Foreign Affairs committee  If you're talking about control, it's only by our religious affairs bureau. They used to have to submit their sermons before they preached, but this has been changed for the last ten years. You don't need to submit the sermons, and the pastor or the minister of the church can cre

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, in China, basically there are no denominations--only Protestant and Catholic. So you can be registered under these two categories. It's not like in Canada and the U.S., where there are Baptists or Pentecostals. There are none here. In China, basically, if you are a Christia

Foreign Affairs committee  You too. Thank you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, definitely, I see changes. Especially, as a Chinese person, I see our main leaders, the chairman and also the prime minister, for example, these two, visiting disaster scenes—snow storms, and also the earthquake site. For the first time in my life, I see the prime minister a

Foreign Affairs committee  Also, I think their opening of doors to other foreign assistance, even to the frontier of the earthquake, is definitely something that's changing in China.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Not often.

Foreign Affairs committee  I do know the church. There is some other story behind that. When they show that building being destroyed, sometimes we find out there are some other stories behind it. There are some other issues dealing with that building. Basically, the building code and the construction of th

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, there's a difference, for sure, because different governors have different ways of controlling their own places. Definitely, yes, it's different.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I think definitely it is not just the noise issue. Sometimes there are too many outsiders coming and going in the community. Also, you see, China has a lot of high-rises being built right now, and in the cities they have what they call secure villages. So basically that is

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, Canadian to Canadian, yes, it's open. There's a threat in some communities, I think, for security reasons. Also, there's some nonsense going on when they practise--I repeat, practise--those religions and then encourage people not to use medicine, only by one way of doing.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, they are working toward that. I will give you one example where we did that and then you can see it. One time we brought a group of law enforcement people from the U.S. to visit one of the departments, the security bureau. We had a presentation. At the end of the presentati

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, you're right. I think probably there's more democracy in China compared with the time I lived in China ten years ago. It's totally different now. Personally, living and working in China, I feel safer. Also, the people I work with, from the rural area to the city area, basica

Foreign Affairs committee  Muslims and Christians are almost an equal number now, according to.... Basically, let me see, there are 100 million Christians.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, this is encouraging everywhere. Of course, I think for Muslims, basically, they're considered as a people's group. If you go to northwest China, almost every mile you will see a mosque.