China: Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest August 16-31
General
28.08.2024 – Beijing’s Sovereign Claims for Tibet
AIER – Even a cursory knowledge about modern China reveals the contradictory conditions of increased economic freedoms with continued repression of civil and political liberty. For example, forming political parties is viewed as an unacceptable challenge to the inviolable “dictatorship of the proletariat” overseen by China’s Communist Party.
However, Beijing uses heavy-handed methods to suppress non-political groups, including an “iron fist” approach to Falun Gong, a sect known for breathing exercises. It has also halted prayer meetings and closed Christian churches, while administering some “rough handling” of the Uighur minority.
26.08.2024 – China, anti-religious propaganda targets mentally ill patients and their families
Bitter Winter – Mentally ill patents who live at home and their families belong to a very special category. They often find comfort in religion. It seems that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards this as a danger.
This month of August, the Ganzhou City Public Security Office and Ganzhou Police Station in Jiangxi Province announced on social media that they were conducting visits to mentally ill patients who live at home, teaching them and their families “not to engage in feudal superstitions and to look at their problems scientifically.”
Taoists
29.08.2024 – “Strict governance of religion” implemented among Taoists too
Bitter Winter – Taoist clergy is told it should submit itself to the supervision of the United Front and instruct its congregations on the Third Plenum’s presentation of Xi as the “Great Reformer.”
Buddhists
28.08.2024- False Panchen Lama mobilized to promote “Three Consciousness” in Nagqu
Bitter Winter – In 2022, “Bitter Winter” denounced the “Three Consciousness Campaign” launched in Tibet to reeducate Buddhist monks and nuns. The “Three Consciousness” are national consciousness, citizen consciousness, and rule of law consciousness. In fact, “national consciousness” means supporting the Chinese rule in Tibet and condemning “separatism,” and “citizen” and “rule of law” consciousness means learning to obey without questions the CCP, the Central Committee, and Xi Jinping.
21.08.2024 – CCP hijacks the label “humanistic Buddhism,” calls for Marxist interpretation of Buddhist classics
Bitter Winter – The yearly Buddhist Lecture Exchange Conferences are important events for the government-controlled China Buddhist Association. The 2024 edition commenced in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on August 11, 2024.
This year, as it happens with other religions, there were mandatory references to the Third Plenum of the of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its presentation of Xi Jinping as Deng Xiaoping’s legitimate heir and China’s new “Great Reformer.”
Muslims
21.08.2024 – China, State imams told they should preach the message of the third CCP plenum
Bitter Winter – It looked like July’s Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not pay much attention to religion. However, religions are now told that they should pay attention to the Third Plenum.
A campaign telling Muslim state-controlled imams that they should preach about the Third Plenum is being promoted by the China Islamic Association. The official launch of the campaign was on July 22 when Yang Faming, the leader of the China Islamic Association, conducted a session to discuss and adopt the principles set forth by the Third Plenum
Catholics
27.08.2024 – China officially recognizes formerly ‘underground’ bishop, Vatican says
CNA – The Vatican announced Tuesday its “satisfaction” that China has officially recognized Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen as bishop of Tianjin.
“This provision is a positive fruit of the dialogue established over the years between the Holy See and the Chinese government,” reads a Holy See statement released Aug. 27.
According to Reuters, 95-year-old Shi had once been placed under house arrest after refusing to join the church officially backed by the Chinese government.
23.08.2024 – China, Catholic clergy starts receiving “patriotic education”
Bitter Winter – China’s Patriotic Education Law is in force since January 1, 2024. On January 4, 2004, the 25thmeeting of the National Joint Conference of Religious Groups issued guidelines on how the Patriotic Education Law should be implemented by religious communities. The law was hailed as the main tool of CCP domestic propaganda for years to come. The guidelines aimed at making state-controlled religions into mouthpieces of the Party propaganda, even more than before.
Falun Gong
26.08.2024 – Tianjin Man Sentenced to Nine-Year Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A 62-year-old Tianjin resident was arrested at his daughter’s home in Beijing on February 4, 2024, for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Qi Zhiyin was detained at the Wuqing District Detention Center in Tianjin. The Minghui.org website recently confirmed that he was sentenced to nine years by a local court in July 2024, but details about his indictment, trial, and sentencing aren’t clear.
Mr. Qi’s arrest came five years after he was forced to live away from home to avoid being persecuted. He was previously arrested on December 28, 2017 during a police sweep in Tianjin. At least 36 other practitioners were also arrested on the same day.
23.08.2024 – Woman subjected to drug administration and physical abuse while serving time in Beijing women’s prison
Minghui – A Falun Gong practitioner is enduring drug administration and physical abuse while serving time in Beijing Women’s Prison. It’s reported that after only six months of detention, Ms. Bu Jinxiang, a young, good-looking woman, has aged tremendously, with dull eyes, a hunched back, and slow reactions. The guards often threaten other Falun Gong practitioners with Ms. Bu’s case in order to force them to renounce their faith.
According to an insider, the guards forced Ms. Bu to take psychiatric drugs. She struggles to keep her eyes open after each meal and has to take a short nap. Despite her condition, the guards still make her do hard labor every day without pay.
16.08.2024 – Xu Shanping: Another Falun Gong woman persecuted to death in jail
Bitter Winter – On August 7, 2024, human rights organizations were informed by co-religionists and relatives of Xu Shanping, a 61-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Beihai City in Guangxi Province, that she had passed away on July 7. This was just two days after being released early from the Nanning City Women’s Prison due to a severe illness she developed there. Xu was still serving her sentence for participating in Falun Gong activities when her family was asked to collect her by the authorities.
Protestants
30.08.2024 – Xin Ruoyu: Missing after police detention for developing christian app
China Aid – A prayer letter circulating among house churches in China describes the situation of a young Christian sister who was taken away by the police due to her involvement in developing the Christian app “Song of Songs.”
On August 23, a source stated that Sister Xin Ruoyu from Guangzhou was taken by Shandong police to Guangzhou due to her involvement in developing the “Song of Songs” app. She has been detained in a “small black room” for a month. Xin Ruoyu is in her early 30s, and her child is still in early childhood.
27.08.2024 – Lawyer claims prosecution illegally obtained evidence in Shengjia Church case
China Aid – It is reported that from August 19, 2024, the case of five Christians Zhu Longfei, Zhu Longjiang, Zhu Qiaoling, Deng Yanxiang and Wang Weicai from the Shengjia Church in Foshan, Guangdong, who were charged with “illegal business operation” entered the second trial stage. The second trial lasted for 11 days from August 19 to August 30. On the first day of the second trial, the prosecution and defense debated fiercely. The attorney pointed out that all the evidence provided by the prosecution was untenable, most of which were illegally obtained, and there were many mistakes and omissions, and contradictions.
23.08.2024 – Six “Christian assembly” members in Guangxi detained on charges of harming society
China Aid- Six Christians from Guangxi were detained by local authorities for five days. The authorities unusually applied a public security provision to impose administrative punishment on them.
According to a report from the Weiquan Wang (Rights Defense Network) on August 17, the Dongxing City Public Security Bureau in Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Province, administratively detained six Christians — Yang Penghuan, Wei Sanhong, Sister Du Huifei, Huang Jiajin, Dai Jianping, and Sister Sun Qi — on charges of “harming society by masquerading under the name of religion or qigong” under the second item of Article 27 of the “Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China.” The administrative detention lasted from July 20 to 25, with each person detained for a period of five days.
T