Mainland China

Post-quake efforts in China are shifting from rescue and relief to reconstruction and resettlement as the death toll from the April 14 temblor leveled out this past week at more than 2,200.

“The first days after the earthquake, people did not have tents yet and the temperatures were freezing at night, a few degrees over zero. Now people have received tents, stoves and more from the government,” reported Paul Liu from Caritas Taiwan, which worked together with its partners in China to deliver relief materials to survivors of the earthquake.

Since the 7.1-magnitude quake hit western China’s Qinghai province on April 14, local relief groups have been working tirelessly on the ground to distribute relief goods, backed by larger international organizations, including Caritas Internationalis and ACT Alliance. more >>

Tens of thousands of Christians in China’s Sichuan province prayed and offered donations Sunday for those affected by Wednesday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake in northwest China that killed more than 1,700 people.

The Sichuan Christian Council in China had designated April 18 as a day of prayer and a day to collect special offerings for the relief work in nearby Qinghai province, where 12,128 people were injured and around 100,000 relocated as a result of Wednesday’s quake.

According to the Chinese government’s official press agency, 256 people were still missing as of Sunday and 1,424 of those injured were in severe condition. more >>

Christian organizations are accessing the situation in China’s Qinghai province after a series of strong quakes – the largest of which was magnitude 6.9 – left more than 600 dead and 9,000 hurt in the mountainous Tibetan area of western China.

Aid group World Vision, for one, was scheduled to dispatch a team of three aid workers from Beijing and other parts of China to the quake-stricken Qinghai province on Thursday to participate in assessments of the damage at the invitation of the government.

According to Meimei Leung, leader of World Vision's assessment team, adequate shelter and warm clothing for children and families is a key concern, as average temperatures in the area have been hovering between -3 to 14 degrees Celsius. more >>

The United States accused China of various human rights abuses in its new State Department report, including the disappearance of several Christian leaders.

In the human rights report, issued Thursday, the U.S. State Department specifically mentioned the disappearance of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who often represented Chinese house church Christians in court, and underground Catholic bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding, Hebei Province.

Gao, who himself is a house church Christian, was last seen being hauled off by a dozen police officers on Feb. 4, 2009. After more than a year, his family is still unable to confirm his whereabouts. more >>

American evangelist Luis Palau will preach to an overflow crowd of up to 20,000 people at a megachurch in mainland China this month.

Registered church Chong Yi in the eastern city of Hangzhou will host the evangelist for the March 20 event.

Chong Yi Church is designed to seat only about 5,400 people, but senior pastor Joseph Gu said he believes they can fit 10,000 people into the various buildings on the church property, said Fred Conklin, a full-time volunteer with the Luis Palau Association who is handling the ministry’s China relations, to The Christian Post. more >>

LONDON – The U.K.-based Bible Society has reported a growing demand for copies of the Bible in China where an estimated 500,000 people convert to Christianity every year.

Although some four million Bibles were printed and distributed across China last year, the rapid growth of the church year on year means that demand for Bibles is now outstripping supply, according to the Bible Society.

The official number of Christians in China stands at 28.6 million, but it is believed the true figure could be as high as 90 million if the estimated number of worshippers at unofficial house churches is included. more >>