GUIZHOU
The Precious Province
By Paul Hattaway
SPCK. 253 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 0 281 079 896
Over the last 70 years the growth of the Chinese church has been remarkable. This volume is the second in a series entitled ‘The China Chronicles’ that will attempt to tell an up-to-date story of the Chinese church in each province of China.
This book focuses on Guizhou towards the south of the country, where the majority of the population are not Han Chinese, but members of various tribal groupings, and there is a lot of poverty. The first chapters recount the beginning of Christian proclamation, through Roman Catholic missionaries, and stories of Chinese martyred for their faith. The history of Protestant missions and the work of God in some of the tribal groups follows through to the modern era. Each chapter makes it very clear that many Chinese believers and missionaries suffered greatly, both before and in the Communist era.
Whilst the detail presented may be more than the average reader might enjoy, there are here many testimonies to God’s gracious action in bringing people to himself and ministering to their needs. Today we are seeing increasing restrictions on Chinese Christians, destruction of churches and the persecution of individuals. The era of large open churches in China may be passing, together with the opportunities for foreigners to be involved in ministry. We may not see a return to all the persecution of the Mao era, but there is little prospect of the liberalisation and advancing democratisation that many had hoped for. A reminder of a church growing under suffering is timely.
Security concerns
In a book of this nature, where security means that names and places may be changed and not all stories fully documented, there should be caution as to whether specific events happened exactly as told. There are pictures throughout, but the quality of many is so poor that they do not enhance the story.
Overall, this is a good book to make us aware of the sufferings of Chinese Christians and to encourage our prayer for them.
