Religion in the People's Republic of China

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The People's Republic of China is a secular state and the majority of Chinese do not officially adhere to any denomination . To this day there is no national law on religion, only a variety of documents. The relationship between the state and the religions is unclear and varies locally. The government of the People's Republic of China, however, promotes the Chinese people's religion as "the only religion compatible with the Chinese state system".

Essence of religion in China

The nature of religion in China is very different from that in Europe. In China, the question of the meaning of life , life after death or an almighty God has never played a major role. When asked what will happen after death, Confucius replied, “If we don't even know what life is, how can we know anything about death?” He said of gods that one does not know whether they existed , but one should live as if they existed.

The focus of Chinese thought has always been on life, the earth, harmony and happiness of people, not an invisible God in heaven. The Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang wrote about it: “To the western mind it is hardly comprehensible that the relationship from person to person could be fruitful without the thought of a supreme being, while to the Chinese it seems just as astonishing why people do not meet each other should be able to behave decently among each other even without the thought of a God. "

For the Chinese, a religion is one lesson among many other doctrines. It does not exclude other doctrines and cannot claim any privilege as doctrinal opinion or infallible validity. A Chinese can also follow several religions at the same time. A proverb describes the relationship between the three essential Chinese teachings : “A Chinese is a Confucian when he is well, he is a Daoist when he is bad, and he is a Buddhist in the face of death.” The various religions are also different “ Work fields "assigned. A Daoist priest is preferred for marriage , while Buddhist monks are more likely to be called to funerals.

The Chinese emperors, who were also the head of the Chinese state cult, visited the temples of all religions on special festivals. The only difference in the behavior of the emperors towards the various religions was that the emperors prostrated themselves in front of the altar of the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Confucius , while they only bowed before the other altars.

The religion of the common people is a mixture of old folk beliefs with divination , palmistry , healing spells and spirits repellants and Feng Shui (= geomancy ), Fojiao (= Buddhism ), Daojiao (= Daoism ) and Kongjiao (= Confucianism ). Neither the priests nor the common believers care what religion their gods come from. It is utilitarian and has little concern with religious beliefs. The help of the gods is important for a good and long life.

Legal status of religions

Temple in the Hengshan Mountains in Hunan Province

In the constitution of the People's Republic of China , the protection of religious forms of life is enshrined from the beginning as long as they are not directed against the state. This includes that

  • religion is not abused for counter-revolutionary activities,
  • public order is not disturbed by the practice of religion,
  • the religious activities are not controlled by a foreign power.

The Chinese religious policy is based on the constitution, but it is determined by various documents of the party and the governments at the various levels (province, autonomous region, county, city). The formulations of these documents, which from a legal point of view have no legal character, but nevertheless form the basis of religious policy, leave room for very different views and for diametrically opposed decisions by the authorities in practice, so that the implementation of official religious policy at the local level varies widely can fail. Many documents also only apply to a single city or district. Despite a number of attempts, there has so far been no religious law in the People's Republic of China, and with the rise of religions in China, extensive gray areas have emerged between the “underground” and the churches officially recognized by the state.

Religion in the Chinese Constitution

The People's Republic of China has been a secular state according to the constitution from the beginning . This was stated in the constitutions as follows:

Constitution of 1954
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the constitution of 1954 stipulated: "Every citizen of the People's Republic of China should have freedom of religion." As far as the content of faith was concerned, it was largely left to the religious communities to determine them themselves. However, the religious institutions were subjected to strict regulation and control by the party and government organs in order to prevent them from influencing the social and political conditions in the country. The freedom of religion set out in the constitution was, however, only observed to a limited extent in the early phase of communist rule and was completely overridden during the time of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).

1978 Constitution
Article 46 of the Constitution describes freedom of religion as follows: "Citizens are free to believe in any religion, free not to believe, and free to promote atheism."

1982 Constitution
In the 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which is still in force today , Article 36 reads:

“The citizens of the PRC enjoy freedom of belief. No state organ, no social organization and no individual may force citizens to profess or not profess a religion, nor may they discriminate against those citizens who profess or do not profess a religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may use a religion to engage in activities that disturb public order, damage the physical health of citizens, or impair the educational system. The religious organizations and affairs must not be controlled by any foreign force. "

This constitutional guarantee of religious freedom only applies to the five recognized religions, namely Buddhism , Daoism , Islam , Protestants (who are called "Christians" in China) and Catholics , in their official, state-recognized structures that operate through so-called "patriotic associations" (see below ).

Role of Religions in Society

Religion in ancient China

Religions were suspect in ancient China. Confucianism equated religion with superstition. The Chinese themselves did not produce a religion of salvation; on the contrary, Lao-Tse, the father of Daoism, is credited with the statement: “Man needs neither gods nor spirits if he follows the Dao.” Dao means here the pursuit of harmony and the Search for the right way. Redemptive religions such as Christianity or Islam were perceived as something alien, something that came from outside and, in times of inner weakness, something that threatened the state.

Securing national unity has always been the primary goal of Chinese religious policy. A good religion combined with the state and became a state-supporting force by imparting the blessings of heaven to the emperor or the ruling government. Confucianism is an example of this. In Confucianism, the state was understood as a huge, patriarchally organized family, in which everyone had his or her position, combined with the associated obligations. Religions that dared to criticize the existing political system based on a prophetic mission and tried to influence political or social changes were rejected as heterodox and persecuted. Their followers were then no longer seen as just religious nuts, but as anarchist elements and a threat to the continued existence of the entire system. Christianity in particular has often questioned the ruling system in the past and advocated changes up to and including revolution.

Religion in the PRC

View of Sheshan Hill with St. Mary's Basilica and the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

According to the constitution, China has been a secular state since the beginning of the People's Republic. However, the relationship between the state and the religions has varied widely over the past few decades.

From the beginning of the People's Republic to the Cultural Revolution

The new government took over the skepticism towards religions from its predecessors. However, according to communist ideas, the communist government expected the churches to "naturally" disappear. In 1950, Prime Minister Zhou Enlai said this to Protestant Christians: “We will teach you and try to convert the people…. After all, we both believe that the truth will prevail. We believe that your beliefs are wrong and untrue, so if we are right the people will reject them and the church will perish. However, if you are right, the people will believe you. But, since we are sure that you are wrong, we take this risk. "

Despite the constitutional requirement of neutrality, the government was hostile to religions in the 1950s - an attitude that stemmed partly from ideological reasons, but partly from bad experiences with Western mission agencies that worked closely with the colonialists. All foreign Christian missionaries (approx. 6200) were expelled from China and the churches' contact with all foreign organizations was broken off.

According to the teaching of the Chinese Communist Party, all religious organizations should also strictly limit themselves to religious content and related rites. Under no circumstances should you be allowed to intervene in matters that are assigned to the state in a socialist society. For a long time this was interpreted to mean that religions are not allowed to be active in the fields of education, health care and social work. They had to limit themselves to the internal religious space.

A further distinction is made between “legitimate religious activity” and “feudal superstitious practices”. The latter were banned from the start in the PRC.

From the beginning of the Cultural Revolution to Mao's death

During the first two years of the Cultural Revolution , 1966 and 1967, countless monasteries, temples and churches were devastated by the Red Guards ; any religious practice had to go underground. This applied to both officially recognized and unrecognized churches.

From Mao's death to the turn of the millennium

Sungtseling Monastery , Yunnan , China

After Mao's death, the religions were allowed again, and in the course of the opening up of society under Deng Xiaoping since the early 1980s, the authorities' control over the religions was gradually relaxed. Temples and monasteries were reopened, mostly without government subsidies. Christianity, which seemed to have almost disappeared over the years, experienced an amazing rebirth.

In the 1990s, the state supported the expansion or construction of many monasteries, the payments were officially designated as compensation for improper use, and investments were made in improving the education of an enormously growing number of monks and nuns.

Established in 1992, Falun Gong was banned in 1999 and thousands of its members were arrested. The Chinese government accuses Falun Gong of having set up a secret organization to put pressure on the Chinese government. This is an abuse of freedom of religion. The rise of the Falun Gong organization threw back liberalization efforts in China by years.

Development in recent years

After decades of confrontation, the relationship between the Vatican and Beijing has relaxed in recent years, despite persistent differences. In 2007 Pope Benedict wrote a letter to Chinese Catholics to discuss the current situation of the Church in China and to contribute to the unification between the official and unofficial Chinese Catholic Church. Due to the dispute between the Chinese leadership and the Uighurs , the relationship between the state government and Islam remains strained.

In the years since the turn of the millennium, a cautious change has taken place in the way the churches act in the social field, so that the Amity Foundation of the Protestant church has been able to act in the fields of health, education and publications. In the Catholic Church, too, there are now a number of social institutions, health centers and educational institutions that perform niche functions.

The attitude of the Chinese leadership towards religiosity is ambivalent. On the one hand, it has been recognized that the churches can convey a spiritual hold that socialist ideology or the state can no longer give in times of upheaval. In this respect, the churches have a stabilizing effect on society, which the Chinese leadership welcomes. On the other hand, the state fears that the hold emanating from the churches and faiths will become so great that it can be used in an organized form against the government. This consideration has been particularly evident since the campaign against the Falun Gong movement began in July 1999. Hence the attempt to strengthen the official churches against the unregistered churches. Despite these state efforts, the number of members in the unofficial Christian congregations continues to grow faster than in the official churches.

The new developments are also reflected in the current program for the development of a “harmonious society”, which the Communist Party has elevated to the guiding principle. With the new model of the "Harmonious Society", the Communist Party takes up the key concept of Confucian teaching: harmony. The religions and the churches have their place in this "harmonious society" and are no longer opponents in the class struggle.

Number of believers of the various religions

It is not easy to give an approximate number of religious followers. According to the White Paper on Freedom of Belief in China, published by the State Council's Press and Information Office in 1997, there were just over 4 million Catholics and around 10 million Protestants at the time. According to the statistics of the official churches in China, in 2004 there were 5 million Catholics and 16 million Protestants. There are ten national minorities with a predominant proportion of Muslims. In the official Chinese figures, the number of Muslims is determined as the sum of the members of these ten national minorities. That's about 20 million. There is no official information on how many followers of Buddhism or Taoism there are in China. The reason is that both religions do not have strict regulations and ceremonies that make a commitment to Buddhism and Taoism clear and Buddhism and Taoism cannot be assigned to any national minority. According to statistics from the Association of Buddhists of China, the national organizations of the Buddhist circle, there are said to be around 100 million Buddhists in China. The Chinese folk religion is also not officially mentioned.

A study by Professors Tong Shijun and Liu Zhongyu of the Shanghai Teachers' University in 2005 caused a sensation. The data of this study was based on own surveys and was published in the state media. The fact that these dates were mentioned at the 2007 Political Consultative Conference gave them a semi-official meaning.

According to these data, there are 150-200 million Buddhists, 25-35 million Protestant Christians, 11-18 million Muslims, 8.5-13 million Catholics and 5.5 million Daoists. The Chinese folk religion has around 130 million followers. This investigation comes to a total of about 300 million believers instead of the previously officially stated number of only 100 million.

The widespread Chinese folk religion is interesting. So far, this religion has simply been officially concealed or labeled as superstition. Sociologists of religion have been proposing for some time that this popular religion be officially recognized.

While parts of Western scientists consider Tong and Liu's data to be a reasonable basis, the numbers are entirely different. For example, the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report in 2010 mentioned "independent estimates" of "50 million or more" Muslims without specifying them.

According to Chinese and Western estimates, the Chinese folk religion is experiencing a great boom. According to this, the majority of the Han Chinese (92% of the entire population of China) follow at least some of the traditions of the old religion with a steadily growing following, which also includes other peoples. The traditional ancestor cult is part of everyday life for many Chinese.

Practice of Religious Policy

Assumption Church in Ningbo , Zhejiang

Separation between cult and organization of the churches

The Chinese state has a policy of conditional religious freedom. The religious communities are granted independence in the internal areas of teaching and cult. As far as the content of beliefs is concerned, it is largely left to the religious communities to determine them themselves. But in all other areas they are under the direction and control of the state and do not differ in this from other institutions.

State control over the churches

The Chinese state tries to fully control all religious activities through administrative regulations and registration measures. Behind this is the experience that in the history of China, parallel power structures arose time and again from religious activities and became a threat to the state. In the so-called Taiping uprising alone , 20 million people are said to have died. The state delegates supervision of the churches to the local organs of the Office of State Religious Oversight (SARA).

All persons who preach in a church must obtain an ID card from the “Patriotic Association” responsible for the church. This is associated with appropriate training and testing.

Restrictions on religious freedom

In reporting on religious policy in the PRC, there is often talk of restrictions on religious freedom. The Chinese religious authorities and the official church organizations reject this and emphasize that the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution can actually be exercised and practiced.

The Chinese say that many foreign reports of persecution are based on exaggeration or on some individual cases in which the authorities took action against religious acts and ceremonies that were not officially approved. When it comes to arrests and prison terms, it is mostly against members of religious groups who refuse to register with the state supervisory authorities and thus violate the law.

State interference with religions is not declared as a restriction of religious freedom, but as necessary state measures to maintain public order, which are only directed against acts that wrongly invoke religions or religious freedom, but which are actually illegal, heterodox and revolutionary Show deviations. At the beginning of the reform era, Deng Xiaoping said, “Few people can undermine our plan. [...] The experience of the Cultural Revolution has shown that chaos only leads to regression, never to progress, and that a stable order must prevail if we want to move forward. "

Anyone in the PRC who is accused of endangering the stability of the state cannot invoke freedom of religion. In the Chinese imagination, freedom of religion only refers to religious cult in the churches. Charitable activities as well as statements on the politics of the state, such as favoring the “one-child family”, do not belong to religious freedom. The same restrictions apply here as for any other social organization.

Regulations for Religious Organizations

China regards itself as a secular state and protects legal religious activities. The basic attitude of the Chinese state towards religion was established in the so-called "Document No. 19" (shijiuhao wenjian, 19 号 文件; "The basic view and politics of the religious question during the socialist period of our country") from 1982. The document formulated the "five characteristics" of a recognized religion. They are: complexity, mass character, longevity, ethnicity and internationality. Since then, these marks have been used to characterize religious phenomena and to establish their orthodoxy in the PRC. In order to clarify the term “legal religious activities”, regulations on religious matters and later implementing provisions were issued on March 1, 2005. The following is determined about religious activities and religious personnel:

Regulations for Religious Activities
Common religious activities of religious citizens should generally take place within the places registered for them. They should be organized by the relevant official religious organization and directed by their officials or other personnel who meet the conditions of the respective religion.

Regulations for Religious Personnel
The official religious organizations ( i.e. the Chinese Daoist Society , the Chinese Buddhist Society , the Chinese Islamic Society, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association , the Protestant Church's Patriotic Three-Self Movement ) accept their status religious office holders according to their statutes and register the office holders with the responsible authorities. A completed degree in theology is a prerequisite for Protestant pastors. Religious officials may only begin their work after their appointment has been confirmed by the religious affairs departments of the people's governments. Only the five official religious organizations are allowed to register office holders with the authorities. There is therefore no possibility for a clergyman to register directly with the authorities without submission to the official organizations.

The official churches

The officially approved parishes are grouped under umbrella organizations. There is one umbrella organization for each official church. For the Protestants this is the "Chinese Christian Council". The umbrella organizations, however, do not form a constituted church as an institution with a fixed church order that applies to all, but rather they are a community of individual congregations and only exercise church leadership functions to a very limited extent. In principle, all local communities are independent. They finance themselves, build their own management staff and often organize themselves in manageable smaller groups and are often embedded in the village clan structures.

Not officially registered groups

Despite attempts by the state to control religious activities in the country, the majority of believers are not officially registered and the number of believers in the unregistered parish churches continues to grow faster than that in the official churches. However, this development should be interpreted less as an opposition to the government than as a sign of the incompatibility of official politics and beliefs.

In the Protestant Church, at least two thirds of all believers are members of an unofficial congregation. Sometimes these congregations are referred to as " house churches, " as if they mostly come together in residential buildings. In reality they gather in halls or even in their own churches. Many of these municipalities would like to register with the authorities, but there are criteria that these municipalities cannot meet. For example, there is a condition that they must be led by a pastor who has completed theological training and has been approved by the Chinese Christian Council.

Normal Christian or Buddhist groups are usually tolerated even without official approval. However, since the municipalities are not registered, they legally exist in a gray area and their members are not protected against attacks by local authorities like the members of the registered municipalities. As a rule, however, there is cooperation between the official "Protestant Patriotic Association" and the unregistered communities. The 50 million members of the non-official Protestant congregations receive their religious material such as Bibles, hymn books, other writings and work aids from the “Protestant Patriotic Association” as do the congregations of the official church. Members of the Falun Gong group, on the other hand, are considered subversive and treated as criminals.

The treatment of religious groups is regulated by both nationally valid and only locally valid documents. Many counties and cities have their own regulations for treating these groups. The following example provides guidance in the Shanghai Administrative Regulations for Handling Prohibited Groups.

Basic religion work in Shanghai

“Religious work at the grassroots” was included in the administrative regulations and assessment standards for “civilized neighborhoods” in Shanghai in 2005. With the help of this innovation, the authorities control over the citizens of Shanghai should be improved, since "abnormal" religious activities are still widespread and are even increasing.

The administrative regulations and assessment standards determine which criteria an urban neighborhood must meet in order to be raised to the status of a "civilized" district.

“Civilized neighborhoods” should have a system, measures and their own staff responsible for the administration of religious affairs on the ground. Abnormal activities that affect religion are actively regulated under the guidance of the relevant higher-level authorities. Sudden incidents are reported immediately.

Religious activities in a “civilized neighborhood” are normal, orderly and do not disturb the neighborhood. There must be no unauthorized ("wild") erected religious sites, there are no wild incense sacrificial sites, no private meeting places or other abnormal religious activities.

As Zhu Liangmei, a member of the Shanghai Municipal Government's Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, said, grassroots religious work is necessary because the three "chronic diseases" of abnormal religious activity persist. In Buddhism and Daoism, the "three chaotic states" are still widespread. These are wild (i.e. unauthorized) building of small temples, wild incense burning and wild performance of Buddhist rituals. In Protestantism there is an increasing tendency and a social trend towards the establishment of private meeting places. In addition, the underground Catholic Church is still active. But it is not just about administering religion, rather the positive contribution of religions should also come into its own.

Unauthorized places of worship in Shanghai

In a study report on unapproved "incense sacrificial sites," Yao Nanqiang, professor of law and politics at East China Normal University, estimates that there should be 30 to 60 such places of worship in Shanghai. These places of worship, in which a mixture of Buddhism, Daoism and folk religion is often practiced, arose spontaneously, mostly in places where there used to be a temple. They are tolerated or even supported by the local cadres, who are often themselves believers. Yao suggests that the places of worship should be treated differently. If possible, they should be registered. If necessary, the leader should be briefed briefly. If necessary, they should be incorporated into the nearest temple. The aim must be to increase the supervision of these places of worship and to reduce their "negative effects".

Secret Societies in China

Religious secret societies have a long tradition in China. Since the Ming Dynasty , they have been considered a sign of socio-economic instability and potential for political unrest; they are viewed by the Chinese state as an ideological and organizational threat. The secret societies usually have a charismatic leader, a complex and flexible form of organization and represent doctrines of salvation and redemption. In the course of the consolidation of their rule in the 1950s, the communist regime waged a bitter struggle against them. In the context of the opening up of society in the 1980s, they again caused great concern for the government. The largest secret society in recent years has been the Falun Gong movement. Only through the use of all state power could the public resistance of this movement be broken by unleashing a campaign to "fight against false teachings" on the occasion of the ban on the Falun Gong movement in July 1999.

State recognized religions

Ling Shan Buddha statue in Wuxi , Jiangsu

Five religions are officially recognized in the People's Republic of China today, namely Daoism , Buddhism , Islam , as well as Protestant and Catholic Christianity . The Chinese popular belief is not recognized by the government because it is devoid of any organization, clergy, or established theology. The Russian Orthodox Church is not officially mentioned as a religion because the believers in this church are attributed to the Russian minority. Each of these recognized religions is represented in the Consultative Conference of the Chinese People, in which all politically, socially and religiously relevant institutions work together under the leadership of the Communist Party. The traditional Chinese religions, to which a third of all Chinese understand themselves to be religious, do not exist as official religions.

Buddhism

Christianity: Protestantism and Catholicism

Daoism

Main article: Daoism in the People's Republic of China

Islam

A calligraphy with the Arabic and Chinese text of sura 72:18 "The mosques are for God. So besides God do not call on anyone else." in the village of Dahui, Tonghai Province, Yunnan

Muslims have lived on the territory of the People's Republic since the 7th century. Most of the ethnic minorities who profess Islam predominantly live in western China. The Hui Chinese, on the other hand, live scattered over the entire territory of the country, with a focus on the provinces of Ningxia , Gansu , Qinghai , Yunnan and Shaanxi , as well as in most of the major cities. They are quite different ethnically.

In addition to the Hui, other ethnic minorities profess Islam, the Uighurs , Kazakhs , Kyrgyz and Uzbeks being the largest. Their settlement area is almost exclusively in Xinjiang , where several thousand Tatars and Tajiks also live. Other smaller Muslim minorities are the partly Mongolian Salar , Bonan , Dongxiang and parts of the Yugur , who mostly live with Hui in scattered settlement areas and autonomous districts and counties, and which also extend over the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi. The Utsul on the island of Hainan , who are presumably Cham refugees from Vietnam, are not recognized as an independent minority, but are counted among the Hui .

In their history, almost all of these ten Muslim nationalities belonged to Islam. That changed at the beginning of the last century. Nevertheless, Muslims still make up the majority of these ten nationalities today. In the official data collection of the number of Muslims, the population of these ten nationalities is usually given. In the meantime, Islam has also found supporters among the Mongols, Tibetans and Bai.

According to the statistics of the fifth census in China in 2000, the population of the ten Muslim nationalities was 20 million. They were mainly native to northwest China. Specifically, there were 8.3994 million Uyghurs, 1.2505 million Kazakhs, 160,800 Kyrgyz, 41,000 Tajiks, 12,400 Uzbeks and 4,900 Tatars. Members of these six nationalities mainly live in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the Uygur nationality. Most of the 104,500 salars are located in Qinghai Province. The 513 800 Dongxiang and the 16 500 Baoan live mostly in Gansu Province. The numerically strongest of these ten nationalities were the Hui with 9.8168 million.

The Hui are native to most cities and counties throughout the People's Republic, especially Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang and Shaanxi in the northwest, Yunnan in the southwest, and Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Inner Mongolia. The Ningxia Autonomous Region is considered to be the largest Hui settlement area.

The official figures for the Muslim population are believed to be credible by some Western scholars, while some sinologists propose completely different figures. Contrary to the official information, it was assumed that there were 20 million Muslims as early as 1897 and 1936. The population of China has more than doubled since then, as has the number e.g. B. Uyghurs, and unlike masses of Han Chinese, Uyghurs and Hui were rarely killed by Japanese during World War II.

In 1888 Meyers Konversations-Lexikon had written in its 4th edition:

“ Islam has around 3-4 million followers in the western parts of the country, not 30-40 million, as is usually wrongly stated (cf. Palladius in the works of the members of the Russian spiritual mission in Beijing, [* 20] vol. 4), and a number not yet to be determined in Jünnan. "

In the 5th edition, however, Meyers put the number of Muslims in the province of Jünnan alone at 3.75 million, in the province of Shensi with 6.5 million and in the province of Kansu even with 8.35 million and corrected it The total number of Muslims in China rose to 19.95 million. Meyers held onto these numbers in the 6th edition of 1905 and the following editions, as did Brockhaus in 1911.

On the eve of the Cultural Revolution (1966), the Fischer Weltalmanach gave the number of Muslims in the People's Republic of over 40 million (5.2% of 768 million inhabitants), five years later even over 48 million (5.8%) of 830 million). The US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report in 2010 mentioned "independent estimates" of "50 million or more" Muslims, but did not specifically name them. In China itself, a study by Professors Tong Shijun and Liu Zhongyu of the University of Shanghai in 2005 attracted attention. It was published on the Xinhua Official News Agency. In this study, the population figures of the ten Muslim national minorities were not added up, but people were asked directly about their beliefs. This study found a number of 11 to 18 million Muslims.

In northwest China, Muslims continue to make up the majority of the population. Today the Chinese leadership is faced with the occasional Uighur riot in Xinjiang . It is not clear to what extent nationalism , Islamism or perceived injustice on the part of the Han-dominated administration are to be seen as the cause. It should also be noted that from 1949 to 2000 the proportion of Han Chinese in Xinjiang increased from 3.7% to over 40%.

The Beijing Chinese Islamic Institute has been training mullahs since 1955 .

Since 2014, Uyghurs and other minorities have been arrested and taken to “re-education camps” , where they are forcibly assimilated and strategically and violently attempted to wean them of their culture and religion. These camps are strictly monitored, contact with the outside world is strictly forbidden for the prisoners and human rights are violated there. It is estimated that as of 2018, the Chinese authorities arrested hundreds of thousands to millions of Muslims and Christians, including some foreign nationals, and that they have been arbitrarily detained in numerous camps across the region, some under inhumane conditions .

See also

literature

  • Effenberg, J .; The Muslims of China; in: XXth Century; Vol I (1941), S 198 ( Memento from September 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (situation before the creation of the People's Republic; PDF; 812 kB)
  • Gunde, Richard: Culture and Customs of China. Westport 2002, ISBN 0-313-30876-4
  • Philip Clart: The Religions of China . Stuttgart 2009. ISBN 978-3825232603

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Roman Malek: Hope and Worry. Christianity and its manifestations in the People's Republic of China. Archived from the original on January 10, 2006 ; Retrieved February 7, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Michael Dillon: Religious Minorities and China ( English ). Minority Rights Group International, 2001.
  3. ↑ Madsen, Richard (October 2010). "The Upsurge of Religion in China" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 21 (4): 64-65. November 1, 2013, accessed November 24, 2019 .
  4. ↑ China in Contradiction: With Confucius into the 21st Century, Helmut Steckel, Rowohlt Verlag, 1988
  5. ↑ a b New Regulations for Religious Matters in the People's Republic of China, pp. 22–31 China Today XXIV (2005) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 222 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  6. ↑ a b c Georg Evers: Religious Freedom in the People's Republic of China Hanns Seidel Foundation, 2007 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hss.de
  7. ↑ What the Chinese Believe in: Religion, Peace of Mind and Olympia in the Land of Smiles [1]
  8. ↑ a b c Balduin Winter: China's Wild West Forum for Politics, Economy, Culture 3/2008
  9. ↑ Georg Evers: On the situation of human rights in the People's Republic of China - Change in religious policy? (PDF; 205 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Menschenrechte. MISSIO, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk <Aachen>, 2008, p. 8 , archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved February 7, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.missio-hilft.de
  10. ↑ Richard Wilhelm: The Soul of China, 1926
  11. ↑ Georg Evers: On the situation of human rights in the People's Republic of China - Change in religious policy? (PDF; 205 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Menschenrechte. MISSIO, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk <Aachen>, 2008, p. 15 , archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved February 7, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.missio-hilft.de
  12. ↑ Dr. Carsten Krause: Religion, Politics and Education in China World Religions in Dialogue, University of Hamburg, 2008
  13. ↑ Georg Evers: On the situation of human rights in the People's Republic of China - Change in religious policy? (PDF; 205 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Menschenrechte. MISSIO, Internationales Katholisches Missionswerk <Aachen>, 2008, p. 34 , archived from the original on April 9, 2014 ; Retrieved February 7, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.missio-hilft.de
  14. ↑ New Regulations for Religious Matters in the People's Republic of China, p. 24 China Today XXIV (2005) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 222 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  15. ↑ Francesco Sisci: China and the vatican take a laep of faith Asian Times, July 31, 2009
  16. ^ Pope Benedict XVI: Letter from the Holy Father
  17. ↑ Francesco SISCI: Beware the Tiananmen reflex Asia Times, July 9, 2009
  18. ↑ Stefan Friedrich: Christians in the People's Republic of China Konrad Adenauer Foundation, May 14, 2003
  19. ↑ Georg Blume: The school of revolutionary harmony Die Zeit May 11, 2005
  20. ↑ China Guide: Religions in China, 2012 Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-guide.de
  21. ↑ Christian Meyer: Religionen in China [2] Federal Agency for Civic Education, 2007
  22. ↑ China Today: Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2007 No. 1-2 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  23. ↑ Wu Jiao: Religious believers thrice the estimate [3] China Daily, February 7, 2007
  24. ↑ China Today: Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2007 No. 1-2 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  25. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2010: China
  26. ↑ Paul Hattaway: How many Christians are there in China ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 672 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.asiaharvest.org
  27. ^ The State of Religion in China. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  28. ^ Fan, Chen 2013. p. 28
  29. ^ Folk Religion in Contemporary China - Chinese Studies - Oxford Bibliographies - obo. Retrieved November 24, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Georg Evers: Religious Freedom in the People's Republic of China, p. 96 Hanns Seidel Foundation, 2007 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hss.de
  31. ↑ a b c New regulations for religious office holders and the occupation of religious offices China Today XXVI (2007) ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 160 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  32. ↑ David Hildebrand: Deng Xiaoping, p. 5 chinaweb.de, 2007
  33. ↑ New Regulations for Religious Matters in the People's Republic of China, p. 26 China Today XXIV (2005) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 222 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  34. ↑ New Regulations for Religious Matters in the People's Republic of China, p. 28 China Today XXIV (2005) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 222 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  35. ↑ Gotthard Oblau: The Protestant Church in China December 28, 2007 ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 23 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ekd.de
  36. ↑ Christians in the People's Republic of China
  37. ↑ a b Dr Winfried Gluer: Christian Church in China p.5
  38. ↑ Basic religion work in Shanghai ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  39. ↑ a b Kathrina Wenzel-Teuber: Basic religion work in Shanghai China Center, 2007 ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-zentrum.de
  40. ↑ Kristin Kupfer : Secret Societies in the People's Republic of China ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 229 kB). Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, China Analysis No. 8, Germany, 2001 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chinappolitik.de
  41. ↑ Georg Evers: Religious Freedom in the People's Republic of China, p. 94 Hanns Seidel Foundation, 2007 ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.0 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hss.de
  42. ↑ China Guide: Muslims, 2012 Archived copy ( memento of the original from May 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.china-guide.de
  43. ↑ a b Meyers Konversationslexikon, Volume 4, p. 47 (China, population) and p. 51 (religions). Fifth edition, Leipzig / Vienna 1897 - also in the 6th edition from 1905
  44. ↑ Knaurs Weltatlas, p. 184ff. Berlin 1936
  45. ↑ As early as 1954, for example, Egypt's Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed that there were 50 million Muslims in China (Egypt's Liberation, p. 113. Washington 1955)
  46. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 4, page 9 . Fourth edition, Leipzig / Vienna 1888
  47. ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 4, page 40 . Sixth edition, Leipzig 1906
  48. ↑ Brockhaus' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 1, page 334 . Fifth edition, Leipzig 1911
  49. ↑ Prof. Dr. Gustav Fochler-Hauke ​​(Ed.): Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1966 , page 22. Frankfurt am Main 1965
  50. ↑ Prof. Dr. Gustav Fochler-Hauke ​​(Ed.): Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1971 , page 28. Frankfurt am Main 1970
  51. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2010: China
  52. ↑ Christian Meyer: Religionen in China [4] Federal Agency for Civic Education, 2007
  53. ↑ Religions and Churches in the People's Republic of China Archived copy ( Memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 838 kB) CHINA TODAY No. 1–2, 2007
  54. ↑ Austin Ramzy: 'Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims (en-US) . In: The New York Times , November 16, 2019. 
  55. ↑ 100 Christians sent to 're-education' camps in Xinjiang . Retrieved May 15, 2018.