Mainland China

President Obama plans to raise human rights issue with his Chinese counterpart President Hu Jintao during his U.S. visit next week, according to senior administration officials.

The Washington Post reported Friday that administration officials close to the planning process of Hu’s visit said Obama will publically and privately call on China to expand civil liberties. Obama also met with five advocates for human rights in China on Thursday, including three born in China, to prepare to discuss the issue with Hu.

It was the first time that Obama met with advocates for rights in China at the White House. more >>

The only authorized Bible-printing company in China marked the printing of its eighty-millionth Bible on Monday, the government’s official press agency announced.

Amity Printing Co., located in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, says it now prints 1 million copies of the Scripture a month. Since its founding in 1988, the printing company has grown to be one of the largest Bible publishers in the world.

“The production of 80 million Bible copies can be attributed to the world of China’s Christians, and, more importantly, the country’s reform and opening-up policy,” said Zhonghui Qiu, chairman of the board of Amity Printing Co., according to Xinhua news agency. more >>

Members of the underground churches of China have released a joint statement in response to efforts by the Chinese government to prevent leaders of their movement from attending a major international gathering of Christian leaders.

The statement, issued Friday, accused the government of using “a variety of means” to prevent Chinese delegates to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization including “persuasion, surveillance, obstruction, detention and confiscation of passports at international airports.”

“As a result, the vast majority of the Chinese delegation did not make it to the meeting,” reported the statement, signed by the “China Lausanne Delegation.” more >>

China’s government is preventing Christian leaders in the country from attending a major international gathering of mission-minded leaders by stopping them as they reach the airport and confiscating their passports.

While it’s unclear how many Chinese Christian leaders have been stopped so far, more than 230 were invited to go to the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.

And with delegates scheduled to arrive over the weekend, reports are trickling in of how adamant the Chinese government is about preventing delegates from China from attending. more >>

The decision to award Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize is “heartening,” the head of the World Council of Churches has said.

General Secretary Dr. Olav Fkyse Tveit said in a statement Thursday that this year’s prize sends a "strong message of support" to people around the world who are struggling for freedom, development and dignity for all.

“I consider this recognition of Liu Xiaobo to be an affirmation and acknowledgment of growing respect for human dignity and freedom around the world,” he said. “It also signifies and underscores the essential parameters that are needed to ensure development, peace and reconciliation among peoples and nations.” more >>

HONG KONG – Christians in China now number just over 23 million, according to the results of the Communist country’s first official faith survey.

Although that figure amounts to only 1.8 percent of the total population, it represents 73 percent of China’s religious population.

The figures were contained in the newly published Blue Book on China Religions, compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, an academic unit under the control of the Chinese government, according to China Daily. more >>