Concern rises in Wenzhou as Christianity booms in capitalist fashion

Sanjiang Church under construction. Photo: Zhang Yu/GT

The Chinese character chai on the wall of Sanjiang Church. Photo: Zhang Yu/GT

Freshly daubed in red paint on the left façade of Sanjiang Church in Yongjia county, Wenzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang Province, is a large Chinese character chai, meaning "to demolish."

A symbol of China's rapid urbanization in the past three decades, the same character has been painted on the walls of old neighborhoods, factory buildings and illegal structures all over China before they made way for new high-rises, highways and commercial complexes.

But a province-wide controversy was triggered when the same fate befell the brand new Protestant church early this April, in a city where the large Christian population, about 15 percent of a total of 9 million, has provided the nickname "China's Jerusalem."

The local government has ordered the gigantic church, rising over 50 meters from a stretch of farmland, and one-storey houses to be dismantled. Construction of the Gothic-style church, with its pointed arches, ornate façade, high spire and pinnacles, has already cost more than 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) over three years and is still ongoing.

The local Yongjia government called the church a "model project" just last September. Now it is declaring it illegal.

Not far away, modern skyscrapers, which form the zigzagging skyline of Wenzhou's city center, rise on the other side of the Oujiang River which separates Yongjia county from downtown Wenzhou.

Just 50 meters away from the church, a highway is being built, and an ambitious 20-billion-yuan commercial project aimed at "turning southern Yongjia into Wenzhou's Pudong New Area" has just started.

Sanjiang Church is not the only church that is the subject of a demolition order.

According to local Christians, from late March, at least eight churches in Wenzhou and several in the rest of Zhejiang Province have received written or oral orders from local governments to either dismantle buildings or remove crosses.

Local Christians believe this is a demolition campaign targeting Christianity. After Sanjiang Church received the demolition order, thousands of Protestants from Yongjia and other parts of Wenzhou, who heard the news from church members or through social media, flocked to Yongjia to protect the church.

"Wenzhou's officials have always been very tolerant toward Christianity. We think this is an order from the provincial government," Martin Xu, a local Christian businessman, told the Global Times. His view was shared by many Christians at the site.

Some drew up a petition to the provincial government of Zhejiang, calling for it to cease removing crosses and dismantling churches.

"The government should protect people's right to freedom of religion, as is granted by the Constitution," the petition read.

Over 1,000 pastors in Wenzhou's churches and hundreds of Protestants in China and abroad have signed the petition, Zheng Leguo, the Wenzhou preacher who drafted the petition, told the Global Times.