Supporting data for "Allusive Legality: The Cross Demolition and Christians' Legal Consciousness in China"

<p dir="ltr">The interview data was collected from the author’s four-mouth fieldwork in City M, Zhejiang in 2023. City M is a prefecture-level city in Zhejiang that was affected by the Cross Demolition. The rooftop crosses of most local church buildings were demolished, while some continue to stand today. The coexistence of both demolished and preserved rooftop crosses made City M an appropriate location to study Christians’ perception of legality in the Cross Demolition.</p><p dir="ltr">30 informants in total were interviewed. Most of them were approached by the author with an invitation for interview. They are adult Christians (age 18 or above) who are affiliated to registered churches, except for one who attends an unregistered church. Most of the interviews were conducted face-to-face in City M, except for one through phone call and another one outside City M but within Zhejiang. Duration of interviews varies from about an hour to few hours. The interviews were semi-structured. The author adjusted his interview questions from time to time according to the responses of previous interviews. The discussed subjects include, but not limited to, the relationship between the Christian faith and the law, the issue of illegal church buildings, the Cross Demolition, and their expectations of the law in the future.</p><p dir="ltr">Their responses were first handwritten by the author, then transcribed into soft copies and securely stored in his computer as soon as possible. In some occasions, with the endorsement of the informant, the author used his computer to take notes directly. All transcripts contain no direct identifiers to ensure anonymity and the informants’ personal safety. Names of the churches are pseudonymised too. </p>