The 2023–27 Five-Year Plan for Sinicizing Chinese Buddhism is reaching the end of its first two-and-a-half-year period. An event in Beijing discussed its results so far.
Zhu Yaozu
Animal Life Release Control Extends to Taoism
After Buddhists, Taoists also drafted regulations to control the practice, implying more United Front involvement in the management of religion.
China Buddhist Association: A Trojan Horse of Chinese Propaganda
Naïve Buddhists in democratic countries believe they are conducting genuine inter-Buddhist dialogue with a group that exists to advance CCP interests.
China, United Front Calls for More Control of Buddhist Life Release
A conference in Beijing on April 8 confirmed that possible excesses in setting animals free are used as a pretext for a stricter control of Buddhist practices.
Thailand, China’s United Front and the “Buddha Teeth Diplomacy”
Bringing abroad Buddhist relics kept in China is used as a tool for Chinese propaganda and for spreading the lie that the CCP promotes religious liberty.
CCP Insists on Falsifying the History of “Humanistic Buddhism”
A forum was held in Shanghai, a city that was really the cradle of the Buddhist current—which was, however, never Marxist, and later developed mostly in Taiwan.
“Buddhist Diplomacy” and China’s Support of Russian Aggression Against Ukraine
The Russian Traditional Buddhist Sangha is a staunch supporter of Putin’s war. China Buddhist Association is helping it make inroads into international Buddhist organizations.
CCP Hijacks the Label “Humanistic Buddhism,” Calls for Marxist Interpretation of Buddhist Classics
The 2024 Buddhist Lecture Exchange Conference, with the mandatory references to the Third Plenum, explained what “further Sinicizing Chinese Buddhism” means.
Spirit Money in Nantong: The Ban That Wasn’t
The local authorities’ attempt to prohibit joss paper burning on April 4, Tomb-Sweeping Day, failed. But the story is more complicated than it may seem.
Chinese Human Rights Activist Sun Lin Beaten to Death, Friends Threatened
On November 17, security officers broke into the home of the journalist and killed him. Those who protest the assassination are visited by threatening police officers too.
Zhu Yaozu
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.