netizens of heaven: contesting orthodoxies on the chinese protestant web
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Netizens of Heaven: ContestingOrthodoxies on the Chinese ProtestantWebEmily C. Dunn aa The University of MelbournePublished online: 21 Nov 2007.
To cite this article: Emily C. Dunn (2007) Netizens of Heaven: Contesting Orthodoxies on theChinese Protestant Web, Asian Studies Review, 31:4, 447-458, DOI: 10.1080/10357820701710740
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Netizens of Heaven: ContestingOrthodoxies on the ChineseProtestant Web
EMILY C. DUNN�
The University of Melbourne
In order to facilitate the Holy Spirit’s expansion of Christ’s end-times work in the
USA, and enable our brothers and sisters to better understand the Almighty God’s
work in the Age of the Kingdom, this website was revamped in March 2001 . . .(Church of Almighty God, 2001)
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [let us] declare war on the heresies and cults
roaming the Internet, and spread the pure gospel to the four corners of the earth.
(Jidujiao fan yiduan xiejiao wang [Protestant Anti-Heresy Anti-Cult Network, 2007])
A war is raging on the Chinese Protestant Internet. The Church of Almighty God – a new
religious movement popularly known as Eastern Lightning1 – has added a website to the
barrage of tactics it is using in a bid to advance beyond China to the USA; in response,
Chinese Protestants are using the Internet to defend themselves and launch counter-
attacks against such “heresies”. In the minds of these religious actors, the Internet is a
medium for winning hearts and minds.
In this article, I refer to these believers as “netizens of heaven”. I use this phrase to
suggest that while the Chinese state uses the Internet to build a strong nation, Chinese
Protestants and their “cultic” counterparts are using it to construct and defend alternative
communities. In the Bible, Paul reminded Christians in Philippi of their citizenship in
heaven (Philippians 3:20–21).2 In addition to – and in some cases instead of – being
netizens of the middle kingdom using the Internet to build a socialist modernisation,
these religious actors see themselves as netizens of heavenly kingdoms, striving to fulfil
God’s divine and eternal purposes in their online activities.
Despite being labelled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as an “evil cult” [xiejiao]
and receiving considerable attention in Chinese academic circles (Wu, 2005), Eastern
Lightning has been little studied in the West. Richard Madsen has highlighted offline
Asian Studies Review
December 2007, Vol. 31, pp. 447–458
�Correspondence Address: Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010, Victoria, Australia.
Email: [email protected]
ISSN 1035-7823 print/ISSN 1467-8403 online/07/040447-12 # 2007 Asian Studies Association of AustraliaDOI: 10.1080/10357820701710740
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conflict between Eastern Lightning and Protestant communities (2003); in a forthcoming
article, I further examine the organisation and its relationships with political and religious
opponents (Dunn, forthcoming). Studies of other Chinese religions, however, have found
that the Internet has played an important role in their development. Thornton argues that
the Internet has altered the operation and internal power relations of “the new cybersects”
(such as Falun Gong and Zhong Gong) (2003, p. 264); Bell and Boas have similarly found
that Falun Gong’s use of the Internet – specifically, in the areas of disseminating infor-
mation, building community and pressuring the PRC government – is crucial to under-
standing the movement as a whole (2003). Palmer has additionally proposed that the
Chinese state’s restriction of offline religious activity may mean that the Internet plays a
greater role in the development of religious culture than might otherwise have been the
case (2004, p. 49).
My own study demonstrates that while online interactions play a smaller role in the
operations of Eastern Lightning than in those of Falun Gong, Protestants’ use of the Internet
is imbued with religious – and political – significance. In exploring believers’ activities as
“netizens of heaven”, I draw on electronic materials produced by Eastern Lightning and
Protestant groups since the year 2000. I commence with an examination of Eastern
Lightning’s website. The discussion here addresses its content and significance, and also
the complexity of assessing its audience and keeping pace with changing self-represen-
tations. In the second part of the paper, I explore Chinese Protestants’ use of the Internet
in combating “heresies” such as Eastern Lightning, and find that in doing so, they
challenge the state’s monopoly on orthodoxy. While netizens have different visions and
use the Internet in different ways, all view themselves as actors in a world that is both
digital and divine, and complicate the state’s endeavour to regulate religion.
Eastern Lightning and the World Wide Web
Eastern Lightning is the most prolific of the Protestant-related new religious movements
that have emerged from within China over the past 25 years. It is also the only one of
these movements to have a website. The movement proclaims that in this “Age of the
Kingdom” Jesus has returned to earth as a Chinese woman to “perfect” her followers
and usher in the “end times”. The name “Eastern Lightning” refers to the group’s use
of a verse in the biblical gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus talks about his eventual
return to Earth and “the end of the age”: “For as lightning that comes from the east is
visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (24:27, NIV).
Eastern Lightning identifies the East as China, where a second incarnation of God has
appeared, and predicts that its teachings will spread to Western nations (Church of
Almighty God, 2006b).
The goal of Eastern Lightning’s website is to help realise this prophecy. Eastern Lightning’s
website first appeared in the year 2000,3 approximately 10 years after the movement
formed in the PRC. In 2001, we were told that its purpose was “ . . . to facilitate the
Holy Spirit’s expansion of Christ’s end-times work in the USA, and enable our brothers and
sisters to better understand the Almighty God’s work in the Age of the Kingdom . . .”(Church of Almighty God, 2001). Eastern Lightning’s desire to attract Christians living
in the West was reflected in its sponsorship of English-language Google Ads in 2004,4
and offline attempts at proselytising Chinese communities in New York City and San
Francisco also indicate an interest in targeting these groups (Forney, 2001). Eastern
448 Emily C. Dunn
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Lightning’s initial web pages were in traditional Chinese, suggesting a target audience of
overseas Chinese, but the website soon sought to engage a Chinese-English translator “so
that the Gospel of the Kingdom Era [would] soon be spread all over the world very
quickly” (Church of Almighty God, 2001). Thus, Eastern Lightning believes that, in estab-
lishing a website, it is building an eternal kingdom in which its God will reign.
Eastern Lightning’s website is run from the USA – it gives contact details in New York
State.5 There is no indication of how many people are responsible for launching it, or who
these people are. However, the man popularly credited with founding the group in China,
Zhao Weishan, is reported to have migrated to the United States prior to 2000 (Aikman,
2003, p. 243), and as there are no reports of Eastern Lightning having attracted a large fol-
lowing in the United States, it seems likely that the website is run by a very small group of
members who have left the mainland, possibly including Zhao. Indeed, only a handful of
believers is needed to construct an online kingdom.
Eastern Lightning’s web addresses over the last 5 years have included godword.org,
truthwaylife.org, thealmightyhasreturned.com, voicefromthethrone.org, holyspiritspeaks.org,
hidden-advent.org and, endtimeworkofgod.org. These domain names are well suited to the
movement’s purpose of attracting English-speaking Christians, and also reflect its theol-
ogy – Eastern Lightning teaches that Jesus has returned in a hidden way and is speaking
God’s word in these end times. Graphical features of Eastern Lightning’s website likewise
communicate its theology. As the Internet user enters Eastern Lightning’s current website
(www.hidden-advent.org), they are greeted with an animated cartoon-style sequence that
opens with a dark sky. Gradually, a bright star appears on the right-hand side – that is, the
east – of the screen, illuminating shadowed hills. A red sun rises, and a copy of Eastern
Lightning’s scripture – featuring a red sun on its cover – leaps into the foreground of the
picture.6 A stream of blue water cascades over the hills, prompting lush grass and colourful
flowers to spring up. Finally, a slogan proclaims that “The Almighty God is King! All
nations come into his light, all peoples come and listen to his voice!” Thus, from the
outset, Eastern Lightning’s website conveys the belief that its message will spread
throughout the world, and presents its religious kingdom as a life-giving alternative to
the current political regime.
Upon entering the Chinese version of Eastern Lightning’s website, one finds links to
documents such as scripture and testimonies, and to audio files such as hymns, sermons
and scriptural readings.7 Comparison of the texts on the Internet with hard copies distrib-
uted by Eastern Lightning in the PRC confirms that the content on the web is the same
as that circulating on the ground, so we can consider EL’s website to reflect the group’s
“official” views. The main function of Eastern Lightning’s website is to serve as a one-
way communication portal for the dissemination of these texts and the doctrines contained
therein; this is reflected in what is not on the website as well as what is. There is no infor-
mation about the locations or activities of congregations, which is readily explained by the
fact that the group is banned in the PRC and denounced by Christians both in China and
elsewhere. There are no hyperlinks to the websites of other organisations, reflecting
Eastern Lightning’s doctrinal exclusivity: it views anyone outside the group as hell-
bound. Visitors to the website are encouraged to study the church’s texts, but there are
no opportunities for interaction between followers. Thus, its website is used to disseminate
literature for the purpose of evangelism, but unlike the website of Falun Gong, is not used
to foster an interactive community, organise offline activities, or marshal secular support
(cf. Bell and Boas, 2003; Thornton, 2003, p. 265).
Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web 449
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Eastern Lightning’s Audience
This is undoubtedly in part because most of Eastern Lightning’s current adherents do not
have Internet access. The movement has been most successful in attracting converts in
poor rural areas of northern China, particularly in Henan and Anhui provinces. People
in these regions lie on the disadvantaged side of the nation’s massive digital divide; as
of June 2007, the Internet penetration rate in rural regions of China was just 5 per cent
(Zhongguo hulian wangluo xinxi zhongxin, 2007, p. 8). Further evidence to suggest
that the Internet holds only slight significance for the affiliation of rural believers can
be found in the experience of other new Protestant-related religious movements. By all
accounts, these movements recruit primarily through pre-existing social networks,8 and so
have been able to garner support in rural regions in the absence of an online presence;
groups such as the Efficacious Spirit Teachings [lingling jiao, often translated as “Spirit-
Spirit Sect”] and the Three Grades of Servant [san ban puren] have not established websites.
This is consistent with the argument that new religions generally grow through relationships
between members and prospective recruits, and that “disembodied appeals” – including the
Internet – are ineffective means of proselytising (Bainbridge, 1997, pp. 154–55).
If the bulk of Eastern Lightning adherents at the grassroots cannot access its website,
who accounts for the close to 700,000 hits recorded by Eastern Lightning’s homepage
since 2003?9 First, there is the small proportion of Eastern Lightning adherents and reli-
gious seekers in China who have both Internet access and the expertise to access the
banned site. The Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress
on Maintaining Internet Security states that anyone “organising an evil cult, or contacting
members of evil cults, or using the Internet to undermine the law enforcement and admin-
istrative regulations of this country via the Internet” will be prosecuted (2000; translation
adapted). To this end, China has one of the most extensive filtering systems in the world.
Search engines and Internet service providers collude with government regulations and
agendas by restricting access to politically sensitive content. However, these obstacles
can be circumvented by such means as using a computer outside China as a proxy
server. Christians within China report visiting Eastern Lightning’s website with a mind
to better assessing the movement,10 and also that Eastern Lightning adherents are flaunting
government regulations by using online instant messaging services for proselytising pur-
poses (Guo, 2006). Thus, those who are interested and motivated are able to use web ser-
vices for proscribed activities. With 162 million Internet users in China as of June 2007
(Zhongguo hulian wangluo xinxi zhongxin, 2007, p. 8), it seems inevitable that some
will slip through the net.
A second possible audience for Eastern Lightning’s website is Christians living in the
West. As discussed above, this is indeed the audience that Eastern Lightning is hoping to
attract to its heavenly vision. However, it does not appear to have been successful in doing
this, as there are no reports of Eastern Lightning having established congregations outside
the PRC. Western contributors to a small group email list in early 2005 generally seemed
to be under the impression that Eastern Lightning was a Christian organisation, and a web
page advertising Eastern Lightning’s English publications also states in strong terms that
the organisation DOES NOT PROVIDE BIBLES.11 Still, foreign netizens may visit
Eastern Lightning’s website out of a desire to research the group. As Eastern Lightning’s
infamy spreads, foreign Christians – like some Chinese believers – may wish to investi-
gate the organisation for themselves; for foreign scholars, too, Eastern Lightning’s website
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is a convenient way of finding out about the tightly suppressed organisation from afar.
However, Western visitors to Eastern Lightning’s website are probably accidental or
curious rather than religious seekers, and the goals of its website have to date been
frustrated.
Finally, it seems safe to suppose that Chinese security forces account for a significant
number of visits to Eastern Lightning’s website. The Chinese government’s concern to
regulate use of the Internet and its sensitivity towards Falun Gong’s online activities
have been well documented (OpenNet Initiative, 2007; Lyon, 2003; Penfold, 2003).
The CCP has described Eastern Lightning as “another evil force next to the cult Falun
Gong” and instructed public security bureaux to infiltrate and monitor the organisation
within China (‘Announcement from the first division’, 2003 [2000]); such treatment
undoubtedly extends to its online activities.
A Tale of Two Kingdoms
The reasons for the CCP’s concern to monitor Eastern Lightning’s website and prevent
Chinese citizens from accessing it become evident when one observes the increasing
politicisation of the movement’s online rhetoric. As a general rule, Eastern Lightning
appears to expand, but not revise, its publications as its Female Christ and (anonymous)
church leadership continue to issue forth fresh pronouncements. A notable exception to
this trend is its “About Us” statement, which is available only online, and has twice
been rewritten. Examining the evolution of this statement not only reveals substantial
shifts in Eastern Lightning’s self-presentation, but also illustrates the value of researchers
following online sources over time, and the benefits for new religious movements in dis-
tributing their texts via the Internet. The ephemeral nature of Internet sources enables
religious actors to “vanish” old religious discourses and reinvent identities, leaving no
trace of doctrinal inconsistencies – unless they are archived.12
The earliest version of Eastern Lightning’s “About Us” statement was featured on its
website in 2001 (Church of Almighty God, 2001b). As it was devoted to introducing
the group’s doctrine, it is fitting that it now serves as the Foreword to Eastern Lightning’s
most sacred text, ‘The Word Has Appeared in the Flesh’ [Hua zai roushen xianxian]. The
document explains “God’s new work” of precipitating the Age of the Kingdom, in which
the Female Christ is to rid “man” of “his” evil nature through punishment. It ends by chal-
lenging the reader to respond to the message, asking “Would you like to enter the new age?
Would you like to cast off your corrupt nature? Would you like to gain even higher truth?
. . . Then how will you welcome the return of Jesus?”
From 2002 to 2005, a new statement had a different focus, being concerned primarily
with denouncing Christians and defending the Church against their accusations of hetero-
doxy and wrongdoing (Church of Almighty God, 2002). Eastern Lightning indignantly re-
counted that its efforts at proselytising had been met with fierce opposition from Christian
leaders, who were said to have maliciously alleged that Eastern Lightning was unbiblical,
was engaged in kidnapping and fraud, and was a heresy [ yiduan] and a cult [xiejiao].
These claims had indeed been made against Eastern Lightning in early 2002 (China
Gospel Fellowship, 2002; Resolution on Opposing Evil Cults, 2002). In protesting its
innocence, Eastern Lightning characterised Christians as “Anti-Christs”, who are depicted
in the New Testament as rejecting Jesus as the Messiah (1 John 2:18–23), and invoked
Jewish rejection of Jesus to lend legitimacy to their own Christ: “. . . didn’t the Jewish
Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web 451
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high priests and the Pharisees also condemn Jesus for ‘denying and going against the Holy
Scriptures, making presumptuous claims, and behaving illegally’ in order to attack him?”
Thus, Eastern Lightning’s online self-representation came to be shaped by tensions
unfolding on the offline stage.
Eastern Lightning’s most recent “About Us” statement was uploaded onto its website in
early 2006 (Church of Almighty God, 2006a). It provides a fresh narrative of the develop-
ment of the Church – omitting the account of a purge given in the second version – and also
provides new information about the person of the Female Christ. It is now disclosed that she
grew up in “an ordinary family in the northern part of China”, and dropped out of school and
attended a house church prior to receiving the revelation that she was Christ returned in the
flesh. Perhaps most significantly, this version also features the most explicit demonisation
of the Chinese Communist Party to come from Eastern Lightning to date. In vitriolic tones,
it repeatedly refers to the CCP as the “great red dragon”, which represents the Devil in
Revelation 12, and condemns it for having cruelly persecuted Eastern Lightning adherents.
Eastern Lightning warns that God will punish the dragon, and that the Church will overcome
it: “No matter how outrageous the forces of Satan are and how they resist the work of God
jointly [sic.], it is of no use. During just ten years, the gospel of the Kingdom has spread
throughout the entire mainland of China”. With Eastern Lightning netizens openly expres-
sing the expectation that it will conquer the CCP and install their own Kingdom, it is no
wonder that the CCP is alarmed by this website and the movement as a whole.
Palmer suggests that in the Chinese context, the Internet may lead to “a further undermin-
ing of orthodoxies accompanied by the emergence of new centers of religious influence”
(2004, p. 38). While there is as yet no indication that web visits have translated into converts
for Eastern Lightning, its website does pose an ideological challenge to religious and
political orthodoxies, and is a defiant symbol of strength in the face of government repres-
sion. Eastern Lightning’s mission is “to testify about God’s work and about God’s public
appearing to God’s chosen people in every nation and every region in the world” (Church of
Almighty God, 2006a). While it has hitherto been relatively unsuccessful in this, the growth
of the religion within China and the increasingly political tone of the movement’s online
expression mean that the CCP continues to be highly alarmed by its attempts to build a
heavenly kingdom through the World Wide Web.
Sites of Contestation: Christian Netizens’ Online Response to “Heresies”
Chinese Protestants, too, are dismayed by Eastern Lightning, and have expressed this in
online settings. Protestants have a strong online presence relative to other religions in
China (Palmer, 2004, pp. 41–42), reflecting recent decades of growth in the religion
among young and well-educated urbanites. Christian websites with names such as the
“Christian Community Movement” [zanmei wang], “Fellowship of Love” [ai de tuanqi]
and “Voice in the Wilderness” [kuangye zhi sheng] serve as hubs for a broad range of
Christian content that includes hymn sheets, memory verses, poems, artworks, news
bulletins, blogs, and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).13 The largest blog sites host
around 1,000 blogs; the BBS arm of the Christian Community Movement boasts 63,000
members and posts around 5,000 messages per month. This membership figure is approxi-
mately 5 per cent of that of the Strong Nation Forum [qiangguo luntan] hosted by the
People’s Daily, and so suggests that Protestants are significant, though still a minority,
in the ranks of Chinese netizens.14
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Cyberspaces are used by Chinese Protestants to exercise their “heavenly netizenship”.
An online Christian subculture is evident in aspects of participants’ profiles such as user-
names (“God’s little angel” and “Emmanuel”), stated locations (“The Kingdom of
Heaven” and “The Land of Canaan”), and signatures (usually a bible verse). Christian-
related pictures (sheep) and emoticons (chiefly, smiling faces sporting captions like
“Praise the Lord”) can be inserted into posts; messages also often quote the Bible and
address their audience of fellow Christians as “brothers and sisters”, as is customary in
Chinese Protestant circles. Where Christians may previously have hung a cross in their
homes, they now also paste one next to their BBS messages. In this way, they mark
their online spaces as sacred, or dedicated to God.
In their capacity as heavenly netizens, Protestants also use online spaces to fight Eastern
Lightning. The Protestant Anti-Heresy Anti-Cult Network urges:
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [let us] declare war on the heresies and cults
roaming the Internet, and spread the pure gospel to the four corners of the earth
(Jidujiao fan yiduan xiejiao wang, 2007).
In BBS forums discussions of “heresies” and “cults” are often inspired by a Christian’s
real-life encounter with a new religious movement. A person who initiates a BBS
thread [louzhu] might warn of a group that has appeared in their church community,
request prayer for a friend or family member who has fallen prey to heresy, or solicit
opinions of a suspect doctrine they have encountered. At other times, they might ask a
more general question about how Christians should define and identify heresies and
cults, or seek to convey information by copying and pasting text from other online Chris-
tian sources. This supports Giese’s observation that the participants and content in Chinese
BBS are “deeply rooted in offline settings” (2004, p. 28); Christians’ online deliberations
spring from their offline identities and experiences as religious believers.
Participants in online forums variously advise fellow believers who are in such predica-
ments to inform on Eastern Lightning members to public security organs, to completely
dissociate themselves from any adherents, or to try to persuade the “heretic” to return to
the Christian fold. All Protestants, however, are united in condemning Eastern Lightning
for “twisting the Bible” and “stealing believers”.
Protestants’ unanimity in classifying Eastern Lightning as heterodox reflects a religious
identity and construction of orthodoxy that cuts across denominational differences. This is
further suggested by the fact that the most popular Protestant websites are not clearly
affiliated with any church organisation, be it a registered (Three-Self Patriotic Movement)
congregation or “house church”. One can access these services simply by registering a
username and password; in some cases, visitors to a site can browse content without regis-
tering. The self-introduction of the Shenzhen Protestant Public Forum explains:
We do not represent any [particular] church . . . we just want to provide a space for
the exchange of views between ordinary believers who worship at different
churches. We do not belong to any organisation . . .15
By providing online spaces in which to criticise new religious movements such as Eastern
Lightning and assist fellow believers in dealing with it, these websites facilitate the
expression of a unified Protestant orthodoxy. The neutral and anonymous nature of
Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web 453
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these spaces enables interactions between members of a broad spectrum of Protestant tra-
ditions, and thereby helps to bridge pre-existing offline divides. The willingness of Protes-
tants to interact in such a way additionally suggests that identity as a member of a
registered (TSPM) church or unregistered (“house”) church is of secondary importance
to identity as an evangelical Protestant in the face of heterodox groups such as Eastern
Lightning.
The fact that this online religious identity and the “anti-heresy” discussions in which it
is expressed are formed independently of the registered Protestant associations may be
seen to undermine their authority. The claim of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and
China Christian Council (jointly referred to as the lianghui) to represent all Chinese
Protestants is reflected in its chosen web address of www.chineseprotestantchurch.org.
However, the peripheral relevance of the lianghui for “netizens of heaven” and
their fight against heterodoxy is evident in the lukewarm reception with which its
website has been met. The site has recorded 1.3 million hits since 2003; this is less
than double the number of visitors to Eastern Lightning’s website, and a small fraction
of the 55 million who have visited the Christian Community Movement (www.
zanmei.net).16
The ambivalence towards the lianghui’s website undoubtedly reflects some netizens’
distaste for the organisation, and perhaps also less frequent use of the Internet by TSPM
churchgoers than by other Protestants. However, the fact that millions of Protestants
attend TSPM churches in urban areas suggests that factors other than denominational
affiliation and Internet access also limit the number of visits to the lianghui’s site.
Palmer has identified the “monolithic” and “hierarchical” nature of the Catholic Church
as an obstacle to its online presence (Palmer, 2004, p. 42); the same may be said of the
Protestant lianghui. The lianghui’s website was launched in January 2003 in order “to
spread information it wants to pass on to others” (Chinese Protestant Church Launches
Own Website, 2003). This includes information against “evil cults”; the site posts
essays that critique new religious movements such as Eastern Lightning from a Christian
perspective (Kuai, 2006).17 However, as with Eastern Lightning’s website, the lianghui’s
site does not accommodate reader contributions. This lack of interactivity is a significant
deterrent for Protestant netizens, such that while millions of believers flock to registered
churches they refrain from visiting the TSPM’s website.
A more democratic style of netizenship can bring its own set of problems to Protestants’
struggle with heresies, however. Despite unanimous condemnation, Protestants’ online
responses to “heresies” are not so much a concentrated effort against heresies but hapha-
zard, individual and fragmented. While numerous essays provide criteria for identifying
cults, there is little in the way of practical support, and information is scattered across
multiple locations. Thus, rather than an army marching as one, Protestants are currently
soldiering on alone, even if often in the same general direction.
Further, the finer points of orthodoxy and heterodoxy continue to be contested. While
these debates do not dominate Protestant interactions online, they can be a source of
some division within the Protestant community. Differences between TSPM and
“house” churches do not generally play into online discussions, but some BBS feature
fierce debate over their theological merits and demerits.18 This is also true for the case
of the Born Against sect [chongsheng pai]. Also known as the “All Sphere Church”,
the group is controversial due to its emphasis upon Pentecostal forms of worship, particu-
larly weeping, as a sign of repentance (Dunch, 2001, pp. 200–01). Online discussions see
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members of the group defending the orthodoxy of their faith to guarded outsiders, who
interrogate them about their beliefs.
Protestants’ online treatment of the Born Again sect constitutes subversion not only of
the registered religious associations, but also of the state. This group has been identified as
a “cult” by the General Offices of the CCP Central Committee and the State Council
(Notice on Various Issues, 2003); in continuing to debate that which the state has
already issued judgment upon, netizens of heaven submit political to theological priorities,
and disregard the state’s decree. Such discussion has persisted despite state prohibitions
against posting “heretical” [ yiduan], “cultic” [xiejiao] or “superstitious” [mixin] materials
(China Ministry of Information Industry, 2000). While participants in BBS must acknowl-
edge these prohibitions when joining the forums, this is evidently insufficient to prevent
them or the moderators from challenging state injunctions, and they do not fear the con-
sequences of overstepping them.19
However, many Protestants view their netizenships of both heaven and China as com-
patible. The Shenzhen Christian forum describes itself in this way:
We are Christians who are “justified by faith”. Our only saviour is Jesus, and we
believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose on the third day to save us . . .We are legal citizens; we love our country and our compatriots, and respect the
government; we resolutely reject anti-government sentiment.20
While Protestants do not explicitly criticise the government, however, their fostering of
orthodoxies and identities different from those promoted by the state is provocative.
Karsten Giese notes that “Participants in online communication seem to know very well
which topic has to be left untouched and how far they may go” (2004, p. 31). The occa-
sional substitution of sensitive terms with pinyin initials (e.g. “GCD” for gongchandang,
or CCP) suggests that Internet users are conscious that they are subverting state power
structures, and that state constructions of netizenship are overrun by religious ones.
However, the continued operation of Protestant websites despite their contestation of
orthodoxies suggests that they are indeed finely attuned to the state’s sensibilities, and
able to juggle their dual citizenships.
Concluding Reflections
The current proliferation of cyberspaces for religious believers mirrors the reopening of
legal and physical spaces after the Cultural Revolution. Such spaces provide new opportu-
nities for the expression of religious identity and the assertion of orthodoxy. While at present
the Internet is no magic weapon for either Eastern Lightning in recruiting new members, or
Protestants in their struggle against heresies, these spaces will soon be open to many more of
the millions of current and prospective believers who lie beyond China’s metropolises, and
whose experience and conception of orthodoxy may be very different.
While the number of Internet users in rural areas remained low at just 5.1 per cent in
June 2007, this constituted a 50 per cent increase over the previous six months (Zhongguo
hulian wangluo xinxi zhongxin, 2007, p. 8). The CCP will no doubt devote much thought–
not to mention time and money – to managing and monitoring the burgeoning of the
Chinese netizenry, religious and otherwise. Previous experience cautions against
Contesting Orthodoxies on the Chinese Protestant Web 455
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expectations of a “space apart” from governmental control (Lyon, 2003, p. 68). The pro-
liferation of “netizens of heaven” may, however, engender an escalation in the Protestant
cyberwars.
For now, while religious visions are fiercely contested between different groups of reli-
gious netizens, all view themselves as actors in a realm that is both digital and divine, and
they are concerned primarily with building a New Jerusalem rather than a modernised
China. Whether expressing open antagonism towards the CCP or resisting state values
in more subtle ways, all depart from the state’s prescription of citizenship, and express
their commitment to alternative kingdoms online.
Acknowledgement
The author thanks an anonymous reader for his/her helpful review of a draft of this article.
Notes
1. The new religious movement in question refers to itself as “Church of Almighty God” [quanneng shen
jiaohui]; most literature external to the group refers to it as “Eastern Lightning” [dongfang shandian].
For the sake of continuity, I adopt the latter term here.
2. Paul also identified himself as a Roman citizen – see Acts 21:39, 22:25, 22:27. Philippians 3 : 20
appeared on the homepage of the registered Protestant associations (www.chineseprotestantchurch.
org/1.asp) on 23 July 2007.
3. I base my estimate of the year 2000 on the fact that the site godword.com was copyrighted in this year.
The Internet Archive saved pages from this site between early 2001 and mid-2004 – see http://
web.archive.org/web/�/http://www.godword.org, accessed 13 October 2006.
4. Author’s observation; URL and date not recorded.
5. http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/home.php. In establishing a New York base and appealing to an
English-speaking audience, Eastern Lightning may be attempting to emulate Falun Gong’s success in
attracting overseas practitioners and public sympathy in the face of the CCP’s repression. However,
attempts to do so are likely to be hindered by the fact that Eastern Lightning has not invoked human
rights discourses, and its deviation from Christian norms means that it is likely to meet with opposition
from religious parties in the West.
6. Maoist iconography does not figure prominently in Eastern Lightning’s materials. However, the Female
Christ’s statement that she is “the sun of righteousness that exposes all things” (Church of Almighty God,
2006b), together with the iconography related here, is clearly reminiscent of the depiction of Mao as the
“red sun in people’s hearts”. In addition, Eastern Lightning’s hymns are sung to tunes used by the state
for propaganda purposes. These elements likely resonate with Eastern Lightning adherents, most of
whom are middle-aged or elderly and thus can be supposed to have experienced the quasi-religious
fervour of the Cultural Revolution.
7. The content of the English website is much more limited, though the years 2006–07 have seen a
dramatic increase in the volume of translation; see http://english.hidden-advent.org/home.php.
8. Eastern Lightning, for example, concedes that “the people we gain are sourced mainly from newcomers’
guanxi [relationship] networks” (Church of Almighty God, 2006c). Kienle and Staemmler make a
similar point with regard to Japanese new religious movements and the Internet, finding them to have
only a minor online presence (2003, p. 231).
9. The hit counter at http://chinese.hidden-advent.org/home.php showed 689,628 visitors on 2 August
2007.
10. See for example http://blog.kuanye.net/article.php?tid-1856.html, accessed 12 June 2007.
11. http://english.hidden-advent.org/book_request.php, accessed 15 April 2007.
12. Falun Gong has also exploited this aspect of the internet by excising a biography of its founders from its
website (Penny, 2003, pp. 646–47; 660–61).
13. These sites are at http://www.zanmei.net (inaccessible as of September 2007), http://www.loves7.com,
and http://www.kuanye.net.
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14. http://blog.kuanye.net/, for example, hosts 1,019 blogs (accessed 5 August 2007). Large Protestant
BBS sites include http://www.zanmei.net/bbs, http://bbs.21sz.org, http://bbs.kuanye.net/, and
http://jesus.bbs.net/. The Chinese Christian Praise Community [zanmei luntan] has registered 63,322
members since 2002 (http://www.zanmei.net/bbs/stats.php?type¼posts, accessed 3 August 2007).
For the Strong Nation Forum, see http://bbs.people.com.cn, accessed 13 December 2006.
15. http://www.godislove.cn/help.asp?action¼about, accessed 1 August 2007.
16. The hit counter at http://www.chineseprotestantchurch.org/1.asp showed 1,279,213 on 2 August 2007.
The page http://zanmei.net/bbs/stats.php indicated 55 million visitors to zanmei.net as of 3 August 2007.
17. Some regional lianghui and TSPM churches have their own sites. As a general rule, these are also
non-interactive. Protestant websites clearly affiliated with a registered religious body include www.
chineseprotestantchurch.org (the national Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian
Council); www.bjjdt.com (Beijing Christian Network); http://www.zschurch.com/ (Zhongshan City
church in Guangdong Province); and http://www.szchurch.com/ (Shenzhen Protestant Church).
Beijing Gangwashi Church BBS can be found at http://www.cnchrist.cn/bbs/forum.asp.
18. See, for example http://jesus.bbs.net/bbs/09/index.html, accessed 12 June 2007.
19. See, for example, http://www.zanmei.net/bbs/register.php; http://bbs.loves7.com/register/php;
http://bbs.crossmap.cn/register.php; http://bbs.edzx.com/register.php.
20. http://www.godislove.cn/help.asp?action¼about, accessed 12 June 2007.
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