‘Sinicization’: A New Ideological Robe for Religion in China

Feb 1, 2021 by

by Tom Harvey, Oxford House Reasearch:

In the history of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Xi Jinping (b. 1953) is the first paramount leader on record to give prominence to religion in word and policy. In a watershed speech given in May 2016, President Xi called for the ‘sinicization’ of religion in China led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to ‘guide that adaptation of religions to China’s socialist society.’ This was followed up in 2018 by the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) that approved the bureaucratic, ideological, and legal structures of ‘sinicization’ that subsequently came into force on 1 February 2020.

The term ‘religious sinicization’ (宗教中国化 zong jiao zhong guo hua) most often refers to the indigenisation of religious faith, practice, and ritual in Chinese culture and society. For President Xi, ‘religious sinicization’ is primarily political and ideological. As government policy, it puts in place three CCP priorities for the monitoring and management of religion in China. Bureaucratically, it streamlines government oversight of religion. Ideologically it seeks to revive the sway of Party ideology over religious belief and practice. Legally, it provides the juridical framework to monitor and control the growth of religion and its influence in China.

Church of the Saviour, Beijing
(By ZhengZhou – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Administratively, the United Front Work Department (UFWD) is now responsible to monitor and control all official religious activity in China. This bureaucratic realignment allows the UFWD to ‘localize’ religion. Accordingly, the religious policy of the central government is enforced by the UFWD nationally and locally. This streamlines the monitoring and control of religion even as it allows the UFWD to short-circuit any international institutional or financial ties to foreign entities. It replaces the cumbersome, confusing and overlapping bureaucratic agencies once tasked with monitoring and regulating religion in China. Thus, for Protestant Christianity, the former muddle of multiple government and quasi-government agencies such as the China Christian Council, the Three-Self Patriotic Association, Religious Affairs Bureau, and the State Administration of Religious Affairs have relinquished their former administrative powers which are now consolidated in the UFWD.

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