Officials Assault Nuns Over Land Dispute in Shaanxi Province

February 28, 2006

On November 9, 2005, government officials assaulted a group of Catholic nuns in the village of Tongyuan, near the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, according to the December 2005 issue of China heute (in German), an information service supported by German Catholic charities and religious orders. The nuns had attempted to prevent the authorities from erecting a new building on a property that the government confiscated from their religious order during the 1950s. According to China heute sources, the nuns were not injured, and the construction work was halted after the assault.

On November 9, 2005, government officials assaulted a group of Catholic nuns in the village of Tongyuan, near the city of Xi'an in Shaanxi province, according to the December 2005 issue of China heute (in German), an information service supported by German Catholic charities and religious orders. The nuns had attempted to prevent the authorities from erecting a new building on a property that the government confiscated from their religious order during the 1950s. According to China heute sources, the nuns were not injured, and the construction work was halted after the assault.

Two similar incidents took place in November and December 2005--with the notable difference that, while in the other instances unidentified assailants beat Catholic clerics, in this instance government officials themselves assaulted a group of nuns. On November 23, 2005, unidentified assailants beat a group of Catholic nuns in Xi'an. The nuns had organized a sit-in to prevent the demolition of a school formerly belonging to their religious order. On December 16, 2005, unidentified assailants beat a group of Catholic priests in Tianjin. The priests had occupied a building formerly belonging to their Shanxi dioceses and demanded its return. At issue in all three cases is the refusal of local authorities to return to religious bodies properties that the government confiscated in the 1950s. The State Council required the return of such properties in the Authorization of the Report by the Religious Affairs Office, National Basic Construction Committee, and Other Agencies Regarding Carrying Out Religious Groups' Real Property Policies and Other Issues (in Chinese), issued on July 16, 1980.

For more information on Catholics in China, see the CECC 2005 Annual Report, Section III(d).