Thank the Lord for His Protection
Okay, I am glad I did not know last week what I know this week about Beijing.
Last week I knew the communist party controlled many things in China. However, I did not know the government monitors everything that goes on in many central areas like Tiananmen Square with spies, secret police and video monitors. For example, I learned last night from some of our IMB missionaries that even street sweepers in the Square are government spies. Their job is to listen for fools like me who spread the gospel or who try to usurp the government.
Can we all just take a moment to thank the Lord for protecting your boisterous and obtrusive pastor who asked more questions than he should have the day his family toured the Square?
I now know why so many people were staring at me the morning I stopped to take a break from my run through Tiananmen Square. Additionally, no wonder our tour guide was not interested in disclosing much information about the June, 1989 student uprising where more than 7000 students were killed by the government.
Last week I knew the communist party controlled many things in China. However, I did not know the government monitors everything that goes on in many central areas like Tiananmen Square with spies, secret police and video monitors. For example, I learned last night from some of our IMB missionaries that even street sweepers in the Square are government spies. Their job is to listen for fools like me who spread the gospel or who try to usurp the government.
Can we all just take a moment to thank the Lord for protecting your boisterous and obtrusive pastor who asked more questions than he should have the day his family toured the Square?
I now know why so many people were staring at me the morning I stopped to take a break from my run through Tiananmen Square. Additionally, no wonder our tour guide was not interested in disclosing much information about the June, 1989 student uprising where more than 7000 students were killed by the government.
For those of you too young to know or for those who have forgotten this horrible event, check out this video on youtube:
My children were appalled when they viewed this and many other videos.
It is my understanding that many of the Chinese nationals who have relocated to Hong Kong believe this videos are staged and that this event never happened. One recent convert cried as he watched the video. After watching it he said, “I used to live around the corner from Tiananmen Square and no one ever told me this happened.” And that is exactly what the Chinese government does; they treat this incident as if it never happened.
Once again, now I know why our tour guide would not divulge much about the uprising.
My children were appalled when they viewed this and many other videos.
It is my understanding that many of the Chinese nationals who have relocated to Hong Kong believe this videos are staged and that this event never happened. One recent convert cried as he watched the video. After watching it he said, “I used to live around the corner from Tiananmen Square and no one ever told me this happened.” And that is exactly what the Chinese government does; they treat this incident as if it never happened.
Once again, now I know why our tour guide would not divulge much about the uprising.
Perhaps he did not know about it.
Speaking of government control, when television reports from other parts of the world tell something about democracy or free elections, the Chinese government interrupts the segment with a commercial, with music or most of the time with a blank screen. It is also my understanding that not too long ago, Google agreed to let the government monitor web the citizen’s web searches so that too can be controlled. Once again, no wonder I could not connect to my blog. So, believe it or not, the Chinese people really do not have much flow of information from the outside world.
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