Besides police activity and arrests, the Ministry claims it organized 56,000 events against “xie jiao” during the year, reaching more than 17 million citizens.
By Hu Zimo
February 25, 2025
A report published last week on the WeChat account of China’s Ministry of Public Security claims that in 2024 the Ministry conducted an unprecedented campaign, with record numbers, “to address xie jiao organizations, focusing on risk prevention, law enforcement, and comprehensive governance. These actions aimed to control the growth and spread of xie jiao organizations, thereby reducing potential threats to national political security and ensuring social stability.”
“Xie jiao” is an increasingly ambiguous expression in China. It is routinely mistranslated by the Chinese government itself in its English language documents as “evil cults,” while literally it indicates “organizations spreading heterodox teachings” and has been used as such in China since the Middle Ages. While the report indicates Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God as the main targets of the repressive efforts in 2024, and semi-official lists of xie jiao do exist, the label is increasingly applied to a large number of “illegal” religious organizations, including Christian house churches nobody outside China would call “cults” in any sense of the term.
The report explains that to address the presence of “xie jiao organizations,” public security agencies nationwide have expanded something called the “Spring Rain Project,” targeting rural and grassroots communities. They also intensified in 2024 the “rehabilitation” and “reeducation” of xie jiao members, a code word for deprogramming.
Interestingly the report adds that “public security authorities have taken action against institutions conducting illegal training under the pretense of ‘spiritual cultivation.’ Several organizations fraudulently marketing ‘psychological healing’ and ‘self-improvement’ programs were found engaging in unlawful activities and dealt with.” This indicates yet another expansion of the category of xie jiao, now including psychological self-help and New-Age-like programs not necessarily presented as religious.
Although it is unclear by which criteria some cases are classified as “major,” the report mentions that “a March 2024 CCTV investigation found that since 2018, authorities cracked 77 major cases and prosecuted 269 individuals, confiscating over 217 million yuan ($29.75 million).”
But the actual number of cases is of course much higher, the report admits, and the investments in technology and recruitment of specialized officers has also increased in 2024.
Propaganda has been intensified, the report says. “Public security authorities across the country have also carried out anti-xie jiao education in villages, universities, primary and secondary schools, residential communities, governmental institutions, and enterprises to enhance public vigilance against xie jiao recruitment efforts. In 2024, public security units organized over 56,000 events, reaching more than 17 million people. Additionally, over 18 million netizens joined the online ‘Say No to Xie Jiao’ campaign by signing a digital petition.”
One comment is that all these efforts react to statements by high Party bureaucrats and Xi Jinping himself that, despite decades of efforts, xie jiao and “illegal religions” have not been eradicated in China and even appear to be growing.
Source: bitterwinter.org
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