Bob Fu

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Bob Fu

Bob Fu (Chinese: 傅希秋; Pinyin: Fù Xīqiū; * 1968 ) is a Chinese-American pastor. Fu is the founder and since 2002 president of China Aid (a non-profit, non-governmental organization), which provides legal assistance to Christians in China. Fu was born in Shandong in 1968 and studied English literature at Liaocheng University in the 1980s . Fu joined Christianity after an American teacher gave him a biography of a Chinese converted Christian. After graduating, Fu taught English at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China in Beijing while participating in the Chinese House Church Movement.

In 1996, Bob Fu and his family emigrated to Hong Kong and then to the United States because his wife was pregnant without the government's permission to have a child.

In 2002 Fu founded the China Aid Association in Philadelphia , but moved its headquarters to Midland, Texas in 2004 . Fu is also known for his role in negotiating barefoot attorney Chen Guangcheng so that Chen and his family could immigrate to the United States. In this sense, Fu has been described as a "link" between oppressed groups in China and foreign governments or media.

biography

childhood and education

Bob Fu was born in Shandong Province in 1968 and began studying English literature at Liaocheng University in 1987. During his university days, Fu was actively involved in politics and began the process of joining the Chinese Communist Party with the intention of becoming a government official. His American professors preached to the students from a pocket Bible after class. Fu organized a group of students from his university to participate in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. When he returned to Shandong, Fu was investigated, but he was not arrested. Fu decided to eventually join the party. That year, an American English teacher gave him the biography of Xi Shengmo, a 19th-century Chinese Christian leader. After reading the book, Fu decided to convert to Christianity as well.

After graduating, Fu taught English at the Central Party School in Beijing, while his wife Bochun Cai (born 1966) studied at the Chinese People's University . The couple largely preached Christianity. They opened a church on the university campus and a secret Bible school in the Fangshan District of Beijing. The couple was arrested on May 9, 1996 for running a Christian training center in the Fangshan District, Beijing, and for illegal evangelism. They left detention on July 8th in good health, reportedly treated well but warned not to engage with foreigners. Authorities said Fu could keep his job and stay in the communist party school dormitory and would not have to pay a fine.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the couple were suddenly released not long after they were arrested. Fu mentioned to the Inquirer that he believed the release was so that they could be monitored and so that their visitors could be targeted. His wife was forced to quit school in the months that followed. Fu lost his job and they were not given a pregnancy permit. When they learned in October 1996 that they were about to be arrested again, Fu and Cai escaped. With the help of friends, they first moved to the countryside and then went to Thailand.

Emigration and Activism

That same year, Fu's wife became pregnant in violation of the one-child policy . Instead of facing the punishment, they emigrated to the then British colony of Hong Kong , where Cai gave birth to their child Daniel Fu (Chinese: 傅博恩, Pinyin: Fù Bó'nn). The National Association of Evangelicals successfully lobbied the Clinton White House to grant Fu political asylum in the United States , where he immigrated in 1997. Fu settled in Philadelphia and attended the nearby Westminster Theological Seminary . In July 1998, Fu and Cai moved to neighboring Glenside, Pennsylvania , where they lived with another Chinese family in a house bought by an anonymous donor. They took on the names "Bob" and "Heidi" at that time.

Fu founded the evangelical China Aid Association in 2002 in response to a crackdown on the unauthorized "South China Church" (Chinese: 华南 教会; Pinyin: Huánán Jiàohuì) based in Hubei . Fu and other Christians had raised enough money and hired 58 lawyers to defend the case, and published well-known stories about the trial in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal . The legal charge of "undermining the law enforcement" was dropped due to insufficient evidence. China Aid is recruiting thousands of volunteers in China who are available to carry out activities called upon by Fu via the internet, phone and letters. China Aid also pays the salaries of 30 defense lawyers.

Fu also taught at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

Activities in Midland

After being invited by another pastor to visit Midland, Texas, Bob Fu moved there in 2004. According to reports in the New York Times, Fu has "close ties with Republicans and Evangelical Christians." He has prayed in English in American churches and has contacts with evangelical groups in Texas. In 2008, Fu arranged for Republican MP Frank Wolf to meet with an illicit house church leader in China. In 2009, Fu persuaded the George W. Bush United States National Security Council and the State Department to grant asylum to Gao Zhisheng's family . Gao is an attorney known for defending house Christians and other sensitive groups such as Falun Gong.

In May 2012, Fu translated lawyer Chen Guangcheng's call at a special Congressional hearing convened by Congressman Chris Smith. Smith wanted to help Chen and his family travel to the United States to study law. Fu had criticized President Barack Obama , saying that Obama "abandoned" Chen because the Obama administration failed to help Chen visit the United States. Chen was in a Beijing hospital when he called.

New York University technicians accidentally disclosed that they had discovered spyware installed on an iPad and iPhone that Fu had his wife, Heidi Cai, deliver to Chen as a gift. Cohen accused Fu of giving a Trojan horse to Chen so that "Fu could secretly monitor his communications." But Fu denied this, saying that his technicians only installed Skype for Chen . Cohen and New York University later retracted these allegations. They said it was because of a misunderstanding of the technology and that the iPad and iPhone Chen received from China Aid did not contain spyware.

China Aid

In 2002, Bob Fu founded the China Aid Association to promote religious freedom in China by helping the persecuted through a voice that exposes abuses and promotes leadership. Fu said the goal of the China Aid Association is to “equip the Chinese people spiritually and legally” so that they can “defend their faith and freedom” in order to ultimately “pave the way for the gospel” in China with legal reforms . In its 2010 tax return, the organization stated that its purpose was to raise funds so that they could pay for legal counsel for the accused Christians in China. China Aid funds house churches in China that differ from official Protestant and Catholic churches in China. China Aid publishes a house church magazine in China with a circulation of 80,000. The association also donates money and provides training and pen-pal programs for Chinese religious leaders and their families. China Aid rejects forced abortion and forced sterilization .

In 2010, China Aid received $ 1.28 million in contributions and grants and $ 84,741 in other funds. Its staff consisted of 15 paid employees and 40 volunteers. It was reported that two years later, in 2012, the organization's budget was $ 1.5 million. They have offices in Midland, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles and "dozen" full-time staff in China and America. The organization hosts an annual China Aid gala at the Midland Country Club , raising $ 400,000 in 2012. Most of the funds come from donations from the Midland oil and gas industry. In relative terms, China Aid doesn't get much support from the Sino-American community. The oil town was the childhood home of George W. Bush and is home to many evangelical interest groups that act on behalf of Christians in non-Christian countries such as North Korea . Many residents are on the board of China Aid.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michele Kelemen, For Chinese Dissidents, Exile Can Mean Irrelevancy , NPR, May 21, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Chris Baltimore, Texas pastor drives support for Chinese dissident , Midland, Texas, Reuters, May 3, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Mary Kissel, Bob Fu: The Pastor of China's Underground Railroad , The Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Maida Odom, In Memory of Persecution Today Is The Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Abroad. Victims' Stories Are Grim. A New Law May Help , Philadelphia Inquirer, November 15, 1998, accessed March 3, 2017
  5. ↑ a b c Kari Huus, Who is Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent', NBC News, April 30, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  6. ↑ a b c d e Bob Fu, Jesus Loves China, Too: Why I'm working to save my homeland, one soul at a time , Foreign Policy, May 14, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  7. ^ A b Document - People's Republic of China: Women in China: Detained, victimized but mobilized , Amnesty International, July 1, 1996, accessed March 3, 2017
  8. ^ Daniel Kwan, Christians freed in 'good health' , South China Morning Post, July 22, 1996, accessed March 3, 2017
  9. ↑ a b c d e Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Richard Simon, Texas pastor a key player in Chen Guangcheng case , Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  10. ↑ a b Stoyan Zaimov, Underground Chinese Church Leader Freed After 10 Years , February 27, 2012, accessed on March 3, 2017
  11. ↑ a b c d e Andrew Jacobs, Echoing Out of Texas, Chinese Voice of Dissent for Religious Freedom, The New York Times, May 12, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  12. ^ Freedom and Christianity in China , Family Research Council, April 24, 2013, accessed March 3, 2017
  13. ↑ Xiqiu (Bob) Fu, Chinese Law and Government, Religious Freedom and Rule of Law , May-June 2003. Retrieved on March 3, 2017
  14. ↑ a b Michael Mathes, China activist pleads for help in call to US lawmakers , Agence France-Presse, May 3, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
  15. ↑ Jonathan Allen, Friends Like These: How a Famed Chinese Dissident Got Caught Up in America's Culture Wars , New York: Reuters, November 25, 2013, accessed March 3, 2017
  16. ^ Andrew Jacobs, Devices Given to Chinese Legal Advocate Had Tracking Spyware, NYU Says , The New York Times, June 21, 2013, accessed March 3, 2017
  17. ↑ Bob Fu, Jerome Cohen, New York University, Jerome Cohen and ChinaAid, Bob Fu Release Joint Statement Regarding the Spyware Controversy , Christian Newswire, December 9, 2013, accessed March 3, 2017
  18. ↑ Carey Lodge, Christian Today: China facing 'worst persecution since the Cultural Revolution' says former underground church pastor , Christian Today, October 9, 2014, accessed March 3, 2017
  19. ↑ a b Pamela Constable, Bob Fu, once obscure crusader of rights in China, is now famous for helping dissident Chen Guangcheng , The Washington Post, May 2, 2012, accessed March 3, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Fu, Bob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fu, Xiqui; 傅希秋 (Chinese); Fù Xīqiū (Pinyin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese-American pastor
DATE OF BIRTH 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Shandong