China boosts religious repression, arresting clergymen, removing crosses, cranking up sinicisation

Aug 15, 2023 by Dave Doveton

By Asia News, from Anglican Ink.

China has intensified its crackdown on the activities of religious groups in recent weeks, from pastoral outreach to religious services.

As part of this, crosses have been removed, members of the clergy arrested or held in administrative detention solely for practising their faith, and places of worship have been forced to support the campaign of “sinicisation” in accordance with the ideology of President Xi Jinping.

New legislation will soon come into effect with further restrictions. According to new rules taking effect on 1 September, monasteries, temples, mosques, churches, and other religious venues will come under tighter control. Ties with overseas organisations will be banned and religious groups will be required to impart patriotic education to their members.

Pastor arrested

A Chinese Christian blog has reported the arrest of Rev Park Guangzhe of the Christian New Life Church in Nanning, Guangxi, an autonomous region in southern China, on the border with Vietnam.

The clergyman was held for 15 days under an “administrative detention” order, after he was accused of using religion to “disturb the social order”.

The information comes from a rights advocacy group, which says that the order was issued by the Liangqing branch of the Nanning Public Security Office.

Wenzhou, crosses in the crosshairs

Meanwhile, authorities in Wenzhou, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern part of Zhejiang province, on the east coast of China, are set to remove crosses from the façades of churches, something they did in the past.

On 3 August, a church in Dongqiao was notified that its cross would be removed; church leaders responded by urging the faithful to pray against the removal.

A local clergyman told ChinaAid, on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, that a “demonic wind” might be rising gain, with the effect of “removing crosses”.

Local officials in Shanxi City, Yongjia County, and Lucheng District ordered the removal of bronze plaques from doors and walls bearing the words “Jesus”, “Christ”, “Jehovah”, and “Emmanuel”.

Read here.