God Is Red - Liao Yiwu [77]
Liao: I decided to visit your parents because I saw them interviewed in a recent documentary film, The Cross: Jesus in China. There is a scene where your father sang a hymn in his hoarse but excited voice on camera: “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross / Till my trophies at last I lay down / I will cling to the old rugged cross / And exchange it some day for a crown.” With your mother humming along, he waved his arms in the air and his face exuded excitement. It was hard to believe that he was approaching ninety and that he had been locked up in jail for so long. It was very touching.
Yuan: The name of the hymn is “The Old Rugged Cross.” My parents are young at heart. I should mention the night of June 3, 1989, when fully-armed soldiers took over the streets and began their crackdown on the student protests. We could hear nonstop gunfire from our house. My father was not intimidated. He insisted that church services should go ahead without any interruption. The next morning, he got up at five o’clock. There was no bus service, so he biked fifteen kilometers to my sister’s house and preached to Christians there. During the sermon, he condemned the government’s action against students and citizens. He invoked the Word of God to console victims of the massacre. Looking back, it was quite scary for him to travel alone that day. There was still random shooting by soldiers on the streets, but my father, who was already in his eighties, went out calmly and fearlessly.
Liao: What’s the government reaction to your father’s activities now?
Yuan: We get harassed all the time. Every year, the police will accuse my father of organizing illegal gatherings and threaten to put him in prison again. The frequency of police harassment tends to coincide with the political situation in Beijing. For example, when the Party Congress or the legislature is in session, or during the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, or on National Day, or when heads of state from major countries visit China, we will be under round-the-clock police surveillance. Our home phone will be tapped, or cut off altogether. They make it hard for fellow Christians to gather and hear my father’s sermons. If President Obama or heads of religious or international human-rights organization visit China, the police will take my parents away and put them in a hotel somewhere to make sure my father doesn’t talk with foreign media or do anything that could embarrass the government. Other times, we are okay.
Liao: I think many dissidents in Beijing get similar treatment.
Yuan: Unlike other dissidents’ activities, my father’s action is not intended to be antigovernment. He is here to do God’s work.
Liao: How does your father handle this harassment?
Yuan: Years of incarceration haven’t changed him a bit. Actually, he is becoming tougher and more determined. Each time the police show up at our house, he will step forward and confront them. “If my fellow Christians want to come, I can’t stop them unless you put a padlock on my house and arrest me. I’m a person with faith. When the country’s religious law contravenes my faith, I’m sorry that I have to follow the Word of God.” Often, police officers can only shake their heads. As you can see, my father refuses to be swayed by secular power.
Liao: I heard that U.S. president Bill Clinton once invited your father to participate in an annual White House Prayer Breakfast attended by Christian leaders from around the world.
Yuan: Yes, but my father turned down the invitation because the U.S. government had also invited leaders of China’s Three-Self churches. He had no intention of praying in the same room with those who bowed to power and gave up their faith. In addition, he didn’t want to attend religious activities organized by the government, be it the United States or China. Last, even if he had accepted the invitation, the Chinese government