• 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

Folk Religion Temples Wiped Out Across China

10/27/2020Lin Yijiang |

After the coronavirus lockdown restrictions were lifted in April, authorities took to destroying temples on various pretexts.

by Lin Yijiang

Table of Contents

  • Hebei Province
  • Henan Province
  • Zhejiang Province
  • Fujian Province

Hebei Province

The Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County government in Qinhuangdao city convened a meeting in late April, demanding to “spare no effort in every aspect of religious work to implement the central government’s policy” and “demolish and rectify” folk religion temples. According to a temple director in the county, over 20 local folk religion temples had been shut down or demolished by the end of June.

Numerous folk religion temples in Hebei Province were demolished.
Numerous folk religion temples in Hebei Province were demolished.
Numerous folk religion temples in Hebei Province were demolished.

In Xingtai city’s Ren county, 57 temples were demolished, and three were repurposed in May and June.

On July 7, the Nanhai Temple (translated as South Seas Temple) in Xingtai’s Guangzong county was destroyed with religious statues left inside it.

An elderly county resident told Bitter Winter that the temple, spanning the history of nearly one thousand years, had a special place in people’s hearts. On the demolition day, over one hundred residents got on their knees to plead local officials not to demolish the temple, but to no avail. The officials threatened to arrest those challenging the demolition and cancel their pensions.

People built a small temple on the old one’s foundation, but the government soon destroyed it and leveled the foundation.

In Handan city’s Ci county, many folk religion temples were repurposed for storehouses and other use in May. Among them, the Bailong Temple, built in the Ming dynasty (1368–1662), was converted into an activity center. The Jade Emperor Temple in the county was closed in June.

The demolition of the Wangyang Pavilion temple in Handan city started at 4 a.m. on July 26.
The demolition of the Wangyang Pavilion temple in Handan city started at 4 a.m. on July 26.

“No one can stop the government from demolishing residential houses, let alone temples,” a temple director from Handan city said helplessly.

“Xi Jinping just wants all people to submit to his leadership blindly,” a Handan resident said.

Henan Province

The Huoshen Temple (translated as Fire Deity Temple) in Dengfeng city, built in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), was demolished at night on April 14. The Nai River Nainai Temple was destroyed in May on the pretext of widening a road. The city’s Laotianye Temple (translated as the Heavens Temple) was demolished on September 3.

The Nai River Nainai Temple before and after demolition.
The Nai River Nainai Temple before and after demolition.

The Fuxi Terrace, the Human Ancestor Temple, and Nüwa Temple in Gongyi city, administered by the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou, were demolished in May. Another folk religion temple has been converted into a Chinese Civil War memorial hall.

The Jade Emperor Temple in Puyang city’s Shiguan village was demolished in July. Two other folk religion temples in the city were bulldozed in the name of “beautifying the environment” and because they were “too close to the expressway.”

The Cangjie Mausoleum, built in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220) in what is now Puyang’s Nanle county, was demolished earlier in July. The 2,700-square-meter temple was destroyed to give way “for the construction of a commercial street.”

Numerous folk religion temples were demolished in Henan and Hubei.
Numerous folk religion temples were demolished in Henan and Hubei.

The Baoen Temple in the prefecture-level city of Kaifeng was demolished in the afternoon of July 29. About 200 Public Security Bureau and Urban Management Bureau officials and police officers took part, preventing anyone from approaching the site.

“Nobody dares to contradict the government; anyone opposing them will be arrested,” a Kaifeng city resident said helplessly.

The Tailing Temple in Zhengzhou city was leveled to the ground at 4 a.m. on April 10, without warning its director.

“Had I received any notice, I would have moved my belongings out of the temple,” the distressed director explained. When he asked a local official on site why the temple was destroyed at night, without informing him, he replied arrogantly, pointing at a small red flag pinned to his jacket, “I represent President Xi Jinping.”

Many folk religion temples in the prefecture-level city of Anyang were converted into Civilization Practice Stations for a New Era and elderly activity centers.

Zhejiang Province

The Seven-Star Temple, built in the Ming dynasty (1368–1662), in Wenling city, administered by the prefecture-level city of Taizhou, was demolished because local officials declared it “unlicensed.”

The Seven-Star Temple was demolished in September.
The Seven-Star Temple was demolished in September.

According to an eyewitness, on September 8 and 9, over 100 personnel from the local Religious Affairs Bureau and police officers participated in the demolition. During the two days, they prohibited residents from approaching the temple, seizing cellphones from onlookers who tried to take photos.

“People worshiped in the Seven-Star Temple for generations. Statues of deities are now kept outdoors in the rain. The government is evil and malicious,” an elderly resident commented.

Since July, several folk religion temples in Huochakou village under the jurisdiction of the county-level city of Yuhuan in Taizhou were demolished because “there are too many temples.”

Several folk religion temples in Huochakou village were demolished.
Several folk religion temples in Huochakou village were demolished.

Fujian Province

On June 24, government officials from Fujian’s capital Fuzhou dispatched about 300 workers to demolish the Deity Temple.

“They spent four days demolishing the temple,” a local source revealed. “The temple director’s mother asked to move statues of deities from the temple, but a dozen guards pressed her to the ground. The director demanded to see a demolition order but was also pushed to the ground. Both of them fainted and were taken to the hospital. The director’s 10,000 RMB (about $ 1,400) in cash and many belongings were buried in ruins because he didn’t have time to take them out.”

“The Communist Party is worse than bandits, and the situation now is worse than during the Cultural Revolution,” a Fuzhou resident commented.

The same month, over 100 personnel demolished Fuzhou’s Temple of Wind and Fire in the Ninth Heaven. 

The temple of Wind and Fire in the Ninth Heaven before and after demolition.
The temple of Wind and Fire in the Ninth Heaven before and after demolition.

Tagged With: Ancestral Religions in China

Lin Yijiang profile picture
Lin Yijiang

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Ancient Folk Traditions Deemed Illegal by the CCP

    Ancient Folk Traditions Deemed Illegal by the CCP

  • Ancestral Halls Destroyed or Turned into Propaganda Centers

    Ancestral Halls Destroyed or Turned into Propaganda Centers

  • 90+ Folk Religion Temples Destroyed in Henan’s Linzhou City

    90+ Folk Religion Temples Destroyed in Henan’s Linzhou City

  • Folk Religion Temples and Ancestral Halls Suppressed in Hubei

    Folk Religion Temples and Ancestral Halls Suppressed in Hubei

Keep Reading

  • Ancestral Temples Turned into Communist Party Propaganda Bases
    Ancestral Temples Turned into Communist Party Propaganda Bases

    Communist ideology continues to invade places of worship across China, as folk religion temples are repurposed to propagate President Xi’s Thought.

  • 160+ Folk Religion Temples Demolished, Shut Down in Sichuan
    160+ Folk Religion Temples Demolished, Shut Down in Sichuan

    Chinese authorities crack down on all things religious, including venues of indigenous religions that have been an integral part of life in rural areas for years.

  • Ancestral Temples Repurposed for Public Use
    Ancestral Temples Repurposed for Public Use

    Even the venues where familial clans meet to honor their ancestors and celebrate important events have become targets of the CCP’s crackdown on religion.

  • Elderly Man Dies Protesting Temple Demolition in Anhui Province
    Elderly Man Dies Protesting Temple Demolition in Anhui Province

    Buddhist and folk religion temples continue to be destroyed across the eastern province of Anhui, as their guardians face government threats and police violence.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Sinicization of Christianity Comes to Hong Kong by Gladys Kwok
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • China: Theological Seminaries Inspected to Check How “Sinicized” They Are by Zhang Chunhua
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • France, Sonia Backès Caught Red-Handed Again: A “Religious Profiling” of Muslim Students in Schools by Massimo Introvigne
  • Russia: Anti-Cultists Laughably Accuse Ukraine of Operating “Telephone Cults” by Massimo Introvigne
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo

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