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s I have been researching the life stories of Chinese Christians from the early 20th century, highlighting their contributions to Chinese society, I have been reminded periodically of the danger of falling into a purely instrumental view of faith. Many highly educated Chinese have come to faith from a conviction that Christ or Christianity can help "save" China (back in the 1920s or 30s), or can help China become a great power today. I often challenge them (paraphrasing JFK) to "ask not what Christ can do for China but what China can contribute to His Kingdom." Most are surprised, but on reflection, agree that is the right question. One even remarked, “China is our idol.”

Let me introduce you to a Chinese Christian with an amazing life story, who is one of the few mainland Chinese (so far as I know) who has asked some deeply penetrating questions about the most modern of all “addictions” -- the addiction to modernization.

Yang Xiaokai, using his childhood name Yang Xiguang, became famous all over China and beyond during the Cultural Revolution, for his criticism of a new “red class” of oppressors, in an essay “Whither China?” He spent ten years (1968-78) in prison labor camp, during which he found professors to teach him advanced math and other subjects, and about which experience he later wrote Captive Spirits. He became one of the first mainland students to get a Ph.D. in the U.S. after the Mao era (Princeton, economics) and became a professor in Australia. In 2002 and 2003, he was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Economics for his updating of neoclassical economics theory on division of labor, or specialization. In China, he became famous for promoting a privatized economy and democratic society. (See more details about his life and his death from lung cancer in 2004 at http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/y/yang-xiaokai.php)

Yang Xiaokai first articulated his Christian faith when he was baptized in February 2002, only six months after he first came to belief in Christ. That early testimony focused on his understanding of the Bible, God, and Christianity from the perspective of an economist, that is, how Christianity influenced comparative world economic performance. His views were heavily influenced by the traditional Chinese belief that knowledge is power, and by Communist teachings about historical materialism. He concluded that many developed countries are rich because they have belief in the Christian God, whereas poorer countries believe in other religions or ideologies.

Later, Yang came to realize that his faith was a mix of belief in God and a belief in materialism. Through reflection on the teaching of the Bible, he radically changed his understanding of Christianity and of life.

I think you will be challenged and blessed by reflecting on the following abridged and edited translation of Yang Xiaokai’s second testimony from late June 2003. Some of his statements seem quite prescient in light of today’s global economic and financial crisis.

YANG XIAOKAI:

I have learned a lot from reading the Bible every day. First, I discovered Genesis, chapter three, on the creation of humanity. In conversations among God, Adam and Eve, in which the fruit they ate stands for wisdom, I became aware that God does not want people to know too much, a fact that conflicts directly with common belief in China, where there is widespread worship of science and technology.

Second, I studied Genesis, chapter eleven, about the Tower of Babel. Its message is that people who speak the same language can probably do anything, so they need the chaos of not speaking the same language. At first, I was confused. Does God not want people to work together, to have strong solidarity? Should human power and capability not be too strong? Does God not want people to pursue modernity and globalization?

These are two very important sections in the Bible, but they are different from or even contradictory to what the Chinese people have long believed in … the all-important pursuit of power and wealth for the nation, and going abroad to study for this purpose. In my first testimony, I spoke from this modernization perspective … seeing Christianity as conducive to good economic performance. Many people who first encounter Christianity will think this way. But after they read the Bible carefully, they’ll see that its message may counter this; somehow it is anti-modernization!

God doesn’t want humanity to be too strong. Why? Sometimes advanced technology may bring disaster, as when the development of nuclear weapons brought the potential for nuclear war. Crimes against humanity may become even more complex and sophisticated. My university has a center for the study of economic development; it is assumed that development will lead to more freedom and happiness.

T.V., computers, a big house, all should lead to happiness. But actually, before those things were available our quality of life was better. We spent more time with our families, relatives and neighbors. Today our kids spend time with televisions and computers learning to become passive, not doing active learning. This is not a happy way of life; it is not good for people’s health, psychology, and spirit. I am an example. I got cancer largely because of my way of life since 1985 … spending nearly the whole day in front of my computer, which was good for my work but bad for my health. Driving the car everywhere without much physical exercise, my health got worse and worse. A lack of deep breathing contributed to my lung cancer.

My research on the division of labor in the economy concluded that it has good consequences for development. But now I also realize that it sometimes is not good for people. The division of labor leads to more transactions, which require more levels of organization and can make society more hierarchical. In this situation, even a minor mistake by the CEO can have great impact on the whole system. CEOs earn several millions each year, but have to work very hard under great pressure, with heavy responsibility and little time for rest or family. They would pay a lot of money for an hour with their wife or child. Some of my former students are now CEOs of big companies but have sacrificed everything to achieve that position. Many get sick; some commit suicide.

Division of labor also makes people compete with each other and competition brings high levels of stress. Always competing with others, humans become competitive animals envious of others’ achievements. Modernization makes people jealous, especially of competitors in their own field. If you are just a bit weaker, they will take your job.

Stress has become the “modern disease,” with very bad consequences. Many of today’s health problems are caused by stress. This psychological stress is produced by free competition under the business model of addiction. Businesses try to get people addicted to their products (like children with computer games), and this is damaging our health.

Today our children from early on understand competition and know they are under pressure. College students dream of a getting a Ph.D. or an MBA so they can work for a financial company, with a starting salary of U.S.$100-200,000. If they can’t, the starting salary will be only $30,000. The difference in earning power is so huge they have to work hard. As people get older, the pressure is even greater. People will sacrifice their love for their kids, their friendships and their own health to strive for such an income differential.

People are becoming isolated from each other. Americans have wonderful material possessions. But their relationships are getting colder and full of stress. According to a survey, fifteen years ago the average American had about 30-50 people they were close to and spent a lot of time talking about personal matters. But now people spend their time facing the computer monitor or television and close friends number no more than five.

More knowledge and globalization has not really brought happiness, but slowly is damaging people’s lives. Actually, if you read about Babel, you know God has told us this many centuries ago in the Bible. In the end, we will destroy ourselves because of our sin. We need God to come to save us. As I have slowly changed my former attitude toward modernization, I have realized that what we have been striving for is actually destroying us.

I have been striving all these years … first for a Ph.D. degree, then a tenure track job, then getting tenure and moving up the ranks to professor. Now I have achieved it all but I am dying. So what is the purpose of all my hard work? If I could have believed in God in 1985, then maybe I would have chosen another path of life with nothing to worry about today. Instead, I was very cruel to my wife, demanding she get a university degree, find a job and work to bring in a good salary. As I look back on it, we lost a lot this way. The things we have been striving for are actually meaningless compared with health and true love.

If you really want salvation, you need to shift your attention from struggling for material modernization to looking for God and His salvation. For people who really believe in God, they are not calculating wealth in this world but calculating wealth in God’s Kingdom.

For people from mainland China, this is something quite difficult to accept, because we have heard so many slogans about the “four modernizations,” that “knowledge is power,” etc. I should thank my wife for awakening me; she introduced me to a wonderful book. [Harold G. Koenig, The Healing Power of Faith: Science Explores Medicine's Last Great Frontier, Simon & Schuster, 1999.] Scientific surveys show that people who often attend church activities and pray have better health on the average than those who don’t.

For those who get cancer, if you often go to church, often pray and participate in Bible study, it will help you fight your illness. In Oct. 2001, I was diagnosed with fourth degree lung cancer; the doctor told me I had at most three months to live. [He lived for three more years.] What would you do? Most who received this news would collapse. But I believe in God and pray every day, praying while I’m working, and often praying for other people. When you are praying, you are more peaceful. Statistics show that people who believe deeply in God can overcome the stress in their life, can adjust themselves, with myself an example. Every day I work only for four hours, and then spend time running and playing basketball and praying often. My belief has helped me to fight disease.

I want to share with you concluding thoughts based on my reading of the Bible. Jesus said the most important commitments are:

(1) Love God. Loving is a kind of healing. You love other people, and the biggest beneficiary is yourself. Like many other successful people, I used to complain every day, driving myself and my wife hard. Such people may seem successful, but they are actually destroying themselves and others. This sin is like a cancer. To cure this cancer, we need to become more peaceful, to give up our striving for material enjoyment. The first thing I learned was to praise my wife. If you have love, you won’t always complain. My wife says our marriage is much happier since I came to believe in God. If I had believed earlier, our life would have been much better. Love is the best way to heal, to live.

(2) Love your neighbor as yourself. This is difficult to do, because it relates to the division of labor, the organization of modern society itself. Your competitors are your neighbors; they are close to you. Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution because his former deputy gained a higher reputation for correcting his mistakes. So Mao was jealous and hated him and you might say that China’s traumas were basically due to one man’s jealousy.

(3) Love your enemies. I spent ten years in prison in China and I used to hate those who sent me to prison. But the Bible says to pardon those who treat you badly. When you pray for your enemies, you are happier and your health is also getting better. If you read the Old Testament carefully, you can learn a lot from history. For example, the Japanese hated Americans after they dropped the atomic bomb. But looking at today’s Japan, you can see that God was using their enemy to help them. So, when your neighbors or colleagues are troubling you, just think that maybe God is using them to help you. For ordinary people, to love your enemy is nonsense. But I think this is real wisdom you should learn. It is good for your health and good for your eternal salvation.

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