Service in China
9 December 2002

The last week saw another milestone in the development of China when Shanghai won the bid to host the 2010 World Expo. It is indeed good news for China and for the world, following Beijing's success to host the Olympics in 2008. The road to reforms in China is now irreversible. Anyone who fears that China would go back to the days of the 1966-1976 Cultutal Revolution would be living in a world of his own and hence irrelevant.

Long before China embarked on economic reforms, the Authorities had tried hard to create an image that Chinese people were free to practice religions. Indeed, the government would often organize meetings for the leaders of the five government-recognized religions - Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Taoism, even though some had said that such meetings had been designed to enable the leaders learn about government policies and political issues. These religious leaders were often cut off, at least until the late Seventies, from their headquarters and hence had difficulties aligning themselves with the mainstream. For example, the Catholics in the Mainland practised under the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and could not take part in Vatican Council II when it convened in 1962. However, such limitation has not prevented the spirit of Vatican II to percolate and circulate in China, even though some would say that the spirit is manifested ina way which accomodates or recognizes political reality. For those who are not too familiar with Catholicism, the thrusts of Vatican II include empowerment of the laity. liturgical renewal and interreligious dialogue.

Some people would argue that the Catholic Church's view of social justice in China is limited to provision of services, such as homes for the elderly, nurseries and other government-supported social service projects. But these are very much needed services which have indeed substantially improved the lives and livelihood of the people involved. The Catholic Church in China has indeed fed the hungry, clothed the naked, made the blind see again and provided basic education for the illiterate.

Back to Rotary and Rotary International, all Rotary clubs disappeared in the Mainland after 1949; and RI had tried to re-introduce Rotary in the Mainland since the early Nineties. RI had stood firm on the principle that all clubs must be able to admit freely local citizens and report to RI without government intervention. Progress had been slow and efforts had even been degenerative at times, due mainly to a failure of the centre to recognize political reality and to deploy talents who could narrow the cultural and idealogical gap between the East and the West.

Meanwhile, our clubs in the District have been taking services to the Mainland for over 20 years, individually and collectively, in big or small ways. In the sense that the spirit of Vatican II has been alive and well in China, Rotary has been alive and well in China as well. Specifically, we have made and are continuing to cultivate good contacts and the latest efforts to immunize 1 million newborns in the Mainland against Hepatitis B in the next ten years is indeed a move in the right direction.

The leadership in the District have since provided input to the RI Board and it is indeed our hope that Board Members would duly appreciate the special role the District can assume in bringing back Rotary to China and take enlightened decisions in the direction.