• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / Testimonies China

All Outdoor Buddhist Statues Must Go, No Matter the Cost

08/09/2019Ye Ling |

Regarded by the CCP as its fiercest enemies, the statues of Buddhist deities are being demolished across China under orders from the central government.

by Ye Ling

Local authorities spare no effort to ensure the demands from the higher-ups, forbidding anyone – organization or individual – to have statues of deities displayed in the open air. Built with large sums of money, often donated by believers, religious icons are disappearing across the country,  disregarding the massive funds spent and human resources used in the process.

Government spends millions to demolish a statue

Inside Qingguo Temple, located in Duqiao town, under the jurisdiction of Linhai city, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, a 15-meter-tall bronze Guanyin statue used to stand. It was built at the cost of three million RMB (about $ 450,000). Last year, its abbot received a notice from the town government, ordering the Guanyin statue to be dismantled because “religious statues cannot be located outdoors.”

A local Buddhist told Bitter Winter that to save the Guanyin statue, the temple’s abbot submitted a request to the Religious Affairs Bureau, asking to cover the icon, not destroy it, but the government turned him down.

In May, Linhai city government officials came to the village where Qingguo Temple is located for a meeting and took the final decision to tear down the Guanyin statue. A month later, the city government initiated a bidding procedure for the demolition works. A company from Luoyang city in the central province of Henan won the bid to take down the statue for 1.08 million RMB (about $ 160,000).

Guanyin statue Inside Qingguo Temple was being demolished
Workers put up the scaffolding around Qingguo Temple’s Guanyin statue; it was soon taken down.

Shortly after the procedures were finalized, 20 workers came to Qingguo Temple and built a scaffolding with steel pipes around the Guanyin statue. In no time, the statue and its lotus-shaped pedestal were both dismantled.

The lotus-shaped pedestal was demolished
The statue’s lotus-shaped pedestal was also dismantled.

According to insiders, the removal of the Guanyin statue was an order from the central government. If the demand were not carried out, both city and town mayors and party secretaries could have been punished. Therefore, each level of government was pressured by their superiors: no one was willing to lose their official position over this matter.

the Guanyin statue lay horizontally on the ground
The Guanyin statue was put on the ground and covered with a green mesh.

“The state is afraid that people who believe in Buddhism will increase in number and even outnumber the Communist Party members, affecting their regime. It’s the same as how the government tears down crosses,” commented another local Buddhist. “The Communist Party is suppressing religion because it has the power and does whatever it wants. The Communist Party is afraid of being unable to control the people, so it suppresses them.”

Guanyin statue at a popular scenic spot dismantled

In Hongyan Villa, a famous scenic area in Pingtan county of the southeastern province of Fujian, a Dripping-Water Guanyin statue, over ten meters in height, cost one million RMB (about $ 15o,000) to build. It was forcibly demolished in late May.

Hongyan Villa before and after
Hongyan Villa before and after its Dripping-Water Guanyin statue was demolished.

According to witnesses, to prevent believers from obstructing the demolition work, more than 100 personnel, including public security and anti-riot officers, were mobilized to surround the scenic area and prohibit villagers from approaching. The statue was composed of 99 stones, so it took more than ten days to dismantle it.

According to a source who requested anonymity, last August, authorities ordered Hongyan Villa to dismantle the Dripping-Water Guanyin statue, claiming that religious statues cannot be built at tourist attractions or exceed ten meters in height. Religious icons that violate building laws must also be torn down.

The county government didn’t want to dismantle the statue, but officials from above threatened to force the county committee secretary to step down unless the statue was dismantled, the source said, adding, “Xi Jinping is calling the shots now.”

“All outdoor Buddhist statues throughout the country are ordered to be torn down. If you protest against the demolition, it will be considered obstruction and defiance of the law. Ordinary people have never been a match to officials. The government is a criminal underworld. They may be smooth talkers, but they are bandits in reality,” a local believer wasn’t hiding his feelings toward the authorities.

Guanyin statues on Guanyin Island before the island was surrounded
The Guanyin Island in Fujian’s Wanfo Temple before it was covered under orders from the government.

In Fujian’s Fuzhou city, an ancient Wanfo Temple, built in 1010 and acclaimed as a Buddhist holy site, was also subjected to a crackdown. In March, 33 statues on the Guanyin Island, the temple’s iconic landmark, were ordered to be covered by the municipal United Front Work Department and Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau. The officials claimed that “there were too many Guanyin statues,” and the situation has to be “rectified.”

Guanyin Island is surrounded by a safety net
Guanyin Island is wrapped in a green safety net.

Pressured by the government, the temple had no choice but to spend nearly 200,000 RMB (about $ 30,000) to wrap the Guanyin Island with a safety net. The temple’s Arhat statues were also stacked together and covered with a red cloth.

Tagged With: Anti-Religious Campaigns, Buddhism

bw-profile
Ye Ling

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Talent Agents New Regulations: No Agents for Those Active in Illegal Religion

    Talent Agents New Regulations: No Agents for Those Active in Illegal Religion

  • China’s Public Security: To Protect Economy, Crack Down on Illegal Religion

    China’s Public Security: To Protect Economy, Crack Down on Illegal Religion

  • The “Buddhist and Taoist Clergy Database,” Another CCP Imposture

    The “Buddhist and Taoist Clergy Database,” Another CCP Imposture

  • House Churches Attacked and Banned in Several Provinces

    House Churches Attacked and Banned in Several Provinces

Keep Reading

  • Coming Soon in China: New (and Worse) “Administrative Measures for Religious Activity Venues”
    Coming Soon in China: New (and Worse) “Administrative Measures for Religious Activity Venues”

    The new measures will replace those of 2005, and introduce stricter provisions making CCP propaganda at all places of worship mandatory.

  • The Xuanzang Temple Incident: Who Was the Agent Provocateur?
    The Xuanzang Temple Incident: Who Was the Agent Provocateur?

    A woman left in the Nanjing shrine memorial tablets of Japanese war criminals. The CCP seized the opportunity to promote a nationwide crackdown on temples.

  • Institute of Tantric Buddhism: The Repression Continues
    Institute of Tantric Buddhism: The Repression Continues

    Founder Master Lobsang Dechen (Wang Xingfu) was sentenced to 25 years as a “cult” leader guilty of fraud and sexual abuse. His disciples continue to be arrested.

  • Southern Mongolia: The CCP Mobilizes Traditional Culture Against Religion 
    Southern Mongolia: The CCP Mobilizes Traditional Culture Against Religion 

    The Chinese appropriation and “Sinicization” of Mongolian cultural heritage is a well-known phenomenon. Now, shows are used to indoctrinate Mongolians against “illegal” religion. 

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • There Are Christian Uyghurs, Too: New Organization Launched in London by Ruth Ingram
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • Chinese Agents Tried to Bribe U.S. Tax Officer in Anti-Falun-Gong Plot by Massimo Introvigne
  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum by Massimo Introvigne
  • Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria by PierLuigi Zoccatelli

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY