[A commenter named Wyoming Doc:] I pray for my wife – all the time. This has been incredibly hard on our family. But we will make it. What I can also tell you – based on my wife’s multiple conversations with friends back home – is that this is really beginning to stir the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. Thoughts about Xi Xinping that would have been never thought to say out loud are being said now – and the whole country seems to be galvanizing around the fact that they have been seriously let down by the Communist Party. I am not sure what will come of that – but this could not have happened at a worse time for Xi – the Hong Kong fiasco – the pork virus disaster – and the trade war with the USA – and now this – the country will soon be at the breaking point.[A commenter named Alec:] It’s ridiculous. I’m an American living in Shanghai who just traveled across China for the New Year (to Changsha, in Hunan) and have seen nothing like this man’s relatives are breathlessly reporting. I just got back from Starbucks here in Shanghai where I did some work, and though everyone is wearing masks shops are still open and no freedom of movement is curtailed. This article is highly irresponsible.
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1. I suspect one reason Shanghai and Beijing aren't as hard hit by the coronavirus is because they're farther away from central China where Wuhan is, in a country which has severely restricted travel. Also, I think it's due to the fact that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has involuntarily moved tons of doctors, nurses, and other health staff from various cities in China to Beijing and Shanghai which are their wealthiest cities. If these cities collapse, if things deteriorate enough, the CPC could collapse too.
2. Here's a dilemma. Should one hope China obtains relief from the coronavirus? Or should one hope the coronavirus overwhelms China so much that it ultimately leads to the collapse of the CPC and presumably usher in something better (it's hard to imagine much worse than the CPC)? Perhaps even some kind of representative democracy? I pray for those who are Christians in China and those who will become Christians in China.
> 2. Here's a dilemma. Should one hope China obtains relief from the coronavirus? Or should one hope the coronavirus overwhelms China so much that it ultimately leads to the collapse of the CPC and presumably usher in something better (it's hard to imagine much worse than the CPC)?
ReplyDeleteI think that, with things such as this, one doesn't have to choose. "Thy will be done" can be our prayer, knowing that it's happily in much wiser hands than ours.
Thanks, David. A good word.
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