When the authorities learned that the banned Association of Disciples had converted all villagers in Jiciping, reeducation was entrusted directly to the police.
By Mo Yuan
The Association of Disciples has been added by Chinese authorities to the category of “xie jiao” (“movements spreading heterodox teachings”) regarded as direct threats to national security, a dubious honor it shares with The Church of Almighty God and Falun Gong.
The Association of Disciples (门徒会, Mentuhui) is also known as “Teachings of the Third Redemption” (三赎教), a name indicating the claim that their doctrine is the third historical source of salvation following Noah’s ark and the cross of Jesus Christ.
The movement was established by Ji Sanbao (季三保, 1940–1997), a former member of the True Jesus Church, in 1989. It was listed as a “xie jiao” in 1990, and submitted to intense persecution.
From 2020, the authorities launched a national campaign aimed at eradicating the Association of Disciples, which, like other forms of “illegal” religion, had experienced a new growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering comfort during a time of crisis and an explanation why God permitted it.
During this national campaign, the specialized anti-xie-jiao police discovered something it did not know. From some ten years, in a remote area of Yunnan, unbeknownst to the authorities an entire village had converted to the Association of Disciples faith. Jiciping Village, part of Zixin, Guanping Township, Yunlong County, is not easy to reach. It is located at an eight of some 2,700 meters in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. Its 53 inhabitants belong to the Yi ethnic minority.
They were reached by Association of Disciples missionaries and all converted. The village chief did not report the development to the authorities for the good reason that he had converted himself.
It took ten years to the anti-xie-jiao police to realize what was going on—and to organize a reaction. Specially trained police officers descended on the village and submitted all villagers to intense sessions of “deprogramming” and indoctrination. Villagers were constantly followed by the officers during their daily activities.
In the end, they all had to sign declarations renouncing the Association of Disciples and thanking the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the police.
The scandal of the “xie jiao village” was (reportedly) put to an end. The nation-wide repression of the Association of Disciples continues.
