While in Beijing Jan. 19-23, Elder Dallin H. Oaks was invited by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to deliver an hour-and-a-half lecture about the Church.

In his address, Elder Oaks, a member of the Council of the Twelve, "began with the Joseph Smith story" and concluded by describing the worldwide Church today.The invitation to address the audience in the academy came during a visit hosted by the China International Cultural Exchange Center.

Elder Douglas H. Smith of the Seventy, president of the Asia Area, accompanied Elder Oaks on his visit to Beijing. Traveling with Elder Oaks and Elder Smith to China were their wives, June D. Oaks and Barbara B. Smith; and David Hsiao Hsin Chen, a professor at BYU-Hawaii who was born and raised in China and who has been called as the Church's traveling elder in China. Beijing Branch Pres. Timothy Stratford accompanied members of the party on all their visits in Beijing.

Elder Chen, who lives in Laie, Hawaii, was sustained as traveling elder at a meeting of the Beijing Branch on Sunday, Jan. 21. He was set apart by Elder Oaks.

In a Church News interview, Elder Oaks explained that Elder Chen's responsibility is to go to China several times a year to train LDS Chinese leaders and to oversee the Church's membership in China. Members of the Area Presidency will also continue their periodic visits there.

The training of leaders is one of the most crucial needs of the Church in the People's Republic of China, said Elder Oaks.

"We do not have missionaries of any kind in the People's Republic of China but we do have several branches," Elder Oaks said. "We do not proselyte in the People's Republic of China, but the Church will grow without proselyting in that country.

"Most of our members in China are foreign teachers who are teaching there, foreign businessmen or diplomats and their families who are living there, and Chinese members who have returned to their homeland after having studied or worked in North America, Europe or other parts of the world. The Chinese members in the People's Republic of China generally are those who joined the Church while living abroad."

Elder Oaks said Church leaders are anxious that members in China and LDS visitors to China honor the laws pertaining to religious activities.

He explained that religious affairs in China are governed by three principles which prescribe that all churches in China must be self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating.

Elder Chen's call as traveling elder will help the Church to comply with these principles as he trains members in the People's Republic of China to become Church leaders.

"Self-propagating," said Elder Oaks, "means that churches must not send in outside missionaries, and outsiders must not distribute religious literature or initiate discussions about religion."

While in Beijing, Elders Oaks, Smith and Chen and Pres. Stratford met with officials of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the State Council. They also met with other government officials, including Ambassador Han Shu, former People's Republic of China ambassador to the United States and now president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Elder Oaks quoted Ren Wuzhi, director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, as saying, " `China will continue to implement its policy of religious freedom. It is a long-term policy, and the policy's stability and continuity must be guaranteed.' "

Elder Oaks and the other Church leaders were hosted by government leaders at a banquet in the Great Hall of the People. They also visited the National Library, where they presented a set of LDS books, the same set Brigham Young University is presenting to libraries throughout the nation. (See Church News Nov. 18, 1989.) They also met with members of the Religion Commission of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, having talks with national Moslem, Buddhist, Taoist and Christian leaders there.

"It is evident that the Chinese government approves of such discussions," said Elder Oaks, "because the day after we visited the Religion Commission, China's official English-language newspaper, China Daily, carried a front page article about religious activities being protected and encouraged in China. In that article, the director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs was quoted as saying that `friendly exchanges among religious groups will promote mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese people and the outside.' "

During their visit to Beijing, the LDS Church leaders spent more than 10 hours in consultations with government officials, and with educational, cultural, and religious leaders, in addition to the lecture Elder Oaks delivered to scholars and students at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.