Prof. YING Fuk Tsang, Director of Divinity School of Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, who has been researching Chinese Christianity and contemporary China politics and religion for years, asserted in an exclusive interview with Appledaily that many cases in the past have shown that religious activities in Communist China have been repeatedly suppressed as non-religious crimes, including Hong Kong businessman Lai Kwong-keung's smuggling of bibles into China in 2002. Lai was subsequently charged with illegal operation and sent to jail for two years. Hong Kong pastors who support and help underground churches in China may also be accused of commercial crimes when the amendment to the Extradition Law is passed. "Anything published by family churches in China is without an ISBN, and thus illegal, constituting in itself an offense. When they think that you are involved in selling [bibles or other Christian publications] , you will be charged with illegal operation plus tax evasion. If you accept donations, you will be accused of illegal fund raising."
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Pic credit: RTHK
