Religious issues and persecution – Bimonthly Digest October 16-31

Buddhists

31.10.2024- Authorities confine young monks in ‘prison-like’ conditions in government-run schools

RFA – Hundreds of young Tibetan Buddhist monks from Kirti Monastery who were forcibly transferred in September to government-run boarding schools in Sichuan province’s Ngaba county, are being held in “prison-like conditions” in the schools, two sources from the region said. The students, aged 6-17, are taught exclusively in Mandarin and not permitted to leave the school grounds or meet their parents, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Some of the students who attempted to escape the school were apprehended and are now being treated “like criminals” and forbidden from leaving the school grounds, they said.

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Muslims

22.10.2024 – “Sinicization of the Quran” in full swing in China

Bitter Winter – Not only Islam but the Holy Quran itself should be “Sinicized.” This was the message Islamic clergy from Hunan heard from the United Front bureaucrats and the government-controlled China Islamic Association, which summoned them to Beijing for a course that started on October 13.

Not only there are more than 100,000 Hui Muslims in Hunan. There is also a Uyghur minority there, and Uyghur and Hui Muslims intermarry, making the situation of local Islam worthy of a particularly strict surveillance by the authorities.

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Church of Almighty God

25.10.2024 – Guangdong’s harsh persecution of Church of Almighty God Members

Bitter Winter – Since the CCP initiated a three-year “general battle” in 2019 targeting The Church of Almighty God (CAG), its members have endured escalating persecution, marked by a substantial increase in arrests and convictions. The situation in Guangdong Province has been particularly severe, according to church members and court records “Bitter Winter” has had access to through an insider source.

Between September 1 and 3, 2022, Guangdong police carried out a coordinated operation, arresting 237 CAG members. Over two years later, 194 of those individuals remain in detention, with at least 163 already sentenced— the longest sentence being 11 years.

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Catholics

31.10.2024 – Sichuan, Catholic Diocese Organizes a “Red Tour to express gratitude to the party”

Bitter Winter – From October 8 to 14, Bishop Luo Xuegang of Yibin Catholic Diocese in Sichuan Province led 39 priests, nuns, and Catholic Patriotic Association leaders on a “Red Tour to Express Gratitude to the Party” in Jiangxi.

The delegation visited Nanchang and Jingdezhen, including the Nanchang Uprising Memorial Hall, the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall, the Red Army Mint, and the Lushan Conference Site. This is a typical “red tour” performed regularly by schools and companies.

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17.10.2024 – Chairman Xi gets a seat at the Pope’s table

WSJ – Two Chinese bishops bent on ‘Sinicizing’ the Catholic Church attend the synod.

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29.10.2024 – Why did the Vatican renew its agreement with China?

Bitter Winter – The Vatican-China Deal of 2018 just went through its third renewal this time not for two but for another four years. The Holy See has mentioned in English “the consensus reached for an effective application” of the agreement but in the original Italian the world translated as “effective” is “proficua” (fruitful), a stronger qualification of what is happening. The sentence is also somewhat garbled in Italian, as if somebody had translated it from a foreign language—Chinese, perhaps?

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22.10.2024 – China and the Vatican agree to extend an agreement on appointing bishops

AP- China and the Vatican have agreed to extend a provisional agreementon the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four more years, officials said Tuesday.

The 2018 agreement, extended twice previously, was an attempt under Pope Francis to bridge long-standing differences over control of the church in China. There have been disagreements since, but they have so far not derailed the fragile rapprochement.

“The two sides will maintain contact and dialogue following a constructive spirit and continue to advance the improvement of China-Vatican relations,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday while confirming the extension.

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17.10.2024 – Ten persecuted Catholic bishops in China

CNA – This report shows that religious repression of the Catholic Church in China has intensified since the 2018 China-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops. It identifies and discusses the ongoing cases of 10 Vatican-approved Catholic bishops in China whose persecution has continued or worsened since September 2018. The suppression of the ministries of a significant part of that church’s faithful leadership also denies religious freedom to millions of Chinese Catholic faithful. It represents a repression of the Chinese Catholic Church at large.

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Falun Gong

27.10.2024 – 56-year-old Shaanxi woman jailed a third time for her faith in Falun Gong

Minghui – A 56-year-old Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, woman was admitted to the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison on October 9, 2024, to serve a 3.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu Chunxia was arrested at work on May 6, 2023. Due to her high blood pressure, the local detention center refused to admit her. Instead of releasing her, the police took her to the Chang’an District Ankang Hospital, a psychiatric hospital often used to persecute mentally healthy Falun Gong practitioners.

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21.10.2024 – Falun Gong practitioner persecuted to death 5 days after arrival in notorious prison

Bitter Winter – In Heilongjiang Province, Falun Gong practitioner Ren Changbin was tortured to death on September 28, 2024, merely five days after his incarceration in the notorious Shuangyashan Prison, where torture is routinely practiced.

Ren Changbin was born in 1964 in Jiamusi City in Heilongjiang Province. He previously worked at the Jiamusi Gongnong Glass Factory before retiring and later joined the Jiamusi Jianxing Ready-Mixed Concrete Company.

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19.10.2024 – 72-year-old Shandong woman admitted to prison despite poor health, symptoms worsen due to abuse

Minghui – Ms. Gao Xiuhua, 72, from Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to one and a half years on March 22, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Gao was admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on September 10, despite her severe health conditions discovered during multiple physical examinations after she was arrested in March 2024. She was abused in Division 11 of the prison and her symptoms quickly worsened. She experienced chest pain on October 1 and was sent to the prison hospital’s inpatient care. She was given IV injections and discharged two days later.

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Protestants

28.10.2024 – Beijing Zion Church raided once again

Bitter Winter – At approximately 10 am on Sunday, October 20, 2024, several congregations of the Zion Church in Beijing were raided at the same time, as church elders reported to human rightsorganizations.

Beijing Zion Church was once the largest house church in Beijing. Although it was banned in 2018, followers have persisted in assembling despite frequent arrests and harassment, consistently shifting locations to avoid police detection. “Bitter Winter” has constantly followedits persecution and resilience.

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21.10.2024 – Yunnan, update on Brother Chang Hao: sentenced, liberated, and detained again

Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” has devoted several articles to Yunnan preacher Chang Hao, the “Christian anti-COVID mask man” who became popular by distributing masks inscribed with Bible verses, an initiative that mightily disturbed the authorities.

In April 2023, police raided Brother Chang Hao’s small rural church in Zhenxiong County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province. They confiscated Bibles, Christian books, and the famous anti-COVID masks with the Bible verses.

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Xie Jiao

16.10.2024 – Gansu, Association of Disciples Member deprogrammed—to atheism

Bitter Winter – There has been a new developments during and after COVID in the Chinese fight against the xie jiao—“movements spreading heterodox teachings” (sometimes less precisely translated as “evil cults”) —which are mercilessly persecuted. To Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God a third group has been added as a “direct threat to national security,” the Association of Disciples.

The Association of Disciples is a Christian new religious movement established by Ji Sanbao, who was previously part of the True Jesus Church, in 1989. It faced a ban in 1990, was listed as one of the xie jiao, and experienced intense persecution.

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