CHINA: Special bimonthly: Freedom of religion or belief (16-30.04.2022)
General
29.04.2022 – Censorship on online religious contents continues to tighten up
As the Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services came into force on March 1, Christianity-related websites, WeChat accounts, and group chats have seen severe censorship.
22.04.2022 – Sympathy for the Devil: The anti-cult federation FECRIS, China, and Russia. 2. The Chinese and Russian anti-cult models
China and Russia have different definitions of “cults,” based on different historical traditions—both hostile to religious liberty.
by Luigi Berzano (University of Torino, Italy), Boris Falikov (Moscow State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia), Willy Fautré (Human Rights Without Frontiers, Brussels, Belgium), Liudmyla Filipovich (Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine), Massimo Introvigne (Center for Studies on New Religions, Torino, Italy), and Bernadette Rigal-Cellard (University Bordeaux-Montaigne, Bordeaux, France).
19.04.2022 – Chinese government seeks to manage religious organizations’ finances in new measures
Recently, China State Administration for Religious Affairs released the Measures for the Administration of Financial Affairs of Religious Premises (hereafter referred to as “measures”). These measures were jointly drafted by the State Administration for Religious Affairs and Ministry of Finance, effective starting June 1, 2022.
Catholics
26.04.2022 – Catholic bishops and priests have forcibly disappeared across China
Ahead of this year’s Easter, the Chinese regime has launched a new crackdown on the “unofficial” (underground) church recognized by the Vatican but not by Beijing.
According to Asia News, on April 7, the Chinese authorities in Zhejiang forced Bishop Shao Zhumin of the Diocese of Wenzhou (Zhejiang) to board a plane. Local believers were concerned because they did not know where Bishop Shao was taken. The police also seized his mobile phone, and it was suspected that the government wanted to prevent him from participating in Holy Week activities, especially the Holy Chrism Mass.
Protestants
29.04.2022 – Xiamen pastor summoned for hearing
On April 26, Xiamen City Jimei District People’s Court issued a summons to Yang Xibo, the minister of Xiamen Xunsiding Church. The notice required that Minister Yang Xibo should attend his hearing for his penalty and administrative reconsideration on May 10.
On July 29, 2021, Xiamen City Siming District Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs issued a fine to Yang Xibo and his wife—Wang Xiaofei—of 200,000 yuan (~31,200 USD) on a charge of organizing illegal gatherings.
26.04.2022 – Pilgrim’s Progress: My two years of exile
The 60 Christians of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed, also known as the Mayflower Church, continue to wait for updates regarding their legal status in Jeju. Until then, they regularly send updates to ChinaAid, recounting stories of their transition to South Korean life and the new freedom they have found.
This latest update from Sheng Ti He recounts the culture shock and adjustments many of the members faced for two years.
20.04.2022 – Police use COVID to harass Christians after baptism
The day before Easter, Christians of Shenzhen Trinity Harvest Gospel Church drove for two hours to another city to baptize six believers on the beach. Local police harassed them afterward, however. The six believers completed several months of baptism classes, and nineteen co-workers of Shenzhen Trinity Harvest Gospel Church took turns to fast and pray for ten days for the baptism. Police harassment against Trinity Harvest has become commonplace after the incident regarding the church’s five-year anniversary last September.
Buddhists
25.04.2022 – Tibet’s new College admission rules: no university for Dalai Lama supporters
CCP propaganda continuously tells the world that, thanks to China, Tibet now has a regular university systems, which did not exist under the “backward” Dalai Lama administration. Of course, the university system evolved in the last decades, but the same happened in many Asian countries that were not invaded by their neighbors and are not oppressed by the totalitarian rule of a Communist Party.
Falun Gong
26.04.2022 – Families of Falun Gong practitioners forced to help persecute their own family
Both Falun Gong practitioners and their families became victims in China’s Zero-out Campaign. Authorities have gone after every local practitioner and ordered them to renounce their faith since 2020.
Not only did the officials arrest and torture the practitioners, they deceived and threatened their
20.04.2022 – Tan Qiucheng: Falun Gong practitioner tortured after spending a life in jail
Bitter Winter has received reports that Tan Quicheng, a 44-year-old Falun Gong practitioner who is detained in the Jail no. 2 of Jilin Province in Jilin City, Jilin, is being tortured in prison. Relatives are concerned about his health conditions. Reportedly, Tan has been forced to sit on a “tiger bench,” and guards first poured water on him, then shocked him with electric batons.
20.04.2022 – Married couple given heavy prison terms for their faith
A married couple in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province were sentenced to heavy terms in late December 2021 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wang Pingchuan, 47, and Ms. Zhao Shujuan, 42, were reported on May 25, 2020 for putting up stickers about Falun Gong at a bus station. Over 50 police officers arrested them on June 5 and confiscated their Falun Gong books, Falun Gong informational materials, DVDs, DVD burner, computer, printer, copy paper, flash-drive, laminator, motorcycle, bike, 10,000 yuan in cash and unknown amount of cash printed with short messages about Falun Gong, as a way to raise awareness about the persecution given strict censorship in China.