• 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 / News China

Comics and Vocational Courses Used to Fight Religion

02/17/2020Yu Shi |

People in China are bombarded with atheist propaganda in a variety of forms, as the government seeks to eliminate religion from their lives.

by Yu Shi

China’s totalitarian regime has been fighting for ideological territory with religions by vilifying them through indoctrination and other means to make its citizens pray to the only God – the Communist Party.

And it uses an assortment of tools to achieve this. In the Suiyang district of Shangqiu city in the central province of Henan, every few meters on the so-called Street of Legal Propaganda About Religious Policies, comics on the bans in new Regulations on Religious Affairs are displayed.

Comics on the ban to establish religious venues without government permission
Comics on the ban to establish religious venues without government permission and donations for building places of worship.

In the cartoon dedicated to “opposing foreign religious filtration,” foreigners are portrayed as ugly capitalist exploiters. And the one explaining that “religious groups are forbidden to use depictions of the ban for religious groups to use charity for missionary work,” missionaries are portrayed bribing people to follow them.

Depictions of the ban on religious groups
Depictions of the ban on religious groups from being involved in charity for missionary work and “opposing foreign religious filtrations”.
Cartoons explaining that CCP members are not allowed to be religious
Cartoons explaining that CCP members are not allowed to be religious, and minors are prohibited from entering places of worship.

Indoctrination disguised as skills classes

In mid-May 2019, Yunyang county in Chongqing, one of the four municipalities directly administered by the central government, launched sewing classes. The courses were not only for free, but participants also received a daily subsidy of 30 RMB (about $ 4). Excited about this opportunity, trainees soon realized that the classes were more about anti-religious propaganda than sewing.

All participants had to disclose their religious status and that of their relatives and friends. They were taught during classes that Christianity, Islam, and some other religions have been brought in from abroad and that the Chinese must not believe in them. Buddhism, according to teachers, is a false religion. Teachers also incited the participants to report believers for monetary rewards.

“There were 20 sewing machines in the training class, most of which didn’t work,” a trainee told Bitter Winter, adding that nobody was allowed to take a day off or quit the course.

In September, the county launched a free “nursing for the elderly” course, during which participants were indoctrinated with atheism, teachers explaining that religion goes against science, and people should believe in it rather than religion.

As the CCP thinks that people are drawn to religion because of spiritual emptiness, they try to keep them away from it by providing more entertainment and vocational courses.

The Compilation of Special Operation Exemplary Cases, issued in Henan Province in July 2018, states that training classes, disguised under various pretexts, like “night school for farmers,” have been organized to study the new Regulations on Religious Affairs.

In early 2019, a county in Henan issued a document, entitled Dealing with Serious Problems of Religious Situation. The decree aims at halting “the spread of Christianity through vast rural areas” through “cultural activities, extensively launching ‘Happy Sundays,’ events promoting culture, science and technology, and health in rural areas, and other activities, to eliminate the influence of religion.”

Touring groups to slander banned religious groups

The banned religious movements that have been included in the CCP’s list of the xie jiao are suppressed especially hard. And systematic propaganda plays an essential role in this process.

In mid-September, counties in Chongqing started various activities to “normalize, standardize, and institutionalize anti-xie jiao undertakings through propaganda in government agencies, villages, communities, schools, and enterprises.” The main goal – “inciting citizens to resist superstitions and religions,” in the name of “the stable political situation.”

Anti-xie jiao activity in Dianjiang county
Anti-xie jiao activity in Dianjiang county

Organized groups are touring localities to show skits and lead talks that smear The Church of Almighty God (CAG), the Shouters, Falun Gong, and other religious movements on the xie jiao list.

A resident who has attended one of these activities told Bitter Winter that officials lured people with rewards to answer what a xie jiao is, and gave 5 RMB (about $ 0.7) to everyone who signed pledges not to believe in God.

On September 25, an anti-xie jiao activity was held in Shizhu county
On September 25, an anti-xie jiao activity was held in Shizhu county

A city government in Henan issued a confidential document in June 2019, detailing a special operation to suppress the CAG. It demands “to use the internet, TV, and other platforms to broadcast propaganda videos or variety shows” to slander the movement.

Tagged With: Anti-Religious Campaigns, Xie Jiao Organizations

bw-profile
Yu Shi

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Xie Jiao and Unauthorized Religion in China: Two Reports Note Growing Persecution

    Xie Jiao and Unauthorized Religion in China: Two Reports Note Growing Persecution

  • China’s “Query System for Islamic, Catholic, and Christian Clergy,” Another Tool for Repression

    China’s “Query System for Islamic, Catholic, and Christian Clergy,” Another Tool for Repression

  • Shanghai Uses Holidays to Indoctrinate Children Against “Illegal” Religion

    Shanghai Uses Holidays to Indoctrinate Children Against “Illegal” Religion

  • Zhao Weikai: Russian-Style Jail Sentence for “Extremism”

    Zhao Weikai: Russian-Style Jail Sentence for “Extremism”

Keep Reading

  • CCP “Celebrates” Dalai Lama Birthday with Anti-Religious Exhibitions
    CCP “Celebrates” Dalai Lama Birthday with Anti-Religious Exhibitions

    The campaign against the Tibetan leader had degenerated into a campaign against religion in general.

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

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

  • Yang Taoming: “China’s Tony Robbins” Detained
    Yang Taoming: “China’s Tony Robbins” Detained

    The #1 Chinese life coach has been arrested and accused of fraud. His company sued the media that had accused him of “brainwashing.”

  • Release on Bail in China: Do the New Rules Really Make It Easier?
    Release on Bail in China: Do the New Rules Really Make It Easier?

    The September 2022 rules are hailed as progressive and liberal. But they are unlikely to improve the situation of those arrested for ‘separatism” or religion-related offenses.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Chinese Muslims Told Mosques Should Preach Communism Too by Ma Wenyan
  • Hebei: Friends Pray in Your Home, the CCP Cuts Off Your Water and Electricity by Lai Mingxia
  • China’s “Query System for Islamic, Catholic, and Christian Clergy,” Another Tool for Repression by He Yuyan
  • Christian Students Asked to Study 20th Congress and Celebrate “Heroes” Who Betrayed the Church by Zhang Chunhua
  • Russia: Two Evangelical Pastors Prosecuted, Falsely Accused of Raising Money for the Ukrainian Army by Massimo Introvigne
  • Filipino Catholic Priest Arrested for Slandering Unrecognized Marian Apparitions by Massimo Introvigne
  • Pakistan, Young Christian Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy by Massimo Introvigne

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