The former General Secretary of the China Taoist Association knew nothing about religion but was made by the CCP first into a Catholic and then a Taoist leader.
by He Yuyan
China Taoist Association is holding throughout the country ceremonies to commemorate its former General Secretary, Li Wencheng, who died on August 3 at age 97. Li was a crucial figure in the history of government-controlled Taoism. His life and career shed a light on how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) selects the personnel it calls to lead the country’s religious organizations.
Li Wencheng was born in 1927 in Yanggao County, Shanxi. He engaged in revolutionary activities in July 1945 and became a member of the Communist Party of China in March 1946. During the Civil War, he held roles such as secretary for cooperatives in Shanxi and various administrative positions in Yanggao County. Post-revolution, he attended the May 7th Cadre School and took on several official positions in what was then Chahar Province, including secretary of propaganda departments and assistant editor of the CCP newspaper “Chahar Daily.” By his own admission, he was a Marxist who knew precious nothing about religion.
In an autobiographical interview he gave in 2021, Li reported how in 1952 the Chahar Province was abolished. The journalists of the “Chahar Daily” and the newspaper itself were transferred to Beijing but there were enough Party publications in the capital and they did not have much to do.
“At that time,” Li remembered, “people from the Religious Affairs Department of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council came to the ‘Chahar Daily’ office to select people, and three of us, including me, were selected. After we went there, they had a few more talents. At that time, He Chengxiang was the director of the General Office of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council and the director of the Religious Affairs Department. When the Religious Affairs Department of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council was changed into the State Council’s Religious Affairs Bureau in 1954, he was the director. After we were transferred there, we studied and learned about religion. They introduced us to religious history, religious policies, and religious situations at home and abroad. We studied for half a year… At that time, there was no specific work, and the main thing was to study.”
After Li had learned (in the short time of six months) something about religion, consulting with the United Front his boss He Chengxiang decided to make him into a Catholic and perhaps even a priest or a bishop. “After the study,” Li recalled in 2021, “I was allowed to participate in the Catholic clergy study class in Beijing. There were more than 100 priests and bishops participating in the study. It was held at the Church of the Savior. We mainly studied patriotism and anti-imperialism. The textbooks used were the articles of Comrade Fang Zhimin.” The latter was a CCP military commander who actually wrote “against” religion and was executed by the Kuomintang in 1935, one of the charges being the brutal murder of an American Christian missionary and his wife.
Having loyally worked for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the Religious Affairs division of the State Council, “in 1984 or 1985,” he said, “I was almost 60 years old and asked to retire early. At that time, I was transferred to the China Taoist Association to work as the General Secretary. Then I stayed in the China Taoist Association for 13 years. I was reluctant to go at first, as it was time for me to retire. Later, I felt I was still in good health and would work as long as I could, so I agreed.”
For 13 years, Li said, he “mainly implemented the Party’s religious work policies since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CCP in the China Taoist Association.” He also used Taoism to spread CCP propaganda in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
What is most interesting in this biography is that Li changed religions as others change shirts. He was first non-religious, then Catholic, then Taoist. This did not really matter since his job was to serve the CCP, not religion. He was sent to different religious organizations to “implement the Party’s religious work policies.” He was a typical example of the bureaucrats the CCP selects for the five authorized religions. Many of them do not believe in God or religion. They are there just to control religion on behalf of the Party.
Most appropriately, the official press release celebrated Li as somebody whose life was “an unremitting struggle for the cause of Communism” —not of Taoism or any other religion.
