Source: The Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040102-112750-1747r.htm
On January 3, 2004 The Washington Times ran a London Daily Telegraph story that reported, "The Southern Cathedral in Beijing was suffused with the smell of incense as 50 members of the Chinese Orthodox Church attended a funeral Mass for Father Alexander Du Lifu, 80. But his burial is not necessarily the end of a dying tradition. The Orthodox community now has would-be priests training in Russia for the first time since China became communist. Its being allowed to hold a funeral service at all was a breakthrough. But the state refuses to acknowledge its existence legally, which means that it is banned from holding regular services despite the country's supposed freedom of religion. 'We are in negotiations with the religious-affairs bureau to have the church recognized,' said Wang Linru, Father Du's niece. 'But it is very difficult.'