{"id":45740,"date":"2023-02-21T14:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=45740"},"modified":"2023-02-21T15:44:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T06:44:02","slug":"vomk-report-242","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2023\/02\/21\/vomk-report-242\/","title":{"rendered":"AS CHINA BLOCKS CHRISTIAN INTERNET, GATHERINGS, AND STORES, CHRISTIANS TURN TO RADIO"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”45738″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”As Chinese authorities continue to raid worship services, block Christian websites, and track down and punish Christian book buyers, Christians are returning to a World War II-era technology to spread the gospel:<\/p>\n

Shortwave radio. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople tend to think of shortwave radio as antiquated technology,\u201d says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. \u201cBut shortwave radio broadcasting is actually experiencing a major upsurge in China.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley points to the increase in shortwave radio broadcasting in China by the <\/span>world\u2019s two largest radio broadcasters, the <\/span>U<\/span>.<\/span>S<\/span>.<\/span> and Chinese governments<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, the Chinese government <\/span>continues to be the world\u2019s leading <\/span>shortwave radio <\/span>broadcast<\/span>er. \u201c<\/span>China state radio transmits over 400 hours daily to its population via <\/span>s<\/span>hort<\/span>w<\/span>ave, with almost 200 different programs in five languages on a wide range of frequencies<\/span>. China is also the <\/span>largest producer of <\/span>shortwave <\/span>radio<\/span>s<\/span>. Alibaba offers over 1,000 different <\/span>models, and <\/span>tens <\/span>of millions of shortwave radios are sold annually in China<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley notes that the <\/span>U.S. government <\/span>considered reducing its shortwave <\/span>broadcasting <\/span>in<\/span>to China in the mid-2010s but instead decided to maintain and subsequently increase its <\/span>shortwave <\/span>program delivery. <\/span>\u201cT<\/span>here are now unprecedented levels of <\/span>shortwave<\/span> broadcasting by the U.S. <\/span>government <\/span>into China<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”45733″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”A Voice of the Martyrs Korea staff member records a Chinese language shortwave broadcast. The ministry airs two shortwave radio broadcasts daily into China.<\/p>\n

” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]But it\u2019s not only governments who are reviving shortwave radio use in China. It\u2019s Christians.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley\u2019s organization, Voice of the Martyrs Korea, began broadcasting two daily shortwave radio programs into China in May 2022. The programs feature sermons from jailed Christian pastors like Early Rain Covenant Church Pastor Wang Yi, as well as <\/span>lectures, <\/span>reading<\/span>s<\/span> from Chinese Christian books, and teachings on being a faithful witness to Christ <\/span>in the midst of<\/span> suffering.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, the organization receives regular contact from listeners verifying their ability to access the broadcasts. But Representative Foley says the best proof of the programs\u2019 effectiveness is the consistent effort by Chinese authorities to jam the broadcasts.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is <\/span>far too big for nationwide jamming of <\/span>shortwave<\/span> signals, <\/span>so authorities target their jamming of our broadcasts to regions with large populations, like<\/span> Beijing and Hong Kong<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cSo, the <\/span>farther away from those cities<\/span>,<\/span> the more fully received are <\/span>our <\/span>broadcasts<\/span>.\u201d But Representative Foley says that quick work by her organization\u2019s engineering partners enables the organization to make slight adjustments to their frequency and work around the jamming efforts even in major cities. \u201cOur broadcasts are being received across China every day, in spite of authorities\u2019 best efforts to block them,\u201d says Representative Foley.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”45731″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”A recording sent to Voice of the Martyrs Korea by a listener verifying access to the broadcast. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, n<\/span>ot only has the tightening of China\u2019s laws <\/span>on religion <\/span>played a role<\/span> in the move to shortwave radio by her organization<\/span>, but even more so <\/span>China\u2019s <\/span>intensifying cyber-monitoring and use of <\/span>a<\/span> \u201csocial credit\u201d system to control individual media use<\/span> and to track down and punish individuals who purchase banned Christian books<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn China, VPN use is tracked. Christians commenting on websites are tracked. Even Christians purchasing Christian books through stores and websites are tracked and punished,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>Christian shortwave radio broadcasts are now the only media through which Chinese Christians can <\/span>safely and <\/span>anonymously access Christian content<\/span> every day. With tens of millions of shortwave radios sold annually in China, and the Chinese government itself broadcasting extensively on shortwave radio, it is simply impossible for them to know who is using shortwave radios to listen to Christian broadcasts. And since Christian shortwave radio broadcasts are mostly of sermons and other spoken audio content, the quality of shortwave is more than sufficient. This World War II-era technology is well suited to spread the gospel throughout China in the 21<\/span><\/span>st<\/span><\/span> century.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit <\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donate<\/span><\/span><\/a> or give via electronic transfer to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

KB Bank: 463501-01-243303<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Account Holder: (<\/span>\uc0ac<\/span>)<\/span>\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please note \u201cChina\u201d on the transfer<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”45738″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”As Chinese authorities continue to raid worship services, block Christian websites, and track down and punish Christian book buyers, Christians are returning to a World War II-era …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":45737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45740"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45745,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45740\/revisions\/45745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}