Catholic Church In China

The Catholic Church in China: 1978 to the Present by Cindy Yik-Yi Chu, 134 pages

In 1552, St Francis Xavier died on the island of Shangchuan, on the doorstep of China.  By the middle of the twentieth century there were over three million Chinese Catholics.  Today, estimates begin with the six million acknowledged members of the government-approved "open" church, and add six to eleven million Catholics who are members of the persecuted "underground" church or otherwise uncounted.  Most of this expansion has occurred in the last three decades, since the death of Mao.

Although the subject seems interesting, the book is not.  It is written in an academic style which serves to make even interesting material seem boring, and it uses Chinese designations ("June 4th Incident" for what is generally referred to in the West as the "Tiananmen Square protest/crackdown/massacre") which serve to make clear points more obscure.  Of course, this is an academic book, so these handicaps are to be expected.  The major problem is, likewise, seemingly unavoidable - the book is very repetitious, because the story is very repetitious - initially cool relations warm between China and the Holy See until a breakthrough seems possible, then Beijing feels the need to reassert its control, and everyone goes back to square one.

Nonetheless, there are interesting insights.  Chu favors "official" and "unofficial" over "open and "underground", as the former better captures a situation where most of the state-appointed bishops are recognized by the Pope, while the "underground" church is not illegal as such.  There is also some interesting material surrounding modernization - virtually every Mass celebrated in mainland China was Tridentine until well into the '90s, and it was the unofficial church which began liturgical reforms through its connections with the churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

As short as it is, this book has enough good content to make reading it worthwhile for anyone interested in Sino-Vatican relations specifically, or modern China more generally.