NEWS//China's religions bow to sinicization

In 2017, the 19th National Party Congress voted to  “sinicize religions” in China. Sinicization is China’s attempt to reformat religion to better serve its purposes. This month, the official Christian community in China has voted to stand behind the Party’s recommendations.

In 2017, Zhang Yijiong, the executive deputy head of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) — the agency that oversees China’s religious affairs — explained that the Communist government has adhered to the goal of “sinicizing religions” in China and has made “socialist core values” play a leading role in the religious community. At the conference, President Xi demanded that China should “actively guide religions to adapt to the socialist society.”

On November 7, 2019, China's national religious groups gathered to study that decision of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Attendees called the decision a groundbreaking and milestone. They called on religious people to center their thinking and action on the decisions of the CPC Central Committee and to uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation. The group called on religions to make “learning and implementing the spirit of the… 19th CPC Central Committee as a major political task.”

Sources: XinhuaNet, The Diplomat, NDTV (New Delhi Television)