Crossing Over the Line: Obtrusive Neon-Light Crosses, New Religious Laws, and Quandaries over Civil Society in the Contemporary People's Republic of China

The aim of this chapter is not to debate the nature of civil society in the con- temporary PRC）but to indicate how the development of a“narrow rule of law”in recent years-following the forceful removal of crosses from the roofs of Christian church buildings in Zhejiang Province in 2014 and 2016-has led to “a diminishing civil society". In other words，the ideal development of“democratic centralism”³in the PRC in recent years-what I describe as actually seeking to achieve a form of“demophilic centralism" has led，instead, to a form of civil life in the PRC that is more uncomfortable, relationally tense, and generally more anxiety-ridden for individuals，but also especially within social circles of religious groups that have not yet discovered an effective way to apply “public interest law" to their situations.