• 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 / Pictures

Portraits, Statues of Mao and Xi Replace Deities in Temples

11/09/2019Cai Congxin |

To save Buddhist and Taoist temples from demolition, believers hide or remove religious statues, replace them with images of China’s past and current leaders.

by Cai Congxin 

While believers painstakingly attempt to prevent outdoor religious statues from being destroyed, owners and managers of Buddhist and Taoist temples are forced to “rectify” their places of worship to meet the regime’s demands, hoping to evade the aggressive demolition storm sweeping across China.

In mid-April, Taoist Sanguan Temple, built at the cost of nine million RMB (about $ 1.3 million), in Chahe town under the jurisdiction of Honghu city in the central province of Hubei, was sealed off for demolition. Government officials told the person-in-charge that it’s a national policy to demolish temples, and threatened to use force if he refused to comply.

The following month, the temple manager hired construction workers to make changes to the temple in an attempt to save it. The process lasted more than two months, and the temple now looks more like a Party propaganda agency, both inside and outside.

The signboard with the temple name has been replaced with the “History Museum of Yongxing Village.”

The name of one of the halls in the temple has been changed to “Culture Activity Center,” and propaganda posters promoting the core socialist values were displayed.
The name of one of the halls in the temple has been changed to “Culture Activity Center,” and propaganda posters promoting the core socialist values were displayed.

Three Bodhisattva statues in the temple’s main Mahavira Hall were concealed with planks, and a portrait of Mao Zedong was posted on them. Posters with traditional Chinese poems, including one by Mao himself, were placed on walls. Books on Chinese culture were also displayed in the hall. The signboard of “Mahavira Hall” was replaced with “Culture Activity Center.” The incense burner in front of the hall was also hidden behind boards, now covered with propaganda slogans.

Traditional Chinese poems were displayed on the temple walls.
Traditional Chinese poems were displayed on the temple walls.

The name of the “Chanting Hall” has been changed to “Elderly Entertainment Room,” and a banner with the portrait of Xi Jinping was put up on the wall facing two mahjong tables. Slogans praising the CCP, such as “the Party is in my heart,” and portraits of Xi Jinping were posted on the walls of the temple.

The signboard “Chanting Hall” has been replaced with one reading “Elderly Entertainment Room.”
The signboard “Chanting Hall” has been replaced with one reading “Elderly Entertainment Room.”

“We can do nothing about it. This is one of Xi Jinping’s policies. Who dares to disobey him?” a local believer said helplessly. “Any resistance will destroy the temple. For now, this temple is allowed to be rectified, but I am not sure it will survive.”

A banner with Xi Jinping portrait was put up on the wall facing two mahjong tables in what used to be a chanting hall.
A banner with Xi Jinping portrait was put up on the wall facing two mahjong tables in what used to be a chanting hall.

In March, a small temple in Anliang town in Jia county, administered by Pingdingshan city in the central province of Henan, was changed beyond recognition. As a local believer told Bitter Winter, the government ordered to remove the statues of deities from the temple and post a portrait of Mao Zedong on the focal wall, or the temple would be demolished.

A portrait of Mao Zedong is posted inside a temple in Anliang town.
A portrait of Mao Zedong is posted inside a temple in Anliang town.

The statues have been removed, and portraits of Mao Zedong, marshals of China’s Communist revolution, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, and other communist leaders were posted on walls instead, making the temple look like a propaganda base.

Portraits of China’s revolutionary heroes and leaders of communism, like Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, have replaced images of deities.
Portraits of China’s revolutionary heroes and leaders of communism, like Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, have replaced images of deities.

A Buddhist Guanyin Temple in the Qingyuan district of Baoding city in the northern province of Hebei was also ordered to undergo changes in spring this year or face demolition. The person in charge replaced the Chinese characters for “Guanyin Temple” on the temple signboard with “Commemorating Mao Zedong.” White porcelain statues of Mao were placed alongside Buddhist deities in the temple for the believers to worship.

Porcelain statues of Mao Zedong stand alongside Buddhist icons.
Porcelain statues of Mao Zedong stand alongside Buddhist icons.

“Under Mao Zedong’s rule, all deities had to be swept away, and all people were told to love the Party. All temples without portraits of Mao were doomed to be demolished. We are now regressing to the times of the Cultural Revolution,” a believer commented on the current situation of temples in China.

Tagged With: Buddhism, Taoism

Related articles

  • Greater China Buddhism: Lessons from a Defunct Religious Movement

    Greater China Buddhism: Lessons from a Defunct Religious Movement

  • Puning Temple: Why Xi Jinping Celebrated a Genocide

    Puning Temple: Why Xi Jinping Celebrated a Genocide

  • Historical Buddhist Temple Closed in Jiangxi

    Historical Buddhist Temple Closed in Jiangxi

  • The Xuanzang Temple Incident: Who Was the Agent Provocateur?

    The Xuanzang Temple Incident: Who Was the Agent Provocateur?

Keep Reading

  • Buddhist, Taoist Temples and Statues Destroyed Nationwide
    Buddhist, Taoist Temples and Statues Destroyed Nationwide

    The CCP continues crackdowns on traditional Chinese places of worship and religious icons.

  • They Demolished a Temple and Put up a Parking Lot
    They Demolished a Temple and Put up a Parking Lot

    The CCP intensifies efforts to eradicate Buddhist and Taoist temples using various pretexts to cover up its true intentions—to suppress people of faith.

  • USCIRF Charges China’s Authorized Religious Bodies as Communist Party Accomplices
    USCIRF Charges China’s Authorized Religious Bodies as Communist Party Accomplices

    A new report exposes the five authorized religions’ “complicity in the government’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

  • Bigu: The CCP Against Taoist Grain-Free Diets and Fasting
    Bigu: The CCP Against Taoist Grain-Free Diets and Fasting

    Bigu, ancient Chinese techniques of avoiding grains and fasting for several days, became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CCP suspects they are “religious.”

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
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • 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

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