[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
=======================================================================
REPRINTED
from the
2007 ANNUAL REPORT
of the
CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 10, 2007
__________
Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov
______
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CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
House Senate
SANDER LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman BYRON DORGAN, North Dakota, Co-Chairman
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio MAX BAUCUS, Montana
MICHAEL M. HONDA, California CARL LEVIN, Michigan
TOM UDALL, New Mexico DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
PAULA DOBRIANSKY, Department of State
CHRISTOPHER R. HILL, Department of State
HOWARD M. RADZELY, Department of Labor
Douglas Grob, Staff Director
Murray Scot Tanner, Deputy Staff Director
(ii)
Freedom of Religion
INTRODUCTION
Government harassment, repression, and persecution of
religious and spiritual adherents has increased during the
five-year period covered by this report. In 2004, the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China reported that
repression of religious belief and practice grew in severity.
The Communist Party strengthened its campaign against
organizations it designated as cults, targeting Falun Gong in
particular, but also unregistered Buddhist and Christian
groups, among other unregistered communities.\1\ The Commission
noted a more visible trend in harassment and repression of
unregistered Protestants for alleged cult involvement starting
in mid-2006.\2\ The Commission reported an increase in
harassment against unregistered Catholics starting in 2004 and
an increase in pressure on registered clerics beginning in
2005.\3\ The government's crackdown on religious activity in
the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region has increased in
intensity since 2001.\4\ New central government legal
provisions and local measures from the Tibet Autonomous Region
government intensify an already repressive environment for the
practice of Tibetan Buddhism.\5\ Daoist and Buddhist
communities have been subject to ongoing efforts to close
temples and eliminate religious practices deemed superstitious,
as well as made subject to tight regulation of temple
finances.\6\ Members of religious and spiritual communities
outside the five groups recognized by the government continue
to operate without legal protections and remain at risk of
government harassment, abuse, and in some cases, persecution.
China has remained a ``Country of Particular Concern'' because
of its restrictions on religion since the U.S. Department of
State first gave it this designation in 1999.\7\
The Chinese government's failure to protect religion and
its imposition of limits on religion violate international
human rights standards. The Chinese Constitution, laws, and
regulations guarantee only ``freedom of religious belief''
(zongjiao xinyang ziyou), but they do not guarantee ``freedom
of religion.'' \8\ As defined by international human rights
standards, ``freedom of religion'' encompasses not only the
freedom to hold beliefs but also the freedom to manifest
them.\9\ Chinese laws and regulations protect only ``normal
religious activities.'' They do not define this term in a
manner to provide citizens with meaningful protection for all
aspects of religious practice.\10\ Religious communities must
register with the government by affiliating with one of the
five recognized religions and they must receive government
approval to establish sites of worship.\11\ The state tightly
regulates the publication of religious texts and forbids
individuals from printing religious materials.\12\ State-
controlled religious associations hinder citizens' interaction
with foreign co-religionists, including their ability to follow
foreign religious leaders.\13\ The government imposes
additional restrictions on children's freedom of religion.\14\
Chinese citizens who practice their faith outside of officially
sanctioned parameters risk harassment, detention, and other
abuses. In 2006, a top religious official in China claimed that
no religious adherents were punished because of their faith,
but the Chinese government continues to use a variety of
methods within and outside its legal system--including
selective application of criminal penalties--to punish and
imprison citizens who practice religion in a manner authorities
deem illegitimate.\15\
As recognized in international human rights standards,\16\
including those in treaties China has signed or ratified,\17\
freedom of religion ``is far-reaching and profound.'' \18\ It
includes the freedom to manifest one's beliefs alone or in
community with others; the freedom to believe in and practice
the religion of one's choice, without discrimination; the
freedom to build places of worship; the freedom to print and
distribute religious texts; the freedom to recognize religious
leaders regardless of those leaders' nationality; and the
freedom of children to practice a religion.\19\
The Chinese government has failed to guarantee these
freedoms to its citizens both in law and in practice.
Party leaders manipulate religion for political ends. Like
his predecessor, President and Party General Secretary Hu
Jintao has responded to an increase in the number of religious
followers through the use of legal initiatives to cloak
campaigns that tighten control over religious communities.\20\
Despite official claims in 2004 that the Regulation on
Religious Affairs adopted that year represented a ``paradigm
shift'' in limiting state intervention in citizens' religious
practice,\21\ it codified at the national level ongoing
restrictions over officially recognized religious communities
and discriminatory barriers against other groups. In the area
of religion, the Party has used legal means as a tool for
exerting tight control over all aspects of citizens' religious
practice. Beyond overt measures of control, internal public
security handbooks call for undercover teams to monitor the
activities of religious communities.\22\ In an essay on
maintaining stability in western China, one public security
analyst called for security officials to gather information on
religious communities by cultivating ``secret . . . `friends'
'' from within such communities.\23\
In recent years, top officials publicly have stated that
religion may play a positive role in society,\24\ but have
maneuvered this sentiment to meet Party goals. In its campaign
to promote a ``harmonious society,'' the Party has emphasized
``bringing into play the positive role of religion'' through
greater control of internal religious doctrine.\25\ In July
2006, Ye Xiaowen, head of the State Administration for
Religious Affairs, said the government would
direct religious leaders to provide correct interpretations of
religious tenets to ``convey positive and beneficial contents
to worshippers and direct them to practice faiths rightly.''
\26\ The announcement builds on earlier policies to manipulate
doctrine to suit Party policy. For example, the national
Islamic Association has continued a program to compile sermons
that reflect the ``correct and authoritative'' view of
religious doctrine in line with Party policy, making imams'
confirmation contingent on knowledge of the sermons. The
official Protestant church continues to promote ``theological
construction,'' a guiding ideology designed to minimize aspects
of Christianity deemed incompatible with socialism.\27\ The
government and Party continue to propagate atheism among
Chinese citizens. In an August 2006 article, Ye Xiaowen called
for strengthening propaganda and education on atheism.\28\
Despite controls over religion, unofficial estimates
indicate that the number of religious and spiritual adherents
in China continues to grow. In 2007, Chinese media reported on
a poll by Chinese scholars that found China has approximately
300 million religious adherents, a figure three times as high
as official figures.\29\ The growth of religion in Chinese
society presents potential challenges to government authority,
and government concerns over the rise of religion intersect
with broader apprehensions about perceived social instability
and ethnic unrest. A summary of religious work issued in 2005
listed ``stability'' as the ``number one responsibility.'' \30\
As long as the government views religion as a potential
flashpoint for conflict or challenge to Party authority, it is
unlikely to ease restrictions on religious communities. Broader
political liberalizations that address how China's own
restrictive policies exacerbate instability, however, could
bring improvements in the area of religious freedom, but a
review of events from the past five years indicates a trend in
the opposite direction.
Legislative Developments
The central government has taken more steps to codify state
and Party policy on religion in recent years, particularly
through the 2004 national Regulation on Religious Affairs (RRA)
and subsequent provincial regulations. Though the regulations
guarantee some legal protections to registered religious
communities, they also condition many religious activities on
government oversight and approval. Codification of government
procedures lends more transparency and predictability about
government actions, but as legal controls over the internal
activities of religious communities, the regulations reflect
rule by law rather than rule of law.
Implementation of the RRA has been uneven, resulting in a
confusing legal terrain for citizens who aim to understand the
applicability of legal protections and restrictions imposed by
the regulation. Though the State Administration for Religious
Affairs (SARA) and local governments have reported training
local officials in the RRA,\31\ the complete scope of the
training and indicators for measuring its progress are unclear.
The central government has not issued general implementing
guidelines, but has promulgated a limited number of legal
measures that expand on specific provisions within the RRA. The
new measures clarify some ambiguous provisions in the RRA, but
generally articulate more rigid controls.\32\ Although SARA
also has promoted a handbook that provides a more detailed
explanation of each article of the RRA, the book does not
appear to be widely distributed in training classes.\33\
The national government has not publicized a clear plan of
action for ensuring local regulations on religion are
consistent with national requirements, and inconsistencies
among regulations persist. Most of the provincial-level
regulations issued after the RRA entered into force promote
consistency with the RRA by aligning many key provisions to
national requirements, but at least one province initially
retained provisions that conflicted with those in the RRA.\34\
Other provinces have yet to amend their regulations, leaving
intact provisions that conflict with the RRA and, in some
cases, impose harsher restrictions.\35\
Though the new provincial regulations have promoted
uniformity with national regulations, they also contain
provisions that differ from each other and from the national
RRA. A new comprehensive regulation from Hunan province, for
example, is the first comprehensive provincial-level regulation
on religion to provide limited recognition for venues for folk
beliefs.\36\ Measures from the Tibet Autonomous Region provide
detailed stipulations for the designation and supervision of
reincarnated Buddhist lamas.\37\ Some
provincial-level regulations recognize only Buddhism,
Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and Protestantism. Others are
silent on this issue.\38\
Recognized and Unrecognized Religious Communities
The central government has not made progress in extending
its limited legal protections for religion to all Chinese
citizens. The Regulation on Religious Affairs (RRA) did not
explicitly codify Buddhism, Catholicism, Daoism, Islam, and
Protestantism as China's only recognized religious communities,
but the government perpetuates a regulatory system that
recognizes only these communities, with limited exceptions.\39\
Although recognized groups receive limited guarantees to
practice ``normal religious activities,'' they must submit to
state-defined interpretations of their faith as well as ongoing
state control over internal affairs. The RRA and subsequent
regulations continue to subject recognized communities to
onerous registration and reporting requirements.\40\
Party-sponsored religious associations,\41\ with which
religious communities must affiliate, remain the state's main
vehicle for ensuring religious practice conforms to Party goals
and for denying religious communities doctrinal
independence.\42\ The associations vet religious leaders for
political reliability, and religious leaders who express
sensitive political views have faced dismissal from their
posts. For example, in 2006, the national Buddhist Association,
in coordination with government officials, expelled a Buddhist
monk from a temple in Jiangxi province after the monk led
religious activities to commemorate victims of the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown and took measures to address corruption
among government officials and the Buddhist Association.\43\
Authorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region have
enforced an ongoing campaign to monitor imams and decertify
religious leaders deemed unreliable.\44\
Unregistered religious and spiritual communities continue
to practice their faith under the risk of harassment,
detention, and other abuses. Differences in legislation and
regional variations in the implementation of religious policy
have allowed a limited number of unrecognized groups to operate
openly.\45\ Without the clear guarantee that all citizens have
a right to openly practice their religion, however, all
unregistered communities remain vulnerable to official abuses
and restrictions on their freedom. Religious and spiritual
communities defined as ``cults'' remain subject to persecution.
In 2004, the Party increased its campaign against organizations
it designated as cults, targeting Falun Gong practitioners as
well as unregistered communities including Buddhist and
Christian groups.\46\ In July 2007, the central government
instructed officials to ``strike hard against illegal religions
and cult activities'' as part of a campaign to address
perceived instability in rural areas.\47\ The promulgation of
the RRA may increase pressures on unregistered groups. A
district in Shanghai, for example, has set targets for carrying
out work to eliminate ``abnormal religious activity'' in
accordance with the RRA.\48\
Freedom To Interact with Foreign Co-religionists and Co-religionists
Abroad
The Chinese government restricts Chinese citizens' freedom
to interact with foreign citizens in China and with citizens
abroad as part of its policy to promote self-management and
independence from foreign religious institutions.\49\ Chinese
officials have increased oversight of citizens' contacts with
foreign religious practitioners within China in the run-up to
the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. In March 2007, Minister
of Public Security Zhou Yongkang said the government would
``strike hard'' against hostile forces inside and outside the
country, including religious and spiritual groups, to ensure a
``good social environment'' for the Olympics and 17th Party
Congress.\50\ In 2006, local officials expelled a registered
church leader in Shanxi province after his church invited an
American missionary to the church.\51\ According to the
nongovernmental organization China Aid Association, authorities
implemented a campaign in 2007 to expel foreigners thought to
be engaged in Christian missionary activities.\52\ National
rules governing the religious activities of foreigners forbid
them from ``cultivating followers from among Chinese
citizens,'' distributing ``religious propaganda materials,''
and carrying out other missionary activities.\53\
Freedom of Religion for Chinese Children
The Chinese government failed to secure the rights of
children to practice religion in its recent codification of
religious policy. Although a Ministry of Foreign Affairs
official stated in 2005 that no laws restrict minors from
holding religious beliefs and that parents may give their
children a religious education,\54\ recent legislation has not
articulated a guarantee of these rights. Regulations from some
provinces penalize acts such as ``instigating'' minors to
believe in religion or accepting them into a religion.\55\ In
practice, children in some parts of China participate in
religious activities at registered and unregistered venues,\56\
but in other areas, they have been restricted from
participating in religious services.\57\
Ambiguities in the law and variations in implementation
have created space for children in some parts of China to
receive a religious education. Some Muslim communities outside
the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region have established schools
to provide secular and religious education to children.\58\ In
some ethnic minority communities, children receive education at
Buddhist temples.\59\
Some recent government campaigns against religion have
targeted children. In 2004, authorities launched campaigns to
educate children against the evils of government-designated
cults and to encourage children to expose family members
engaged in ``illegal religious activities.'' \60\ In 2006, Ye
Xiaowen called for strengthening education in atheism
especially among children.\61\
Social Welfare Activities by Religious Communities
The government accommodates, and in some cases, sponsors,
the social welfare activities of recognized religious
communities where such activities meet Party goals. Article 34
of the Regulation on Religious Affairs allows registered
religious communities to organize such undertakings.\62\ In
some cases, government offices and Party-led religious
associations initiate and control the scope of social welfare
activities.\63\ In other cases, religious civil society
organizations organize their work under other auspices or are
able to operate without registering with the government.\64\
Government support for religious charity work is part of a
broader policy allowing civil society organizations to provide
welfare services in certain areas. [See Section III--Civil
Society for more information.] The government also has
permitted some international religious organizations to engage in
charity work within China.\65\ In recent years, however, the
government has increased pressures on civil society organizations.\66\
Religiously affiliated civil society groups in tightly
controlled regions such as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region (XUAR) face additional restrictions. For example, local
authorities in the XUAR have banned meshrep, Islam-centered
groups that have sought to address social problems.\67\
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR TIBETAN BUDDHISTS
Overview
The Chinese government creates a repressive environment for
the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Two new sets of legal
measures increase legal bases for repression. Tibetan Buddhist
monks and nuns remain subject to expulsions from religious
institutions and imprisonment for refusing to accept government
policy on issues such as the legitimacy of the Dalai Lama as a
religious leader, and the identity of the Panchen Lama. For a
detailed overview of current conditions for Tibetan Buddhists in
China, see Section IV--Tibet.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR CHINA'S CATHOLICS
Overview\68\
The Chinese government continues to deny Chinese Catholics
the freedom to recognize the authority of overseas Catholic
institutions in a manner of their choosing. Authorities blocked
Web sites in 2007 to prevent Catholic practitioners from
viewing an open letter from Pope Benedict XVI urging
reconciliation between registered and unregistered communities
in China. Government harassment against Catholic communities
has escalated since 2004. The government continues to detain
unregistered bishops and coerce registered bishops to exercise
their faith according to Party-dictated terms. The return of
property owned by the Catholic Church in the 1950s and 1960s
remains a contentious issue. Officials and unidentified
assailants have beaten people protesting slated demolitions of
church property.
Harassment, Detention, and Other Abuses
Both unregistered Catholics and registered clergy remain
subject to government harassment, and in some cases, detention.
The Commission noted an increase in reported detentions of
unregistered Catholics in 2005, after the Regulation on
Religious Affairs entered into force.\69\ In June 2007, the
public security bureau detained Jia Zhiguo, underground bishop
of the Diocese of Zhending, in Hebei province, for 17 days.\70\
Authorities detained him again in August as he prepared to lead
meetings to discuss a letter Pope Benedict XVI issued to
Chinese Catholics in June.\71\ Jia previously spent more than
20 years in prison.\72\ In 2006, the government increased
pressure on registered bishops and priests to coerce them to
participate in bishop consecrations without papal approval.
Authorities detained, sequestered, threatened, or otherwise
exerted pressure on registered Catholic clerics to obtain
compliance.\73\ Authorities have pressured both unregistered
clergy and lay practitioners to join registered churches or
face repercussions such as restricting children's access to
school, job dismissal, fines, and detention.\74\
Closures of Religious Structures and Confiscation of Religious Property
The return of religious property remains a contentious
issue. In recent years, some registered Catholic groups have
called on the government to give back church property
confiscated in the 1950s and 1960s, and in separate incidents,
officials or unidentified assailants have beaten people
protesting the slated demolition of such property. For example,
in 2005, government officials assaulted a group of Catholic
nuns in a village near the city of Xi'an, in Shaanxi province,
after the nuns had attempted to prevent the
authorities from erecting a new building on property that the
government confiscated from their religious order during the
1950s. According to overseas sources, the nuns were not
injured, and the construction work was halted after the
assault. In another incident in 2005, unidentified assailants
beat a group of Catholic nuns in Xi'an after the nuns had
organized a sit-in to prevent the demolition of a school
formerly belonging to their religious order. In a separate
incident, unidentified assailants beat a group of Catholic
priests in Tianjin who had occupied a building formerly
belonging to their Shanxi dioceses and demanded its return. At
issue in all three cases was the refusal of local authorities
to abide by government instructions mandating the return of
such property.\75\
China-Holy See Relations
The state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA)
does not recognize the authority of the Holy See to appoint
bishops and has continued to appoint bishops based on its own
procedures, in some cases coercing clerics to participate in
consecration ceremonies. While in recent years authorities had
tolerated discreet involvement by the Holy See in the selection
of some bishops, in 2006 the CPA moved to appoint more bishops
without Holy See approval. For example, in November 2006, the
CPA appointed Wang Renlei as auxiliary bishop of the Xuzhou
diocese, Jiangsu province, without Holy See approval, and
authorities reportedly detained two bishops to force their
participation in the ordination ceremony.\76\
In September 2007, the CPA ordained Paul Xiao Zejiang as
coadjutor bishop of the Guizhou diocese. Though the CPA elected
him according to its own practices, the Holy See expressed
approval of his election to bishop.\77\ The same month, the CPA
ordained Li Shan as bishop of Beijing according to its own
practices. The Holy See expressed approval for the
ordination.\78\
The ordinations follow a June 2007 open letter from Pope
Benedict XVI to Catholic church members in China, urging
reconciliation between registered and unregistered Catholic
communities in China and stating that ``the Catholic Church
which is in China does not have a mission to change the
structure or administration of the State.'' \79\ After the
letter was published on the Vatican Web site, Chinese
authorities blocked Internet access and ordered Catholic Web
sites within China to remove the letter.\80\ An overseas news
agency reported that local authorities have since detained at
least 11 unregistered church priests in an effort to assert
official authority in the aftermath of the letter's
publication.\81\
Government apprehension about Chinese Catholics'
relationship with foreign religious communities and
institutions also manifested itself in 2007 in the Xinjiang
Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). In July, the XUAR government
announced it would strengthen oversight of Catholic and
Protestant communities to prevent foreign infiltration, a call
reiterated in August by local authorities in the XUAR's Changji
Hui Autonomous Prefecture.\82\
The government has penalized members of the unregistered
Catholic community for their overseas travel. In 2006,
authorities detained two leaders of the unregistered Wenzhou
diocese, Peter Shao Zhumin and Paul Jiang Surang, after they
returned from a pilgrimage to Rome. Six months after their
detention, Shao and Jiang received prison sentences of 9 and 11
months, respectively, after authorities accused them of
falsifying their passports and charged them with illegally
exiting the country.\83\
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR CHINA'S MUSLIMS
Overview\84\
The government strictly controls the practice of Islam, and
religious repression in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
(XUAR), especially among the Uighur ethnic group, remains
severe. In recent years the government has increased control
over Muslim pilgrimages and continued an ongoing project to
author sermons that reflect Party values. New confirmation
rules for religious leaders require knowledge of the sermons.
Authorities reportedly have tried to restrict the number of
Muslim students who study religion overseas. Within the XUAR,
the government restricts access to mosques, imprisons citizens
for religious activity determined to be ``extremist,'' has
detained people for possession of unauthorized texts, and most
recently has confiscated Muslims' passports. The XUAR
government maintains the harshest legal restrictions in China
on children's right to practice religion. Religious repression
in the XUAR accompanies a broader crackdown in the region aimed
at diluting expressions of Uighur identity. [See Section II--
Ethnic Minority Rights for more information on conditions in
the XUAR.]
Harassment, Detention, and Other Abuses
Authorities in the XUAR have intensified their crackdown on
religion since 2001. Official records have indicated an
increase in Uighurs in the XUAR sent to prison or reeducation
through labor centers because of religious activity since the
mid-1990s.\85\ XUAR residents reported to overseas human rights
organizations that police monitoring for illegal activity,
including systematic door-to-door searches within neighborhoods
and villages, has increased in recent years.\86\
In recent years, authorities have detained people for
having unauthorized religious texts. In 2005, authorities in the XUAR
detained a religion instructor and her students, accusing the
teacher of ``illegally possessing religious materials and
subversive historical information.'' \87\ XUAR officials also
detained a group of people for possessing an unauthorized
religious book.\88\
Access to Religious Sites and Closures of Religious Structures
The government continues to enforce tight restrictions on
XUAR residents' ability to enter mosques. Overseas media has
reported on restrictions on mosque entry enforced against
minors under 18, local government employees, state employees
and retirees, and women, among other groups. Authorities
reportedly monitor attendance at mosques and levy fines when
people violate the bans.\89\
Authorities in the XUAR continue to enforce earlier
policies to demolish ``illegal'' religious sites, and they have
increased oversight since 2001.\90\ Authorities reportedly have
not allowed Uighurs in the XUAR to build new mosques since
1999.\91\
Restrictions on the Freedom To Make Overseas Pilgrimages
The central government has increased its control over
Muslims' overseas pilgrimages in recent years, and public
officials in the XUAR have followed suit with further
restrictions. The 2004
national Regulation on Religious Affairs charged the Islamic
Association of China (IAC) with responsibility for organizing
Chinese Muslims' overseas pilgrimages, and stipulated
punishments for the unauthorized organization of such
trips.\92\ In 2006, the IAC established an office to manage
pilgrimages to Mecca.\93\ It also signed an agreement with the
Saudi Ministry of Pilgrimage allowing Chinese Muslim pilgrims
to receive Hajj visas only at the Saudi Embassy in Beijing and
restricting visas to pilgrims in official Chinese government-
sponsored travel groups. The government announced its agreement
with Saudi Arabia after a group of Muslims from the XUAR
attempted to obtain Saudi visas via a third country. In
addition, the IAC issued a circular in 2006 that regulates
secondary pilgrimages (umrah) to Mecca outside the yearly
Hajj.\94\ Some citizens who have tried to take trips outside
official channels reportedly have done so to avoid requirements
to demonstrate political reliability to the government and to
save money, among other factors.\95\ Authorities also
reportedly have tried to restrict Muslims' opportunities to
study religion overseas.\96\
Local officials in the XUAR have used pilgrimage policy to
further religious repression in that region. In June 2007,
after XUAR Party Secretary Wang Lequan announced that the
government would further increase its oversight of pilgrimages
in the region, overseas media reported that local authorities
implemented a policy to confiscate passports from Muslims, and
Uighurs in particular.\97\ In July, the XUAR government
announced that the public security bureau would strengthen
passport controls as part of its campaign to curb unauthorized
pilgrimages.\98\
Religious Publications
The government continues to exert tight control over the
publications of religious materials in the XUAR. In 2007,
authorities in the XUAR city of Urumqi reported destroying over
25,000 ``illegal'' religious books.\99\ During a month-long
campaign in 2006 aimed at rooting out ``political and religious
illegal publications,'' XUAR authorities reported confiscating
publications about Islam with ``unhealthy content.'' \100\ In
2005, official news media reported that XUAR authorities had
confiscated 9,860 illegal publications involving religion,
``feudal superstitions,'' or Falun Gong.\101\
Children
Restrictions on children's right to practice religion are
harsher in the XUAR than elsewhere in China. Legal measures
from the XUAR, unseen elsewhere in China, forbid parents and
guardians from allowing minors to engage in religious
activity.\102\ Local governments throughout the XUAR continued
restrictions on children's right to practice a religion during
2006. They enforced measures during Ramadan to prevent students
from fasting and participating in other religious activities.
Authorities also directed such measures at college students who
are legal adults under Chinese law.\103\ Also in 2006, a county
government in the XUAR began a campaign aimed at monitoring and
reforming the children of religious figures, alongside other
students including truants and children of those
released from administrative detention.\104\
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR CHINA'S PROTESTANTS
Overview\105\
The government and Party control the activities of its
official Protestant church, and the government continues to
target unregistered Protestant groups for harassment,
detention, and other forms of abuse. The targeting of
Protestant groups deemed to be cults intensified in 2004 and
again in 2006. Authorities continue to close house churches and
confiscate property. The government has included in this
crackdown groups with ties to foreign co-religionists.
Religious adherents serving prison sentences include clergy who
printed and distributed religious texts without government
permission. Members of unregistered house churches have made
some advances in challenging government actions, but harassment
and abuses continue.
Harassment, Detention, and Other Abuses
Authorities continue to target some unregistered Protestant
communities for harassment, detention, and other abuses. A July
2007 report from a district within Shanghai called on
authorities to strengthen control over grassroots religious
activity and singled out private Protestant gatherings for
monitoring and regulation.\106\ The China Aid Association
(CAA), a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization that monitors
religious freedom in China, recorded 600 detentions of
unregistered Protestants in China during 2006. It noted that
the figure represents a decline from over 2,000 detentions
recorded in 2005, but attributed the decrease to a new strategy
of targeting church leaders over practitioners and
interrogating practitioners on the spot rather than formally
arresting them.\107\ The CAA found that 18 people were
sentenced to more than a year of imprisonment in 2006.\108\ In
2007, seven police officers attacked and wounded Beijing house
church pastor and farmer advocate Hua Huiqi and his 76-year-old
mother Shuang Shuying.\109\ Officials charged Hua, who had been
previously detained by local officials, with obstruction of
justice and sentenced him to six months in prison. Shuang was
charged with willfully damaging property and
sentenced to two years in prison. An overseas report in August
2007 indicated that police were using Shuang's imprisonment as
leverage to pressure Hua to become a police informant. In
September, authorities reportedly denied Shuang medical parole
despite her poor health.\110\ In October, CAA reported that
authorities placed Hua under house arrest on October 1 and
informed him that his mother's imprisonment was intended to
pressure Hua to stop his activism. CAA reported Shuang had been
beaten in prison.\111\ Gong Shengliang, founder of the South
China Church, continues to serve a life sentence for alleged
assault and rape, and is reported to be in poor health.\112\
Authorities released Liu Fenggang from prison in February 2007
after he served a three-year sentence for reporting on the
government demolition of house churches.\113\ CAA reported that
authorities later placed him under house arrest, starting on
October 1, 2007.\114\
Closures of Religious Structures and Confiscation of Religious Property
The government states there are no registration
requirements for religious gatherings within the home,\115\ but
public officials continue to target unregistered Protestant
churches for closure and demolition. For example, in July 2007,
CAA reported that three underground church buildings in
Wenzhou, Zhejiang province faced imminent demolition by local
government authorities. The government accused the believers of
subscribing to an ``evil cult'' and threatened to arrest them
if they impeded the demolition.\116\ In 2006, a court case
against religious adherents who had protested the demolition of
a church building in the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou,
Zhejiang province, concluded with the sentencing of eight house
church leaders for ``inciting violence to resist the law.''
\117\ According to the CAA, closures of house churches
increased between 2005 and 2006.\118\
The government also exerts control over the property of
registered Protestant churches. In 2006, approximately 300
members of a registered Protestant church in Gansu province
engaged in a peaceful demonstration to demand the return of
property that had been confiscated by the government in
1966.\119\
Religious Speech
Chinese authorities continue to punish citizens who publish
religious materials without permission, including Protestant
religious leaders who have printed and given away Bibles. In
separate incidents in 2005 and 2006, pastors Cai Zhuohua and
Wang Zaiqing received prison sentences of three and two years,
respectively, after each printed and distributed religious
materials without government permission. In each case, the
sentencing court found that the preparation and distribution of
the materials constituted the ``illegal operation of a
business,'' a crime under Article 225 of the Criminal Law.\120\
Authorities released Cai from prison upon completion of his
three-year prison sentence on September 10, 2007.\121\ The
government has also detained people for publicizing abuses
against house church members. In 2006, Chinese authorities
detained a documentary filmmaker who was making a film about
house churches and detained a journalist after he posted
reports publicizing protests about a church demolition.\122\
Challenging Government Actions
Some members of unregistered churches have used the legal
system to challenge government actions. In August 2006, a court
in Henan province rescinded a decision to subject a house
church pastor to one year of reeducation through labor for
participating in a house church gathering authorities deemed
illegal. In November 2006, a group in Shandong province that
previously had been placed in administrative detention for
their attendance at a house church service reached a settlement
with the Public Security Bureau to rescind the administrative
detention decision against them. [See Section II--Rights of
Criminal Suspects and Defendants for more information.] In
neither case did the rescission include recognition of
practitioners' right to assemble for worship outside of
registered venues for religious activity.\123\ Not all
challenges to government actions have been successful. In 2007,
local governments in Henan province and the Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region rejected unregistered church leaders'
applications for administrative review of their
detentions.\124\ In addition, rights defenders who have
advocated on behalf of house church members and other groups
have faced repercussions.\125\
Outside of legal channels, international pressure has
resulted in advances for some house churches. CAA reported that
international pressure facilitated the release of 33 arrested
house church leaders and 3 South Korean church leaders who had
been detained after officials raided a house church study group
in Henan province in 2007.\126\ Two days after two house church
pastors appealed for administrative reconsideration regarding a
2007 raid on their churches, local officials in Jiangsu
province returned confiscated property, citing concerns about
negative international repercussions.\127\
Freedom To Interact with Foreign Co-religionists and Co-religionists
Abroad
Authorities have promoted official exchanges with overseas
Protestant churches, including Chinese participation in a 2005
World Council of Churches conference,\128\ but have restricted
citizens from participating in programs outside these official
channels. For example, authorities prevented house church
members and legal advocates Fan Yafeng, Gao Zhisheng, and Teng
Biao from attending a Washington, DC-based forum on religious
freedom in 2005.\129\
In July, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR)
government announced it would strengthen oversight of
Protestant and Catholic communities to prevent foreign
infiltration in the names of these religions.\130\ The
announcement followed church service raids in the XUAR during
2006 and 2007, including those with foreign worshippers and
pastors.\131\ According to CAA, more than 60 of over 100
missionaries expelled from China between April and June 2007
came from the XUAR.\132\
The government has punished some house church members for
traveling overseas. Unregistered Protestant church leader Zhang
Rongliang, who resorted to obtaining illegal travel documents
after the government refused to issue him a passport, was
sentenced to seven and a half years' imprisonment in 2006 on
charges of illegally crossing the border and fraudulently
obtaining a passport.\133\ Also in 2006, authorities placed
house church historian and former political prisoner Zhang
Yinan and his family under surveillance after he applied for a
passport to attend a religious function in the United
States.\134\
GOVERNMENT PERSECUTION OF FALUN GONG
The government has continued its campaign of persecution
against Falun Gong practitioners, which it began in 1999. In
its 2007 report on religious freedom in China, the U.S.
Department of State noted past reports of deaths and abuse of
Falun Gong practitioners in custody.\135\ Government officials
have used both the Criminal Law and administrative punishment
regulations as legal pretexts for penalizing Falun Gong
activities.\136\ Citizens sentenced to prison terms under the
Criminal Law include Falun Gong practitioners who demonstrated
in support of Falun Gong in 1999, as well as practitioners who
prepared leaflets about Falun Gong, including Wang Xin, Li
Chang, Wang Zhiwen, and Ji Liewu.\137\ Authorities released Yao
Jie in 2006 after sentencing her in 1999 to seven years'
imprisonment for crimes related to organizing and using a cult
and for illegal acquisition of state secrets. The charges stem
from accusations that she organized an April 1999 rally of
Falun Gong practitioners outside the central government's
leadership compound.\138\
Falun Gong practitioners and rights defenders who advocate
on their behalf, as well as on behalf of other communities,
including house church members, face serious obstacles in
challenging government abuses. In 2006, authorities intensified
a campaign of harassment against lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has
represented numerous activists, religious leaders, and writers,
after he publicized widespread torture against Falun Gong practitioners.
A Beijing court convicted him in 2006 to a three-year sentence,
suspended for five years, for ``inciting subversion of state
power.'' \139\ Gao went missing immediately after an open
letter that he sent to the U.S. Congress was made public at a
Capitol Hill press conference on September 20, 2007.
Authorities also have harassed members of his family.\140\ [For
additional information, see Section II--Rights of Criminal
Suspects and Defendants.] Overseas organizations reported that
on September 29, 2007, unidentified assailants beat rights
defense lawyer Li Heping, who had advocated on behalf of Falun
Gong practitioners and house church members, among others.\141\
In 2006, courts in Shandong province rejected appeals from
Liu Ruping and his lawyer that challenged Liu's sentence of 15
months of reeducation through labor for posting Falun Gong
notices.\142\
In 2007, the government used possession of Falun Gong
materials as a pretext for squelching a political activist. In
March, a court in Zhejiang province gave a three-year sentence
to Chi Jianwei, a member of the Zhejiang branch of the China
Democracy Party, for ``using a cult to undermine implementation
of the law'' after authorities found Falun Gong materials in
his home.\143\
OTHER RELIGIOUS AND SPRITUAL COMMUNITIES
Local governments continue to shut down unauthorized
Buddhist and Daoist temples. Towns and cities reported in 2006
on campaigns to address the presence of illegal temples through
measures that included closure and demolition.\144\ Some local
governments have targeted temples that include practices deemed
as superstitious beliefs.\145\ Other temples have registered
and submitted to official control. At a forum evaluating
implementation of the Regulation on Religious Affairs in 2007,
the president of the Daoist Association of China noted that the
regulation has led to the registration of previously
unregistered Daoist temples.\146\
The government has supported some official interactions
between domestic and foreign Buddhist communities,\147\ but
also limited some foreign involvement. In 2004, authorities
closed a Buddhist temple renovated by an American Buddhist
association and detained the temple's designated leader.\148\
Chinese religious adherents with ties to foreign religious
communities not recognized within China have had leeway to
practice their religion in some cases. The U.S. Department of
State reported in 2006 that some Chinese citizens who joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) while
living abroad met for
worship in a Beijing location that Chinese authorities
permitted expatriate LDS members to use.\149\ The central government
continues to deny formal recognition to the LDS church as a
domestic religious community, however, as it does other
religious communities outside the five recognized groups,
including Christian denominations that maintain a distinct
identity outside the Chinese government-defined Protestant and
Catholic churches. A few local governments provide legal
recognition to Orthodox Christian communities, but the central
government has not recognized Orthodoxy as a religion.\150\ In
recent years, officials have met with representatives of the
Russian Orthodox Church to discuss China's Orthodox
communities.\151\
Central and local authorities have drawn some aspects of
folk beliefs into official purview. Since at least 2004, the State
Administration for Religious Affairs has operated an office
that undertakes research and policy positions on folk beliefs
and religious communities outside the five recognized
groups,\152\ but the government has neither extended formal
legal recognition to any of these groups nor altered its system
whereby religious communities must receive government
recognition to operate. In 2006, Hunan province issued the
first provincial-level regulation on religious affairs to
provide for the registration of venues for folk beliefs.\153\
The Hunan provincial government's decision to channel folk
religions into the government system of religious regulation
provides some limited legal protections, but also may subject
more aspects of folk practice to government control. To date,
no other provincial regulation has regulated folk beliefs,\154\
but a central government official has indicated that the
government is studying the Hunan model and may formulate
national legal guidance on the regulation of folk belief
venues.\155\ Authorities continue, however, to express concern
over components within recognized religions deemed as folk
beliefs, and view some aspects of folk practice as
superstitions subject to official censure, and in some cases,
legal penalties.\156\
Endnotes
\1\ CECC, 2004 Annual Report, 5 October 2004, 34, 36-37.
\2\ CECC, 2006 Annual Report, 20 September 2006, 93.
\3\ CECC, 2004 Annual Report, 39; CECC, 2005 Annual Report, 11
October 05, 49; CECC, 2006 Annual Report, 86-87.
\4\ See, e.g., CECC, 2005 Annual Report, 52; CECC, 2006 Annual
Report, 91.
\5\ See discussion infra and in Section IV, ``Tibet,'' for more
information on religion-related legislative developments in Tibetan
areas of China.
\6\ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department
of State, International Religious Freedom Report--2006, China (includes
Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau), 15 September 06. See discussion infra for
more information on closures of Buddhist and Daoist temples.
\7\ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department
of State, International Religious Freedom Report--2007, China (includes
Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau), 14 September 07. The International
Religious Freedom Act mandates that the ``Country of Particular
Concern'' designation be made for countries that ``engaged in or
tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom,'' and
sets out possible courses of action, including sanctions, toward these
countries. See International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, 22 U.S.C.
6401 et seq., 6442(b)(1)(A), 6442 (c), 6445. In 2006, John V. Hanford
III, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, noted
that the climate for religious freedom had improved in recent decades
but that ``a number of setback[s]'' have taken place in the past two to
three years. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S.
Department of State, On-the-Record Briefing on the Release of the
Department of State's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom,
15 September 06.
\8\ See, e.g., PRC Constitution, art. 36; Regulation on Religious
Affairs (RRA) [Zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 30 November 04, art. 2;
PRC Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law (REAL), enacted 31 May 84, amended 28
February 01, art. 11.
\9\ See, e.g., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217A (III) of 10
December 48, art. 18.
\10\ See, e.g., PRC Constitution, art. 36; RRA, art. 3; REAL, art.
11.
\11\ Registration requirements to form a religious organization and
establish a venue for religious activities are found in RRA, art. 6 and
art. 13-15. See also Measures on the Examination, Approval, and
Registration of Venues for Religious Activity [Zongjiao huodong
changsuo sheli shenpi he dengji banfa], issued 21 April 05.
\12\ See discussion on religious speech, infra, as well as ``Prior
Restraints on Religious Publishing in China'' in the CECC Virtual
Academy for more information.
\13\ See discussions on citizens' freedom to interact with foreign
co-religionists, infra.
\14\ See the discussion on children, infra.
\15\ ``Head of Religious Association: Religious Adherents Not
Arrested Due to Their Faith,'' CECC Virtual Academy (Online), 26 June
06.
\16\ See, e.g., UDHR, art. 18; International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A
(XXI) of 16 December 66, entry into force 23 March 76, art. 18; the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16
December 66, entry into force 3 January 76, art. 13(3) (requiring
States Parties to ``ensure the religious and moral education of . . .
children in conformity with [the parents'] own convictions''); and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted and opened for
signature, ratification, and accession by General Assembly resolution
44/25 of 20 November 89, entry into force 2 September 90, art. 14;
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, General Assembly resolution
36/55 of 25 November 81.
\17\ China is a party to the ICESCR and the CRC, and a signatory to
the ICCPR. The Chinese government has committed itself to ratifying,
and thus bringing its laws into conformity with, the ICCPR and
reaffirmed its commitment as recently as April 13, 2006, in its
application for membership in the UN Human Rights Council. China's top
leaders have previously stated on three separate occasions that they
are preparing for ratification of the ICCPR, including in a September
6, 2005, statement by Politburo member and State Councilor Luo Gan at
the 22nd World Congress on Law, in statements by Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao during his May 2005 Europe tour, and in a January 27, 2004,
speech by Chinese President Hu Jintao before the French National
Assembly. As a signatory to the ICCPR, China is required under Article
18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, to which it is a
party, ``to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose
of a treaty'' it has signed. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
enacted 23 May 69, entry into force 27 January 80, art. 18.
\18\ See General Comment No. 22 to Article 18 of the ICCPR for an
official interpretation of freedom of religion as articulated in the
ICCPR. General Comment No. 22: The Right to Freedom of Thought,
Conscience, and Religion (Art. 18), 30 July 93, para. 1. This section
of the Commission's Annual Report primarily uses the expression
``freedom of religion'' but encompasses within this term reference to
the more broadly articulated freedom of ``thought, conscience, and
religion'' (see, e.g., UDHR, art. 18; ICCPR, art. 18).
\19\ ICCPR, art. 18(1), (2), (4). See also General Comment No. 22,
para. 1, 2, 4, 6; and CRC, art. 14. See also Declaration on the
Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on
Religion or Belief.
\20\ For more background on government policy to ``use law to
strengthen management of religious affairs,'' see, e.g., Ye Xiaowen,
``Preface,'' in Shuai Feng and Li Jian, Interpretation of the
Regulation on Religious Affairs [Zongjiao shiwu tiaoli shiyi],
(Beijing: Beijing Religious Culture Press, 2005), 1-2 (pagination for
preface); Beatrice Leung, ``China's Religious Freedom Policy: The Art
of Managing Religious Activity,'' The China Quarterly, no. 184, 894,
907-911 (2005).
\21\ Zhang Xunmou, Policy and Law Department of the State
Administration for Religious Affairs, quoted in Nailene Chou Wiest,
``Religious Groups Get More Room to Move,'' South China Morning Post
(Online), 20 October 04.
\22\ See, e.g., Public Security Bureau Personnel Training Bureau,
Lectures on Domestic Security Defense Studies [Guonei anquan baoweixue
jiaocheng] (Beijing: Mass Publishing Company, 2001), 141-142.
\23\ Wang Zhimin, ``Thoughts on How To Safeguard Social Stability
and Supply High-Grade Service in the Course of Developing the West''
[Dui xibu dakaifa zhong ruhe weihu shehui wending tigong youzhi fuwu de
sikao], in Police Science Society of China, ed., Collected Essays on
Public Security Work and Developing the West, (Beijing: Chinese
People's Public Security University Press, 2002), 254.
\24\ See, e.g., Ye Xiaowen, ``Give Play to the Positive Role of
Religion in Pushing Forward Social Harmony,'' Study Times, 25 December
06 (Open Source Center, 8 January 07). For earlier statements, see,
e.g., Sun Chengbin and Yin Hongzhu, ``National Work Conference on
Religious Affairs Held in Beijing, Jiang Zemin Stressed Need to
Effectively Do a Good Job in Religious Work at the Beginning of This
Century To Serve the Overall Situation of Reform, Development, and
Stability,'' Xinhua, 12 December 01 (Open Source Center, 12 December
01).
\25\ See, e.g., Ye, ``Give Play to the Positive Role of Religion in
Pushing Forward Social Harmony;'' ``SARA Director Calls for Continued
Controls on Religion,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update,
September 2006, 8.
\26\ ``SARA Director Calls for Continued Controls on Religion,''
CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, September 2006, 8.
\27\ For more information, see, e.g., CECC, 2006 Annual Report, 89,
93.
\28\ Ye Xiaowen, ``Correctly Understanding and Handling the
Religious Relationship in the Socialist Society--Studying Comrade Hu
Jintao's Important Speech at the National United Front Work
Conference,'' Seeking Truth, 18 August 06 (Open Source Center, 23
August 06).
\29\ Wu Jiao, ``Religious Believers Thrice the Official Estimate:
Poll,'' China Daily, 7 February 07 (Open Source Center, 7 February 07).
Figures differ greatly. Unofficial estimates indicate a rapid growth in
numbers in some religious communities. For example, overseas sources
have estimated that up to 100 million people worship in unregistered
Protestant churches and that the number continues to grow. Official
government sources have stated that China has 16 million Protestants
and 4.5 million Catholics affiliated with the state-controlled Catholic
church, but State Administration for Religious Affairs director Ye
Xiaowen also reportedly said that China had 130 million Protestants and
Catholics as of 2006. For an overview of official and unofficial
statistics, see U.S. Department of State, International Religious
Freedom Report--2006, China, and U.S. Department of State,
International Religious Freedom Report --2007, China.
\30\ ``Diligently Strengthen the Foundation, Arouse the Passions To
Serve the Situation--A Scan of Religious Work in 2005'' [Yongxin guben
qiangji dongqing fuwu daju--2005 zongjiao gongzuo saomiao], China
Religions 2006 volume 1, reprinted on the State Administration for
Religious Affairs Web site, 27 January 06.
\31\ See, e.g., ``SARA Holds First Term of Religious Work Cadre
Training'' [Guojia zongjiaoju juban diyiqi zongjiao gongzuo ganbu
peixunban], United Front Work Department (Online), 4 December 06;
``Suzhou Daily: Our City's Religious Personages Discuss Study and
Implementation of `Regulation on Religious Affairs''' [Suzhou ribao:
woshi zongjiaojie renshi zuotan xuexi guanche `zongjiao shiwu tiaoli'],
Suzhou Daily, reprinted on the Suzhou Ethnic and Religious Affairs
Bureau Web site, 17 March 07.
\32\ Measures on the Examination, Approval, and Registration of
Venues for Religious Activity; Measures on the Management of the
Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism [Cangchuan fojiao
huofo zhuanshi guanli banfa], issued 18 July 07; Measures on
Establishing Religious Schools [Zongjiao yuanxiao sheli banfa], issued
1 August 07; Measures for Putting on File the Main Religious Personnel
of Venues for Religious Activities [Zongjiao huodong changsuo zhuyao
jiaozhi renzhi bei'an banfa], issued 29 December 06; Measures for
Putting on File Religious Personnel [Zongjiao jiaozhi renyuan bei'an
banfa], issued 29 February 06. Measures Regarding Chinese Muslims
Signing Up To Go Abroad on Pilgrimages (Trial Measures) [Zhongguo
musilin chuguo chaojin baoming paidui banfa (shixing)], undated
(estimated date 2006), available on the SARA Web site. See Section IV--
Tibet for an analysis of the Measures on the Management of the
Reincarnation of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism.
\33\ Shuai and Li, Interpretation of the Regulation on Religious
Affairs. This book is written by drafters of the Regulation on
Religious Affairs. See p. 6 of the preface. The book includes a preface
by State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) director Ye
Xiaowen and is advertised on the SARA Web site. A Web search of the
book's title, limited to Web sites with ``gov.cn'' in the Web address,
found only three local governments reporting on having received or used
the text. Web search conducted July 16, 2007. While the text clarifies
some ambiguous provisions of the Regulation on Religious Affairs, it
also leaves some ambiguities--such as the question of whether religions
outside the five belief systems are recognized in practice by the
central government--unanswered.
\34\ Between March 1, 2005, when the national RRA entered into
force, and September 2007, 11 provincial-level areas issued new or
amended comprehensive regulations on religious affairs and made the
texts available on legal databases and other Web sites. These
regulations are: Shanghai Municipality Regulation on Religious Affairs
[Shanghaishi zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], adopted 30 November 95, amended 21
April 05; Henan Province Regulation on Religious Affairs [Henansheng
zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 30 July 05; Zhejiang Province Regulation
on Religious Affairs [Zhejiangsheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 6
December 97, amended 29 March 06; Shanxi Province Regulation on
Religious Affairs [Shanxisheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 29 July
05; Anhui Province Regulation on Religious Affairs [Anhuisheng zongjiao
shiwu tiaoli], issued 15 October 99, amended 29 June 06 and 28 February
07; Beijing Municipality Regulation on Religious Affairs [Beijingshi
zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 18 July 02, amended 28 July 06;
Chongqing Municipality Regulation on Religious Affairs [Chongqingshi
zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued 29 September 06; Hunan Province
Regulation on Religious Affairs [Hunansheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli],
issued 30 September 06; Liaoning Province People's Congress Standing
Committee Decision on Amending the Liaoning Province Regulation on
Religious Affairs [Liaoningsheng renmin daibiao dahui changwu
weiyuanhui guanyu xiugai ``Liaoningsheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli'' de
jueding], issued on 28 November 98 as the Liaoning Province Regulation
on the Management of Religious Affairs, amended and name changed on 1
December 06; Sichuan Province Regulation on Religious Affairs
[Sichuansheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli], issued on 9 May 00 as the Sichuan
Province Regulation on the Management of Religious Affairs, amended and
name changed on 30 November 06; and Tibet Autonomous Region
Implementing Measures for the ``Regulation on Religious Affairs''
(Trial Measures) [Zizang zizhiqu shishi ``zongjiao shiwu tiaoli'' banfa
(shixing)], issued 19 September 06. In addition, the Hebei provincial
government also amended its 2003 Regulation on Religious Affairs,
according to a report from the Hebei Province Ethnic and Religious
Affairs Department Web site, but a public copy appears to be
unavailable. Hebei Province Ethnic and Religious Affairs Department
(Online), ``Hebei Province Regulation on Religious Affairs Revised and
Promulgated'' [``Hebeisheng zongjiao shiwu tiaoli'' xiuding bing
gongbu], 14 February 07. The Anhui provincial government retained
inconsistent provisions in its first amendments, in 2006. For an
analysis of the Anhui amendments and other regulations, see ``Anhui
Government Amends Provincial Religious Regulation,'' CECC China Human
Rights and Rule of Law Update, October 2006, 10-11; ``Zhejiang and
Other Provincial Governments Issue New Religious Regulations,'' CECC
China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, June 2006, 9-10; ``Beijing
Municipality Amends Local Religious Regulation,'' CECC China Human
Rights and Rule of Law Update, November 2006, 8-9; ``Chongqing
Municipality and Hunan Province Issue New Religious Regulations,'' CECC
Virtual Academy (Online), 4 January 07
\35\ Article 79 of the Legislation Law says that national
regulations have higher force than local ones, and Articles 64 and 88
call for amending or canceling local regulations that conflict with
national legal sources. PRC Legislation Law [Zhonghua renmin gongheguo
lifafa], adopted 15 March 00. Nonetheless, out-of-date provisions
remain within local-level legislation. For example, the Guangdong
Province Regulation on the Administration of Religious Affairs retains
a provision requiring yearly inspections of venues for religious
activities in accordance with a national legal measure (banfa) on the
topic, but subsequent legal developments have voided this legal
guidance. See Guangdong Province Regulation on the Administration of
Religious Affairs [Guangdongsheng shiwu guanli tiaoli], adopted 26 May
00, art. 15. See also ``Beijing Municipality Amends Local Religious
Regulation,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, November
2006, 8-9; and Shuai and Li, Interpretation of the Regulation on
Religious Affairs, 93. According to this book of interpretations, the
national RRA annuls an earlier measure requiring yearly inspections.
This annulment is not explicit within the text of the RRA itself.
\36\ Hunan Province Regulation on Religious Affairs, art. 48. See
also ``Chongqing Municipality and Hunan Province Issue New Religious
Regulations,'' CECC Virtual Academy (Online), 4 January 07.
\37\ Tibet Autonomous Region Implementing Measures for the
``Regulation on Religious Affairs,'' art. 36-40.
\38\ See, e.g., ``Zhejiang and Other Provincial Governments Issue
New Religious Regulations,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law
Update, June 2006, 9-10, for a comparison of regulations from four
provincial-level areas.
\39\ The central government has referred to the five religions as
China's main religions, but in practice the state has created a
regulatory system that institutionalizes only these five religions for
recognition and legal protection. See, e.g., State Council Information
Office, White Paper on Freedom of Religious Belief in China, October
1997 (Online) (stating that the religions citizens ``mainly'' follow
are Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism). Wording
from this White Paper is posted as a statement of current policy on the
Web sites of the United Front Work Department, the agency that oversees
religious affairs within the Communist Party, and the State
Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). Some local regulations on
religious affairs define religion in China to mean only these five
categories. See, e.g., Guangdong Province Regulation on the
Administration of Religious Affairs, art. 3, and Henan Province
Regulation on Religious Affairs, art. 2. There is some limited
tolerance outside this framework for some ethnic minority and ``folk''
religious practices. See text infra and see also Kim-Kwong Chan and
Eric R. Carlson, Religious Freedom in China: Policy, Administration,
and Regulation (Santa Barbara: Institute for the Study of American
Religion, 2005), 9-10, 15-16. Some local governments have recognized
the Orthodox church. See the discussion, infra, on Orthodoxy in China.
Officials told a visiting U.S. delegation in August 2005 that they were
considering at the national level whether to allow some other religious
communities, including the Orthodox church, to register to establish
organizations or religious activity venues, but no decisions in this
area have been reported. U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF), ``Policy Focus: China,'' 9 November 05, 4. See also
``A Year After New Regulations, Religious Rights Still Restricted,
Arrests, Closures, Crackdowns Continue,'' Human Rights Watch (Online),
1 March 06 (reporting no decision on whether or not to recognize
additional religions).
\40\ See, e.g., RRA, art. 6 (requiring religious organizations to
register in accordance with the Regulations on the Management of the
Registration of Social Organizations); art. 8 (requiring an application
to the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) to establish
an institute for religious learning); art. 13-15 (imposing an
application procedure to register venues for religious activity); art.
27 (requiring the appointment of religious personnel to be reported to
the religious affairs bureau at or above the county level and requiring
reporting the succession of living Buddhas for approval to governments
at the level of a city divided into districts or higher, and requiring
reporting for the record the appointment of Catholic bishops to SARA).
\41\ These Party-led associations are sometimes also referred to as
``patriotic religious associations.''
\42\ For a description of the religious associations in Chinese
sources, see Shuai and Li, Interpretation of the Regulation on
Religious Affairs, 4-5.
\43\ Authorities accused the monk of engaging in improper relations
with lay practitioners and dismissed him on those alleged grounds.
``Jiangxi Buddhist Master Accused of Being a Womanizer and Driven Out
of Temple,'' Sing Tao Jih Pao, 25 August 06 (Open Source Center, 27
August 06). ``Top Buddhist Officials Join in Persecution of Activist
Monk,'' Human Rights in China (Online), 23 August 06.
\44\ Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China, ``Devastating
Blows: Religious Repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang,'' April 2005, 49-
53, 55-57 (pagination follows ``text-only'' pdf download of this
report).
\45\ Some organizations operate without any registration and are
tolerated by local authorities. A limited number of organizations have
registered with local officials without affiliating with a Party-
controlled religious association. U.S. Department of State,
International Religious Freedom Report--2006, China.
\46\ See CECC, 2004 Annual Report, Section III(c) Freedom of
Religion, for more information.
\47\ Ministry of Public Security (Online), ``Liu Jinguo's Speech at
Conference on National Work To Investigate and Deal with Rural
Districts That Have Public Order in Disarray'' [Liu Jianguo zai quanguo
paicha zhengzhi nongcun zhi'an hunluan diqu huiyi shang de fayan], 6
July 07. The China Aid Association (CAA) reported detentions in the
aftermath of the campaign's launch. ``Chinese Government Launched
Nationwide Campaign against Uncontrolled Religious Activities; Massive
Arrests Occurred in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Henan,
Shandong, and Anhui,'' CAA (Online), 24 August 07.
\48\ ``Our District's Work on the Administration of Abnormal
Religious Activities Is Taking on a Desirable Posture'' [Woqu
feizhengchang zongjiao huodong zhili gongzuo xingcheng lianghao
taishi], Baoshan Ethnicities and Religion Net (Online), 20 July 07.
\49\ See, e.g., RRA, art. 4 and White Paper on Freedom of Religious
Belief in China, for more information on these principles.
\50\ ``PRC Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang Urges Crackdown
on `Hostile Forces,''' Agence France-Presse, 20 March 07 (Open Source
Center, 20 March 07). Zhou made a similar statement again in September,
calling for increased security specifically for the 17th Party
Congress, scheduled for October 2007. Shi Jiangtao, ``Crackdown by
Police Ahead of Party Congress,'' South China Morning Post (Online), 7
September 07. After Western media reported that foreign missionaries
planned to increase their presence during the Olympics, Party-led China
Christian Council head Cao Shengjie told foreign groups to adhere to
Chinese rules and not engage in religious activities without invitation
from the Party-led Protestant church. Kristine Kwok, ``Olympic
Missionaries Warned To Follow Rules,'' South China Morning Post
(Online), 29 May 07; ``Thousands Planning to Bring the Gospel to China
During the Olympic Games,'' AsiaNews (Online), 21 May 07.
\51\ ``Government Intervenes into a Three-Self Church in Shanxi
Province, Pastor Evicted,'' CAA (Online), 9 August 06.
\52\ ``Over 100 Foreign Missionaries Expelled or Forced To Leave by
Chinese Government Secret Campaign,'' CAA (Online), 10 July 07. For
additional reporting on this news, see, e.g., Alexa Olesen, ``Christian
Aid Group Says China Kicking Out Foreign Missionaries Ahead of 2008
Olympics,'' Associated Press (via Nexis), 10 July 07 (citing a U.S.
Embassy spokesperson who said her office had ``heard some reports of
deportations.'')
\53\ Detailed Implementing Rules for the Provisions on the
Management of the Religious Activities of Foreigners within the PRC
[Zhonghua renmin gongheguo jingnei waiguoren zongjiao huodong guanli
guiding shishi xize], issued 26 September 00, art. 17.
\54\ Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Online), ``MFA Spokesperson Liu
Jianchao Answers Reporters Questions'' [Waijiaobu fayanren Liu Jianchao
huida jizhe tiwen], 16 March 05.
\55\ See, e.g., Fujian Province Implementing Measures on the Law on
the Protection of Minors [Fujiansheng shishi ``Zhonghua renmin
gongheguo weichengnianren baohufa'' banfa], issued 21 November 94,
amended 25 October 97, art. 33; Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR)
Implementing Measures on the Management of Venues for Religious
Activity [Neimenggu zizhiqu zongjiao huodong changsuo guanli shishi
banfa], issued 23 January 96, art. 13. While the national regulation
addressed in the IMAR measures was annulled in 2005, the IMAR measures
appear to remain in force.
\56\ U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom
Report--2006, China.
\57\ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department
of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices --2006, China
(includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau) (Online), 6 March 07.
\58\ Elisabeth Alles, ``Muslim Religious Education in China,'' 45
Perspectives Chinoises (January-February 2003) (Online); Will Religion
Flourish Under China's New Leadership? Staff Roundtable of the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 24 July 03, Testimony of
Dr. Jacqueline M. Armijo-Hussein, Assistant Professor, Department of
Religious Studies, Stanford University.
\59\ See, e.g., Sara L.M. Davis, ``Dance, Or Else: China's
`Simplifying Project,''' China Rights Forum 2006, No. 4--Ethnic Groups
in China, 20 December 06.
\60\ See CECC 2004 Annual Report, 37, for more details on these
campaigns.
\61\ Ye Xiaowen, ``Correctly Understanding and Handling the
Religious Relationship in the Socialist Society--Studying Comrade Hu
Jintao's Important Speech at the National United Front Work
Conference.''
\62\ RRA, art. 34.
\63\ See, e.g., Guangdong Province Ethnic and Religious Affairs
Commission (Online), ``Shantou City Religious Circles Launch Compassion
Activities to Help Haojiang District's Dusheng Village Resume Work
After Disaster'' [Shantoushi zongjiaojie kaizhan aixin huodong bangzhu
haojiangqu dushengcun zuohao zaihou huifu gongzuo], 12 June 06; Hebei
Province Ethnic and Religious Affairs Department (Online), ``Hebei
Province's Two Catholic Associations Establish the `Hebei Promote-
Virtue Charity Service Center''' [Hebeisheng tianzhujiao lianghui
chengli ``Hebei jin de gongyi shiye fuwu zhongxin''], 14 July 06.
\64\ Susan K. McCarthy, ``The Three Represents and the Four Noble
Truths: Faith-Based Civil Society Organizations in Contemporary
China,'' Paper submitted for the 2007 annual meeting of the Association
of Asian Studies, March 22-25, Boston, 9-10. [On File.]
\65\ See, e.g., ``Muslim Hands Reach Out to Gansu,'' China
Development Brief (Online), 6 May 05; ``MH in China: 70 Kids Have Cleft
Lip Correction,'' Muslim Hands Feedback Report 2004 (Online), last
visited 6 October 07; Correspondence to the CECC, 9 May 06; Elaine
Chan, ``Beyond Parallel,'' South China Morning Post, 30 September 06.
\66\ See Section II--Civil Society, infra, for more information.
\67\ See, e.g., Jay Dautcher, ``Public Health and Social
Pathologies in Xinjiang,'' in Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland, ed.
S. Frederick Starr (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2004), 285-6.
\68\ This overview paragraph provides a summary of key issues of
concern. See the text that follows the paragraph for more information,
including detailed citations.
\69\ CECC, 2005 Annual Report, 49.
\70\ ``Underground Bishop Jia Zhiguo Is Arrested Again,'' Cardinal
Kung Foundation (Online), 6 June 07 ``Msgr. Jia Zhiguo, Underground
Bishop Is Freed,'' AsiaNews, reprinted on the CAA Web site, 23 June 07.
\71\ ``Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo, Who Wanted To Disseminate the Pope's
Letter, Is Arrested,'' AsiaNews (Online), 23 August 07.
\72\ ``Underground Bishop Jia Zhiguo Is Arrested Again,'' Cardinal
Kung Foundation. See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information.
\73\ CECC, 2006 Annual Report, 87.
\74\ U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom
Report--2006, China.
\75\ ``Officials Assault Nuns Over Land Dispute in Shaanxi
Province,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, March 2006,
11; ``Registered Catholics Claim Property in Tianjin,'' CECC China
Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, March 2006, 11-12; ``Nuns and
Alleged Assailants Reach Out-of-Court Settlement in Xi'an Beating
Case,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, December 2006,
9.
\76\ ``Chinese Government Appoints Bishop Without Holy See
Approval,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, December
2006, 5-6. Wang's ordination followed the CPA's ordinations in April
and May 2006 of other bishops who also lacked Holy See approval.
\77\ ``Guizhou Scheduled To Hold First Episcopal Ordination Since
Papal Letter,'' Union of Catholc Asian News (UCAN) (Online), 3
September 07; ``Vatican Approval for Guiyang Episcopal Ordination Made
Public,'' AsiaNews (Online), 10 September 07.
\78\ ``Beijing Ordination Had Papal Approval,'' UCAN (Online), 22
September 07; ``New Bishop Vows To Lead Catholics Contributing to a
Harmonious Society,'' UCAN (Online), 21 September 07. Holy See approval
was not openly made known until after the ordination. Earlier articles
on Li's nomination differed on whether Li had received approval.
``China Nominates Bishop, Threatening Vatican Rift,'' Reuters (Online),
18 July 07. The Vatican has expressed some support for Li, whom outside
media has suggested is less entrenched in official Chinese Catholic
institutions than his predecessor, Fu Tieshan. ``The New Bishop of
Beijing is Elected,'' AsiaNews (Online), 18 July 07. ``Vatican Welcomes
New China Bishop,'' BBC (Online), 19 July 07. ``Beijing Getting Ready
for the Ordination of Mgr Li Shan, CCPA Seizes Bishop's Residence,''
AsiaNews (Online), 17 September 07. For Chinese reporting on the
appointment, see ``Li Shan Picked as Bishop of Beijing Diocese'' [Li
Shan dangxuan tianzhujiao Beijing jiaoqu zhujiao], China Ethnicity News
(Online), 3 August 07.
\79\ ``Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Bishops,
Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of the Catholic Church in
the People's Republic of China,'' Vatican Web site, 27 May 07. Though
dated May 27, the Holy See released the letter on June 30. ``More on
Pope's Letter to China Over Religious Freedom, Appointment of
Bishops,'' Agence France-Presse, 30 June 07 (Open Source Center, 30
June 07).
\80\ ``Beijing Removes Papal Letter to Chinese Church from Web,''
AsiaNews (Online), 3 July 07.
\81\ ``Priests Arrested and Put into Solitary Confinement: the
Governments Answer to the Pope's Letter,'' AsiaNews (Online), 2 August
07.
\82\ Yang Yingchun, ``Ismail Tiliwaldi, While Speaking at an
Autonomous Region-Wide Religion Work Meeting, Calls for Stronger
Management Over Pilgrimage and the `Two Religions' To Safeguard the
Masses' Interest,'' Xinjiang Daily, 11 July 07 (Open Source Center, 13
July 07); ``Autonomous Prefecture's Religion Meeting Stresses
Strengthening Management of Religion, Safeguarding Social Stability''
[Zizhizhou zongjiao huiyi qiangdiao jiaqiang zongjiao guanli weihu
shehui wending], Changji Evening News, reprinted on the Changji Hui
Autonomous Prefecture Government Web site, 14 August 07.
\83\ ``Two Priests Detained in Wenzhou After Arrest on Return from
Europe,'' UCAN, 3 October 06; ```Underground' Chinese Catholic Priests
Charged, Likely To Face Trial,'' UCAN (Online), 26 October 06. ``Two
Underground Priests from Wenzhou Soon To Be Freed,'' AsiaNews, 17 May
07; ``Two Underground Priests, Arrested After Pilgrimage, Sentenced Six
Months After Arrest,'' UCAN (Online), 16 May 07. Authorities released
Shao from prison in May 2007 to obtain medical treatment. ``Jailed
Wenzhou Priest Released Provisionally for Medical Treatment,'' UCAN, 30
May 07. Authorities released Jiang in August. ``Second Of Two Jailed
Wenzhou Priests Released, Diagnosed With Heart Conditions,'' UCAN, 29
August 07. See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information. Jiang Surang is also known by the name Jiang Sunian.
\84\ This overview paragraph provides a summary of key issues of
concern. See the text that follows the paragraph for more information,
including detailed citations.
\85\ Human Rights Watch, ``Devastating Blows,'' 73-74. The report
cites official data published in 2001.
\86\ Ibid., 69.
\87\ ``Teacher and 37 Students Detained for Sudying [sic] Koran in
China: Rights Group'' Agence France-Presse, 15 August 05 (Open Source
Center, 15 August 05).
\88\ ``Three Detained in East Turkistan for `Illegal' Religious
Text,'' Uyghur Human Rights Project (Online), 3 August 05.
\89\ See, e.g., ``Xinjiang Government Continues Restrictions on
Mosque Attendance,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update,
March 2006, 8. XUAR regulations forbid parents from allowing children
to engage in religious activities, and mosques have restricted
children's entry. The U.S. Department of State noted in its 2006
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for China, however, that such
restrictions were not uniformly enforced in practice. U.S. Department
of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices--2006, China.
\90\ Human Rights Watch, ``Devastating Blows,'' 55-56.
\91\ USCIRF, ``Policy Focus: China,'' 6.
\92\ RRA, art. 11, 43.
\93\ ``Islamic Congress Establishes Hajj Office, Issues New
Rules,'' CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, June 2006, 12-13.
\94\ ``Government Increases Controls Over Muslim Pilgrimages,''
CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, December 2006, 20; Circular
of Provisions Regarding Organizing and Carrying Out Secondary
Pilgrimage Activities [Guanyu zuzhi kaizhan fuchao huodong ruogan
guiding de tongzhi], August 2006.
\95\ U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom
Report--2007, China (noting reasons why some Uighur Muslims in
particular have avoided participating in official trips).
\96\ Jackie Armijo, ``Islamic Education in China,'' 9 Harvard Asia
Quarterly, (Winter 2006) (Online).
\97\ Cheng Lixin, ``Wang Lequan, Speaking at the Feedback Meeting
of the United Front and Religious Affairs Investigation and Study Team,
Emphasizes the Need To Strengthen Management of Pilgrimage Activity To
Safeguard the Masses Interests,'' Xinjiang Daily, 19 June 07 (Open
Source Center, 25 June 07); ``China Confiscates Muslims' Passports,''
Radio Free Asia (Online), 27 June 07; ``Activist: Members of Muslim
Minority Group in China Forced To Surrender Their Passports,''
Associated Press, reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, 20
July 07.
\98\ Yang, ``Ismail Tiliwaldi, While Speaking at an Autonomous
Region-Wide Religion Work Meeting, Calls for Stronger Management Over
Pilgrimage and the `Two Religions' To Safeguard the Masses' Interest.''
\99\ ``Over 70,000 Illegal Publications `Smashed to Dust''' [7 wan
duo ce feifa chubanwu ``fenshensuigu''], Xinjiang Legal Daily (Online),
6 August 07.
\100\ ``Xinjiang Government Seizes, Confiscates Political and
Religious Publications,'' CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update,
July 2006, 7-8.
\101\ ``Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Destroys 29 Tons of
Illegal Books'' [Xinjiang weiwuer zizhiqu xiaohui 29 dun feifa tushu],
Tianshan Net (Online), 16 March 06.
\102\ Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Implementing Measures of
the Law on the Protection of Minors [Xinjiang weiwuer zizhiqu shishi
``Weichengnianren baohufa'' banfa], issued 25 September 93, art. 14. No
other provincial or national regulation on minors or on religion
contains this precise provision. Devastating Blows, 58.
\103\ ``Local Governments in Xinjiang Continue Religious Repression
During Ramadan,'' CECC Virtual Academy, 12 December 06. Some local
governments also extended these campaigns to teachers.
\104\ Kashgar Government (Online), ``Yopurgha County Implements
`Mandatory Visits System' Among Students in Elementary and Secondary
Schools,'' [Yuepuhuxian zai zhongxiaoxuesheng zhong shixing
``bifangzhi''], 11 October 06.
\105\ This overview paragraph provides a summary of key issues of
concern. See the text that follows the paragraph for more information,
including detailed citations.
\106\ The document says that meetings that are ``purely''
gatherings of family members within the home should be placed under
normal management, and non-family gatherings that are large in scope
and disruptive should be stopped and participants urged to go to
approved sites of worship. Gatherings with elements of cult practices
or foreign infiltration should be dispelled and if necessary subject to
penalties. ``Our District's Work on the Administration of Abnormal
Religious Activities Is Taking on a Desirable Posture'' [Woqu
feizhengchang zongjiao huodong zhili gongzuo xingcheng lianghao
taishi], Baoshan Ethnicities and Religion Net (Online), 20 July 07.
\107\ ``Annual Report on Persecution of Chinese House Churches by
Province from January 2006 to December 2006,'' CAA (Online), January
2007, 3.
\108\ CAA noted that while church members are often released after
interrogation, authorities have held church leaders for longer periods,
in some cases imposing prison sentences. Ibid.,19.
\109\ ``Beijing House Church Activist Hua Huiqi and His Mother
Attacked and Detained by Police,'' CAA (Online), 27 January 07. See the
CECC Political Prisoner Database for additional information.
\110\ ``Beijing House Church Activist Hua Huiqi Sentenced for 6
Months Secretly,'' CAA (Online), 4 June 07; ``House Church Christian
Activist Hua Huiqi and Mr. Qi Zhiyong Were Removed from Home Before US
Presidential Visit,'' CAA (Online), 21 November 05; ``Activist's Mother
`Held Hostage' for Information,'' Human Rights In China (HRIC)
(Online), 17 August 07; ``Elderly Activist Denied Medical Parole,''
HRIC (Online), 13 September 07. See the CECC Political Prisoner
Database for more information.
\111\ ``Prominent Beijing Rights Defense Christian Lawyer Li Heping
Kidnapped and Tortured; Two Beijing Christian Activists Held Under
House Arrest,'' CAA, reprinted in Christian News Wire, 3 October 07.
\112\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information. See also ``UN Petition Submitted for Jailed Ailing Church
Leader; Medical Parole Appeal Filed by Family Members,'' CAA (Online),
12 July 06. Gong's accusers say they were tortured into signing
allegations against Gong. Authorities originally charged Gong with
using a cult to undermine the implementation of the law, along with
premeditated assault, and rape, but the cult charges were later
dropped. Examples of cult activity included carrying out unauthorized
missionary activities and publishing and distributing a church
periodical.
\113\ ``Beijing House Church Activist Liu Fenggang Released,'' CAA
(Online), 7 February 07.
\114\ ``Prominent Beijing Rights Defense Christian Lawyer Li Heping
Kidnapped and Tortured; Two Beijing Christian Activists Held Under
House Arrest,'' CAA.
\115\ White Paper on Freedom of Religious Belief in China.
\116\ ``Three House Church Buildings in Zhejiang Facing Imminent
Destruction by Government,'' CAA (Online), 14 July 07.
\117\ ``Basic People's Court of Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City,
Criminal Judgment'' [Hangzhou xiaoshanqu renminfayuan xingshi
panjueshu], 22 December 06, reprinted on the CAA Web site, 15 January
07.
\118\ ``Annual Report on Persecution of Chinese House Churches, ''
CAA, 3-4.
\119\ ``Church Property in Gansu Occupied by the Government, 300
Christians Protest by Sitting Demonstration; 3 Singapore Christians
Arrested & Released in Xinjiang, 5 Local Believers Still in
Detention,'' CAA (Online), 31 October 06. Government officials
threatened to withhold retirement benefits to church members and
reportedly used violence against the demonstrators. The group
reportedly reached a compromise with authorities. ``Annual Report on
Persecution of Chinese House Churches,'' CAA, 19.
\120\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more information
about these cases. CAA reported in September 2007 that authorities
arrested Zhou Heng, a house church leader in the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region, on August 31 after he received a shipment of Bibles
reported to have been donated by an overseas church. Authorities
accused him of illegally operating a business. ``House Church Leader in
Xinjiang Formally Arrested for Receiving Bibles and Abused in Jail,''
CAA (Online), 5 September 07. In March 2007, CAA reported that
authorities arrested unregistered church leader Chen Jiaxi in January
2007 for distributing religious literature, on the grounds he was
illegally managing a business. CAA reported that Chen was expected to
stand trial soon but has not reported further information on the case.
``House Church Leaders Arrested in Liaoning and Anhui Province,'' CAA
(Online), 31 March 07. In 2006, the CAA reported that authorities
levied a similar charge on pastor Liu Yuhua after he printed and
distributed religious literature. ``Multiple Arrests of Protestants
Occurred in Shandong and Jiangsu; One South Korea Missionary Expelled
from China; Prominent Chinese Legal Scholar Banned to Go Abroad,'' CAA
(Online), 16 May 06.
\121\ ``Renowned Beijing Church Leader Cai Zhuohua Released After
Three Years Imprisonment for Distributing Bibles; Forced Labor for
Olympics Products Imposed,'' CAA (Online), 14 September 07.
\122\ ``Chinese Authorities Release House Church Filmmaker After
140 Days in Custody,'' CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update,
September 2006, 9; ``Journalist Arrested for Posting Reports About
Crackdown on Christians,'' Reporters Without Borders (Online), 11
August 06.
\123\ ``House Church Members Successfully Fight Detentions For
Unauthorized Worship,'' CECC Virtual Academy, 19 December 06.
\124\ The church leaders have since filed lawsuits against the
government. According to an April report from the China Aid
Association, Dong Quanyu and Li Huage of Henan province await a
decision on whether their case will be heard. In April 2007, the
People's Court of Duolun County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
accepted Zhi Ruiping's case for an upcoming trial. ``Released Church
Leaders in Henan and Inner Mongolia File Lawsuit Against Abusers in the
Government,'' CAA (Online), 18 April 07.
\125\ See the subsection on ``Government Persecution of Falun
Gong,'' infra, for more information.
\126\ ``Thirty-Three Chinese and Three Korea[n] Pastors Released in
Henan After International Religious Pressure; One Sentenced for 10 Days
Detention,'' CAA (Online), 7 March 07.
\127\ ``Confiscated Church Properties in Jiangsu Returned after
International Pressure,'' CAA (Online), 11 May 07.
\128\ ``Delegation of Chinese Protestants Attends International
Mission Conference,'' CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, June
2005, 6.
\129\ ``House Church Lawyers Promote Religious Freedom Through the
Rule of Law,'' CECC Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, July 2006, 3.
\130\ Yang, ``Ismail Tiliwaldi, While Speaking at an Autonomous
Region-Wide Religion Work Meeting, Calls for Stronger Management Over
Pilgrimage and the `Two Religions' To Safeguard the Masses' Interest.''
This call was reiterated by local authorities in Changji Hui Autonomous
Prefecture in August. ``Autonomous Prefecture's Religion Meeting
Stresses Strengthening Management of Religion, Safeguarding Social
Stability,'' Changji Evening News.
\131\ See, e.g., ``Massive Arrest of Chinese and American Christian
Leaders in Xinjiang,'' CAA (Online), 24 April 07; ``3 Singapore
Christians Arrested and Released in Xinjiang, 5 Local Believers Still
in Detention,'' CAA (Online), 31 October 06; ``35 Arrested Christians
in Xinjiang Released after Interrogation; American Korean Pastor Put
Under Surveillance in a Hotel,'' CAA (Online), 27 October 06; ``On
Christmas Day, Christmas Services Stopped in Xinjiang; House Church
Leaders Arrested; Persecution Against Beaten Christian Businessman
Intensified,'' CAA (Online), 27 December 05.
\132\ ``Over 100 Foreign Missionaries Expelled or Forced To Leave
by Chinese Government Secret Campaign,'' CAA (Online), 10 July 07.
\133\ ``China Sentences Underground Pastor to 7.5 Years in
Prison,'' Agence France-Presse (Online), 12 July 06. See the CECC
Political Prisoner Database for more information.
\134\ Timothy Chow, ``Chinese House Church Historian Denied ID
Card,'' Compass Direct News, reprinted on the CAA Web site, 17 February
06.
\135\ U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom
Report--2007, China.
\136\ ``Head of Religious Association: Religious Adherents Not
Arrested Due to Their Faith,'' CECC Virtual Academy (Online), 26 June
06; ``Falun Gong Practitioners To Be Punished Under New Administration
Punishment Law,'' CECC China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update, May
2006, 6.
\137\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information.
\138\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information.
\139\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information.
\140\ See China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (Online),
``Demand Immediate Release of Beijing Human Rights Lawyer Gao
Zhisheng,'' 27 September 07. For more information about Gao's open
letter, which called on the Congress to take action against the Chinese
government's human rights abuses, see Human Rights Torch Relay
(Online), ``Gao Zhisheng's letter to the Senate and the Congress of the
United States,'' 12 September 07; Bill Gertz, ``Chinese dissident urges
boycott of Olympics,'' Washington Times (Online), 21 September 07.
\141\ ``Prominent Beijing Rights Defense Christian Lawyer Li Heping
Kidnapped and Tortured; Two Beijing Christian Activists Held Under
House Arrest,'' CAA; ``Amnesty International's Urgent Appeal for
Beijing Human Rights Lawyer Li Heping, Who Was Abducted and
Assaulted,'' Amnesty International, reprinted in CAA (Online), 4
October 07.
\142\ ``House Church Members Successfully Fight Detentions For
Unauthorized Worship,'' CECC Virtual Academy, 19 December 06; ``Court
Officials Refuse Falun Gong Practitioner's Appeal of RTL Sentence,''
CECC Virtual Academy, 3 November 06.
\143\ See the CECC Political Prisoner Database for more
information.
\144\ See, e.g., ``Dachang Demolishes Illegal Small Temple
According to Law'' [Dachang zhen yifa chaichu yichu feifa xiao miao],
Shanghai Baoshan Ethnicity and Religion Net (Online), 1 September 06;
Mianyang City Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs (Online), ``Govern
According to the Law for Good Results, Strength To Demolish `Illegal
Small Temples' Great,'' [Yifa zhili xiaoguo hao, chai ``feifa xiao
miao'' lidu da], 08 June 06.
\145\ See, e.g., ``Investigative Report on the Situation of
Unregistered Small Temples and Convents'' [Weijing zhengfu dengji de
xiao miao xiao an qingkuang de diaoyan baogao], Xiaogang Information
Net (sponsored by the Beilun District People's Government Xiaogang
Neighborhood Committee Office) (Online), 12 September 06; ``Some
Reflections on Rural Religious Work in a New Period'' [Xin shiqi nogcun
zongjiao gongzuo de jidian sikao], Yixing United Front Web Site
(Online), 13 June 05.
\146\ State Administration for Religious Affairs (Online), ``Forum
for Religious Personages Opens in Beijing at Second-year Anniversary of
the Implementation of the `Regulation on Religious Affairs'''
[``Zongjiao shiwu tiaoli'' shishi liang zhou nian zongjiaojie renshi
zuotanhui zai jing zhaokai], 3 March 07.
\147\ See, e.g., ``China Exclusive: China Supports Buddhism in
Building Harmonious World,'' Xinhua, 12 April 06 (Open Source Center,
12 April 06).
\148\ Jim Yardley, ``In Crackdown, China Shuts Buddhist Site and
Seizes Catholic Priests,'' New York Times, 19 August 04.
\149\ U.S. Department of State, International Religious Freedom
Report--2006, China.
\150\ Among provincial-level areas, the Heilongjiang Regulation on
the Management of Religious Affairs and Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region Implementing Measures for the Management of Venues for Religious
Activity recognize the Orthodox Church. Heilongjiang Regulation on the
Management of Religious Affairs [Heilongjiangsheng zongjiao shiwu
guanli tiaoli], issued 12 June 97, art. 2; Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region Implementing Measures for the Management of Venues for Religious
Activity [Nei menggu zizhiqu zongjiao huodong changsuo guanli shishi
banfa], issued 23 January 96, art. 2.
\151\ For more information see ``Religious Freedom for China's
Orthodox Christians'' in the CECC 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports.
\152\ In addition to work in these areas, it also oversees anti-
cult work and addresses ``foreign infiltration.'' The Web site of the
State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) includes a
description of this office but does not indicate when it was
established. The curriculum vitae for a SARA staff members notes he was
made head of this department in December 2004. The Hong Kong newspaper
Ta Kung Pao reported the establishment of this department in September
2005. Chan and Carlson write that authorities decided at a January 2004
conference to establish a SARA department focused on folk beliefs. Chan
and Carlson, 15-16. State Administration for Religious Affairs
(Online), ``Fourth Work Department'' [Yewu sisi], last visited 6
October 07; State Administration for Religious Affairs (Online), ``CV
of [SARA Official] Jiang Jianyong'' [Jiang Jianyong jianli], last
viewed 6 October 07. ``Religious Affairs Bureau Establishes Special
Department To Manage Folk Religions'' [Zongjiaoju she zhuansi guanli
minjian zongjiao], Ta Kung Pao (Online), 20 September 05.
\153\ Hunan Province Regulation on Religious Affairs, art. 48. See
also ``Chongqing Municipality and Hunan Province Issue New Religious
Regulations,'' CECC Virtual Academy (Online), 4 January 07. Some
localities outside Hunan province also regulate folk beliefs. See,
e.g., ``Xiamen Exchanges Experiences on Management of Venues for Folk
Beliefs'' [Xiamen jiaoliu minjian xinyang huodong changsuo guanli
jingyan], China Ethnicities News (Online), 6 February 07; ``Yanping
District, Jian'ou City Standardizes Financial Management of Venues for
Folk Beliefs,'' [Jian'ou shi yanping qu guifan minjian xinyang changsuo
caiwu guanli], China Ethnicities News (Online), 13 February 07.
\154\ ``Chongqing Municipality and Hunan Province Issue New
Religious Regulations,'' CECC Virtual Academy (Online), 4 January 07.
\155\ Hunan Provincial Religious Affairs Bureau (Online), ``State
Administration for Religious Affairs Comes To Hunan To Investigate and
Research Our Province's Present Conditions for Folk Beliefs and
Experimental Management Situation'' [Guojia zongjiaoju lai xiang
diaoyan wo sheng minjian xinyang xianzhuang he shidian guanli
qingkuang], last viewed 6 October 07 (posted on the Hunan Provincial
Religious Affairs Bureau Web site in 2007, in apparent reference to
events in August 2006). See also ``Popular Folk Beliefs and Religion''
[Minjian xinyang yu zongjiao], China Religion, September 2004
(indicating, within an official publication under SARA, some support
for protecting folk beliefs but also subjecting them to state control).
\156\ State Administration for Religious Affairs, ``Forum for
Religious Personages Opens in Beijing at Second-year Anniversary of the
Implementation of the Regulation on Religious Affairs;'' ``Some
Reflections on Rural Religious Work in a New Period,'' Yixing United
Front Web Site; U.S. Department of State, International Religious
Freedom Report--2006, China. Some activities related to
``superstitions'' or ``feudal superstitions'' are penalized under the
Criminal Law and administrative regulations. See, e.g., the PRC
Criminal Law, enacted 1 July 79, amended 14 March 97, art. 300, and the
PRC Public Security Administration Punishment Law, enacted 28 August
05, art. 27(1).