The complaint from the evangelical NGO China Aid: a Chinese Christian who used an automatic translator to read information about the Protestant Reformation received a harsh warning from the Internet management body about the 'need to adapt any religion to Chinese socialism'. A digital face of the repression against the “domestic churches” that do not submit to the patriotic movement.
Beijing () – Online machine translation systems in China are also becoming a new frontier of the “Sinicization of religions”, the nationalist policy imposed by Xi Jinping. This has been revealed by a report by China Aidan evangelical organization active in the issue of religious freedom in China, with special attention to the harsh repression that affects the “house churches”, that is, those Protestant communities that do not submit to the policy imposed by the Movement of the Three-Self, the “official” patriotic organization controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
In recent days, China Aid told the story of a Chinese Christian who attempted to use an online search engine to translate content related to the Protestant Reformation, particularly the figures of Martin Luther and Calvin. But he received a warning from the Chinese Internet Information Management Organization, informing him that when translating content, he had to adhere to the fundamental values of socialism.
“When translating any content, Chinese people should strictly abide by national laws and regulations, adhere to core socialist values, actively spread positive energy, and safeguard the country's cultural and ideological security. As for religious content, we should maintain a spirit and a scientific attitude, respecting history and freedom of belief in different cultural contexts”.
At the same time,” the warning continues, “we must soberly recognize that every religion must adapt to Chinese socialist society. In China, we encourage religious groups and believers to love their country and religion, actively guide religions to adapt to socialist society, and contribute to the promotion of social harmony, national unity and prosperity. cultural”.
It must be emphasized that the content that the Christian was trying to translate did not deal at all with issues of national security. It was simply a text about Martin Luther (1483-1546), which traced his personal doubts and spiritual struggles that led him to ask for the reform of the Catholic Church and his famous thesis. Therefore, it appears that the mere use of words like “challenge,” “struggle,” “reform,” and “autonomy” in a relatively short passage triggered the red alert for sensitive words in Chinese translation tools.
Furthermore, “there are three entire chapters relating to Calvin that cannot be translated, with a content risk warning,” reported again the Christian quoted by China Aid, whose name was omitted for obvious security reasons. In this case, the system completely blocked the translation of the content, displaying a message that read: 'Error: Unable to retrieve data from the translation engine interface'. Again, the translation content in question referred to a presentation of the life of Calvin.
In China, several pastors of “house churches” attached to Reform communities are currently detained in prisons. The most famous case is that of Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, who was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to nine years in prison.
