• 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
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • 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

Party Seeks to Replace Religion with “Happy Sundays”

02/22/2019Gu Xi |

Chinese authorities offer the banal as an alternative to the sublime, as square dances and trinkets are all the Party can give to satisfy the hunger of citizens.

One Sunday in January 2019, a village in Henan organized a tug-of-war and other activities for villagers.
One Sunday in January 2019, a village in Henan organized a tug-of-war and other activities for villagers.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities seem to believe that people turn to religion because of emptiness in their lives. As an alternative to religion, the Party is promoting dances, tug-of-war games, and other amusements to fill the void many people feel, under the title of “Happy Sundays.”

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, November 11, 2018, Christians were holding worship services in Sizhuangping village in Henan Province. Outside the church, however, it was more noisy than usual. The local village committee had organized some villagers to beat gongs and play drums as part of a Happy Sunday activity.

“In the future, you can come here for entertainment on Sundays,” said the village’s Party secretary as he greeted people. “This is a ‘turf war’ against religious people!” As he declared his war for the souls (or at least the distraction) of the people, he handed out packs of cigarettes to each villager who was playing the drums, and fruit-flavored candy to the audience, as a reward for participating in the event.

On Sunday, January 13, 2019, a Happy Sunday themed banner was raised in Sanmenxia city’s Chengguan town, and a tug-of-war and other activities were organized for the villagers.

Video: In November 2018, a “Happy Sunday” activity was held in Yangshao town in Henan Province

A puzzled villager asked, “What is the purpose of Happy Sundays?” The village head explained that it was to ensure that everyone comes to see shows on Sundays instead of believing and attending religious gatherings.

Bitter Winter obtained a copy of a document issued in September 2018, titled Notice on the Implementation Opinions on Carrying Out “Happy Sunday” Themed Activities in Suiyang District. The document was jointly issued by 12 government departments in Suiyang district of Shangqiu city in Henan, including the Organization Department and the Propaganda Department of Party committee. The document calls for “coordination of various resources and mobilization of all forces” to carry out Happy Sunday activities, requiring that “The focus should be placed on rural areas (or communities) in which religious management tasks are heavy.” Activities should be held every Sunday morning and on major religious festivals in order to “occupy the ideological front in rural areas.” In other words, the Party hopes to use entertainment activities to compete with religion in vying for the masses.

Notice on the Implementation Opinions on Carrying Out “Happy Sunday” Themed Activities in Suiyang District

 

The activities of Happy Sunday are meant to be all-consuming. Each of the 12 government departments involved is responsible for its own projects, targeting different segments of society and creating a variety of activities to keep people away from religious practice.

The district’s Bureau of Culture and Tourism aims to strengthen the “artistic backbones” of citizens by carrying out various cultural performances, while the Education and Sports Bureau organizes patriotic education activities for teenagers, such as learning to recite from memory the “Core Socialist Values.” The Women’s Federation sponsors events for rural women to “lead them to obey the Party and follow the Party,” and the Political and Legal Affairs Committee runs anti-xie jiao propaganda activities. The Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee is entrusted with campaigns to fly the national flag and introduce the “Core Socialist Values” at religious venues to “elevate the national consciousness of religious believers, and make them aware that even if they believe in religion, they cannot betray the Party or the country.”

Video: In November 2018, a “Happy Sunday” activity was held in the courtyard of the village committee of Yangshao village

Idealized models of good citizens are created and promoted as well. The district’s Office of Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee screens families and rates them, singling out some for praise with titles like “civilized families/households,” “good mothers-in-law” and “good daughters-in-law.” According to the reports received by Bitter Winter, people who support the CCP’s policies and exemplify traditional Chinese values such as loyalty, harmony, and integrity are selected by the government as “civilized households.” Villagers with religious beliefs are never selected, and find themselves marginalized in relation to the Party-promoted ideal.

Video: On January 20, 2019, the government of Yingdong village in Henan Province organized villagers to beat gongs and play drums, holding a “Happy Sunday” activity


In addition, there are also “rural reading rooms,” “Party micro-lectures,” “countryside opera stages,” and “morality and culture lecture halls,” all of which promote the Party’s policies. The constant delivery of the Party’s values from every angle leaves people with no time to believe in God.

According to some media reports, Happy Sunday-themed activities started taking place last year. As Bitter Winter has previously reported, rural authorities across Henan have been implementing extensive anti-religion propaganda campaigns by inviting traditional Chinese opera troupes to perform outside religious venues or organizing “night school for peasants.” Local governments in other provinces are also organizing “alternative” Sunday events of Party propaganda or cultural activities near the places of worship to deter people from participating in religious activities.

As early as November 2014, the Xinjiang Daily website published an article entitled “With More Activities in Rural Areas, Religious Atmosphere Has Faded.” According to the article, Xinhe county authorities invested more than four million RMB (about $590,000) of funds for new construction and the expansion of 68 village-level cultural activity venues, 110 rural cultural compounds, and two newly-built cultural auditoriums. Besides, 176 sets of village loudspeakers that are used to spread CCP propaganda have been upgraded or retrofitted, and “meshrep square dance” activities (a traditional Uyghur gathering for poetry and dance) have been popularized in 117 villages throughout the county. In the countryside, various competitions and artistic performances have been established and carried out frequently. Authorities encourage the citizens to participate regularly in advancing the goal of “using modern culture to dilute the religious atmosphere.”

Reported by Gu Xi

Tagged With: Anti-Religious Campaigns

bw-profile
Gu Xi

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Church of Almighty God: Another 300+ Arrested in China

    Church of Almighty God: Another 300+ Arrested in China

  • Public Security Immediately Implementing National Conference on Religion

    Public Security Immediately Implementing National Conference on Religion

  • Chinese LGBT Social Media App Ban Users from Posting Religious Content

    Chinese LGBT Social Media App Ban Users from Posting Religious Content

  • China: “Christmas Is Forbidden, It’s a Western Celebration”

    China: “Christmas Is Forbidden, It’s a Western Celebration”

Keep Reading

  • Book Promoting Atheism Launched with Great Fanfare in China
    Book Promoting Atheism Launched with Great Fanfare in China

    “The Principles of Scientific Atheism.” by Li Shen claims that both the non-existence of God and the fact that religion is harmful are undisputable scientific truths.

  • Talent Agents New Regulations: No Agents for Those Active in Illegal Religion
    Talent Agents New Regulations: No Agents for Those Active in Illegal Religion

    The new rules come into force on June 30 and deprive of agents’ services performers who criticize the CCP, are suspected of ‘separatism,” or follow non-authorized religions.

  • 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.

  • 600 Church of Almighty God Members Sentenced in 2021
    600 Church of Almighty God Members Sentenced in 2021

    Jail penalties are increasingly severe for common devotees, guilty only of living their faith. One died in prison.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Pro-Chinese Propaganda by The World Muslim Communities Council: Uyghurs Strike Back by Gulfiye Y
  • Zhanargul Zhumatai: “Help Me, I Just Want to Leave China” by Ruth Ingram
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 1. The Aesthetic Mind by Massimo Introvigne
  • Stricter Rules on Private Tutoring Protect Ideology Rather than Parents by Wang Zhipeng
  • Japan Religious Donations Law. 4. The Return of Brainwashing by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong Kong: Christian Scholar Peng Manyuan Released but Not Rehabilitated by Gladys Kwok
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 3. Art as Communication by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 4. Art and Illustration by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 5. Professionals vs. Amateurs by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

Instant Exclusive News
Instant Exclusive News

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

Follow us

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY