Hong Kong missionaries targeting increasing number of ‘hungry souls’ from the mainland

By Liu Sha in Hong Kong Source:Global Times Published: 2014-9-15 20:08:01

While disgruntled Hong Kong residents find 'locust' mainland shoppers frustrating, local church groups exult over the potential to save an increasing number of souls who come to study in the former British colony. Mainland students, mostly indoctrinated in atheism and Marxism in their formative years, are now welcomed by Hong Kong's missionaries who provide free Cantonese courses and everyday help. Campus conversion among mainland students is increasing, but when they come back to the mainland after graduation, they have to learn to cope with the division between the government-sanctioned Three-Self churches and underground house churches.

A church in Hong Kong Photo:CFP



The first Putonghua-speaking local that Wang Yuancheng, a 22-year-old student from the Chinese mainland, met in Hong Kong, was a pastor.

Wang encountered the man on a rainy day outside a school library, the only place he often visited outside of his classrooms, during his early days at Hong Kong City University.

Wang could not speak or understand any Cantonese which made him feel isolated. So he was delighted to find that the man, who gave off a casual vibe and wore jeans and sneakers, appeared to be a very "typical Hongkonger," and could speak Putonghua well.

After a few minutes of small talk, Wang, like many students from the Chinese mainland confused about how to start a life in this strange place, was pointed toward free Cantonese classes taught and organized by a club called Jiananmeidi, or Canaan, which offers Cantonese classes in major universities in Hong Kong.

The website of the club, with more than 200 Christians from different churches, said that the organization has helped more than 6,000 students from the Chinese mainland from 2007 to 2013.

Participants learn Cantonese, but they are also divided into small church groups, which say they are there to help the students adapt to local society by organizing sight-seeing events and parties, particularly during festivals.

Wang found his tutor was very helpful, even assisting in everyday tasks like paying electricity bills.

One year later, three students from the 80-strong class Wang attended had been converted to Christianity, and Wang, who had never visited a church and had studied atheist Marxism - as required in Chinese high schools - was among them.

His path to conversion was fairly typical for students from the Chinese mainland in Hong Kong: learning Cantonese, joining communions and church-organized activities, reading the Bible and gradually building connections with the church.

The reasons why these students convert vary, but the number of converted students in Hong Kong is rising as local religious groups focus their attention on them.

A 'targeted' group

For churches, students from the Chinese mainland form an important focus group that needs help. 

Most of the university support groups that welcome new students from the Chinese mainland are run by church staff.

"It is not easy for a Chinese mainland student to live in Hong Kong and there are many things we can help with, like learning Cantonese, buying home appliances, renting an apartment and looking for a job after graduating," a clergyman surnamed Lee, 36, who has been working for five years in a church in Kowloon district, told the Global Times.

Cantonese classes are the most popular program among mainland first year students, and more than 200 registered for the classes at Polytechnic University. After a lecture, the attendants were divided into 10 smaller groups, who were set to engage in different activities.

"Some of those activities are in churches and if students seem to be interested in Christianity, the groups read the Bible together," Xu, 27, who since 2011 has worked for a Christian group that specially serves Chinese mainland students in Polytechnic University, told the Global Times.

Another converted student, Liu Yuhan, 25, who came to Hong Kong three years ago from Beijing, took part in similar group activities when studying at Hong Kong Baptist University, and had the chance to learn about the religion and the Bible.

First he participated because he felt lonely and "the church staff are very nice people, I did not mind staying with them," he said.

"Then I started to notice some connections between God and found that the Bible teachings were being confirmed in my daily life," he said.

But Liu's roommate stayed away from church after encountering a clergyman who was "too warm-hearted."

"I understand they want to disseminate the gospel to benefit more people, but they cannot rush too fast," Liu said.

Some groups considered by local Christians to be fringe sects, such as Mormonism, aggressively pursue students from the Chinese mainland, Lee said. Of even more concern are the aggressive preachers from the Almighty God cult, a banned sect which made headlines in China after members were involved in the savage fatal beating of a girl in a McDonald's in Shandong Province, after she refused to provide her phone number.

Most of the missionaries contacted by the Global Times didn't want to describe their groups' activities as proselytizing.

"But it is a bonus if the students [in the studying groups] start to believe in God," Xu said.

Formerly a student from the Chinese mainland herself, she said that many Hong Kong people, not only church staff, believe students from the Chinese mainland need to know about religion more than other people.

"Because they learned more about Communism and religion is not that popular or mainstream," Xu said.

"Through group activities, we can show them what churches and believers are like and let them know more about the religion, as they may not have had the chance to know the religion properly at home," she said.

Yan Kejia, director of the Institute of Religious Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that many missionaries believe the Chinese mainland is quite closed toward religion and misunderstandings are what motivated them to preach to those students.

Susceptible to charms

Nevertheless, for the "targeted" students, religion can be a very pragmatic way to adapt to local society.

After graduating from the sociology school of the City University this summer, Wang feels things are getting better. He has secured a job at a local non-government organization and has made many new friends whom he can communicate with using Cantonese.

Some converted students, after getting their degree, continue working and living in Hong Kong, and start to preach to other students.

But even though Wang feels he has benefited from his newfound beliefs, most of his friends from the mainland remain suspicious. Li Hua, one of his friends, was also approached by a priest at Hong Kong University, but could not convince herself of the existence of a god or creator.

"God? No, I cannot see him and where is he?" Li Hua once asked a clergyman.

It is a common question among students from the Chinese mainland.

"There were students from the Chinese mainland arguing with me, saying that religious beliefs are like opium and trying to persuade me of atheism and Communism," Lee recalled.

But he noted that nowadays when students feel hesitant over whether to believe in God, the discussions tend to be less focused on the reasons for atheism, and more on lifestyle issues, and whether people want to change their lifestyle.

A missionary surnamed Chow, 52, who works at a church in Wanchai and also helps students at Hong Kong University, told the Global Times that most of the students he had spoken with had been exposed to religion.

Both Chow and Lee estimated, according to their experience in past five years, that only around three students out of 200 every year are converted, but the number has been increasing and the younger students are more open to religion.

Every year the church-led support group at Polytechnic University surveys the newly enrolled Chinese mainland students. Last year's survey found that nearly 20 percent showed interest in learning about Christianity and another 40 percent said they would consider learning about it.

"The spiritual needs of the Chinese people are growing, yet there isn't a popular religious belief in China, leaving a gap for missionaries to fill," Yang Fenggang, director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University, told the Global Times.

Troubles at home

A student surnamed Fan from the Chinese mainland who graduated from City University last year, is a very devoted believer.

She told the Global Times that she started to read the Bible when she was in college in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, but did not know where to start to believe in the religion.

Fan had no idea that there were Christian fellowship activities going on every week in a dorm next to hers until she graduated from the college.

However, when she came back to work in Shanghai, she learned that those who were converted in Hong Kong don't like the officially recognized Three-Self Patriotic Protestant churches, and instead, fearing being accused of "illegal gatherings," those believers secretly attend house church events.

Missionaries reached by the Global Times all said that they had received complaints from converted students who had gone back to the Chinese mainland and encountered problems attending church activities.

A Christian who now works in Guangzhou told the Global Times that in the Three-Self churches, many people are elderly and don't connect the Bible with their lives that much.

Later she found a house church, where the members are mostly in their 20s and 30s, and many shared the experience of studying in Hong Kong and other countries. "We never reveal the place or time of the meetings in public."

Three-Self churches and other house churches belong to different religious sects and the structure of the organizations are different, Yang said, adding that some house churches in Beijing even allow the police to monitor them, to make sure their activities are not causing trouble.

Yan Kejia said that although Chinese religious authorities have been encouraging the Three-Self churches, this does not mean they don't protect other churches' religious rights.

Aside from locating suitable churches, telling family members about the conversion is also a problem. "My parents are Communist Party members. They did not object to my beliefs but would not listen to what happened in church or the stories I quote from the Bible," one of the Christians said.

"One time I talked about my experience of talking with God, and my mom laughed, saying it's impossible and superstitious … but some of my colleagues seem to understand more and they would also like to listen to those Bible stories," he added.


Newspaper headline: Campus Conversion


Posted in: In-Depth

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