Wandering Swallow Kirkus Review

A North Korean girl journeys toward faith and freedom in Mathers’ middle-grade novel.

The story opens one night in 1995 as a North Korean girl named Hana and her grandfather stand by a river in the North Korean city of Sinuiju. On the other side is China, promising freedom. On their side are oppression and a killing famine. Hana’s parents haven’t returned from seeking work to feed the family. Now, Hana and her grandfather face the river they must cross for survival. “Under this night’s moonlight, soldiers would see us if we tried to go home,” thinks Hana, the book’s relatable narrator. “Death through capture and hunger if we returned. Death in the water if we went forward.” Their guide, Lú kè, a mysterious, evangelizing man of Christian faith wanted by the Chinese police, is committed to escorting “wandering swallows” out of North Korea to safety. This earnest, thought-provoking work of Christian middle-grade fiction effectively sets a tone of high-stakes suspense: “Everyone could report anyone in Choson [North Korea] for criticizing the leader or the government,” says Hana. The textured narrative is informed by late-20th-century history, before the 1997 Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, from the Tiananmen Square massacre to fear and hunger under North Korea’s iron-fisted rule. At heart, the story is about Hana’s first exposure to Christianity and her struggle with questions of faith. Writing in Hana’s voice, Mathers crafts prose that is disarmingly direct and limpid: “The train rolled over the tracks with its steady rhythm. I watched the world go by as the sun played hide-and-seek with clouds. I wondered at the idea of a God who could see humans do right and wrong and let wrong happen.”

A resonant odyssey of discovery, shaped by real-world political challenges and Christian beliefs.

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Wandering Swallow Parent/Teacher Supplement

Wandering Swallow Parent/Teacher Supplement   Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,

Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3.   

Dear Parents and Teachers,   

I’m hoping you find Wandering Swallow, A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom an enjoyable learning experience for your children/students. Along with helping students achieve automaticity in reading through engagement with the story, I also wanted to give them a peek into the culture and history of Korea and China. 

Hana’s journey is more than a quest for food. It’s a soul journey. Satan often attacks our souls through our bodies. Hana has to pretend to be a boy so she will avoid the fate so many young North Korean females have faced in their search for freedom.

Over the years of the one-child rule (1979-2015), girls (as well as handicapped boys) often suffered abortion or abandonment. In Eastern culture, if parents are only allowed one offspring, they want sons. 

Because of the rule, China experienced a shortage of women for men to marry. Girls like Hana are often sold into forced marriages or prostitution. I avoided making explicit references to this danger because I want to allow parents to decide how, when, and to what degree they need to explain sexual trafficking to their children.

Over the course of the story, we meet three characters with Down syndrome. Jinsique’s role mirrors the life of Baby Doe who was born with Down syndrome and esophageal atresia, a condition in which his esophagus did not connect to his stomach. A simple surgery would have resolved the issue, but his parents did not give permission. 

It took Baby Doe seven days to die of starvation. 

Because of the one-child rule, baby Jinsique’s life would have been in peril (before or after birth) regardless of a Down syndrome diagnosis. The care Jinsique receives in the book is what I would hope every child would know. 

The history included throughout the book comes from some of the sources listed below and several conversations over years with one of the massacre survivors, Shengde Lian. Lian was one of the student-organizers of the protest and provided much of the insight Lừ ké gives to Hana at the Square. I had the blessing of interviewing him for a couple of articles I wrote as a reporter and independently.

Much of the plot of my book alludes to Elijah’s experience with wind, earthquake, and fire before he hears the still small voice (I Kings 19). May all our readers hear that voice in their own journeys following Christ. 

Wandering Swallow is a tribute to young and old who dared to protest the CCP, those who defied the tyrants of North Korea, and a reminder to America, as John Philpot Curran stated, “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” 

Thank you for your interest in Wandering Swallow.   

Milico Mathers

Further Reading and Viewing for Teachers and Parents: (Parental discretion advised for some works)   

Shared Hope International and Report | regenerate are Christian anti-trafficking organizations. 

The Beautiful Blessing of Down Syndrome – Christian Parenting 

From Ignorance to Bliss: God’s Heart Revealed through Down Syndrome by Annie Yorty | Goodreads 

Local Support | National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) 

China’s one-child policy hangover: Scarred women dismiss Beijing’s pro-birth agenda | CNN 

History, North Korea ‑ South Korea, Nuclear Weapons, President | HISTORY 

United States Institute of Peace, The Politics of Famine in North Korea | United States Institute of Peace (usip.org) 

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey for Freedom, Yeonmi Park, 2016. 

A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea, Eunsun Kim, with Sabastien Falletti, 2016. 

“Hong Kong’s Next Yellow Bird,” Taipei Times, Chu Ming-hon, June 27, 2020. 

A Chinese Odyssey: The Life and Times of a Chinese Dissident, Anne F. Thurston, 1991. 

Why Did Stalin Support the Start of the Korean War? | HISTORY 

Operation Yellow Bird, Amazon Prime Video, Watch Operation Yellow Bird | Prime Video (amazon.com). 

Dragon Seed by Pearl S. Buck | Goodreads 

The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1) by Pearl S. Buck | Goodreads 

One Child Nation movie review (2019) | Roger Ebert Respecting Chinese Culture: 

The Example of Hudson Taylor, Part One — Global China Center 

All scriptures quoted within the text come from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Wandering Swallow Update

Wandering Swallow was a Top Seller in Books on Square for December 1.

Read new reviews on Goodreads and Amazon! Student reviews are available on milicomathersreads.com.

Thanks to the launch team group and the great team at EA Books Publishing for all their help that continues.

Wandering Swallow is exciting and suspenseful, filled with Christian themes and history, The book is timely since North Korea is in the news more often today, and China sees more unrest–as it did in the late 1980s and responds with a heavy hand.

Companion curriculum for homeschoolers and classroom use is coming soon.

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Wandering Swallow is published by EA Books Publishing. Restoring the Shattered in published by Morgan James.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Join the Launch Team!

Wandering Swallow, A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom is set for release in a few weeks. Now’s the time to join the launch team to receive a free e-copy of the book.

I’ll keep you updated on insider publishing news, and we’ll have Wandering Swallow tee shirt giveaways throughout the Christmas buying season.

I’m looking for team members who will read the book, buy a copy from Amazon on launch day–TBD (in late November), and post a review on Amazon and Barnes and Noble on launch day.

Here’s a link to join the Facebook group.

Thank you for all the enthusiastic encouragement! Asking God’s blessings for you!

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me at readgoodbooks@milicomathersreads.com or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. Wandering Swallow is published by EA Books Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Publishing Update: Introducing the Illustrator and the Website

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, I Peter 5:8, ESV.

That’s the scripture that comes to mind when I see the image below–a dragon chasing a bird–a swallow. A dragon is not a lion, but Satan is a deceiver and shapeshifter, and he is seeking to devour us.

It’s just one of the illustrations in Wandering Swallow, A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom. Follow the hyperlink to pre-order the book. Be among the first to have a copy in your hands next month.

Kudos go to the illustrator Lily Hildebrand, one of my remarkable grandkids–each of whom has remarkable gifts. Lily is a high school senior who plays soccer. She’s a trained vocalist, award-winning, as well as an artist. Aside from her inside-the-text illustrations, she also crafted the cover and the logo for milicomathersreads.com (below).

Cover, illustration, and logo images by Lily Hildebrand

Our website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me by DM or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Wandering Swallow is published by EA Books Publishing.  Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing. I do share a material connection with my publishers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A Whirlwind Summer

Tomorrow becomes yesterday in a wink.

So a summer passes as a breeze blows in July, here and gone.

Two conferences, another round of COVID, a “mission” trip, and family milestones and accomplishments.

After a writing conference (Blue Ridge Christian Writers) and a teaching conference (Rooted, Colson Center and ACSI), quiet and solitude came as unexpected guests via my third round of COVID (my husband’s fourth). Even so, the timing was perfect for us to recover before I had to leave for two weeks in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland.

We had gone to Northern Ireland and saw a few sights in Ireland five years ago as a celebration of my husband’s retirement. Going to the Emerald Isle, both times I’ve gone, has given me a sense of going home–a sensation I’ve never felt on my way to anywhere else.

It wasn’t a vacation, per se, since my time there included working in a cafe for a Christian effort. I didn’t have a car, so I walked or took the bus to nearby towns. A little store in the village had all I needed for meals, and newspapers with crossword puzzles too difficult for me. A language barrier of sorts within the English language itself.

But oh, the landscapes!

The photo below shows the view from near the front of our building.

Across the way is Ireland. Two countries sharing the same island and culture. The argument over Irish versus English lingers.

My down time included rest at the slower pace of a place that inspired C.S. Lewis to create Narnia. The kindness of the people in the mission and the village, the sound of the water sloshing ashore, the history, the rain, the cool air, sometimes cold by their standards.

Residents expect visitors won’t enjoy the damp, cold weather. I loved it! Maybe it hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit twice during my visit as my hometown endured 90 plus degrees this summer–nineteen times!

When I mentioned how our section of America was suffering through a dry summer, an Irish acquaintance wished he could share their rain with us. Even so, precipitation happened with regularity but was by no means a constant.

One lady asked me where I was from. When I told her Pennsylvania, she said, “That’s a swing state.” News events from America often made the front pages of Irish newspapers during the last two weeks of July.

Like the United States, Irish, North and South, argue about increasing crime, legalized abortion, and immigration.

Protests over immigration in the UK heated up after I left. Northern Ireland had its own demonstration in Belfast. I trust that Rostrevor remained the quiet village celebrating Irish/Gaelic culture as the modern world buzzed around it.

I came home eager to resume my routine, yet hoping to tap the brakes to keep my pace less frenzied.

We’ll see about that.

As a remarkable summer winds down, Wandering Swallow: A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom is in the hands of her editor. My granddaughter is developing illustrations. My experience with EA Books Publishing has been fabulous.

I head back to the schoolroom for in-service this week and classes next week. A glow of celebration follows the baptism of a granddaughter and a long-sought accomplishment for one of my sons.

Summer has already (thankfully) unwound into cooler nights and more comfortable days. The heat will likely return, but without the endurance, we hope, it had in July and early August.

One season melds into another as life unfolds.

We’ve entered a contentious election cycle. The news of it surrounds our days.

Yet, we can have peace in the promises of God. Even here. Even now.

Tap the brakes on your pace. Listen to the sounds of quiet and life around you.

Our peace is in Him, the only source of peace.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6, NIV~

Photo Credit: My personal collection; logo by Lily Hildebrand

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message me in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Publishing News!

I’ve been taking a break this summer from blogging, recovering from an intense year of teaching, writing, and working to become a Colson Fellow.

Even though I’ve been pursuing rest, I haven’t been standing still.

Aside from family and quilting time, and yet another round of COVID, I attended a couple of conferences and participated in a mission effort in Northern Ireland. I plan to update you on some of my summer adventures in future posts.

But first, the BIG announcement!

This week, I signed a contract with AE Books Publishing for my middle reader Wandering Swallow: A Young Girl’s Quest for Freedom (working title, working cover, below). Wandering Swallow garnered a first place Sonshine Award at the 2023 Florida Christian Writers Conference and was a Finalist for Writer of the Year in Serious Writer’s 2023 contest.

The story begins in Sinuiju, Chosun (North Korea), in 1995 where thirteen-year-old Hana’s school has closed because of flooding and famine. Her parents and other townspeople have left in search of work and food.

One night, Hana and Grandfather miraculously cross the Amnok River to China. Once inside a safe house, they realize they’ve joined Operation Yellowbird, a covert effort to help Chinese dissidents escape persecution in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989.

Hana and Grandfather and their guide, a survivor of the massacre, must make their way through China to Hong Kong before Chinese police can arrest them. Along the way, they encounter a windstorm, an earthquake, and the effects of underground coal fires.

Along the way, Hana learns about a Savior greater than any human leader preparing her to respond to a still small voice.

Pre-ordering will be available in October with delivery in plenty of time for Christmas!

Wandering Swallow image and logo by Lily Hildebrand.

Our new website milicomathersreads.com is accepting reviews for middle reader books–especially those written by middle school students. Message Milico Mathers Reads on Facebook or in the comments below.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Business of Body Parts

They say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob takes no notice.” Psalm 94:7~

In 2016, the National Health Service (the socialized medicine bureaucracy of the UK) was accused of encouraging women whose unborn children had terminal illnesses not to abort their babies. Instead, they could carry the children to term and then donate their organs.

Later reports denied that anyone would ever encourage or pressure a mother not to abort for the sake of finding harvestable organs. Even so, 11 newborn babies between 2014 and 2016 became “organ donors.”

Formerly, British law banned the harvesting of newborns’ organs. But that prohibition came into question when someone discovered that “even for adults,” a newborn’s organs can be useful.

On North America’s side of the Atlantic, Canada has been harvesting organs from euthanasia victims for a few years now. Someone dying of a terminal illness or living with a non-terminal illness can pass their organs along by having themselves killed.

Not just people but countries can be of two minds–not realizing an inherent contradiction in their pursuits.

Currently, Canada’s government is considering bills designed to prohibit transplant tourism and protect citizens and foreign nationals from exploitation.

The primary legislative goal is to stop China from harvesting organs from oppressed people due to their status as outsiders, the Falun Gong, Uighurs, Tibetans, Christians, and political detainees. Organ harvesting is a big business in China garnering $1 billion in profits for the government.

Gingrich 360 reports:

“China’s organ transplant industry began to increase dramatically in 2000.  Hundreds of hospitals offered transplants, thousands of transplant surgeons were trained, transplant research was conducted by the military, and the immunosuppressant industry was subsidized by the state.

“While transplant patients in most western countries wait months or even years for an organ transplant, the wait times for a procedure in China have been as short as weeks, days, or even hours.”

So Canada harvests organs from the euthanized while trying to protect the oppressed of another nation from being euthanized to harvest their organs.

In the meantime, many Canadians travel to China to receive transplanted organs quickly.

Perhaps in an effort to keep these Canadians home, the nation expanded its death “service” to include the mentally ill and handicapped.

“It’s a lot cheaper for the government to offer medical aid and dying than to offer the services people with disabilities need to live full lives,” Jewelles Smith, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, said in an interview from B.C.

“John Maher, a psychiatrist from Barrie, Ont., called expanding access to MAID (Medical Aid in Dying) ‘the moral scandal of the century.'”

“He told CTV National News that the upcoming rules that could allow medical assistance in dying solely because of a mental illness don’t take into account that those suffering from severe illness may not be capable of making the best decision for themselves.”

Those who assist people deciding to die would surely encourage them to donate their organs.

A minor distinction exists between encouraging “donation” and taking advantage of someone who’s finding it hard to understand other possibilities.

While the possibilities may seem limited for someone with emotional and mental challenges, the possibilities to take advantage of people are many.

Back in the UK, researchers have discovered that they can safely harvest organs from those who’ve died of COVID. Organ recipients do not contract COVID from the transplanted part if the virus is absent in that organ (as is common in organs unrelated to the illness). Donor parts qualify if the deceased patient tested positive for COVID more than 20 days earlier.

How nice that, if someone dies in a pandemic, their organs can still be useful. That’s true only if medical was uniformly good and not based on a premise that people considered limited receive limited care.

From the UK: “more than twice as many individuals with learning disabilities died during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic than in the same period last year. “

“‘Do not attempt resuscitation’ (DNAR) notices were added en masse to the medical records of elderly and disabled people in care homes, without proper consultation with either the individuals or their families:

“* At the end of March, three care facilities for adults with learning disabilities in Somerset, Derbyshire and East Sussex were contacted by General Practitioners (GPs) to inform them that all the adults they support should be deemed DNAR.”

Sadly, care rationing is not limited to the UK. Several states in the US also set up rationing plans during COVID that proposed to deny care to those with disabilities.

It’s not a giant leap from determining who doesn’t deserve good care to seeing people who have challenges as spare parts.

One UK analyst proposes that the “normalisation of health care rationing and the wholesale abandonment of the most vulnerable in society is only possible because the NHS has been systematically starved of funds for decades.”

We miss the most important point if we blame a lack of money rather than a lack of respect for human life for the deaths of the defenseless and dependent.

All discussions about unborn life and life limited by illness or disability center on one question—Who are we? Are we sacred souls made in the image of a great God who loves all, weak or strong?

Or are we just a mixture of electrical synapses and chemical reactions, a sometimes useful collection of spare parts?

Answering the last question in the affirmative means there won’t be a stopping point along the way to the continually increasing exploitation of people as human products.

More questions to lead us forward:

Does the one who shaped the ear not hear?
    The one who formed the eye not see?
Does the one who guides nations not rebuke?
    The one who teaches man not have knowledge? Psalm 94:9-10~

We will all stand before the one who shapes, forms, guides, rebukes, and teaches.

A rebuke stands at the gates. And one more question will follow.

What did you do when you knew this atrocity was happening?

Photo Credit: Pexels

Nancy E. Head’s Restoring the Shattered is out in paperback! Get your copy here!

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

From Tiananmen to Hong Kong

It was a highlight of my career as a news reporter, interviewing Shengde Lian, one of the organizers of the Tiananmen Square protests. Now it seems that piece of history from 1989 is repeating itself in Hong Kong today.

Inspired by student protests in America and South Korea they had seen on television, Chinese college students gathered in Beijing at Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu [Yaobang], their advocate for democratic reform. The marathon sit-in lasted seven weeks.

[In Tiananmen Square, protesters crafted a goddess of liberty akin to our statue in New York’s Harbor. ]

Demonstrations weren’t unheard of in China, but the international broadcast of such demonstrations was. The international press was in town to cover [Mikhail] Gorbachev’s visit to Beijing. Because of his attempts to reform communism, the protesting Chinese students considered him a champion of democracy.[i]

The presence of the international press made possible our knowledge of the Tiananmen Square massacre. [There were other crackdowns at the same time across the country.] In front of the international media, the Chinese government, having lost face in the weeks’ long standoff, sent the army into the square, killing thousands and capturing surviving protesters. [Lian served 18 months in a laogai–the Chinese equivalent of a Soviet gulag.]

. . . The Chinese students . . . did not get the change they had hoped for, but change is what China would see. The Beijing massacre and imprisonment of surviving demonstrators prompted Chinese youth, especially students, to look for a new form of freedom. Many found that freedom in Christ.

Why did young Chinese college students suddenly develop a passionate interest in the Christian faith? David Aikman writes that one “suggestion was that China’s traditional Confucian view of man as inherently good was shattered under the tanks that rolled onto the center of Beijing.”[ii]

The Chinese students had put their faith in their government, and their government turned on them and attacked them. Now they would look elsewhere for someone to trust. Within the next ten to fifteen years, China is on track to become the most Christian nation in the world.[iii]

Hong Kong is very different from Beijing. Crosses hang on the exteriors of hospitals to signify their connection to churches. When the British left Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997, they left behind the stamp of a Christianized culture. They left behind an understanding of basic freedom.

After the 1997 takeover, China discovered in Hong Kong what free enterprise could do. The “communist” government adopted capitalistic practices–with the military owning some companies.

The Mainland economy grew in leaps and bounds. China was building a middle class (without a minimum wage and with a flat tax, by the way, a graduated income tax having been foundational to Marxism.)

In 1997, the communist government in Beijing promised Hong Kong citizens “one country, two systems.”

Kayla Wong and Emily Lo provide an account of a Chinese woman waving the British Union Jack. This woman is not calling for a return to British colonialism but to the practices that helped Hong Kong prosper under the British.

She says Hong Kong has a 20-year history of government’s unkept promises.

Protesters also dare to wave the US flag. And while we are divided over gun control, they are asking for a Second Amendment.

Will Christianity see a resurgence in Hong Kong as is happening in the mainland? That remains to be seen.

China has not sent troops and tanks into Hong Kong–yet–although the military is amassing on the border and engaging in exercises designed to intimidate. All the while, the Hong Kong police show no mercy to the protesters.

Oppression suppresses free speech. An already eroded promise threatens the freedom that remains.

Perhaps China and Hong Kong are at a crossroads. Perhaps the events that unfold in Hong Kong in the coming days will determine whether there is freedom or continued oppression.

Only one King is faithful to His word. Pray for Hong Kongers and Chinese to find that King. Pray for peace and freedom found only in Him.

*****

This post is partially excerpted from Restoring the Shattered.

[i]Nicholas D. Kristof and Special to the New York Times, “China’s Hero of Democracy: Gorbachev,” archives 1989, accessed May 14, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/14/world/china-s-hero-of-democracy-gorbachev.html.

[ii] David Aikman, Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2003), 171.

[iii] Tom Phillips, “China on Course to Become ‘World’s Most Christian Nation’ within 15 Years,” London Telegraph, April 19, 2014, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10776023/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Nancy E. Head’s Restoring the Shattered is out in paperback! Get your copy here!

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you credit the author.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the entities I have mentioned. Restoring the Shattered is published through Morgan James Publishing with whom I do share a material connection. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Population Control Worked–Or Did It?

Japan figured it out a few years ago. Low birth rates lead to a smaller population that grows older without replacement workers.

In that nation, 86 percent of employers struggle to fill jobs. The situation forebodes what one reporter calls a “demographic timebomb.” The government has been offering birth incentives for years, including a lump sum payment upon birth, tuition breaks, and yearly cash payments–with little positive result.

France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries also offer incentives in hopes of increasing their birthrates–also without much to show for the effort.

And now China joins the chorus, promising to end what was once a one-child, now a two-child policy–“to slow the pace of aging in the country and reconcile its shortage of workers.”

Yet despite the change in policy from one-child to two, China’s birthrate did not increase. Instead, it fell. And the disproportionate number of males to females (120 to 100 throughout the country, but 143 to 100 in some rural areas) means fewer men are able to marry further reducing the birthrate.

Lower birth rates are to be expected in any nation moving from a rural to an urban culture. Couples naturally limit family sizes in a city–without the government forcing them to do so. When people move from the country to the city, their view of children changes.

In rural areas, families need more children to work. In urban areas, children don’t naturally become part of the family’s workforce. In a city setting, children are no longer part of the team pushing toward a goal for the benefit of all.

Often, even in the Christian community, children are something to be avoided and prevented instead of welcomed.

I felt this attitude when I carried my third, fourth, and fifth children. It wasn’t socially acceptable in some circles to have a big family. It still isn’t today.

Japan, China, and European countries are reaping the results of the city-dwellers’ perspective of children. That, combined with four decades of alarmism about over-population brings us to today.

Now parents in developed countries are enjoying the ease of having fewer children. (link) (link) (link) including America where the fertility rate is now below replacement level.

As the world adds one billion people every eleven years, Eastern culture is shifting and Western culture and its Christian influence are dying.

The proverbial toothpaste has come out of the tube.

And in some places in the world, there are not enough people left to put it back in.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

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