Overview

China's Constitution guarantees protection of "normal religious activity."(121) Despite this guarantee, the state's requirement that religion be congruent with patriotism has led to widespread repression of religion. In Tibetan and Uighur areas, where separatist sentiment often is interwoven with religious conviction, state repression of religion is particularly harsh. Chinese authorities do not clearly distinguish between the peaceful expression of separatist sentiment and terrorism, creating additional pressures on religious practices that do not embrace Chinese nationalism.

The Chinese government allows religious practitioners to meet only in government-approved mosques, churches, monasteries, and temples. Authorities oversee the selection of religious leaders and monitor religious education. The Chinese government often labels unregistered religious groups and movements as "cults," and those who engage in such activities can be arrested on charges of "disturbing social order." In many cases, local authorities enforce regulations that are more restrictive than those enforced at the national level. Nevertheless, despite the risks, a growing number of religious practitioners choose to worship outside the government-controlled religious framework.

Religious freedom in China was a central topic during discussions between President George W. Bush and then-President of China Jiang Zemin in Crawford, Texas in October 2002. Following that meeting, President Bush told reporters that he had reminded President Jiang of "the importance of China freeing prisoners of conscience" and "giving fair treatment to peoples of faith." President Bush also raised "the importance of respecting human rights in Tibet and encouraged more dialogue with Tibetan leaders."(122) In March, the U.S. State Department included China on a list of six countries of particular concern for severe violations of religious freedom,(123) a finding supported by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.(124)

Religious Freedom for China's Protestant Christians

Over the past year, human rights groups have reported the arrest or detention of scores of house church participants across China. In June, Human Rights in China (HRIC), a U.S. human rights NGO, reported the arrest of 12 members of a house church in Funing County, Yunnan Province.(125) According to the report, eight face imprisonment on charges of "engaging in feudalistic superstition." HRIC called the police action in Funing and other towns in Yunnan "the most wide-scale crackdown on house churches carried out in China this year."(126)

Relatives of Pastor Gong Shengliang received information in May 2003 from a source inside Hubei Province's Jinzhou prison that the founder of the outlawed South China Church is suffering from serious medical problems. The Chinese government has denied these reports. Mr. Gong is serving a life sentence on charges of establishing a cult organization, raping women, and violating social order. His supporters dispute these charges. Mr. Gong was given a death sentence in 2001, but after an international outcry, his punishment was reduced to life in prison. The South China Church numbers some 50,000 members in Hubei and other provinces.(127)

China's State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), the government entity that regulates religion, recently estimated that China now has 25 million Protestants.128 But Western researchers estimate that 50 million or more Protestants worship in unauthorized churches.(129)

Religious Freedom for China's Catholics and China-Holy See Relations

The Vatican has reported no progress over the past year in efforts to normalize relations with Beijing. According to a June 2003 report by the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, described relations between the Holy See and China as being "at a standstill." He said, "the Christian community in China lives in the midst of difficulties - one goes into prison, another comes out," but "the seminaries are full."(130)

China broke diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1951, but Vatican contacts with China continued until the late 1950s. For some years before 2000, the Holy See engaged in indirect but steady contacts with China. However, relations soured in 2000, after China hastily ordained five bishops in Beijing without papal approval. China ended all dialogue with the Holy See after Pope John Paul canonized 120 Chinese martyrs on China's National Day, October 1, 2000.

ZENIT, a private Catholic news agency, reported in May 2003 that Chinese authorities had promulgated three official documents that formalize stricter control over the lives of Catholics throughout China.(131) The Vatican says the rules contained in the documents aim to increase the government-run Catholic Patriotic Association's control over the Chinese Catholic Church. According to ZENIT, Ye Xiaowen, director of the SARA, justified the three documents by saying that they "filled the void" in the "democratic" management of the Church. The Vatican has warned that the new rules might trigger "a new wave of persecutions."(132)

Catholics in China number about 12 million, though the government only recognizes 4 million to 5 million. There are 117 Catholic bishops, only 70 of whom are recognized by state authorities. The government recognizes 2,600 priests. Another 1,000 are not recognized. Bishops associated with the Catholic Patriotic Association have ordained 1,500 priests over the past 20 years.(133)

In February 2003, the Cardinal Kung Foundation, a U.S. NGO, published a list of two bishops and nine priests of the Baoding Diocese who are either missing or detained, including Bishop James Su Zhimin, 70, who local security authorities reportedly arrested in October 1997. Nationwide, the Vatican says that more than 50 underground Chinese Catholic bishops or priests have been detained or live under house arrest or police surveillance. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Randall G. Schriver testified before a Commission Hearing in July 2003 that the U.S. government is concerned about the cases of Bishop Su and other Chinese Catholic leaders. "We continue to urge the Chinese government to release these detainees, and to resume its dialogue with the Vatican, in hopes that China will acknowledge Rome's unique role in the spiritual lives of all Catholics around the world, including in China."(134)

Religious Freedom for Tibetan Buddhists

In Tibetan areas, numerous official controls continue to limit the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Authorities often characterize the religion as backward and its practice as a burden on society. Chinese authorities argue that the Dalai Lama is a hostile political figure, not a legitimate religious leader, and that programs counteracting veneration of him do not violate religious freedom. Chinese authorities attempt systematically to repress Tibetan devotion to the Dalai Lama, with little success. Police confiscate printed, audio, and video material featuring the Dalai Lama's religious teachings and speeches, and those possessing such material sometimes face abusive treatment, including beating and detention.

Political education sessions require that monks and nuns denounce the Dalai Lama and Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1995 as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second-ranking spiritual leader. Chinese authorities took the boy, then age six, and his parents into custody in 1995 and installed another boy, Gyaltsen Norbu, as the reincarnated Panchen Lama several months later. Gedun Choekyi Nyima and his parents have been held incommunicado since that time. Chinese authorities report that the boy is living a "normal" life, but Chinese authorities have refused requests to allow independent observers to verify this claim. The U.S. government has repeatedly urged China to end restrictions on Gedun Choekyi Nyima and his family, and to allow international representatives to visit them. Meanwhile, Gyaltsen Norbu's appointment continues to stir widespread resentment among Tibetans. His visits to important religious sites such as Tashilhunpo Monastery in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the historic seat of the Panchen Lamas, and Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai Province, are infrequent, brief, and conducted under tight security.(135)

Authorities have intensified a crackdown on religious activity and association in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. A Commission topic paper released in February 2003 discussed the case of Tenzin Deleg, a Buddhist teacher who was sentenced to death with a 2-year suspension for conspiracy in a series of explosions in Chengdu that resulted in one death.(136) He has consistently denied involvement, and Chinese authorities have not made public any evidence linking him to the blasts. Tibetan reports reaching the West say he was singled out for persecution because of his stature in the local community and his devotion to the Dalai Lama. Lobsang Dondrub was executed in January for his alleged involvement in the explosions. In February 2002, a prayer ceremony in a residential courtyard in Kardze County for the long life of the Dalai Lama resulted in a wave of detentions, with at least seven sentenced to administrative detention. In addition, Sonam Phuntsog, another influential Buddhist teacher, was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 5 years in prison for allegedly advocating separatism.(137) No details about evidence or charges against him have been made public by Chinese authorities.

Religious Freedom for Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang

According to official estimates, China had some 20 million Muslims, 35,000 registered places of Islamic worship, and over 45,000 imams across China in 2002.138 The Chinese government takes some measures to show consideration for the religious beliefs and associated cultural practices of China's Muslims. Most notably, the government permits and sometimes subsidizes Muslims to make the Hajj to Mecca. According to official Chinese figures, 5,000 Chinese Muslims made the Hajj in 1998. In the subsequent 5 years, however, independent reports estimated that far fewer Chinese Muslims made the Hajj. The China Islamic Association reports that 2,000 Chinese Muslims took part in the Hajj with official delegations in 2001.(139) Other Muslims may not have been counted in official statistics if they made the Hajj through neighboring countries such as Pakistan. Cost and passport issuance restrictions often deter Chinese Muslims who wish to make the trip to Mecca. Unofficial sources say that most Chinese Muslims who make the Hajj are from the Hui, another one of China's minority groups, rather than Uighurs. Unofficial accounts also suggest that Muslims who are allowed to make the Hajj and who are subsidized for it generally must be loyal government officials, active or retired.

Despite permitting some Muslims to make the Hajj, the Chinese government continues to limit the religious freedom of Xinjiang's Muslim Uighurs, who constitute nearly half of China's Muslim population. Anti-separatism and anti-terrorism crackdowns persist, contributing to the harsh repression of Uighur religious activities in the region. These campaigns extend to stanching "religious extremism" and "illegal religious activities." While the government justifies its crackdowns on religious activities under the rubric of fighting "splittism" or "terrorism," many observers believe that the Chinese government is using the global war against terrorism as a pretext to suppress non-violent Uighur religious activity in Xinjiang.

In 2002, Party and government officials in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region emphasized more stringent supervision of religious affairs. In Yili Prefecture, authorities ordered increased scrutiny of Muslim religious ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, circumcisions, and house moving rituals.(140) Xinjiang authorities launched a campaign to dissuade Muslims from wearing religious attire such as veils and discouraged religious marriage ceremonies. Government officials also continued to restrict mosque building in Xinjiang.

The government continues to strictly regulate religious education and participation in religious activities by young people, preventing parents from exercising full freedom over the religious aspects of their childrens' upbringing. Authorities prohibit Uighurs under the age of 18 from entering mosques in Xinjiang. Signs reportedly posted at the entrances of most mosques announce the ban. University students found worshipping in mosques or participating in other religious activities face expulsion from their schools. Officials also limit participation in religious activities by teachers and professors. The government restricts religious teaching and periodically censors sermons given by imams. Authorities closely monitor the activities of imams, and local branches of the state-controlled Islamic Association of China must approve the appointment of imams. Government authorities continued to conduct mandatory political study sessions for imams and religious personnel during 2003.

While government policy limits the religious activities of Xinjiang's Uighur population, Hui Muslims throughout China enjoy greater religious freedom than Uighur Muslims. Mosques in areas with sizable Hui populations reportedly lack the signs common in Uighur areas prohibiting those under the age of 18 from entering mosques. Furthermore, reports indicate considerable mosque construction and renovation in predominantly Hui areas. Observers concede that the Hui appear to enjoy a greater degree of religious freedom than their Uighur Muslim coreligionists, to whom the Chinese government often attributes separatist and terrorist sentiments and actions.

Spiritual Movements

The crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement continues, although the vitriolic media campaign that characterized the government's anti-Falun Gong efforts between 1999 and 2001 has subsided. Nevertheless, a June 2003 commentary in the state-run newspaper People's Daily accused the group of deliberately trying to spread the SARS virus.(141) Chinese authorities continue to confine Falun Gong practitioners in prisons or psychiatric institutions for long periods. Police reportedly torture some practitioners in an effort to coerce them into renouncing their beliefs.