Human Rights in China says underground pastor and religious dissident Hua Huiqi has escaped from the police after being detained together with his older brother while they were on their way to the Kuanjie Protestant Church in Beijing for a service that President George Bush was scheduled to attend. Both men are said to have been roughed up and "warned that their legs would be broken if they persisted in their efforts to attend church......

Shanghai Scrap brought us an interesting tidbit over the weekend on the results of the Pope's landmark letter to Chinese Catholics released a year ago on June 30, 2007. The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) reports that the Pope's call for reconciliation between "underground" and "open" Catholic communities has seen some positive results. UCAN cites open and underground priests engaging in dialogue with each other, and Shanghai Scrap's Adam Minter points out a significant......

This PBS documentary on the underground church movement produced by the Chicago Tribune's Beijing Bureau chief Evan Osnos can now be watched online here, and it is as we said it would be — groundbreaking.......

Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap reveals that Italian reporter Francesco Liello from La Gazzetta Dello Sport — the wonderful guy that conjured up the Olympic Bible ban story which went on to cause quite a bit of a brouhaha — has been carrying the Olympic torch in Hubei, and the best part is, nobody seemed to realise who this guy was or what he did! In related news, China has decided to totally drop the......

Jesus seems to be making a comeback in the PRC. Since the introduction of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox missionaries to China, many of them to Shanghai, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Christianity has been a popular minority religion. While practice abated during Mao’s hay day, China has experienced a resurgence in past years. Just two weeks ago, we reported that Orthodox priests were allowed to lead a service in Shanghai for the first time......

Left: Preview of a groundbreaking documentary, Jesus in China, by Evan Osnos on PBS Frontline/World. Osnos also reports of the explosive growth of evangelical Christianity in the Chicago Tribune, and notes how underground churches in China these days are, well, not so underground anymore. Also of interest are these two audio slideshows: "Christianity sweeping China" and "Bible empire grows in China" as well as this v-log by Osnos. Right: France24 says Ningxia is China's......

Recently, Shanghaiist has been getting a whole load of clicks from a most unlikely source, GodHatesFags.com — official website of the loonies at the highly controversial, virulently homophobic, and dangerously extremist Westboro Baptist Church. Clicking over, we found that in addition to calling us "slant-eyed bastards" for an article we wrote about them a long time ago, the "church" has just released yet another press release (pictured here), thanking God for the "Great Killer Earthquake......

Looks like evangelist Franklin Graham who previously made the news in the China Daily for "hoping to do more for China" is seriously putting his money where his mouth is. Speaking from Shanghai after a tour of Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing, the CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (named after his dad) and international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse has just donated a whopping RMB2 million, or US$285,000. That's a whole lot of money,......

... and so says the — surprise, surprise — China Daily! This most unlikely piece of news comes from the nation's favourite English paper shortly after we heard that China Philharmonic's been performing for the Pope:Evangelist Franklin Graham said in Beijing on Friday that he wants his organizations to become more involved in China. The CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, established by and named after his father, and the international Christian relief organization......

Since the time we told you about Shirley Phelps-Roper's email to China Daily columnist Raymond Zhou, everybody's favourite church, the Westboro Baptist Church has completely revamped its official website GodHatesFags.com (check it out — it actually is looking kinda swanky now). Looking through the site, we found this press release sent out in late January, when China was suffering its worst winter storm in 50 years, praising the Lord for "punishing" China — "that evil......

You may have walked past the Holy Trinity Cathedral before and not even known it. The church has been under construction for a couple of years now and protected from public view by the ever-cunning big cement construction wall. But it's still there, awaiting its impending resurrection amid a chorus of jackhammers. Completed in 1869, the Holy Trinity remains one of the oldest western-style buildings still standing in Shanghai. Its stunning design features the......

With all the bad press surrounding Steven Spielberg's Olympic boycott, Beijing seems to be scrambling to action to diffuse all the negative publicity by wooing a most unlikely target, the Pope. From Michael Sheridan of the Sunday Times (UK):TEMPTED by the prize of a historic visit to China by Pope Benedict XVI, the nation’s leaders have authorised a renewed effort in confidential discussions with the Vatican to heal their rift and inaugurate diplomatic ties. The......

Japanese investigators have found 'no abnormality' at the dumpling factory in Hebei Province at the centre of a food safety scare in Japan after hundreds of people suffered from pesticide poisoning from eating the dumplings. Traces of pesticide were found on the outside of the dumplings and not in the fillings, leading investigators to point to "deliberate poisoning, rather than accidental contamination". This idea, however, has been rejected by Chinese experts.The world's most powerful music......

In keeping with his practise of giving new year's predictions, US televangelist and host of The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson has fresh revelation from the Lord concerning 2008:"What I'm praying about is China. I'm asking for 250 million in China. We haven't had that breakthrough yet but I think we're going to get it. God's going to give us China. And China will be the largest Christian nation on the......

By Mike Chen Date: Christmas Eve 2007 Location: St Ignatius Cathedral, Xujiahui, Shanghai......

Censorship Sydney Morning Herald: China to tighten Internet control Guardian Unlimited: China cracks down on "vulgar" entertainment NYT: China Censors a Film, Then Bans It Entirely The building frenzy Canada.com: Beijing's new skyline: China set to show off to the world Indo-Asian News Service: Beijing opens world's largest air terminal The great big clean-up IHT: Beijing steel company shuts down blast furnace in cleanup effort before Olympics Environment News Service: China to Begin First......

Shanghaiist wishes all its readers a very merry Christmas, and above all a safe and happy holiday season! From Chris Billman: At one time this building was probably a factory/sweatshop and now it's been converted into a Christian Church. It was really in the middle of nowhere, the town only had one restaurant and that was the only restaurant for at least 5km. What amazed me though was just how many chairs there were,......

... with SCAA's Christmas gala which happens this evening at 6.30pm at O'Malleys! RMB 100 at the door gets you a glass of Champagne, two standard drinks, comfort food, lots of free gifts and one Holiday Raffle ticket for a chance to win over 100 prizes totaling more than RMB 150,000! For those of you on the hunt for Christmas trees but don't know where to get them, Smart Shanghai has the answers! 'Tis the......

Many moons ago, we had a conversation with a Chinese colleague that went something along the lines of the following:同事：你是基督徒吗？ 我：不是很好的基督徒，不是很虔诚的基督徒，不过应该还算基督徒吧。 同事：哈哈，明白了。我不是很好的共产党员，也不是很坏，但是也许已经不能算共产党员了。我有三年没有交党费了，而且一直不去参加会议，应该已经被除名了。 Colleague: Are you a Christian? Me: Uhhhhmmmm.... Not a very good one, not a very devout one, but yes I guess you could still say I'm one? Colleague: Haha, I understand. I'm not a very good CCP member, and not a very bad one either, but you probably can't say I'm a member......

The new ultra-modern Haidian Christian Church in Zhongguancun, Beijing, is the largest church standing in west Beijing today. According to Answers.com, approximately 3-5% of the Chinese population is Christian (40 to 65 million). And while the powers that be state that only 1% of the population is Christian, western demographers say underground churches house as many as 80-100 million believers. The magazine Christianity Today, estimates that with an average 200,000 Chinese converts every year, Christianity......

Like hairy crab? Be prepared to pay for it. The big ones are 20 percent more expensive this year, up to 110 RMB per kilo.Popular karaoke chain Party World (also known as Cash Box) has, in the words of China Daily, "jacked its prices up" ... by as much as 50 percent. The report says the hikes happened in Beijing -- not sure if the same has happened in Shanghai. China Daily seems to think......