a welcome development and
in stark contrast to the wholly ignorant religious-affairs
officials of the 1980s. Clergy members reported that they
openly maintain relationships with American and South
Korean religious groups--in some cases periodically
traveling abroad to interact with them--without
interference from RAB officials. Some RAB officials Poloff
encountered, like Director Ren in Helong, themselves
maintain ties with overseas religious groups, occasionally
traveling to the U.S. and the ROK at their invitation.

...THOUGH PROBLEMS PERSIST
--------------

9. (C) Improvements notwithstanding, familiar frustrations
from the past remain. Some contacts complained that RAB
registration requirements are still too "complicated." In
the Yanji area, a number of sources reported that despite
the apparent benign neglect of some known house churches,
the authorities periodically clamp down on other
unregistered, house churches. In Helong, RAB Director Ren
painted a real mixed picture. On the one hand, he claimed
his office tolerates "small groups" gathering for Bible
study and worship, provided they do not erect crosses or
use donation boxes. On the other hand, he emphasized that
part of his remit fundamentally involves "combating illegal
Protestant churches," many of which he said enter Yanbian
from South Korea because of their "common language" with
the people of Yanbian. In Tumen, a border locality an
hour's drive northeast of Yanji, two knowledgeable long-
term expats having close contacts in the small religious
community there told Poloff that RAB and security officials
keep a close watch on the clergy--a departure from the
comparatively more permissive environment of Yanji.


10. (C) Other expats in Yanbian noted continuing
restrictions on proselytizing. Yanji's foreigner-only
Korea Church, for one, reported strict prohibitions on
ministering to Chinese, including ethnic Korean Chinese.
And while staff there said they enjoyed a largely hands-off
policy from the RAB (who conduct one annual, inspection
visit),they explained that officials still prohibit them
from erecting a cross on the church's edifice (an act they
said the authorities would construe as "advertising").
They additionally lamented that the airport authorities
sometimes confiscate large numbers of bibles that the
congregants attempt to hand-carry from South Korea,
limiting each passenger to one bible.


11. (C) Official restrictions on proselytizing and
procuring foreign bibles, however, proved relatively easy
to overcome in practice, many said. Pastor Jin noted that
visiting South Koreans (mostly church groups) can

SHENYANG 00000013 003 OF 003


periodically participate in his services and, provided they
do not preach, do so without incurring problems from the
RAB. Other ethnic Korean Chinese clergy members reported
that visiting South Korean groups regularly delivered
Korean-language bibles to them without difficulty. Yanji
itself hosts an entire university--the Yanbian University
of Science and Technology (YUST)--managed and staffed by
evangelical Christians, primarily from the United States,
South Korea and Europe, that seek to convert some of their
Chinese students. YUST's missionary activity, quietly
tolerated by Yanbian authorities, is not limited to Chinese
alone. School administrators concede they seek to convert
some of the North Korean border-crossers who occasionally
come to the institution for assistance.

FALUN GONG STILL ACTIVE IN YANBIAN
--------------

12. (C) Falun Gong adherents continue their activities in
Yanbian, but a range of contacts reported decreased
visibility compared to years past. The numbers of
adherents are thought to be small, though no one Poloff
encountered offered even a best guess. Officials like
Helong RAB Director Ren unsurprisingly offered the standard
official critique of the Falun Gong, noting that he and his
RAB counterparts elsewhere in Yanbian actively oppose the
group and its activities. Pastor Jin noted that while
Falun Gong adherents operated in the Yanji area, most
believers were Han Chinese--not ethnic Korean--and that
mainstream Protestant and Catholic groups have little
contact with Falun Gong adherents. Other mainstream
religious believers said that they also steer clear of
South Korean sects like the Unification Church, as well as
some of the homegrown Protestant-offshoot groups that
operate throughout northeast China.
WICKMAN