Article 300 continues to be applied to movements not included in the lists too. But xie jiao lists are not uninteresting.
by Massimo Introvigne
Scholar of Chinese religion Edward Irons has called attention on the lists of xie jiao as a main tool of Chinese religious persecution. As readers of Bitter Winter know, xie jiao is a concept introduced in China in the 7th century CE to designate “heterodox teachings” regarded as dangerous and hostile to the government. In the Ming era, specific laws targeted the xie jiao, and lists of them were compiled.
The notion of xie jiao passed from Imperial China to Republican China, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic. The CCP translates “xie jiao” as “cult,” or “evil cult,” but even pro-government Chinese scholars agree that the translation is inaccurate, considering the long history of the term in China that predates Western controversies on “cults.”
Since 1995, the CCP publishes its own lists of xie jiao. Irons examined the lists published in 1995, 2000, 2014, and 2017. He noted in 2018 that, “Recent lists appear under the aegis of the recently-established agency established to counter xie jiao groups, the Anti-Cult Association,” or China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association.
It is important to note that Chinese courts of law apply Article 300 of the Criminal Code, which punishes with severe jail penalties those active in a xie jiao, both to groups included and not included in the list. The case law has clarified that Article 300 can be applied by analogy, for example to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which have never been included in any list of the xie jiao. It can also be applied to movements designated as xie jiao on a local scale, which are not regarded as of national or international relevance and will presumably never make it to the list.
With these precisions, lists are not uninteresting. They show what movements the CCP regards as more active and dangerous, and the fact that a group has been removed or a new group has been included may be evidence of political trends.
On July 26, 2022, the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association published a new list, while cautioning that it is not official, which is coherent with the comments I proposed above.
The list we reproduce above includes 23 movements, and should be compared to the one of 2017 studied by Edward Irons, which had 22 movements listed. It is also explained that how the xie jiao are listed is not coincidental. For each category, they are disposed on different rows, in order of decreasing estimated dangerousness. For a comparison, we publish the list of 2017 as compiled by Irons, evidencing the Christian groups, which were and remain the largest category.
Most of the groups have been presented in Bitter Winter, and I will include some comments only for the few that weren’t. The list is divided in four categories: movements using (or, according to the list, misusing) Qigong, Buddhism, Christianity, and ufology.
Under the label “qigong” two movements are listed: Falun Gong (#1 in the whole list) and Riyue Qigong. The latter was not in the 2017 list, and allows the CCP to include a success story as it claims Riyue Qigong has been eradicated. Such claims should always be taken with a grain of salt. Riyue Qigong replaces Zhonggong, which was included in the 2017 list. Perhaps the CCP prefers not to mention it, as it had announced it had been eliminated, only to admit later that it still exists.
The groups in the Buddhist tradition prohibited as xie jiao include in the first row the Guanyin Method of Supreme Master Ching Hai and the True Buddha School. The Guanyin Method, or Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association, was founded by Vietnamese spiritual master Hue Thi Thanh (Ching Hai). It is a global movement with some two million followers worldwide, which combines Buddhism with the Indian Radhasoami tradition.
The second row includes Yuandunfamen, founded by Xǔu Chengjiang in Heilongjiang in 1998 and suppressed as a branch of the Guanyin Method from 1999, and Huazang Zongmen. The latter is a new entry, and replaces the Pure Land Learning Association, founded by Buddhist Master Chin Kung (Jingkong) in Taiwan in 1984, which was included in the 2017 list. Chin Kung died on July 26, 2022, coincidentally the same day the new list was published, and why his movement was no longer included in the xie jiao list is unclear.
It is, on the other hand, easy to understand why Huazang Zongmen was included. Its founder Wu Zeheng teaches what looks like traditional Zen Buddhism but has advocated political reform and the end of state control of Buddhism. He was repeatedly arrested, and jailed for life on charges of rape that international organization and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have regarded as trumped up.
As usual, Christian groups have the lion’s share in the list of the xie jiao. There are no differences with respect to the 2017 list, but since the distribution in rows is significant I will mention it.
Fist row: The Church of Almighty God, Association of Disciples, the Shouters. Second row: Three Grades of Servants, Bloody Holy Spirit. Third row: Full Scope Church and Unification Church. Fourth row: Mainland China Administrative Deacon Station and Lingling Sect (aka Efficacious Spirit Movement). Fifth row: South China Church and Anointed King. Sixth row: World Mission Society Church of God, a South Korean group with a presence in China. Seventh row: Taiwan’s New Testament Church and the Dami Mission. Eight row: the Lord God’s Teachings Church and the Children of God/The Family (although the latter are almost defunct, both internationally and in China).
The Mainland China Administrative Deacon Station is a schism of the Shouters, whose leader Wang Yongmin is expected to remain in jail until 2028. The South China Church is a house church whose pastor Gong Shengliang was accused of rape and sentenced to death in 2001. Due to international pressure, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The Dami Mission was a South Korean movement that predicted the end of the world for 1992, and was disbanded by its founder Lee Jang Rim after that date. However, Chinese authorities occasionally claim that there are still followers in China.
For the first time, the 2022 list introduces a fourth category, groups that misuse ufology. Bitter Winter reported this year the increased concern of the authorities for UFO religions in China, and the most famous group, the Galactic Federation, made it to the xie jiao list for the first time.