From the State Department website:
China (includes Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet)
"Members of many unregistered religious groups reported that the Government subjected them to restrictions, including
intimidation, harassment, and detention.
There were many reports of
repression of unregistered Protestant church networks and house churches during the reporting period.
Police sometimes detained worshippers attending such services for hours or days and prevented further house worship in the venues. Police interrogated both laypeople and their leaders about their activities at the meeting sites, in hotel rooms, and in detention centers. Leaders sometimes faced harsher treatment, including
detention, formal arrest and sentencing to reeducation or imprisonment.
The Government continued its repression of groups that it designated as "cults," which included several Christian groups and the Falun Gong.
The Government has never publicly defined the criteria which it uses for designating a religious group a "cult." Falun Gong practitioners continued to face arrest, detention, and imprisonment, and there were
credible reports of deaths due to torture and abuse. Practitioners who refuse to recant their beliefs are sometimes subjected to
harsh treatment in prisons, reeducation through labor camps, and extra-judicial "legal education" centers.
The Government registers religious organizations, and determines the legality of religious activities. Registered religious groups enjoy legal protections of their religious practices that unregistered religious groups do not receive.
SARA monitors and judges whether religious activities are "normal" and therefore lawful. Employees of SARA and the UFWD are rarely religious adherents and often are Communist Party members. Communist Party members are directed by Party doctrine to be atheists, and their family members are discouraged from public participation in religious ceremonies.
House churches report that local authorities frequently disrupted meetings of friends and family in private homes and arrested participants on the grounds that they were participating in illegal gatherings.
During the period covered by this report, the Government's respect for religious freedom remained poor, especially for members of unregistered religious groups and groups the Government designated as "cults."
Officials in some areas organized registration campaigns collecting the names, addresses, and sometimes the fingerprints of church leaders and worshippers. Some local authorities continued to
harass religious groups that did not register by
arresting and interrogating unregistered church leaders.
It was also
difficult for registered groups to register new places of worship, such as churches and mosques, even in areas with growing religious populations.
Xinjiang authorities continued to use combating terrorism to justify placing restrictions on
peaceful religious practices of Uighur Muslims, according to human rights NGOs.
While often targeted at Muslims, this tight control of religion in Xinjiang affected followers of other religions as well. In some areas of Xinjiang,
officials restricted the building of mosques and the training of clergy and
interfered with the teaching of Islam to children outside the home. Some ethnic Tajiks in Xinjiang could not attend mosque until over age 30.
The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public office; however,
Communist Party membership is required for almost all high-level positions in Government, state-owned businesses, and many official organizations. Communist Party officials reiterated during the period covered by this report that
party membership and religious belief are incompatible. The CCP reportedly has stated that
party members who belong to religious organizations are subject to expulsion. The "Routine Service Regulations" of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) state explicitly that
servicemen "may not take part in religious or superstitious activities."
Muslims allegedly have been fired from government posts for praying during working hours. The Government required students to study the principles of Chinese Communism, an
atheistic ideology.
Some Xinjiang officials told foreign observers that
children under 18 were not permitted to attend religious services in mosques in Xinjiang. Local officials in Xinjiang prevented children from attending worship services in mosques or churches.
Individuals cannot order Bibles directly from publishing houses, and purchases of large numbers of Bibles could bring unfavorable attention to the purchaser.
Religious texts published without authorization, including Bibles and Qur'ans, may be confiscated and the unauthorized publishing houses closed. Religious adherents are subject to arrest and imprisonment for illegal publishing.
Authorities sometimes confiscate Bibles in raids on house churches.
Religious adherents and members of spiritual movements
have been beaten, and some have died in police custody after being detained in connection with their religious belief or practice.
The Government
detained, arrested, or sentenced to prison terms many religious leaders and adherents.
Citizens may be sentenced by a nonjudicial panel of police and local authorities to up to 3 years in reeducation-through-labor camps. In some areas security authorities used
threats, demolition of unregistered property, extortion, interrogation, detention, and at times beatings and torture to harass leaders of unauthorized groups and their followers.
Some
Protestant Christians who worshipped outside of government-approved venues,
including in their homes, continued to face
detention and abuse, especially for attempting to meet in large groups, traveling within and outside of the country for religious meetings, and otherwise holding
peaceful religious assemblies in unregistered venues. Police and other security officials sometimes
disrupted Protestant religious meetings.
In June 2007 Beijing house church activist Hua Huaiqi was sentenced in a closed trial to
6 months in prison for obstruction of justice. Police reportedly
beat him in jail and
poured cold water over him in frigid weather. In April 2007 the Beijing Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal of Shuang Shuying, the
76-year-old mother of Beijing house church activist Hua Huaiqi. Shuang was sentenced to 2 years in jail for destruction of public and private property. She claimed that she was defending herself from being struck by an oncoming police car when her cane struck the headlights of the car.
In March 2007 police arrested and detained CHCA Vice President and Pastor Dong Quanyu and his wife, Li Huage, for 10 days for "disturbing public order." Public security bureau officers reportedly
beat Li Huage severely. Police also
confiscated property from their home.
In March 2007 public security personnel in Zhangshi Village in Henan Province reportedly
attacked members of a house church group as they left an Easter service.
Members of the group reported that they were forced into police cars, that police detained them without producing arrest warrants and interrogated them for up to 24 hours. Police interrogated three leaders of the group, 71-year-old Ma Wenqing, Zhang Jinzhi, and Zhang Liang, and reportedly stripped two women of their clothing. The detained Christians alleged that police
tortured them into confessing that they were members of an evil cult.
In February 2007 police and local RAB officials reportedly raided a prayer meeting held in a private home in Shuanghuang Township, Jiangsu Province. The police
photographed those in attendance and took down their names. When some of the individuals refused to give their names, police reportedly beat them. Police forced the owner of the home, Tan Jianwei, to sign a statement agreeing not to hold religious activities in his home.
In April 2007,
family planning officials in Baise, Guanguxi Province, forced Wei Linrong, the wife of house church pastor Liang Yage to have an abortion against her will. Ten officials took Ms. Wei, who was 7 months' pregnant, from her home to a hospital where doctors induced delivery. According to media reports, Liang and his wife explicitly objected to the forced abortion because it forced them to violate their religious beliefs.
In some locations local authorities reportedly forced unregistered Catholic priests and believers to renounce ordinations approved by the Holy See, join the official church, or
face a variety of punishments including fines, job loss, detentions, and having their children barred from school.
There were
credible reports of torture and deaths in custody of Falun Gong practitioners in past years. According to Falun Gong practitioners in the United States, since 1999
more than 100,000 practitioners have been detained for engaging in Falun Gong practices, admitting that they adhere to the teachings of Falun Gong, or refusing to criticize the organization or its founder. The organization reported that its members have been subject to
excessive force, abuse, rape, detention, and torture, and that some of its members, including children, have died in custody."
Oh yeah, everything's just great in China. Religious freedom abounds!
