Enjoy the Games

This from the BBC:

“Human rights activist Hou Wenzhuo said she was locked up in Beijing's notorious Qincheng Prison last month.

The 38-year-old says she was interrogated for 18 days — without being charged — before being released. Her release was as sudden as her arrest.

A number of other political activists have also been detained by a government that does not want any protests at the Games.

‘I think it's unacceptable that the year of the Olympic Games is made a year to destroy human rights," said Ms Hou.’ ”

Hou may or may not know it, but she got off easy. Ask Bike Zhang.

According to the China Aid Federation, Zhang, chairman of the Federation House Church, and his wife, Xie Fenglan, were kicked out of their Beijing home in early July by Public Security Bureau officers. A friend took them in, but the police forced them out.

A hotel owner took them in, then — under pressure — turned them out. When the couple tried to travel to another city to find a place to stay, they were stopped, grabbed and interrogated all night “without food, drink or rest.”

In the morning, Xie Fenglan collapsed but wasn’t taken to the hospital for five hours. In the days following her release, she and her husband have been prevented from finding shelter — even with Xie Fenglan’s sister — and at last report, were living on the street.

Why this treatment?

There are state churches in China, which are regulated by the government. But many Christians in China belong to “house churches,” underground churches. And though there are some reasons to believe the communist government is slowly coming to terms with a rise in faith — and especially Christianity — (see link to a June 22 Chicago Tribune story below), the authorities remain twitchy, especially with the Olympic Games nearing.

Zhang’s most serious crime apparently was meeting with an American congressional delegation.

According to the China Aid Association, when it asked why it was treating the pastor and his wife in that way, it was told, "Because Bike Zhang met the Americans and destroyed the harmony of the Beijing Olympic Games."

Ah, harmony. We must have harmony. We WILL have harmony.

Links:

About Hou Wenzhuo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7500343.stm

About Zhang and his wife: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=28496&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0718

About Christianity in China:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-jesus-1-1-webjun22,0,2458211.story