…seems to have affected a lot of people, including The One, Barrack Obama, who seems to think that the Chinese transportation infrastructure is far superior to the U.S.A.’s. I guess that as long as you only look at the things in Beijing upgraded for the Olympics he may have a point but I’m sure he wouldn’t enjoy the dirt roads and lack of basic water supplies in other parts of the country.

The Olympics also temporarily drowned out the ongoing persecution of Christians, political protestors and Tibet. I did notice a few news reports of people getting arrested during the festivities and today comes news that 74-year-old Catholic Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo has been arrested for the twelfth time in four years. His current whearabouts are unknown. It is especially strange that he would be arrested since he has been under house arrest since 2007 so it isn’t likely he got himself into more trouble during that time.

Again, I have to ask: Why are you buying Catholic products from a country that has a governmental policy of religious persecution?

You know things in China must really be bad when the secular media starts to take note of China’s abortion and child labor practices. HBO is showing a documentary next week that includes film shot by people posing as tourists about the Chinese child slave trade and the forced abortion and selective abortion practices in China.

There really isn’t any excuse to be buying Catholic products from a country that has such a horrible anti-morality pervading the country.

Ever since we started our business we have had a policy that we won’t sell products from China. This is why you won’t find cheap statues, porecelain nightlights, St. Joseph House Selling Kits and plush dolls in our store or on our site.

If you want to see why, you can read our past posts on Chinese human rights abuses and religious persecution. Today there is another article about how China is starving its own people to make sure that the Chinese Olympics are successful. The few people in the village of Shijiayao aren’t allowed to trap rain water because it is all being diverted to Beijing for the games and to support the growth of the city.

Reservoirs across the country are being drained to make sure there is enough water to fill the cannals and fountains in the city during the games.

Read the whole article and give it some thought when you find a great deal on a Chinese statue at another Catholic store.

Doesn’t it make you wonder why any Catholic or Christian store would think buying stuff from China isn’t a problem?

The Chinese owner of a bookstore near the 2008 Olympics complex in Beijing has been re-arrested and detained, only about a dozen weeks after he was cleared of allegations of illegally publishing Bibles and Christian literature due to “insufficient evidence,” according to a new report from Compass Direct.

As WND reported earlier, Shi Weihan was released in January after being taken into custody shortly after Thanksgiving 2007 during police raids on his home and office.

China Aid Association then reported the fact he was released, along with several others, although the government offered no explanation for his case.

An American friend, businessman Ray Sharpe, had told WND at the time of the earlier arrest that Shi is a businessman who also works as a travel agent, and had gotten governmental permission to publish some Christian book titles.

Compass Direct now is reporting that the 37-year-old father of two was re-arrested on March 19 and is being held without any communication with his family, according to reports from his wife, Zhang Jing.

Compass said she had gotten no word on her husband’s condition and is prohibited from bringing him food or clothing. Since he has diabetes, she is “very concerned” about his health, Compass reported.

Compass cited an Asia Times Online report that said Shi and his Holy Spirit Trading Co. were accused, again, of printing Bibles and Christian literature without government permission.

Full Story

Anything for lower prices. Anything.

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What a place to get your religious goods from.

Hi Everyone,

We have been purchasing books from Catholic Book Publishing for years now. We have been in an ongoing discussion with them about their move to print more and more of their products in China. The official answer from the company is that low cost trumps any human rights violations that China engages in. Today we had to discontinue eleven more books that have switched printing from Korea to China.

Could you politely write to Catholic Book Publishing and let them know that you would be happy to pay a couple of dollars more per book if they would stop printing in China?

Posting this on our blog could result in them canceling our account as they have threatened to do in the past over this issue. However, we believe that the Chinese problem is far more important than our ability to order their products direct.

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How about the forced displacement of 2 million Chinese to make way for Olympic venues?

Fortunately, there are other options.

If you want to keep enforcing the one-child policy.

It’s because in China it takes a factory worker two weeks to earn enough to buy a Big Mac.

Now, as a Catholic shopper it seems that supporting this type of exploitation by buying such products would violate several Catholic principles of  just labor.

Next time you are in a Catholic store, ask if the stuff you are buying is made somewhere where the people are actually paid a living wage.