Well that was kind of my point.

The major social uphevels i wrote about were all preceded by natural disasters, famine and general hardship for a large portion of the population. It's in those kind of circumstances that people become radicalized sometimes via religious groups.

I wasn't aware of this particular problem in China, although i have been fortunate (if that's the word to use) to visit the Aral Sea or at least what's left of it. Unbelievable man made disaster. It's no wonder that social scientists are using the term 'blue gold' to describe water.

Of course, historically in both China & Western Nations, Emperors and Kings were considered to have divine rights. They were placed in their position by God and only answerable to him.

In theory anyway the Church has always supported this and you can find many examples in the Bible for this support

'Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.' Peter 2:13-17

This was written at a time when the Roman Empire (the aforementioned human authority) was rounding up and in many cases executing Christians. Critics of China's policies against house churches would do well to remember this.

The quote printed in the NYT article that had appeared originally in the Global Times

“All Christians, as well as those of other faiths, are Chinese citizens first and foremost. It is their obligation to observe discipline and abide by the law,”

sounds very much like the quote from the Bible i put above.

Where uprisings or rebellions have occurred against Emperors or Kings it is generally due to larger scale social-economic problems. This is when the people assert their right to displace an Emperor or King possibly for religious reasons but more likely because they are hungry, poor & sick and the ruling power is unable to provide for them.

Examples in China would include

The Yellow Turban Rebellion in the 2nd Century & the 5 Pecks of Rice Rebellion that followed in the 3rd Century. Yes, these involved secret Taoist societies rising against the Han Dynasty but it was set against the back drop of a nationwide famine and a weak and failing authority (The Han Dynasty ended in 220). More recently examples would include the Taiping Rebellion in the 19th Century which again occurred at a time of large scale civil unrest.

As the article in the NYT suggests, China is looking closely at the current problem across the Arab world as well as socio-economic problems in the West and tightening it's grip on any group that could possibly undermine the authority of the CCP. Intuitionalist theory will tell you that strong political institutions are required in times of change. The most evolved form of political institution is a political party.

I don't think it's surprising that the CCP, the sovereign power of China, expects citizens to abide by it's laws. It may not have or claim to have a direct mandate from God anymore but as history shows, it is the sovereign powers who are ultimately held accountable for prosperity, peace and security within a nation. As long as the CCP can provide this for the majority of Chinese people then it will remain in power despite Christianity or any other religion.