• 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
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • 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 / Featured China

Chinese Anti-Cult (and Anti-Religious) Propaganda Adopts New Style

12/12/2022Zhou Kexin |

Aesthetics liberally borrows from Asian manga (including some banned in China) and suggests you should trust science rather than religion.

by Zhou Kexin

Anti-cult poster
Poster 1 (all posters from Weibo).

The China Anti-Xie-Jiao association has unveiled on different websites and social media its new series of posters against banned religious movements labeled as “xie jiao.” As readers of Bitter Winter know, “xie jiao” is officially translated in English-language Chinese documents as “evil cults,” but has been used for more than a thousand years in China to indicate “heterodox teachings” the government does not approve of.

The posters deserve an analysis both for their content and their aesthetics. The aesthetics liberally borrows from Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese manga, including those depicting magical creatures and monsters. This is somewhat paradoxical, since in principle comics showing magic or “superstition” cannot be imported into China—but obviously those who designed the posters were familiar with them.

Posters 2 and 3.
Posters 2 and 3.

The content confirms a recent trend of using the propaganda against xie jiao to combat “illegal religion” in general—indeed, the expression “xie jiao and illegal religion” is becoming common in official documents.

The xie jiao are depicted as evil monsters the Chinese police protects citizens, particularly children, against (Poster 1), but Poster 2 warns against those who believe that human beings can be regarded as incarnations of immortal deities, a belief obviously found also in mainline religions.

Posters 4 and 5.

Posters 3, 4, and 5 lampoon those who give money to religious groups or seek comfort in religion in times of misfortune and sickness, making their own situation even worse. Again, this criticism may be applied well beyond the sphere of groups the government labels as xie jiao.

Poster 6
Poster 6.

The spirit of the campaign is best captured by Poster 6, depicting the triumph of science and “learning” over religious “distortions of the truth.” It is more rationale to believe in science, the poster says—but just in case, a policeman is keeping watch, implying that those who are not persuaded by the carrot of the propaganda will be forced to agree with it by the stick of the police.

Tagged With: Anti-Cult, Xie Jiao Organizations

bw-profile
Zhou Kexin

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Russian Anti-Cult Leader: “The US and Ukraine Use Satanists to Destroy the Whole Orthodox World”

    Russian Anti-Cult Leader: “The US and Ukraine Use Satanists to Destroy the Whole Orthodox World”

  • A Bitter Winter for MIVILUDES

    A Bitter Winter for MIVILUDES

  • Rapport 2022 de la MIVILUDES : de la négligence à la diffamation

    Rapport 2022 de la MIVILUDES : de la négligence à la diffamation

  • Un hiver amer (Bitter Winter) pour la MIVILUDES

    Un hiver amer (Bitter Winter) pour la MIVILUDES

Keep Reading

  • Seoul Sungrak Church: One of the World’s Largest Baptist Churches Banned as a “Cult” in China
    Seoul Sungrak Church: One of the World’s Largest Baptist Churches Banned as a “Cult” in China

    China’s desire to please Korean anti-cultists, with whom it regularly cooperates, may have been a factor in the decision.

  • The 2022 Report of the MIVILUDES: From Sloppiness to Slander
    The 2022 Report of the MIVILUDES: From Sloppiness to Slander

    In addition to the usual questionable methodology, the report includes information the. MIVILUDES should have known are false.

  • « Église de Philadelphie » : Comment la MIVILUDES et les mouvements antisectes français ont inventé une « secte ».
    « Église de Philadelphie » : Comment la MIVILUDES et les mouvements antisectes français ont inventé une « secte ».

    En 2011, la femme et les quatre enfants d’un aristocrate français ont été assassinés. Les militants antisectes ont tenté de relier ce crime aux « sectes ». Leur action en justice vient de s’effondrer.

  • “Église de Philadelphie”: How MIVILUDES and French Anti-Cultists Invented a “Cult”
    “Église de Philadelphie”: How MIVILUDES and French Anti-Cultists Invented a “Cult”

    In 2011, the wife and four children of a French aristocrat were murdered. Anti-cultists tried to connect the crime with “cults.” Their legal case has now collapsed.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Pro-Chinese Propaganda by The World Muslim Communities Council: Uyghurs Strike Back by Gulfiye Y
  • Zhanargul Zhumatai: “Help Me, I Just Want to Leave China” by Ruth Ingram
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 1. The Aesthetic Mind by Massimo Introvigne
  • Stricter Rules on Private Tutoring Protect Ideology Rather than Parents by Wang Zhipeng
  • Japan Religious Donations Law. 4. The Return of Brainwashing by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong Kong: Christian Scholar Peng Manyuan Released but Not Rehabilitated by Gladys Kwok
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 3. Art as Communication by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 4. Art and Illustration by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 5. Professionals vs. Amateurs by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

Instant Exclusive News
Instant Exclusive News

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

Follow us

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

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