The Chinese regime’s religious trap: freedom of worship subject to the Communist Party

Just as popular tradition teaches that all that glitters is not gold, neither is anything advertised as so-called freedom. the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrates with martial splendor in 2021 the centenary of its foundation and pretend to wash a picture deteriorated after several misadventures including repression of ethnic minorities, violation of human rights, military threat and silencing of those who question their handling of the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan. From its birth, the omnipresent political force of the Asian giant has been in charge of restrict or eliminate traditional religious practices as part of their feudal past.

After the end of the Cultural revolution (1966-1976) that swept away religions in the country and part of its thousand-year-old heritage, persecution of ethnic and religious diversity continues. The uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority, are victims of a intense political indoctrination, which includes forced labor, torture, sterilization and sexual abuse in detention centers in the Xinjiang region.

Recently, the head of the Chinese regime and leader of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, he showed himself supporter of religious openness. But, unsurprisingly, this gesture comes with warnings and obligations, which include demand that religious leaders support the CCP, the true religion which imposes Beijing.

The Cultural Revolution and the massacre of religions

Currently, Atheism is the official ideology of the Party and its members are prohibited from professing religious faith.. The Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, was the result of aggressive regime efforts to eliminate religions in China. During these ten years all kinds of religious activities were banned and the cult of Mao Zedong was promoted, top CPC leader and founder of the People’s Republic of China.

It was a decade of bloody chaos that left between 400,000 and 20 million dead, a devastated economy, divided families, a thousand-year-old cultural heritage destroyed and a nation traumatized to this day.

The main objective of the Cultural Revolution was cleanse Chinese society of Western capitalist influences. For this, Mao declared war on “representatives of the bourgeoisie”. The Chinese leader requested the support of the energetic youth, who answered his call via the creation of groups of red guards. They were made up of college and high school students responsible for terrible events, including the systematic destruction of heritage, public humiliation, confinement in re-education camps (laogai) and massacre of intellectuals.

Mao’s movement brought together members of the military, urban workers and members of the Communist Party and resulted in divisions in all areas of society, while the cult of the figure of the top Chinese leader has grown gigantic.

On the religious and cultural level, the Revolution resulted in razed temples, churches, mosques and cemeteries, burning of libraries and books, and Tibetan Buddhists forced at gunpoint to destroy their own monasteries. Buddhism was rejected and many monks were forced to undergo rehabilitation programs.

The atrocities of the Red Guards were particularly pronounced in Beijing, where many historic places have been destroyed. In Shandong province, supporters of Mao besieged the temple of Confucius and attacked its historical heritage.

In summary, ancient Chinese culture was destroyed in just ten years. A 1972 Beijing study of 18 key cultural heritage sites, including the Temple of Heaven and the Ming Tombs, revealed significant injuries. Of the 80 cultural heritage sites in the Chinese capital under municipal protection, 30 have been destroyed, while of the 6,843 cultural sites kept by the regime in 1958, 4,922 have been damaged or removed. In addition, a large number of ancient books, paintings and cultural relics were burned.

On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died and with him the Cultural Revolution. Then fell the Gang of Four, the group made up of Mao’s widow, Jiang Qing, and three of his collaborators: Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, who had played an important role in the government and carried out the purges of the Revolution. . They were publicly tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the XIth Central Committee held at the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing repudiated Mao’s political style and economic legacy, and launched the reform process that made China the ambitious superpower it is today.

The Revolution Ends, But The Persecution Continues

Despite the end of the Cultural Revolution, ethnic and religious persecutions persist. Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the Xinjiang region is the site of a genocide against the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority. Over the past four years, an estimate two million people have been detained in a vast network of detention camps. Victims of Xi’s disregard for human rights claim to have been subjected to political indoctrination, torture, forced labor, sexual abuse and sterilization.

Regardless of the large amount of complaints from the international community and humanitarian organizations, the Chinese regime continues to expand its vast network of concentration camps in the Xinjiang region, located in the northwest of the country.

According to data provided by a survey of BuzzFeed News, the regime’s prisons have enough space to hold over a million people at the same time. More precisely, at 1,014,883 throughout Xinjiang. That’s enough space to simultaneously incarcerate more than one in 25 residents of this Chinese region, which is seven times the criminal detention capacity of the United States, the country with the official incarceration rate. the highest in the world.

Image cleaning for “the exterior”

On the occasion of the centenary of the Communist Party, the regime is attempting clean up his image in the international community and that is why Xi Jinping said he was ready to promote religious openness.

According to The conversation, there are more and more local temples, associations, pilgrimages and festivals, and a growing number of Buddhist, Christian and Taoist clergy. Local authorities are interested in restore and promote religious sites, largely to stimulate tourism and local economic development. This is how Shanghai has become home to religious establishments large and small, ranging from local shrines to Buddhist and Taoist temples, churches and mosques..

However, this religious revival has clearly he has no altruistic ends. Xi says he promotes the openness of religions, but in return, leaders of different faiths remain on the Communist Party’s radar and show their support.. If this condition is not changed, it will be difficult to speak of true religious freedom in China.

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