China never misses an opportunity to crack down on Religion

China never misses an opportunity to crack down on Religion

Religious freedom in China is in a state of peril. The primary reason is that Chinese authorities never miss any opportunity to crack down on religion. Over the past year alone, China has detained Muslim for showing their faith, forced Buddhists to pledge allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, and coerced Christian churches to take down their crosses or shut down.

Following are some of the noteworthy examples:

Recently, the government-controlled China Buddhist Association of Yunfu, in Guangdong province, issued a “Notice on the Boycott of Illegal Missionary Activities of Tibetan Buddhist Monks.” 

The Notice claimed the following:

1. In recent years, the illegal mission of Tibetan Buddhist monks to the mainland has become more and more serious, which has seriously impacted the spread of Mahayana Buddhism, the righteousness of Buddhism and Chan Buddhism, and seriously affected the interests of believers, property safety, family safety and social harmony.
2. Some unscrupulous people pretend to be living Buddhas to give initiations to impart the Dharma and release believers, and fraudulently obtain money and sex.
3. Buddhist monks are accused of engaging in various behaviors that violate national laws and regulations, and even supporting separatist activities(it is pointing to His Highness DalaiLama), which has become a major hidden danger to social stability and harmony.”
4. It is illegal for Tibetan Buddhist monks to leave the Tibetan area to teach Buddhism and accept followers and support without state approval.
5. State-controlled China Buddhist Association “requires all Buddhist associations, monasteries and other places of religious activity in the city to resolutely boycott Tibetan Buddhism. The monks came to our city to teach the Dharma illegally.”
6. Guangdong Buddhists loyal to the CCP-controlled association to “immediately report to the local religious departments and public security organs” the presence of Tibetan monks.

One may wonder why all such stringent restrictions on the serene community of the Tibetan Monks. The reason is that Buddhist devotees are increasingly disappointed with the China Buddhist Association, whose temples are becoming propaganda centers for the CCP. Therefore, they invite independent Buddhist teachers to teach Buddhism. It is creating an independent Buddhism outside the command of the CCP, something the CCP and the China Buddhist Association cannot endure.

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Yet another case of crackdown took place recently in July. A woman left memorial tablets of Japanese war criminals in the Nanjing shrine. China seized the opportunity to promote a nationwide crackdown on Buddhist temples.

On 21st July 2022, a Chinese citizen on Weibo posted pictures taken at the Xuanzang Buddhist temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The images depicted four memorial tablets of Japanese war criminals responsible for the killings in Nanjing in 1937.

The timing of the post was, however, dubious. The Xuanzang Temple confirmed that, in February, somebody noticed the tablets and complained to the monks, who immediately removed them. However, the images were posted in July when anti-Japanese sentiments in China were at their peak following the death of Shinzo Abe. 

On 22st July 2022, the police raided the temple and temporarily closed it. The Abbott was dismissed from his duties, and the director of the Ethnic and religious affairs bureau of Nanjing’s Xuanwu district was fired. People on social media supported the restrictions on the Buddhist temples in China.

On 26th July, the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA) issued a national directive claiming that all government-controlled religions should “learn the lesson” of the Xuanzang Temple incident. 

All localities to increase the supervision and inspection of religious activity sites, religious schools, and religious groups, guide religious groups to improve their rules and regulations, support religious circles in comprehensively and strictly administering religion, and effectively improve the level of self-education, self-management, and self-discipline.

SARA National Directive

The directive further added:

Strengthen the ideological guidance of the religious circles, guide the religious circles to continue to carry out patriotism, collectivism, and socialism education, deepen the study of the history of the Party, the history of new China, the history of reform and opening up, and the history of socialist development.

Guide the religious circles and believers to practice and implement the core socialist values, earnestly enhance the national awareness, civic awareness, and awareness of the rule of law among religious people, ensure that they are always clear-headed on issues of right and wrong and principles, resolutely prevent such problems from occurring, and effectively maintain harmony and stability in the religious field.”.

SARA National Directive

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This is not the first time Tibetan Buddhism is facing this crackdown. Read about the history of crackdowns on the Tibetan Buddhism here.

China has never missed any opportunity to crackdown on Christianity as well. In 2020, The Chinese government forcefully removed more than two thousand crosses from churches across China as part of a government campaign to regulate “excessive religious sites”. The campaign was aimed at eradicating the Christian landscape and its symbols from China.

In recent years, China has witnessed a spike in state repression against house churches and state-sanctioned Christian organizations, including campaigns to remove hundreds of rooftop crosses from churches, forced obliteration of churches, and harassment and detention of Christian pastors and priests.

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Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution states that citizens “enjoy the freedom of religious belief.” It bans discrimination based on religion and prohibits state organs, public organizations, or individuals from compelling citizens to believe in—or not believe in—any particular faith. 

The authorities should implement Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution in letter and spirit so that all communities can live peacefully in China without any fear of crackdowns.

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Hwa-Young compiled and curated this report
Hwa-Young (South Asia Analyst of Ij-reportika)

Sources

• https://bitterwinter.org/crackdown-on-tibetan-buddhism-in-guangdong/
• https://bitterwinter.org/the-xuanzang-temple-incident/
• https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/120418_Busby_Testimony.pdf
• https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uyghurs-xinjiang
• https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/skirts-cut-07162018151636.html