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A Brief Historical and Legal Description of Religious Liberty
The People’s Republic of China, ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), joined the United Nations in 1945 and is a permanent member of the Security Council. With the Communist Revolution, the government increased religious persecution and demanded absolute loyalty to the state. Still, supporters of the CCP argue that it supports religious freedom. In 1945, Mao Zedong wrote:
According to the principle of freedom of religious belief, various religions should be permitted in the liberated areas of China . . . as long as the believers obey the laws of the people’s government, the people’s government will protect them.1While the government officially adheres to Mao’s view, it narrowly construes its definition of religious freedom so as to protect state security. It gives higher priority to maintaining public order and suppressing political opposition than to enforcing and abiding by legal norms.2
In 1949, the government forced all religious organizations to sever ties with international religious organizations and to “purge their churches of ‘foreign imperialist influences,’” a policy which endures today.3 The government’s current position is a moderation of its policy during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution when it forcibly suppressed all religious observances. During the late 1970’s, the government began to restore confiscated religious structures. Presently, the government claims to allow full freedom of religious belief.
However, it also asserts that religious belief is incompatible with Communism, and denies believers the ability to hold political office. As Chinese official Dawamat explains, “The fact that citizens have freedom of religious belief does not mean that members of the Communist Party and the Communist Youth League have this freedom as well . . . They must uphold and publicize atheism and cannot believe in theism.”4
The government also attempts to regulate all religious activities provincially through its Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB), with officially sanctioned religious organizations in each of the major religions. The government’s treatment of religious groups varies depending on whether the particular group has formally submitted to state regulation. The official religious organizations administer more than a dozen Catholic and Protestant seminaries, nine institutes to train Imams and Islamic scholars, and institutes to train Buddhist monks, but students who attend these schools must demonstrate “political reliability,” and all graduates must pass an examination on their theological and political knowledge to qualify for the clergy.5
Among the major religions, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Daoism are widely practiced, with Buddhism most popular.6 Buddhism has approximately 100 million adherents, a majority of which are from the dominant Han ethnic group, while others are Tibetan or Mongolian. Han Buddhists cooperate with the state, but because Buddhism and Tibetan nationalism are closely intertwined, Tibetan Buddhists often are antagonistic toward the state. The government does not tolerate religious manifestations that advocate Tibetan independence, and condemns the Dalai Lama’s political activities and his leadership of a “government in exile,” although it recognizes him as a major political figure.7 While the government continues to ameliorate damage to Tibet’s historic religious buildings,8 it has hampered the Tibetan practice of religion by imposing limits on religious education and on the number of monks in the religious community.9 There are 34,000 Buddhist monks and nuns in Tibet, a small number compared to traditional norms.10
China came into contact with Islam during the Mongol era. There are an estimated 17 million Muslims in China. Pursuant to unrest in Xinjiang in 1990, Chinese authorities restricted Muslim religious activity and teaching. Still, China allows Muslim citizens to make the Hajj to Mecca. An estimated 5,000 Muslims made the Hajj in 1992, more than in past years.11 Muslims are well represented in the political realm: about 2.8% of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are Muslim, exceeding the population proportion.12
There are widely varying estimates of the number of Christians in China. One government publication on religion estimates that China has over 6,000 Protestant churches and 4.5 million Protestants, and 3,000 cathedrals and 3.3 million Catholics.13 Another source cites the Communist leadership as estimating that China has over 8 million Christians who worship in over 8,000 churches and 25,000 home gatherings.14 In contrast, one reputable Christian missionary publication estimates that there are 58 million Protestants and 8.7 million Catholics in China.15 Using the limited statistical data available at the provincial and local level, a more recent survey commissioned by News Network International (NNI) determined that there may be no more than 30 million Protestant Christians in China, which falls short of estimates by ministries working in China which have at times reached as high as 100 million.16
The government requires that all churches belong either to the Catholic Patriotic Association or to the Three-Self Protestant Movement (TSPM). Because the Catholic Patriotic Association does not recognize the Vatican, Catholics who do so act illegally. The pro-Vatican Catholic community often suffers harassment from security officials for refusing to break allegiance with the Holy See.17 Among the Protestants, the TSPM is, according to the U.N., “attempting to amalgamate all existing denominations into one, without taking account of doctrinal differences.”18 Many house, or underground, Protestant churches exist despite the government’s ban. The U.N. reports that:
since 1992, the policy of repression pursued by the Chinese authorities against both Protestant and Catholic churches outside official structures is said to have taken on new dimensions, including the reassumption of sentencing by administrative decree, the transfer of prisoners from judicial to administrative detention, the repeated use of torture and the continual reaffirmation by the authorities of their determination to put an end to ‘illegal’ religious activities.19In April 1993, the official publication of the China Christian Council accused the RAB of “meddling in church affairs, by controlling the numbers of baptisms and requiring special religious identity cards,” asserting that such practices “violate the spirit of the government’s religious policy and accused local authorities of extorting money from believers.”20 In early 1993, a Chinese periodical cited government documents mandating that “members of the Catholic underground church ‘should be harassed by persistent arrests to keep them on tenderhooks.’” Chinese Study Journal confirmed allegations that the RAB encouraged Chinese officials to “act harshly to wipe out underground religious movements on the mainland.”21
Journalist Marco Restelli believes that government persecution is stronger against Christians than other religious groups because “Beijing sees the West and the Vatican with their powerful means of political pressure.”22 In short, the government perceives Christianity as a threat to state security. As News Network International reports, “the official position regarding ‘freedom of religious belief’ is only half of the truth.” In reality, believers are subject to “the arbitrary whims of local communist cadres.”23 Christian Solidarity International, in their map of “Suppression of Religious Liberty Around the World,” considers China to be a “frequent violat[or], sometimes serious, of basic religious liberties.”
Constitutional Provisions and Legislation Relating to Religion
The Chinese Constitution protects freedom of religion de jure. The government states that abuses of religious liberty occur only at local levels without official consent. The government’s position is that it “respects and protects the freedom of religious belief and takes this as a policy of fundamental importance.”24 The government constrains religious freedom by widely defining the interests of the state in protecting its security against religious activity. In 1993, a government leader stated: “activities making use of religion to endanger state security and undermine social order will never be tolerated.”25 Citizens must conduct “religious activities within the scope permitted by the Constitution, laws, regulations, and policies.”26 Provisions relating to freedom of religion are as follows:
Article 36 of the 1982 Constitution: Citizens of the PRC have the freedom to believe or not to believe in religion, and the freedom to propagate atheism.Article 51 of the 1982 Constitution: The exercise by citizens of the [PRC] of their freedoms and rights may not infringe upon the interests of the state, of society and of the collective, or upon the lawful freedom and rights of other citizens.
Document 19: This document represented the cornerstone of the CCP’s religious policy as part of Deng Xiaoping’s “open door” approach, prior to the Tiananmen massacre.27 It is a carefully- drafted document, with ambiguous wording in some sections, which supports the existence of religion within state-controlled parameters.28 The document generally eschews the violent suppression of religion displayed during the Cultural Revolution, and the reinstatement of a system of state control through the network of United Front, Religious Affairs Bureaus, and “patriotic” religious organizations.29 It further advocates education of party members regarding religion and the “importance of implementing the freedom of religion policy.” Although Document 19 ostensibly remains the foundation of the government’s religion policy, it has become increasingly apparent that the government now interprets it in light of the more recently enacted Document 6 (discussed below).
Document 44: Issued March 1988, it requires “all places of religious activities to be registered and under ‘management’ of the provincial Bureau of Religious Affairs.” This document regulates and restricts religious practices.
Document 6: Issued February 1991, it warns against religion for the purpose of “infiltration” and “peaceful revolution.” It expresses grave concern over the proliferation of “illegal” and “subversive” religious activities, particularly non-government-sanctioned seminaries, nunneries, and Bible schools, and house church evangelism. The document seeks to tighten state control over such activities, and to prevent overseas religious organizations from engaging in evangelism in any form. To that end, the document states that “[t]he public security department at all levels . . . must resolutely attack those counterrevolutionaries and others who make use of religion to carry out destructive activities.”30
Document 144: “Regulations for Religious Activities of Foreigners in China,” issued January 1994, allows foreigners who “enter China legally, are open in their being Christian and honest in their intentions.” The Document mandates that foreigners carrying out religious activities must obey government regulations: they cannot bring any religious literature or other materials in excess of what is necessary for their personal use, nor “recruit believers, form religious organizations, set up religious offices, establish places of religious activities, or found religious schools in China.”31 The document requires overseas Chinese persons with foreign citizenships, and those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, to abide by these regulations.
Document 145: “Regulations on Managing Premises for Religious Activities,” issued January 1994, aims “to protect normal religious activities and to safeguard the legal rights of places for religious activity.” While the Document expands the scope of legal church activity, permitting offerings and the selling of religious objects, it circumscribes activity by mandating that “[t]he management for these religious premises . . . require a permit which can be obtained by the religious organization through proper procedure according to government regulation.” Provincial authorities sometimes use Document 145 as a license to harass local congregations.32
Decree Number 145, “Registration Procedures for Venues for Religious Activities,” issued in May 1994 is intended to standardize requirements for religious registration, but it contains prejudicial elements. Article 2, Subsection 4 states that a religious group must have “professional clergy or persons who meet the requirements of the particular religious group conducting the religious services” to qualify for registration. Chinese churches have difficulty meeting this requirement because of the explosion of the house churches, leaving many Christians without legally trained leaders. Article 3, Subsection 3 mandates that “the opinion of the village People’s Government or of the city neighborhood committee” be consulted before granting registration. This requirement greatly limits the number of churches able to register because local officials, required under Chinese law to be atheists, are often hostile toward Christianity.33
“The Detailed Regulations on the Implementation of the State Security Law of the People’s Republic of China” took effect in July 1994. According to News Network International, the regulations define as “hostile” and “enemy” “any organization or unit that ‘regards with hostility the administration of the people’s democratic dictatorship as well as the socialist system.’” The regulations state, “‘hostile activities’ include ‘fabrication and distortion of facts, the publication and dissemination of words and opinion, and the production and broadcast of audio-visual material which endangers state security.’” The regulations warn Chinese not to engage in “hostile religious activity,” a clause open to interpretation by state security officials.34
The Prison Law, adopted by the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress in December 1994, outlines the appropriate treatment of prisoners, including the forbidding of torture and forced confessions.35
The Chinese Constitution was formulated to protect state interests from intrusion by individuals.36 However, the U.S. Department of State explains, “The Government interprets the Communist Party’s ‘leading role’ as circumscribing the various individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution.”37 Not only is the theoretical basis of the Constitution blatantly pro-state, but enforcement favors the state as well. Professor Christensen points out, “the fundamental human rights mentioned in the 1982 Constitution are not generally realized because that document is not enforceable against the government.”38
Provincial authorities often erroneously charge religious leaders with crimes such as accepting foreign funds or not registering correctly with state authorities. Conviction rates hover around 99%. China’s Criminal Procedure Law prohibits “arbitrary arrest or detention, limits the time a person may be held in custody without being charged, and requires officials to notify the detainee’s family and work unit of the detention within 24 hours.” However, “limits on detention are frequently ignored in practice or circumvented by various informal mechanisms.” Although detainees may challenge government actions under the Administrative Procedures Law, the remedy is neither “adequate [n]or timely.”39 Regulations passed by the Chinese Parliament in May 1994 allow Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials to “arbitrarily imprison ‘troublemakers’ for up to 15 days, where there is insufficient evidence for court action.” The new regulations allow the PSB to arrest members of unregistered associations, an accusation often made against church members.40
While the government officially respects its citizens’ freedom of religion, the state circumscribes that freedom both theoretically and practically. The Party utilizes its role to protect the state against the intrusion of individual interests, enforcing religious policy through a bureau staffed by nonreligious persons often hostile to religious activity.
Recent Reported Cases of Religious Intolerance
Although China officially supports religious freedom, the government detained several hundred religious persons, mostly Christians but also Buddhists and Muslims, from the provinces of Henan, Anhui and Shaanxi, in 1993 alone.41 The government, if it offers charges at the time of arrest, commonly accuses religious persons of illegally receiving foreign funds, conspiring to overthrow the Chinese government and refusing to register churches pursuant to law. Listed below are a few of the most blatant, recent abridgments of religious freedom.
ONE CAVEAT. In addition to formal judicial sentencing, the government assigns persons accused of minor public order and counterrevolutionary offenses (often the accusation made against religious persons) to “reeducation through labor” camps in an extrajudicial process. In 1990, Chinese officials reported that 869,934 Chinese citizens had been assigned to these camps since 1980. By late 1993, officials said that 153,000 prisoners were undergoing “reeducation through labor.”42 The government has the authority to hold detainees indefinitely without charge.
ABORTION. Pursuant to Chinese population control policy, Chinese with more than one child are forced to abort. The policy is not uniformly enforced; urban Han Chinese are most affected. The U.S. Department of State reports that “[p]hysical compulsion to submit to abortion or sterilization is not authorized, but Chinese officials acknowledge privately that there are still instances of forced abortions and sterilizations in remote, rural areas.”43 For example, in two remote villages in Hebei Province, Catholics are being persecuted so brutally for breaching the government’s “one child” birth control policy, that they are fleeing their homes to escape torture, according to Catholic sources in the region.44 This is in spite of the fact that the Catholic faith forbids the use of artificial birth control methods. In fact, the policy conflicts with the religious beliefs of many Chinese Christians.
In June 1995, a law on maternal and infant health took effect, requiring physicians to give “medical opinions on terminating the pregnancy” in cases where a defect is suspected in the fetus.45
RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES CIRCUMSCRIBED. In April 1995, PSB officials raided a building in Zhongxiang in Hubei Province where a group of Protestants were holding a theological training class for new pastors, and arrested 67 house church Christians and at least three overseas Chinese Christians. During interrogations, PSB kicked and badly beat several members of the group, and shaved the heads of the detainees upon their arrival at the detention center.46
Also in April 1995, PSB officials raided an unregistered house church meeting in Changzhi, arresting the entire assembly, including a Taiwanese Christian.47
In February 1995, police in Jiangsu Province raided an unregistered house church meeting of 500 members, arresting nine church workers and physically assaulting numerous members in the process.48
In July 1994, seven house church leaders from the Henan Province were forced to flee from their homes, fearing detainment by PSB officials. The government asserts that the seven men are responsible for the increased number of itinerant evangelists in China. Government policy mandates that “only designated registered church personnel may preach at a designated registered religious venue at a designated time.”49 Also in July, police arrested two traveling evangelists and a church leader after raiding the church building in which the evangelists were residing. In May 1994, PSB officials arrested and deported a Taiwanese preacher accused of “seriously affecting the social order and normal religious activities.”50
In September 1993, police raided two unregistered churches in Guangzhou, arresting church leaders, questioning them, and charging them with holding “‘illegal’ religious meetings.”51 In August 1993, state security officials forced a house church in Kunming to close, threatening the owner of the building where meetings were conducted.52
In March 1993, police arrested and tortured five Protestants during a worship service in a home church, causing one death. Although the police stated no reason for their actions at the time of the incident, they later asserted that the five were suspected of involvement with foreigners. The accusations were unproven. Officials later lied about the incident, stating that locals beat the Christians. Officials arrested 90 Christians in May to suppress news of the incident, releasing all but two by June. After news of the death became public in September, police arrested 25 Christians to find out who leaked the information.53
In September 1992, security officers broke up an “illegal” theological training seminar for church leaders, arresting 120 Christians and three foreign visitors. The government abused the prisoners psychologically and physically, releasing them by mid-December.54
In June 1992, the government conducted a raid on a Protestant house church of more than 100 Christians, arresting twelve church leaders and laymen. Eyewitnesses reported that PSB personnel sealed the exits to the house and beat those inside with electric batons. Those arrested were beaten severely; the government released seven after a few weeks, but detained others until August when they were placed under house arrest.55
Early in 1992, the police arrested over 30 members of the “New Birth” Christian Church in three provinces. Later, twenty were sentenced to three years “re-education through labour.”56 About 160 other Christians were arrested in other provinces. In September 1992, another 160 Christians were reportedly arrested in the Henan Province.57
In December 1991, Guangzhou authorities threatened to close the house church of the well-known Reverend Lamb, asserting that he had not registered his church. Lamb refused to register, but argued that the government does not have the right to close his church because it had not committed any anti-governmental activities. He stated, “I told them we didn’t demonstrate [on June 4, 1989], even though [Bishop] Ding Guangxun [head of the official Protestant church] supported the student demonstration. . . . Even the Government’s White Paper on Human Rights says house churches are legal.”58 The authorities, finding nothing incriminating in Lamb’s home, proceeded to harass church members. “But nobody listened. Our congregation has grown from about 900 before the raid to about 1,100 every week now,” Lamb stated.59
In October 1991, public security forces in Shanghai arrested five Chinese Jehovah’s Witnesses and expelled an Australian businessman who read the Bible secretly with them.60
RELIGIOUS PERSONS HARASSED, ARRESTED OR DETAINED In April 1995, PSB officials arrested and beat an itinerant evangelist, Li Dexian from Guangzhou for the fourth time in four months. Previously, Li had sustained fractures to several ribs and injuries to his back, legs and neck as a result of severe beatings by PSB officials using iron rods. During Li’s latest arrest and detention, he was warned again not to resume services at an unregistered house church in Beixing.61
Also in April 1995, PSB officials in the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province arrested and detained a senior house church leader, accusing him of conducting illegal itinerant religious activities throughout the province and inviting foreign Christians to Wenzhou without permission. The PSB released five other church workers upon their payment of heavy fines. During interrogations, the workers suffered beatings in an effort to make them “confess” to connections with overseas religious organizations.62
In March 1995, PSB officials in Guangdon arrested and briefly detained two Chinese itinerant evangelists, an Australian missionary, and a Hong Kong Chinese church worker, following a raid on an unregistered house church. The owner of the house was also arrested and held in police custody. The PSB agents also beat the two evangelists, Li and Yao. This was the third time in three months that authorities had raided the house church.63
In February 1995, PSB officials assaulted three Christians participating in a house church meeting in the city of Huadu. During the incident, PSB officials also burned several Bibles and confiscated chairs, a motorcycle and a television.
In January 1995, PSB officials arrested a 45-year-old itinerant evangelist in the city of Fengcheng in the Henan Province. The evangelist remains in custody and faces an extended sentence for “illegal” religious activities.64
In December 1994, TSPM and PSB officials forced Reverend Yang Yudong, the 73-year-old senior pastor of Beijing’s Gangwashi TSPM Church, from the pulpit, stripped him of his position, and replaced him with a former head of the Beijing TSPM. Congregation members have rejected this move and have threatened to begin worshipping in private homes and halls unless the Beijing TSPM negotiates a compromise. They assert that the replacement pastor is not theologically trained for the position and was involved in corruption during his tenure as head of the Beijing TSPM.65
In July 1994, police arrested a well-known member of a TSPM church in Beijing “for allegedly associating with independent trade union dissidents.” The Christian had already served two years in a labor camp as punishment for carrying a six-foot wooden cross through Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests.66
In April 1994, police in Shenyang arrested two Protestant pastors of state-approved churches, charging them with financial mismanagement. Although the accusations were dropped, the government posted policemen in the church, preventing members from worshiping there. The government now asserts that one of the pastors was a spy for the Guomindang nationalists.67
As of December 1993, police were looking for an “underground Christian preacher after arresting and sentencing six others to one to three years ‘re-education through labour.’ According to copies of a verdict smuggled out of China, three of those arrested were accused of listening to a ‘Hong Kong gospel radio broadcast’ and accepting Bibles from overseas.”68
In November 1993, police arrested four unregistered house church preachers in Anhui, sentencing them to two and three year sentences in a labor camp. The preachers were arrested for “refus[ing] to pay graft to local Public Security Authorities for holding ‘illegal meetings.’”69
In the summer of 1993, police arrested three preachers from the North Anhui Province, charging that they conspired to proclaim that the tribulation was coming (causing believers to stop participating in Production), listened to Hong Kong radio broadcasts, and received overseas translations of the Bible. Sources deny the allegations. The government arrested five more in July and sentenced the eight to “re-education through labour.”70
VATICAN LOYALISTS. During 1990 and 1991, the government arrested over 100 Roman Catholic clergy who were Vatican loyalists. Although most were detained for short periods, several dozen remained in prison two years later, some without charge or trial.71 One province has ordered long-term activists to attend “political study” and “re-education seminars.”72 In November 1993, the government announced the release of two detained bishops who served three-year sentences in administrative detention.73 According to News Network International, the bishops “are the last of the ‘underground’ bishops detained for their pro-Vatican stands.” Various human rights groups assert that over “50 Catholic priests, nuns and layworkers remain in detention throughout China.”74 In November 1992, a Hebia bishop died while serving a sentence in administrative detention, reportedly after being tortured.75 In June 1994, a Tibetan nun died in a prison hospital as a result of a beating by guards.76
Since August 1994, at least eighteen Roman Catholic clerics and parishioners, including a 75-year-old bishop, have been arrested and detained for “illegal” religious activities. These include ten Roman Catholic “underground” leaders arrested during a violent raid involving several thousand police officers during an annual Assumption Day prayer service attended by at least 1,000 Catholics.77
More recently, in April 1995, PSB officials detained at least 17 Roman Catholics in Jianxi Province after arresting them for allegedly organizing an “illegal” Easter Sunday mass that was attended by approximately 20,000 worshippers. PSB officials repeatedly beat many of the detained Catholics, including two women, to the point that they could no longer feed themselves.78
Twice in 1994, the government detained China’s most senior “underground” Roman Catholic leader, Julius Jia Zhiguo. During Jia’s confinement, RAB officials allegedly offered him a “three point agenda”: first, Jia could direct national Catholic affairs if he brought the “underground” Catholic community to the surface; second, Jia would agree to allow the government, and not the Vatican, to supervise Catholics in China; and third, Jia could continue to oppose the Catholic Patriotic Association if he would recognize the government-sponsored Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference. Jia reportedly declined.79
CENSORSHIP OF RELIGIOUS MATERIAL/FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. The Chinese government follows a strict policy of censorship of religious material. In December 1993, the State Education Commission (SEC) forbid Chinese university students to observe Christmas, terming the celebration a “Western cultural influence.” The SEC also forbid observation of Easter and all other Western holidays.80
The government supervises the publication of all religious material. It does not allow religious books to be sold in ordinary bookstores. Though there have been over 9 million Bibles printed in China in Chinese and in seven ethnic minority languages (with ethnic minority Bibles accounting for less than one million) since 1980,81 many complain that the number of Bibles and other religious materials available are inadequate.82 In April 1992, 30 police officers in the province of Guangzhou reportedly seized approximately 3,000 Bibles.83 Also in 1992, authorities searched the home of a printer in Wenzhou, confiscating hymnals and New Testament concordances.84
ENDNOTES
1 Luo Zhufeng, ed., Religion under Socialism in China, trans. Donald E. MacInnis and Zheng Zi’an (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1991): 136, quoted from The Selected Works of Mao Zedong, 1093.2 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1994 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1995): 556.
3 Puebla Institute, China: Religious Freedom Denied, History of Religious Repression in the PRC, 11.
4 “Dawamat Prefaces Textbook on Atheism.” (FBIS-CHI-91-247, 24 December 1991).
5 U.S. Department of State (1994): 563.
6 Edward H. Lawson, ed., Encyclopedia of Human Rights (New York: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1991): 180.
7 U.S. Department of State (1994): 572. See Foster Stockwell, Religion in China Today (Beijing: New World Press, 1993), 7-8 (Government-authorized book alleges that both the government and Chinese Buddhists agree that “the Dalai Lama’s aims are political and not religious”).
8 ibid.
9 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1994): 611.
10 ibid, 572-73.
11 U.S. Department of State (1993): 612.
12 “Association Head on Religion, Rights.” (FBIS-CHI-91-236, 9 December 1991):28.
13 China’s Religion and Religious Policy (Beijing: New Star Publishers, 1992): 12-13.
14 “Counting China’s Christians.” Christianity Today Vol. 37, No. 7 (June 21, 1993): 60.
15 ibid, citing Patrick Johnstone, Operation World (5th ed., prepublication figures).
16 Andrew Wark, “Research Does Not Support Claims of 50 Million Plus Christians.” News Network International (September 19, 1994): 4.
17 Andrew Wark, “Catholics Detained in Jiangxi for Conducting Easter Service.” News Network International (May 5, 1995): 5.
18 25 November 1993 “Letter from the Special Rapporteur to the Government of China,” in United Nations: Economic and Social Council, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, E/CN.4/1994/79 (20 January 1994): 38.
19 ibid, 39.
20 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (March 26, 1993): 5.
21 ibid.
22 Marco Restelli, World Press Review (May 14, 1994).
23 Anthony P.B. Lambert, “House Churches Say 1994 Regulations Increase Pressure.” News Network International (September 7, 1994): 35.
24 “Official Discusses Religious Freedom in Tibet.” (FBIS-CHI-93-039, 2 March 1993): 18-21. Interview with Li Yan by staff reporter Lin Qiang, “No Religious Freedom for Tibetans?” 5th installment of interview.
25 “Article Disputes Reported Religious Persecution in Henan.” (FBIS-CHI-93-158, 18 August 1993): 9-10.
26 “Jiang Chunyun Attends Religious Leaders’ Forum.” (FBIS-CHI-92-022, 3 February 1992): 8.
27 Anthony P. B. Lambert, “Post-Tiananmen Chinese Communist Party Religious Policy.” Religion, State and Society, Vol. 20, Nos. 3-4 (1992): 392-93.
28 ibid.
29 ibid.
30 “China.” Human Rights Watch World Report 1992 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1991): 373.
31 “Document 144: Regulations for Religious Activities of Foreigners within Borders of the PRC,” Presbyterian Church in America (U.S.A.), trans. Jeannette Woo, (January 31, 1994).
32 “Document #145: Regulations on Managing Premises for Religious Activities,” Presbyterian Church in America (U.S.A.), trans. Jeannette Woo (January 31, 1994).
33 Andrew Wark, “Authorities Outline Procedures for House Church Registration.” News Network International (July 6, 1994): 37-38.
34 Andrew Wark, “New Security Regulations Target ‘Hostile Activities.’” News Network International (July 26, 1994): 17.
35 Tao-Tai Hsia & Constance A. Johnson, Constitutions of the Countries of the World (People’s Republic of China Supplement) (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, 1995): ix.
36 David E. Christensen, “Breaking the Deadlock: Toward A Socialist-Confucianist Concept of Human Rights for China.” Michigan Journal of International Law (Winter 1992): 474-475.
37 U.S. Department of State (1993): 610.
38 Christensen, 476.
39 U.S. Department of State (1993): 606-607.
40 Andrew Wark, “New Security Regulations Target ‘Hostile Activities,’” 18.
41 Asia Watch: A Division of Human Rights Watch, Detained in China and Tibet: A Directory of Political and Religious Prisoners (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1994): 52.
42 U.S. Department of State (1994): 560.
43 U.S. Department of State (1993): 609.
44 Andrew Wark, “Catholic Villages Face Persecution in One-Child Campaign.” News Network International (February 24, 1995): 16.
45 Hsia & Johnson, ix.
46 Andrew Wark, “Security Officials Raid Church Training Class in Hubei.” News Network International (May 5, 1995): 9-10.
47 Andrew Wark, “Police Raid Shangxi House Church Meeting.” News Network International (May 5, 1995): 6-7.
48 Andrew Wark, “Police Raid Jiangsu House Church.” News Network International (March 13, 1995): 33-34.
49 Andrew Wark, “Fangcheng House Church Leaders Flee City.” News Network International (August 17, 1994): 14.
50 Andrew Wark, “Shanghai Police Deport Taiwanese Preacher.” News Network International (June 14, 1994): 32.
51 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (October 26, 1993): 1.
52 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (October 4, 1993): 3.
53 Asia Watch, 2-3.
54 Amnesty International, “CHINA: Update on Torture” (London: Amnesty International Publications, March 1993): 8.
55 “China.” Human Rights Watch World Report: 1993 (New York: Human Rights Watch, Inc., 1993): 162-163.
56 Amnesty International Report: 1993 (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1993): 94.
57 ibid.
58 “Guangzhou Threatens To Close Christian Church.” (FBIS-CHI-91, 31 December 1991): 41.
59 ibid.
60 “China.” Human Rights Watch World Report 1992, 374.
61 Andrew Wark, “Evangelist Briefly Detained for Fourth Time in Four Months.” News Network International (May 19, 1995): 22.
62 Andrew Wark, “Senior House Church Leader Arrested in Zhejiang Province.” News Network International (April 21, 1995): 18-19.
63 Andrew Wark, “Five Christians Arrested, Detained After House Church Raid.” News Network International (March 24, 1995): 4.
64 Andrew Wark, “Henan Itinerant Evangelist May Face Prison Sentence.” News Network International (March 13, 1995): 35.
65 Andrew Wark, “Beijing Pastor Forced From Pulpit, Stripped of Position.” News Network International (December 21, 1994): 18-19.
66 Andrew Wark, “Christian Arrested for Association with Union Movement.” News Network International (August 17, 1994): 24.
67 Andrew Wark, “Pastors Arrested Amid Shenyang Church Financial Scandal.” News Network International (June 14, 1994): 39-41.
68 Daniel Kwan, “Police Launch Crackdown on Christians in Anhui.” (FBIS-CHI-93-234, 8 December 93): 17.
69 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (November 24, 1993): 4.
70 Detained in China and Tibet: A Directory of Political and Religious Prisoners, 3.
71 Amnesty International Report: 1993, 89.
72 Amnesty International, “Religious victims of human rights violations,” (January 1993): 4.
73 U.S. Department of State (1993): 604.
74 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (December 21, 1993): 6.
75 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (April 26, 1993): 2.
76 U.S. Department of State (1994): 556.
77 Andrew Wark, “Persecution of Pro-Vatican Catholics Continues.” News Network International (December 8, 1995): 25-26.
78 Andrew Wark, “Catholics Detained in Jiangxi for Conducting Easter Service.” News Network International (May 5, 1995): 5.
79 Andrew Wark, “Senior Catholic Bishop, Priest Released From Detention.” News Network International (September 19, 1994): 14-15.
80 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (December 21, 1993): 2.
81 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “Basic Facts on China” (June 15, 1994): 4.
82 U.S. Department of State (1993): 611.
83 25 November 1993 “Letter from the Special Rapporteur to the Government of China,” 40.
84 “China.” News Network International: Special Edition (March 26, 1993): 4.
Other Sources:
January 19, 1993: Letter from J. Stapleton Roy, Ambassador, United States Embassy, Beijing, China.
Source: Handbook on Religious Liberty Around the World, Pedro C. Moreno, Editor. Charlottesville, VA: The Rutherford Institute. This report is reprinted here by special arrangement with the Rutherford Institute and may not be reproduced or mirrored on another webside without written permission of the Rutherford Institute.
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