Word: hebei
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Father Benedictus's parish in Shijiazhuang, the sooty industrial capital of Hebei province, isn't recognized by the Chinese government: he's one of the country's underground priests. And yet he goes about his business with a remarkable lack of stealth. Four days after the death of Pope John Paul II, Father Benedictus removed his 125 cc Honda motorcycle from the courtyard that doubles as his church. In full view of the neighbors?and, he assumes, plainclothes police?some 400 worshippers paraded down a quiet lane to the courtyard bearing candles and a memorial photograph of the deceased pontiff...
...among other things, reiterates that all churches must be registered with the government. Most underground Catholics?China has about 5 million of them?have resisted. Police last month detained an underground bishop in Wenzhou city. And authorities have stepped up monitoring of underground congregations in the central province of Hebei, according to Catholics there...
...Hebei, Father Benedictus often cooperates with an official church located just down the lane from his courtyard sanctuary. When the church needed help clearing a vacant lot, he dispatched young parishioners to help. But he is most comfortable staying underground?because he wants to report to Rome. "For Catholics," says Bishop Zen, "to be free means to be in contact with the Holy See." China's Catholics hope that the new Pope will be allowed to stay in closer touch with them than his predecessor...
...heavily affected provinces like Henan, Hebei and Shaanxi, an entire generation is vanishing in the shadow of AIDS. In family after family, mothers and fathers are dying, leaving as many as 200,000 children in Henan alone either parentless or in the care of aging grandparents. Ho and his colleagues were the first foreign group officially allowed to visit one of its villages, Wenlou. At the local hospital, only two doctors care for more than 1,000 HIV-positive patients, and they were trained not by the Chinese health system but by one of Ho's colleagues based in China...
...just seven years old. Tian remembers his first terrifying free fall off the 10-m platform and the icy rush as he splashed into the unheated pool. For Guo, the pain came from being separated from her family at age 11, when she moved from her home province of Hebei to join the national team in Beijing. "My body was right for diving," she says simply. "That's why I was picked." There is no mention of having enjoyed the sport...