Under the government’s orders, the official publication of China’s state-sanctioned Protestant church network has begun using artwork depicting biblical characters as ancient Chinese men and women – and even showing Jesus in traditional Han attire, a religious watchdog says.
The Heavenly Wind magazine is published monthly by the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council.
Since January, its cover art has featured “sinicized” biblical illustrations with Jesus talking to ancient Chinese characters in Chinese landscapes, Bitter Winter reported. For example, Mary was “personified as an ancient Chinese woman,” and the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes shows Jesus feeding characters “portrayed with their hair tied in traditional Chinese buns.”
Bitter Winter believes the artwork “goes well beyond the iconographic ‘inculturation’ traditionally practiced by Catholic and some other missionaries.” The magazine “has always been a good indicator of the state of ‘official’ Christianity in China,” Bitter Winter reported.
“My eyes widened when I saw Mary with her hair tied in a bun like an ancient Chinese woman. It’s so bizarre,” a member of a Three-Self church told Bitter Winter.
A 70-year-old Christian from the province of Qinghai told Bitter Winter the Communist government…
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