I disagree. China doesn't mind religion. China hates any organization that attempts to put itself above the state--and that includes all the Judaeo-Christian religions. They don't have a problem with religions like Buddhism that do not attempt to usurp the role of supreme authority.
Oh, for fucks sake. China is a totalitarian police state. What about that don't you grasp? People don't have freedom in that country. None. China hates any organisation that isn't the Chinese government. If you want to make a career in that country the straight and narrow path you're forced to walk on is ludicrously narrow. Successful people who refuse to tow the party line are harassed until they break. You know the water boarding debate we've had in the west? I'm sure the army of torturers working for the Chinese government are laughing about it while they sharpen their tools. These people torture innocent civilians on any flimsy pretext. And they do it on a systematic massive scale. It's a torture machine to keep people in constant terror. If you want to do anything remotely unorthodox in China you have to try pretty fucking hard to stay under the radar. Which means living a completely secret life in constant fear of being busted.
Being actively and openly religious in China is like being openly gay in Uganda. It's no fun. Please remove your rose tinted Western glasses. It's pretty offensive actually. Please talk to somebody who has lived in a totalitarian state. It's institutionalised insanity. This kind of government is, for want of a better term, pure evil. It's social control taken to an absurd extreme impossible to imagine if you haven't experienced it. My ex wife grew up in Hungary. So I know a bit about this. But that was a pretty mild version of communism. China is not a mild version. China is as bad as USSR was.
The Chinese like to use discussion reasoning and persuading. According to a Chinese doctor some years ago, her father fought for the Nationalists as an the Chinese civil war. He was captured by the communists and per his understanding spies would be immediately shot.
He was taken to a room in the basement of a grand building that housed the new communist authorities and waited for his fate. Some guards came for him and took him to meet the local miitary leaders.
They were about to start dinner and the commander invited him to join them as a guest as he had two proposals for him.
As they ate and talked about the war and things in general, the commander stated
The first choice is you join the PLA and retain your rank as an intelligence officer for the new government. He asked what the second choice is, and the commander said, "You will be taken out and shot."
Needless to say he lived to tell the tale.
The Chinese tend to prefer electric shocks rather than water boarding. It's less messy with water being splashed about.
China does have freedom of religion to express one's membership of the State controlled Patriotic Church. After all Lenin said religion was the opiate of the people, so its worked hard to keep its population high.
Chinese media even goes as far as to say that Christianity has expanded since 1949. It is true in a sense. St Joseph's Church stands in China's Wanfujing Street
It even allows eight opposition parties, who just conveniently happen to be very small and are pro government. The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association was set up in 1957. The Pope was essentially given the bum's rush and its priests are not recognized by the Vatican.
However its Archbishop Joseph Li Shang is one of the very few recognized by the Vatican.
Nonetheless China has developed economically under the communists despite many faults. Of course when in China don't get involved in Politics unless its in support of the government.
I took some photos of that Cathedral a few days ago.
