RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION AND
INTOLERANCE IN CHINA
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Overview:
The Chinese government has relentlessly suppressed religious groups since
achieving power in 1949. The rest of the world is most familiar with its oppression
of non-registered Christian groups. However, the government has also
persecuted many types of new religious and spiritual groups, including the Falun
Gong. In
fact, its suppression extends beyond such groups to include organizations
that teach only simple meditation and gymnastic techniques. The government appears to
fear any national group that is capable of organizing its followers into direct
action.
In suppressing the Falun Dafa and other small religious movements, the Chinese government has adopted much of the terminology of the Western anti-cult
movement. The official Xinhua News Agency issued a report on
"cults" in the United States. 1 It quoted
Berkley psychology professor Margaret Singer, one of the few remaining
psychologists who supports the claims of the anti-cult movement. The
report discusses "spiritual poisoning." Cults are
said to "not obey the law, they upset social order, and they
create a menace to freedom of religion and social stability. Under the
pretense of religion, kindness, and being non-political, they
participate in political activities. Some of them even practice
criminal activities such as tax evasion, fraud, drug dealing,
smuggling, assassination, and kidnapping."
The government appears to regard the Falun Dafa as the most
serious threat to the government since the 1989 student uprising. The
government has historical reasons for their fear. China has had a
history of religious and spiritual uprisings that had catastrophic effects on the
country. "In the late 1770s, the White Lotus rebellion against
the Qing dynasty was led by Wang Lun, a master of martial arts and
herbal medicine." 2Perhaps the most
serious was the Taiping rebellion of 1845-1864 which was led by a leader
who viewed himself as the Son of God. Some 20 million died in that
revolt. 2
Status as of 2000-SEP:
According to Newsroom on 2000-SEP-11:
Earlier this month, in its second annual report on religious freedom, the
U.S. State Department said that in the past year China had intensified its
repression against the Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhists, Muslim Uighurs, and
underground Protestants and Catholics. Some Chinese religious believers,
the report said, face "harassment, extortion, prolonged detention,
physical abuse, and incarceration in prison or in ‘re-education through
labor’ camps."
Prior to the Millennium World Peace Summit in New York City this
month, however, Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan of the state-controlled Chinese
Patriotic Catholic Association insisted that "there is no
religious persecution in China."
The International Commission on Religious Freedom, nevertheless,
renewed a call last week for the U.S. Congress to withhold Permanent
Normal Trade Status unless China "makes substantial improvement in
respect for religious freedom." Later this week the Senate is
expected to begin debate on a measure that would give China the trade
benefits accorded most other nations. The measure was passed earlier this
year in the House of Representatives, and passed in 2000-SEP in the
Senate.
Last week a Hong Kong-based human rights group reported that three
Falun Gong practitioners had died in recent months after suffering
mistreatment while in detention. The Information Center for Human
Rights and Democracy said Liu Yufeng, 64, of eastern Shandong
province, died July 23 of multiple injuries, four days after he was
detained while participating in a mass Falun Gong exercise. Li Faming, 52,
of northwestern Gansu province, died August 10 after a fall from a window
in his apartment where police were conducting a search for Falun Gong
leaflets. In northeastern Heilongjiang province, 29-year-old Zhang Tieyan
died August 11 after fainting in a hot, poorly ventilated detention
center. She had fainted before many times, the rights group said.
According to the Hong Kong monitor, at least 30 Falun Gong followers
have died of mistreatment while in custody since July 1999, when the
movement was banned. Authorities have detained at least 35,000
practitioners, and 5,000 have been sent to labor camps without trial.
On September 6, some 1,000 practitioners demonstrated peacefully at the
New York U.N. Millennium Summit, which was attended by Chinese President
Jiang Zemin. In a U.S. television interview, Jiang also denied reports
that religious believers in China are persecuted.
According to Newsroom, 2000-SEP-12: 3,5
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Recent reports indicate China
has continued a crackdown on unregistered religious groups on
the eve of United States Senate debate on trade status with the
world's largest country.
In the past several weeks, more arrests have been made on
members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, Protestant and
Catholic house churches, and a Buddhist sect. Last week it was
reported that three Falun Gong practitioners died recently while
in police custody.
Human rights groups say China is cracking down on
unsanctioned groups of many different faiths through an
anti-cult law that the government tightened last year when it
banned the Falun Gong. Spokespersons for the spiritual movement
say they have evidence that Chinese authorities gave orders on
August 21 to intensify the crackdown on the group, with the aim
of eliminating it within three months.
The Hong Kong-based information center reported last week
that 85 of the 130 members of the Protestant Fangcheng church
arrested August 23 were charged with "using a cult to
sabotage the law of the nation and the enforcement of
rules." A Chinese government spokesman claimed last week
that the church members are part of a dangerous cult. Fangcheng
leader Zhang Rongliang insists, however, that the group
subscribes to mainstream Protestant theology and practice. Zhang
was arrested with several other prominent house church leaders
one year ago and sentenced to two years in labor camp.
Authorities released him in February, however, citing health
considerations.
Christianity Today magazine reported the arrests of another
53 Protestants in August, all members of a house church movement
called the China Evangelistic Fellowship. On August 2, police
ransacked and closed a Bible school held in a home in Hubei
province and arrested 35 students and teachers. Eleven members
of the church were arrested in neighboring Henan province, and
on August 21, seven leaders were detained in Shaanxi province,
north of Hubei.
The Vatican news agency Fides reported September 5 that newly
appointed auxiliary bishop Jiang Ming Yuan of Hebei province, a
member of the underground church, was detained on August 26.
Fides said two other bishops from Hebei have been missing since
police detained them in 1996.
Fides described the arrest as a new chapter in the campaign
by the Beijing government to completely eliminate the unofficial
Catholic Church, which has an estimated 8 million members loyal
to the pope. The government-controlled Catholic Patriotic
Association is barred from ties with the Vatican.
The U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation reported that on
August 30 Chinese police detained a priest, 20 nuns, a
seminarian, and two lay persons. Father Liu Shao-Zhang, 38, was
"severely beaten, causing him to vomit blood," the
foundation said. Two of the nuns were released a day later after
parishioners paid a large sum of money to the Public Security
Bureau. The others remain in detention and the two nuns were
instructed not to leave their house without permission from
police.
The U.S. group also said the underground archbishop of Fuzhou,
Yang Shudao, is now under 24-hour surveillance by police. He had
been detained for a brief time in February.
Under an anti-cult law, two members of a Buddhist sect were
sentenced to three years in prison, the Information Center for
Human Rights and Democracy reported September 9. Liu Yin and Gan
Suqin were convicted by a court in the eastern city of Ningbo of
being followers of Supreme Master Ching Hai and proselytizing
for her Guan Yin Famen sect, the Information Center said.
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According to Catholic World News.com on 2000-SEP-13:
The year 2000 report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom criticized the government of China for its brutal repression
of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, Tibetan Buddhists, Roman Catholics
and other groups. An unidentified spokesperson for the Chinese government
denied the validity of the report. He responded: "Relying solely
on rumors and lies to accuse other governments and interfere in internal
affairs of other countries is a mistake repeatedly made by the U.S. State
Department report. This bad habit should be addressed." 6 According to the Associated Press on 2000-SEP-15:
China published new regulations on SEP-15 which will prevent exercise
groups like the Falun Dafa from discussing religion. It also severely
limits their size and range of activities. Their teachers must register
and be certified by sports officials. Activities with more than 200
participants need the prior permission of police. They will not be allowed
to organize in state-run companies, government offices, schools, army
bases, etc.
Status as of 2000-FEB-1:According to Newsroom: 3,4
China is pressing the United States to back off on its proposed United
Nations human rights censure even as new reports surface of crackdowns on
unofficial religious groups. A Hong Kong-based organization reports that China is shutting down a
spiritual group similar to the banned Falun Gong
and the Vatican's missionary news service says that the government is
implementing a plan to force underground Catholics into the official
church or squelch the movement altogether. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya insisted on Monday that
"China now has the best human rights situation in its history."
He warned that if the U.S. went ahead with its plan to introduce a
resolution censuring China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission
in March, relations between the two countries would suffer a "serious
setback". New York-based Human Rights in China said in a January 21 statement,
however, that China's human rights abuses last year were the worst since
the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Earlier this month, the U.S. State
Department justified the censure motion because of a "deteriorating"
human rights situation in China last year. The Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in
China said on Monday that China has closed down 100 offices of the
Zhong Gong spiritual group, which claims more than 10 million
practitioners in the country. Zhong Gong, like the banned Falun
Gong movement (with an estimated 100 million practitioners worldwide),
is based on the traditional Chinese meditation practice of qigong. Chinese
officials said earlier this month that they would step up monitoring of
hundreds of similar health and spiritual groups, fearing that they might
gain the kind of following that Falun Gong has attracted. The Information Centre said Chinese police began the crackdown
on Zhong Gong last November after President Jiang Zemin labeled it as a cult. One week ago the Information Centre confirmed that China has
sent more than 50 practitioners of the Falun Gong movement to a
psychiatric hospital in Beijing since December where they are being
treated like psychiatric patients. The Hong Kong-based Information
Centre says that at least four practitioners have died in police
custody. China banned Falun Gong on July 20 and has arrested thousands of
practitioners since then. The government insists that it is a cult that
has led many of its practitioners to suicide. Many analysts believe that
Communist Party officials see the movement as a political threat,
recognizing that nationalistic uprisings in Chinese history were spurred
by similar folk religious movements. Last April, some 10,000 Falun Gong
practitioners gathered for a peaceful protest in front of Communist Party
headquarters in Beijing. Leaders of unregistered Catholic and Protestant churches say that the
government continues to use its crackdown on the Falun Gong as a pretext
to bring other groups under control. The Vatican news service Fides says
that according to officials of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong, the
Chinese government is following through with a secret plan issued in
August to absorb the underground Church into the official Patriotic
Association, or to suppress it altogether. Fides reports that the diocese of Wenzhou, a coastal city of nearly 7
million people, is "being subjected to pressure and violence."
Since September police have detained seven priests and the diocese's
archbishop. In mid-December authorities blew up two Catholic churches in
Wenzhou that were built without permit. Since early January, officials
have forced at least 2,000 Roman Catholics in the region to join the
official Catholic church, some after days of detention. Fides said that other Catholic believers have fled the area rather than
join the state church. Membership in the official Catholic Patriotic
Association, which rejects ties to the Vatican, is about 4 million.
Another 8 million are members of the underground Catholic Church, which
considers itself to be under the authority of the pope. Last week the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation reported the arrests
of a bishop, three priests, and a layperson in the underground Roman
Catholic church in Hebei province. Meanwhile, sources in Hong Kong say that Protestant evangelist Li
Dexian preached freely at his regular Tuesday morning Bible study on
February 1 without police interference. Li has been arrested nine times
since October at his meeting place in the village of Huadu, west of
Guangzhou.
Status as of 2000-FEB-28:
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. State Department, in its
annual report on the status of individual freedom in all countries of the
world (other than the U.S.), severely criticized the Chinese Government
for its oppression of the Falun Dafa. The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated:
"This is a typical action showing U.S. double standards on human
rights." They accused Washington of "going so far as to
defend openly the anti-humanity evil cult Falun Gong". Liu Jing
heads a Cabinet office that was formed in September to coordinate the
campaign against Falun Dafa. He rejected the State Department criticism,
saying that the group acts like a "spiritual drug" on its
followers, and that labor camp guards treat Falun Dafa as doctors would
patients. Liu said: "They choose to turn a blind eye to the
dangers and harm caused by the Falun Gong cult. This shows they are using
this issue to make a fuss and using human rights as a pretense to
interfere in other countries affairs.'' He said followers are
convicted because they practice Falun Gong; they are charged with
committing crimes like protesting. The Falun Dafa and various human rights
groups estimate that the death toll of Falun Dafa practitioners who have
died in prison or work camps as a result of maltreatment now exceeds 100.
Liu rejects this figure.
Positive move on Eastern Orthodoxy - 2004-SEP:Fourum 18 reports: "China's estimated 3,000 scattered Orthodox Christians
may soon be able to have their own priests once again. Since 2003, 15
Chinese Orthodox have been studying in Orthodox seminaries in Russia with
the permission of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs. 'Now
they are happy for Chinese to become priests,' an Orthodox source from
Shanghai told Forum 18 News Service. But Hong Kong-based Russian Orthodox
priest Fr Dionisy Pozdnyayev told Forum 18 it has yet to be decided whether
these seminarians will be allowed to become priests in China when they
complete
their theological education. Fr Dionisy can minister only to foreign
citizens in Beijing and Shenzhen, but a Russian priest spent two weeks in
June ministering to local Orthodox in Harbin with official permission." 7
Roundup of house church leaders - 2005-MAY:Officers of the Police and Public Security Bureau raided about 60 independent
and unregistered house churches as they were meeting on Sunday, 2005-MAY-22.
Most were released after a day or two of interrogation. However, about 40 are
believed to have been held until at least JUN-10. On the following Friday, about
60 additional leaders of unregistered house churches were arrested. The Voice of
the Martyrs believe that the government's goal is to eliminate house churches
near universities. 8
Reference:
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Hu Xiaomin, "Xinhua reports on cults in the United States,"
Beijing Xinhua Domestic Service
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"Banned sect joins long Chinese history of religious
repression," Associated Press, 1999-JUL-22.
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Newsroom's web site is at: http://www.newsroom.org/
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"China rails
at human rights censure amid new reports of crackdowns," Newsroom
report 2000-FEB-1
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"Chinese police arrest more religious believers in cult crackdown,"
Newsroom report 2000-SEP-12
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Catholic World New's web site is at http://www.cwnews.com
They offer a free 30 day trial service, and a $25/year subscription.
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"China: Will orthodox Christians soon be allowed priests?," Forum 18,
2004-SEP-22. See: http://www.forum18.org/
-
"Crackdown on house churches in China," WorldNetDaily,
2005-JUN-10.
Portions copyrighted © 2000 to 2004, by Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-FEB-2
Latest update: 2005-JUN-17
Portions written by B.A. Robinson 
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