Xian diocese update
The SCMP.com is reporting that the Xian diocese bishop is expected to make the payments for the school property. You would have easily gleaned that from the article earlier this week when it said that the bishop was involved in the price negotiations.
There was a law passed in China in the 1980s that church properties siezed by the state in the 1950s are to revert to the churches' possession. Schools and hospitals, however, are exempt from this law. What isn't clear to me is whether vacated schools and hospitals count.
The SCMP, being HongKong based and therefore freer to be critical of the PRC, quotes a bunch of people that the property should be returned at no cost to the diocese. An unnamed source in the article basically says that what is at stake at this point is precedent. If this school is returned for no money, other church properties that have not been returned in accordance with the law, there will be massive claims by at least every other diocese in China.
Still no word on who hired the "thugs", though if I tell you that someone else is quoted in the article in saying that the private developer had already spent 1 million RMB on the property, would you bet more money on the government or the developer?
I realized the links I post don't work, so you just have to trust me.
There was a law passed in China in the 1980s that church properties siezed by the state in the 1950s are to revert to the churches' possession. Schools and hospitals, however, are exempt from this law. What isn't clear to me is whether vacated schools and hospitals count.
The SCMP, being HongKong based and therefore freer to be critical of the PRC, quotes a bunch of people that the property should be returned at no cost to the diocese. An unnamed source in the article basically says that what is at stake at this point is precedent. If this school is returned for no money, other church properties that have not been returned in accordance with the law, there will be massive claims by at least every other diocese in China.
Still no word on who hired the "thugs", though if I tell you that someone else is quoted in the article in saying that the private developer had already spent 1 million RMB on the property, would you bet more money on the government or the developer?
I realized the links I post don't work, so you just have to trust me.
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