Ministry in Australia

percentage of the crops had to be sold to the state at a fixed price. The rest could be sold on the open market, where the price was usually much higher. Christian farmers had chosen to sell to the state the best quality and more than their quota, whereas others had sold to the state the poorest quality and barely the quota. This fact had also been officially recognised by the state.

The Amity Foundation, founded in 1985, is the church's social arm. They are recruiting teachers from overseas for high schools and universities, funding subsidies for medical and welfare institutions, and operating the printing press in co-operation with the United Bible Societies. We visited the building for the new printing press. The machines were still not unpacked. Everything was brand new. It was a huge building and they had already orders for over 200,000 bibles which they wanted to print before Christmas. The annual production of bibles was to be over one million, with a staff of 200.

I was most impressed by the achievements of the christian church in China, and I hoped that this would become a model for churches elsewhere in the world. Western culture and theology was perceived by most Asian people as far too dominating, and the gospel was seen as something foreign. This had to change. I was grateful for this experience.

On our walks we came to a ferry which took us across the mighty Yangtse river. It was a great feeling to be on one of the worlds greatest rivers. We also walked along the two-decker bridge over the Yangtse, where cars used the upper deck and trains the lower. We had a lovely view from up there and we were so pleased to have left the rain behind. Going back to town we wanted to catch a bus, but there was no regular bus service. When eventually a bus pulled up, we took pot luck and got on it, without knowing where it went. I followed the route on my map and we were greatly relieved when it dropped us right in front of the Drum Tower, where we had wanted to go. Once again an invisible hand had guided us.

We couldn't get tickets to Beijing, all trains were full. The man at the ticket counter suggested we take a sleeper to Tianjin, from where it was only a couple of hours to Beijing. We did this. In Tianjin we queued up for tickets to Beijing. The ticket counter was still closed. When it opened, the orderly queue disintegrated, with everybody surging forward. People were coming in from the side, and I saw a man pushing his mate into the direction of the counter as hard as he could. By doing this he got well ahead of the others. Then people began to shout and scream at each other and a fist-fight developed. As I had no desire to get involved in the fight, and seeing that my position in the crowd got further and further behind, I gave up.

In the soft class waiting room there was also a queue in front of the ticket counter, but much more sedate and orderly. But the queue moved only very slowly forward. It took about ten minutes for one person to be served! Was it the system or the incompetence of the attendant? No

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