China after SARS
By P.W. and S.G.D. 8/8/03
As of July 5th, 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Taiwan and China off the list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS and lifted the travel advisory against China.
While the world heaves a collective sigh of relief—unhampered by respiratory distress—Christians in China are taking stock not just of the destruction SARS has caused, but of the good it has brought.
The SARS crisis has resulted in tragic deaths, but it has also opened the door to unprecedented political, economical, and spiritual changes in China.
Politically
For the first time in contemporary history, the Chinese government apologized to the world for disguising the early stages of the SARS outbreak.The government also confessed the existence of a sunken submarine which previously they had denied. The government is notorious for covering up internal affairs, so a public apology is significant.
Although the government was reluctant at first to cooperate with WHO inspectors, as the SARS crisis progressed, China grew increasingly open to receiving aid. Cooperation increased not only with the world, but within the country, as provinces usually ensnared in bureacracy began to coordinate their activities.
Beijing even expressed appreciation of the efforts of Chinese Christian volunteers who helped to pack aid packages for many days and endeavored to alleviate the suffering of quarantined families.
SARS has unmasked the serious inadequacies of China's health care and system of government. Political analysts hope that China's new openness will increase as the government stops trying to conceal its internal problems.
Economically
The SARS crisis has been economically devastating, not only to China, but to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Tourism came to a standstill. Many businesses involving public gatherings—restaurants, shops, and theaters—closed. Quarantines caused whole factories to be shut down if even one worker contracted SARS. Major manufacturers from the US and around the world closed plants in Shanghai and throughout China, fearful of spreading the disease. The economic impact has been global.
The possibility of economic collapse has jarred Chinese complacency and reinforced the lesson that cooperation with the world is essential.
Spiritually
For Christians, church meetings came to a minimum during the crisis. Attendees dipped their shoes in antiseptic, wore masks, and washed their hands repeatedly.
While doctors fought to contain the disease, a spiritual battle raged against idolatry. Plunged into panic, many Chinese turned to idols, ancestors, and casting fortunes to protect them from death by SARS. Christians were saddened when newspapers reported seeing a prominent self-professed Christian in the Health department praying to idols at a temple. Some Christians perceived his transgression as a bad omen, and accused him of causing the epidemic by praying to idols and angering God. Superstition threatened to overwhelm the real spiritual questions at hand.
As SARS pierced the complacency of the Chinese, many of whom had been raised to repress their emotions and conceal their problems, people became aware of their emotional and spiritual needs for the first time. One source reported that during the height of the crisis, some 920,000 people reported suffering from mood disorders: depression, anxiety, panic attacks. People were terrified to leave their homes. They would tremble when talking to others, shaking violently before they touched a doorknob or an elevator button.
Throughout the country, people realized that they didn't know how to cope with crisis or the possibility of death. SARS gave Christians opportunities to serve their neighbors, pray for them, and help them examine deeper needs in their lives.
The Future
In China, many papers warn that in November, with the cold months, SARS could return. For many, continued anxiety is inescapable. Yet change is apparent. The government has built special hospitals throughout the provinces, added quarantine wings, renovating old technology. Government organizations are also considering instituting counseling programs.
Chinese Christians plan full-fledged ministries to follow up the end of the crisis. In Hong Kong, many Christians and businessmen who had never helped in public have been awakened to a sense of social responsibility, and are organizing special events. Churches are taking advantage of people's new tender-heartedness to the gospel.
To paraphrase Paul, suffering has produced not only perseverance, but hope.
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