The People

The People's Republic of China

Prisoners
Bishop James Su Zhimin
Pastor Peter Xu Yongze - RELEASED
Mr. Philip Xu Guoxing - RELEASED
List of 123 other prisoners

Links
Full State Department report on Human Rights in China
www.religiousfreedomforchina.org
Map of China
www.china-embassy.org

Fact and Fiction in Our One China Policy, by Congressman Joe Pitts

2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -

March 31, 2003

Freedom of Religion

The Constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe; however, the Government sought to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. There are five officially recognized religions--Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism. A government-affiliated association monitored and supervised the activities of each of the five faiths. Membership in religions was growing rapidly; however, while the Government generally did not seek to suppress this growth outright, it tried to control and regulate religious groups to prevent the rise of groups or sources of authority outside the control of the Government and the Communist Party.

Overall, government respect for religious freedom remained poor, and crackdowns against unregistered groups, including underground Protestant and Catholic groups, Muslim Uighurs, and Tibetan Buddhists continued. The Government continued its repression of groups that it determined to be "cults" and of the Falun Gong in particular. Various sources reported that thousands of FLG adherents have been arrested, detained, and imprisoned, and that several hundred or more FLG adherents have died in detention since 1999; many of their bodies reportedly bore signs of severe beatings or torture or were cremated before relatives could examine them. The atmosphere created by the nationwide campaign against the FLG reportedly had a spillover effect on unregistered churches, temples, and mosques in many parts of the country.

All religious groups and spiritual movements were required to register with the State Council's Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB), which was responsible for monitoring and judging the legitimacy of religious activity. The RAB and the CCP's United Front Work Department (UFWD) provided policy "guidance and supervision" over implementation of government regulations on religious activity. The Government continued and in some areas intensified a national campaign to enforce the State Council and provincial regulations that require all places of religious activity to register with the RAB or to come under the supervision of official "patriotic" religious organizations. Some groups registered voluntarily, some registered under pressure, some avoided officials in an attempt to avoid registration, and authorities refused to register others. Some unofficial groups reported that authorities refused them registration without explanation. The Government contended that these refusals were mainly the result of failure to meet requirements concerning facilities and meeting spaces. Many religious groups were reluctant to comply with the regulations out of principled opposition to state control of religion or due to fear of adverse consequences if they revealed, as required, the names and addresses of church leaders and members. In some areas, efforts to register unauthorized groups were carried out by religious leaders and civil affairs officials. In other regions, police and RAB officials performed registration procedures concurrently with other law enforcement actions. Police closed scores of "underground" mosques, temples, seminaries, Catholic churches, and Protestant "house churches," including many with significant memberships, properties, financial resources, and networks.

Leaders of unauthorized groups were sometimes the targets of harassment, interrogations, detention, and physical abuse. Authorities particularly targeted unofficial religious groups in Beijing and the provinces of Henan, Shandong, and Guangxi, where there were rapidly growing numbers of unregistered Protestants, and in Hebei, a center of unregistered Catholics. For example, police arrested more than 20 Christians gathered in the Shanghai home of house church leader Xu Guoxing for a worship service on December 8. All were eventually released except Xu, who was sentenced, without trial, to 18 months of reeducation-through-labor.

However, many small "family churches," generally made up of family members and friends, that conducted activities similar to those of home Bible study groups, usually were tolerated by the authorities as long as they remained small and unobtrusive. Family churches reportedly encountered difficulties when their memberships became too large, when they arranged for the use of facilities for the specific purpose of conducting religious activities, or when they forged links with other unregistered groups.

In some areas, harassment of churches by local RAB officials was attributed, at least in part, to financial issues. For example, although regulations require local authorities to provide land to church groups, some local officials tried to avoid doing so by denying registration. Official churches also sometimes faced harassment when local authorities wished to acquire the land on which a church was located. In addition to refusing to register churches, there also were reports that RAB officials have pressed for "donations" from churches in their jurisdictions as a means of raising extra revenue.

In certain areas in the southeast, government supervision of religious activity was minimal, and registered and unregistered churches were treated similarly by authorities, existing openly side by side. Coexistence and cooperation between official and unofficial churches in such areas, both Catholic and Protestant, was close enough to blur the line between the two. In those areas, many congregants worshiped in both types of churches.

Authorities also have destroyed or seized unregistered places of worship. Early in the year, according to the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, a small Taoist temple in a central residential area of that city was demolished by a squad of 90 policemen. The temple, which had escaped official notice for 20 years, was branded a "center of superstitious activity." In April police demolished a partially constructed Catholic Church in Xiao Zhao village, Hebei Province, for not having a proper building permit.

However, the Government continued to restore or rebuild some churches, temples, mosques, and monasteries damaged or destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and allowed the reopening of some seminaries during the year, although implementation of restoration activity varied from locality to locality. Nonetheless, there were far fewer temples, churches, and mosques than existed 50 years ago, despite the recent increase in number of religious believers. Christian leaders in several parts of the country reported that local officials have been reluctant to return Church property that was confiscated before the 1949 Communist revolution. The difficulty in registering new places of worship led to serious overcrowding in existing places of worship in some areas. Some observers cited the lack of adequate meeting space in registered churches to explain the rapid rise in attendance at house churches and "underground" churches.

In December 2001, all seven members of the Politburo attended a Party Work Conference on religion. President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji gave speeches praising the social work being done by numerous religious institutions and urged "mainstream" religious groups that were underground to register with the RAB. At the same time, the leaders called for stepped-up measures to eliminate "nonmainstream" religious groups.

Some Protestant house church groups reported that after the December 2001 State Council Work Conference on Religion, police raids on worship services increased, resulting in greater numbers of detentions. On February 5, Huang Aiping, Li Wulong, and Ji Qingjun were sentenced to 7 years in prison for "using a cult organization to violate the law" in Xiamen, Fujian Province. The three were members of the Blood and Water Holy Spirit Full Gospel Preaching Team, which was founded in Taiwan and was banned on the mainland in 1996 as an "illegal infiltration organization." In December 2001, Gong Shengliang, founder of the South China Church, was sentenced to death on a wide range of criminal charges, including rape, arson and assault. His niece, Li Ying, was sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve. In September an appeals court overturned the death sentences, and in October Gong was sentenced to life in prison and Li to 15 years. In the retrial, the court dropped all "evil cult" charges against the members of the South China Church. Other church members, Xu Fuming and Hu Yong, received life sentences. Four members of the congregation, Li Yingping, Meng Xicun, Xiang Fengping, and Liu Xianzhi, claimed that they were tortured by police until they agreed to sign accusations claiming they had been raped by Gong. The four women, found not guilty in the retrial, were immediately detained after the trial and sent to reeducation-through-labor camps.

The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public office; however, most influential positions in government were reserved for party members, and party officials stated that party membership and religious belief are incompatible. This had a disproportionate effect in such areas as Xinjiang and Tibet, where the minority populations are adherents of Islam or Buddhism. Party membership also was required for almost all high-level positions in government and in state-owned businesses and organizations. The Party reportedly issued circulars ordering party members not to adhere to religious beliefs, and reminding cadres that religion is incompatible with party membership, a theme reflected in authoritative media. The Routine Service Regulations of the People's Liberation Army state explicitly that servicemen "may not take part in religious or superstitious activities." Party and PLA personnel have been expelled for adhering to Falun Gong beliefs.

Despite official regulations encouraging officials to be atheists, in some localities as many as 20 to 25 percent of party officials engaged in some kind of religious activity. Most of these officials practiced Buddhism or a folk religion. Religious figures, who were not members of the CCP, were included in national and local government organizations, usually to represent their constituency on cultural and educational matters. The NPC included several religious leaders, including Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, a Tibetan reincarnated lama who was a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC. Religious groups also were represented in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a forum for "multiparty" cooperation and consultation led by the CCP, which advises the Government on policy.

The authorities permitted officially sanctioned religious organizations to maintain international contacts that did not involve "foreign control." What constitutes "control" was not defined. Regulations enacted in 1994, and expanded in September 2000, codified many existing rules involving foreigners, including a ban on proselytizing by foreigners. For the most part, authorities allowed foreign nationals to preach to foreigners in approved, registered places of worship, bring in religious materials for personal use, and preach to citizens at churches, mosques, and temples at the invitation of registered religious organizations. Collective religious activities of foreigners also were required to take place at officially registered places of worship or approved temporary locations. Foreigners legally were barred from conducting missionary activities, but foreign Christians teaching English and other subjects on college campuses openly professed their faith with minimum interference from authorities as long as their proselytizing was low key. Many Christian groups throughout the country have developed close ties with local officials, in some cases running schools to help educate children who otherwise would receive a substandard education and operating homes for the care of the aged. Likewise, Buddhist-run private schools and orphanages in the central part of the country not only educated children but also offered vocational training courses to teenagers and young adults.

Official religious organizations administered local religious schools, seminaries, and institutes to train priests, ministers, imams, Islamic scholars, and Buddhist monks. Students who attended these institutes had to demonstrate "political reliability," and all graduates must pass an examination on their theological and political knowledge to qualify for the clergy. The Government permitted limited numbers of Catholic and Protestant seminarians, Muslim clerics, and Buddhist clergy to go abroad for additional religious studies. In most cases, funding for these training programs was provided by foreign organizations. Both official and unofficial Christian churches had problems training adequate numbers of clergy to meet the needs of their growing congregations. Since no priests or other clergy in the official churches were ordained between 1955 and 1985, the shortfall was most severe for persons between the ages of 40 and 70. Due to government prohibitions, unofficial churches had particularly significant problems training clergy or sending students to study overseas, and many clergy received only limited and inadequate preparation. Members of the underground Catholic Church, especially clergy wishing to further their studies abroad, found it difficult to obtain passports and other necessary travel documents (see Section 2.d.). In 2001 RAB officials started to interview candidates for ordination to the Catholic priesthood in Shenyang. Some Catholic clerics also complained that they were forced to bribe local RAB officials before being allowed to enter seminaries.

Traditional folk religions have been revived in recent years and were widespread. They were tolerated to varying degrees, often seen as loose affiliates of Taoism or as ethnic minority cultural practices. However, at the same time, folk religions have been labeled as "feudal superstition" and sometimes were repressed because their resurgence was seen as a threat to party control. Local authorities have destroyed thousands of shrines.

Buddhists made up the largest body of organized religious believers. Tibetan Buddhists in some areas outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) had growing freedom to practice their faith. Diplomats have seen pictures of a number of Tibetan religious figures, including the Dalai Lama, openly displayed in parts of Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu Provinces. Likewise, abbots and monks in those predominantly Tibetan areas outside the TAR reported they had greater freedom to worship and conduct religious training than their coreligionists within the TAR. However, restrictions remained, especially at monasteries with close ties to foreign organizations. Some monks who studied abroad were prevented from returning to their home monasteries. (A discussion of government restrictions on Tibetan Buddhism in the TAR can be found in the Tibet Addendum.)

During Tibetan New Year in February, a monk in Aba City in Sichuan Province was arrested for passing out pictures of the Dalai Lama, posting pro-democracy leaflets, and distributing information on China's human rights violations. The materials notably did not advocate Tibetan independence. Following the arrest, authorities tightened security and further restricted travel to the area. In October in Ganzi city, also in Sichuan Province, more than 10 persons were arrested in connection with foreign-sponsored long-life ceremonies for the Dalai Lama that had been held earlier in the year, and hundreds of PLA troops were stationed in the area. At least five of those arrested were sentenced to 2 to 3 years of reeducation-through-labor.

In 2001 the Government expelled thousands of Tibetan nuns, monks, and students from the Serthar Tibetan Buddhist Institute (also known as the Larung Gar Monastic encampment) located in the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. The Government maintained that the facility, which housed the largest concentration of monks and nuns in the country, was reduced in size for sanitation and hygiene reasons. Authorities demolished hundreds of residential structures. Foreign observers believed that the authorities moved against the Institute because of its size and the influence of its charismatic founder, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. After a year's absence, during which time he underwent medical treatment, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was allowed to return to Serthar in July. Thousands of monks and nuns also returned.

In the past, official tolerance for religions considered traditionally Chinese, such as Buddhism and Taoism, was greater than that for Christianity. However, as these non-Western faiths have grown rapidly in recent years, there were signs of greater government concern and new restrictions, especially on syncretic sects.

Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, the religious education of youths under the age of 18, and places of worship continued to be tight in Xinjiang, and the Government dealt harshly with Muslims who engaged in political speech and activities that the authorities deemed separatist. Regional-level party and government officials repeatedly called for stronger management of religious affairs and for the separation of religion from administrative matters. Authorities reportedly reserved the right, in some cases, to censor imams' sermons particularly during sensitive religious holidays. In 2000 the authorities began conducting monthly political study sessions for religious personnel; the program continued during the year. In addition they required every mosque to record the numbers and names of those attending each day's activities. The official Xinjiang Daily reported that early in 2000 Yining county reviewed the activities of 420 mosques and implemented a system of assigning ethnic party cadres to mosques in order to improve vigilance against "illegal religious activities." The authorities also initiated a campaign to discourage overt religious attire such as veils and to discourage religious marriage ceremonies. In addition, in some areas fasting reportedly was prohibited or made difficult during Ramadan. There were numerous official media reports that the authorities confiscated illegal religious publications in Xinjiang. The Xinjiang People's Publication House was the only publisher allowed to print Muslim literature in Xinjiang.

In some areas where ethnic unrest has occurred, particularly among Central Asian Muslims (and especially the Uighurs) in Xinjiang, officials continued to restrict the building of mosques. However, in other areas, particularly in areas traditionally populated by the non-Central Asian Hui ethnic group, there was substantial religious building construction and renovation.

The Government permitted Muslim citizens to make the Hajj to Mecca, and in some cases subsidized the journey. According to the China Islamic Association, 2,000 Muslims took part in the Hajj as members of official delegations in 2001. According to some reports, the major limiting factors for participation in the Hajj were the cost and controls on passport issuance. Other Muslims made the trip to Mecca via neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, and may not have been counted in government statistics.

The Government refused to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and there was no Vatican representative in the country. The Government's refusal to allow the official Catholic Church to recognize the authority of the Papacy in matters such as the ordination of bishops led many Catholics to refuse to join the official Catholic church on the grounds that this refusal denies one of the fundamental tenets of their faith.

Some bishops in the official Catholic Church were not openly recognized by the Holy See, although many have been recognized privately. Frequently, bishops were first consecrated and later sought Papal approval of their consecrations, sometimes secretly, causing tensions between the Government and the Vatican. While both government and Vatican authorities stated that they would welcome an agreement to normalize relations, issues concerning the role of the Pope in selecting bishops and the status of underground Catholic clerics have frustrated efforts to reach this goal. Some underground Catholic priests, as well as some church members, indicated they were unwilling to accept the authority of bishops selected without Vatican approval. Newly nominated bishops seeking unofficial Papal approval frequently found themselves at odds with other church leaders, who were sympathetic to the central Government, and who insisted that consecrations of new bishops be conducted by more senior bishops not recognized by the Vatican. Catholic priests in the official church also faced dilemmas when asked by parishioners whether they should follow Church doctrine or government policy restricting the number of children per family. This dilemma was particularly acute when discussing abortion.

There were many religious detainees and prisoners. In some cases, officials have used prison or reeducation-through-labor sentences to enforce regulations.

A number of Catholic priests and lay leaders were beaten or otherwise abused during the year. In Hebei Province, where an estimated half of the country's Catholics reside, friction between unofficial Catholics and local authorities continued. Hebei authorities have forced many underground priests and believers to choose between joining the Patriotic Church or facing fines, job loss, periodic detentions, and, in some cases, the barring of their children from school. Some Catholics have been forced into hiding. The whereabouts of underground Bishop Su Zhimin, whose followers reported that he was arrested in 1997, remained unclear. Underground Catholic sources in Hebei claimed that he still was under detention, while the Government denied having taken any "coercive measures" against him. Reliable sources also reported that Bishop An Shuxin, Bishop Zhang Weizhu, Father Cui Xing, and Father Wang Quanjun remained under detention in Hebei. Underground Bishop Joseph Fan Zhongliang of Shanghai remained under surveillance and often had his movements restricted. During the year, underground Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Hebei was again detained for several days before the start of Holy Week, allegedly in an attempt to pressure him to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Fujian Province clerics reported that, while there had been no recent signs of a general crackdown against underground Catholics, as was seen in 1999 and 2000, the April detention of two underground priests created a generalized fear that other detentions might follow.

There was evidence that the official Protestant seminary's "theological reconstruction campaign," during which some professors were purged from the Nanjing Seminary, had ended. There were no new reports of seminary professors or Protestant preachers purged for theological perspectives different from those held by Bishop Ding Guangxun, national leader of the official Protestant church. Foreign teachers were officially invited to teach at both Catholic and Protestant seminaries during the year.

The increase in the number of Christians resulted in a corresponding increase in the demand for Bibles, which were available for purchase at most officially recognized churches. However, foreign experts confirmed reports of chronic shortages of Bibles, primarily due to limited print runs at the one government-approved publisher and logistical problems in disseminating Bibles to rural areas. The situation has improved in recent years. Customs officials continued to monitor for the "smuggling" of Bibles and other religious materials into the country. Hong Kong resident Li Guangqiang (Lai Kwong-keung), arrested in July 2001 for smuggling Bibles into the mainland, was sentenced on January 28 to 2 years in prison. He was released in early February on medical parole. Two Chinese men arrested with Li, Yu Zhudi and Lin Xifu, were sentenced to 3 years in jail. There were also credible reports that the authorities sometimes confiscated Bibles in raids on house churches.

Religious groups that preached beliefs outside the bounds of officially approved doctrine (such as the imminent coming of the Apocalypse, or holy war) or that had charismatic leaders often were singled out for particularly severe harassment. Some observers attributed the unorthodox beliefs of some of these groups to undertrained clergy. Others acknowledged that some individuals may have been exploiting the reemergence of interest in religion for personal gain. Police continued their efforts to close down an underground evangelical group called the "Shouters," an offshoot of a pre-1949 indigenous Protestant group. Many groups, especially those in house churches, reportedly were viewed by officials as "cults." The Government continued a general crackdown on groups it labeled cults, such as Eastern Lightning, the Association of Disciples, the Full Scope Church, the Spirit Sect, the New Testament Church, the Way of the Goddess of Mercy, the Lord God Sect, the Established King Church, the Unification Church, the Family of Love, the Dami Mission, and other groups. According to reports, the crackdown on the Falun Gong in 1999 led to a tightening of controls on all non-officially sanctioned groups.

Weekly services of the foreign Jewish community in Beijing have been held uninterrupted since 1995 and High Holy Day observances have been allowed for more than 15 years. The Shanghai Jewish community was allowed to hold services in an historic Shanghai synagogue, which has been restored as a museum. Local authorities indicated that the community could use the synagogue in the future for special occasions on a case-by-case basis. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meets regularly in a number of cities, but its membership was strictly limited to the expatriate community.

During the year, the Government continued its harsh and comprehensive campaign against the Falun Gong. There were many thousands of cases of individuals receiving criminal, administrative, and extrajudicial punishment for practicing FLG, admitting that they believed in FLG, or simply refusing to denounce the organization or its founder. By mid-year 2001, the campaign against FLG appeared to have abated somewhat in eastern and southern China, perhaps due to the decreased number of practitioners in those regions, but the campaign in Sichuan Province and the northeast continued.

Since the Government banned the FLG in 1999, the mere belief in the discipline (and since January, even without any public manifestation of its tenets) has been sufficient grounds for practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to imprisonment. Although the vast majority of practitioners detained since 2000 were released, those identified by the Government as "core leaders" have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment. More than a dozen FLG members have been sentenced to prison for the crime of "endangering state security," but the great majority of FLG members convicted by the courts since 1999 have been sentenced to prison for "organizing or using a sect to undermine the implementation of the law," a less serious offense.

However, most practitioners were punished administratively. Many thousands of persons were in reeducation-through-labor camps. Other practitioners were sent to detention facilities specifically established to "rehabilitate" practitioners who refused to recant their belief voluntarily. In addition, hundreds of FLG practitioners have been confined to mental hospitals (see Section 1.d).

Police often used excessive force when detaining peaceful FLG protesters, including some who were elderly or who were accompanied by small children. During the year, there were numerous credible reports of abuse and even killings of FLG practitioners by the police and other security personnel, including police involvement in beatings, detention under extremely harsh conditions, and torture (including by electric shock and by having hands and feet shackled and linked with crossed steel chains). Various sources reported that since 1997 several hundred FLG adherents have died while in police custody (see Section 1.a.). In February Chengdu University Associate Professor Zhang Chuansheng, a longtime FLG practitioner, was arrested in his hometown and taken to Chengdu's main prison. He died there 3 days later. Prison authorities claimed the 54-year-old had died of a heart attack, but his family, who saw his body after Zhang's death, claimed he had been severely beaten.

FLG practitioners continued their efforts to overcome government attempts to restrict their right to free assembly, especially in Beijing, but the number of protests at Tiananmen Square decreased considerably during 2001 and remained low during the year (see Section 2.b.).

In 2001 the Government launched a massive anti-FLG propaganda campaign, initiated a comprehensive effort to round up practitioners not already in custody, and sanctioned the use of high pressure indoctrination tactics in an effort to force practitioners to renounce the FLG. Neighborhood committees, state institutions (including universities), and companies reportedly were ordered to send all known FLG practitioners to intensive anti-FLG study sessions. Even practitioners who had not protested or made other public demonstrations of belief reportedly were forced to attend such classes. Those who refused to recant their beliefs after weeks of intensive anti-FLG instruction reportedly were sent to reeducation-through-labor camps, where in some cases, beatings and torture were used to force them to recant; some of the most active FLG practitioners were sent directly to reeducation-through-labor camps. These tactics reportedly resulted in large numbers of practitioners signing pledges to renounce the movement.

Authorities also detained foreign practitioners. For example, in November 2001, more than 30 foreigners and citizens resident abroad were detained in Beijing as they demonstrated in support of the FLG. They were expelled from the country; some credibly reported being mistreated while in custody.

During the year, the authorities also continued a general crackdown on other groups considered to be "cults," often using the 1999 decision to ban cults under Article 300 of the Criminal Law. Regulations require all qigong meditation and exercise groups to register with the Government. Those that did not were declared illegal. The Zhong Gong qigong group, which reportedly had a following rivaling that of FLG, was banned in 2000 under the anticult application of the Criminal Law, and its leader, Zhang Hongbao, who resides abroad, was charged with rape, forgery, and other crimes. This created an atmosphere of uncertainty for many qigong practitioners, and there were reports that some qigong practitioners feared practicing or teaching openly. During the year, authorities and experts wrote articles characterizing the rise of religious groups that failed to register and "cults" such as Falun Gong as part of a plot by the West to undermine Chinese authority. In February 2001, Zhang Xinying, vice chairman of the Chinese Society of Religious Studies, said that the rise of "cults" was due to frequent abuse of the concept of "religious freedom" by "some people with ulterior motives." Other senior leaders made similar comments in the context of criticizing FLG.

The Government taught atheism in schools. While the Government claimed that there were no national-level regulations barring children from receiving religious instruction, in some regions local authorities barred persons under 18 from attending services at mosques, temples, or churches.

For a more detailed discussion see the 2002 International Religious Freedom Report.

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TIBET

2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

March 31, 2003

Freedom of Religion

The overall level of religious repression in Tibet, while less oppressive for lay followers than in previous years, remained high. The Government maintained tight controls on some religious practices and some places of worship. While it allowed many types of religious activity, the Government did not tolerate religious manifestations that it viewed as advocating Tibetan independence or any expression of separatism, which it describes as "splittism." The Government remained suspicious of Tibetan Buddhism in general because of its links to the Dalai Lama, and this suspicion extended to religious adherents who did not explicitly demonstrate their loyalty to the State. Security was intensified during sensitive anniversaries and festival days, while activities viewed as vehicles for political dissent, including celebrations of some religious festivals, were suppressed.

Early in the year, the Government continued its practice of harshly criticizing the Dalai Lama's political activities and leadership of a government-in-exile. However, the criticism was muted somewhat after the Government extended invitations to several emissaries of the Dalai Lama to visit Tibet and other areas of China. Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's elder brother, visited in July, making his first trip to Tibet since he left in 1959. In September Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama's representatives to the United States and Europe respectively, traveled to Beijing, Lhasa, and other cities where they met with a number of government officials. It was unclear whether the Government viewed these visits as first steps toward dialog with the Dalai Lama's representatives. The ban on the public display of photographs of the Dalai Lama continued, and such pictures were not readily available except illegally in many parts of Tibet.

Government officials stated that the "patriotic education" campaign, which began in the mid-1990s and dispatched work teams to conduct intensive mandatory political training sessions for nuns and monks at religious sites, was completed in 2000. Officials acknowledged, however, that patriotic education activities for monks and nuns continued on a regular basis at some monasteries and nunneries. There were several credible reports during the year of work teams conducting mandatory political training for monks and nuns at specific religious sites in advance of important anniversaries or other events. Training sessions, which addressed such topics as relations between Tibetans and Han Chinese, Tibet's historical status as a part of China, and the role of the Dalai Lama in attempting to "split" the country, were aimed at enforcing compliance with government regulations and policies, and either cowing or weeding out monks and nuns who resisted political indoctrination and remained politically loyal to the Dalai Lama.

According to regulations posted at the entrances of many monasteries, monks were required to be "patriotic," and authorities often required monks and nuns to: Sign a declaration agreeing to reject independence for Tibet; reject Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11^{th reincarnation of the
Panchen Lama; reject and denounce the Dalai Lama's political authority;
recognize the unity of China and Tibet; and not listen to the Voice of America
or Radio Free Asia. Some noncompliant monks and nuns have been expelled from
religious sites. Others departed "voluntarily" rather than denounce
the Dalai Lama.}

Ongoing political education requirements were resented deeply by monks, nuns, and lay Buddhists. Although there was some reduction of patriotic education activities throughout the region as the objectives of increasing control over the monasteries and reducing the numbers of monks and nuns were achieved, many monasteries and nunneries were disrupted severely, and some monks and nuns fled to India to escape the campaigns.

The number of Tibetans who entered Nepal seeking refugee status to escape conditions in Tibet decreased from approximately 3,000 in 2000 to 1,268 during the year, according to the UNHCR. It was difficult for Tibetans to travel to India for religious purposes. Nevertheless, many Tibetans, including monks and nuns, visited India via third countries and returned to Tibet after temporary stays. In May TIN reported that the Chinese Government appeared to be making greater efforts to encourage exiles to return to Tibet. While some exiled Tibetans have returned, the approval process remained cumbersome.

Chinese officials stated that Tibet had more than 46,000 Buddhist monks and nuns and more than 1,700 monasteries, temples, and religious sites. However, officials have cited these same figures since 1996, despite the fact that the numbers of monks and nuns have dropped significantly at many sites as a result of the patriotic education campaign and the expulsion of "unpatriotic" monks and nuns. These figures encompass only Tibet; tens of thousands of monks and nuns live in other ethnic Tibetan areas of China, including parts of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai Provinces. The Government stated that there were no limits on the number of monks in major monasteries, and that each monastery's "democratic management committee" (DMC) could decide on its own how many monks the monastery could support. However, these committees were government-controlled, and in practice the Government generally imposed strict limits on the number of monks in major monasteries. Some monasteries reportedly were required to decrease the number of monks associated with them.

In 2001 Chinese authorities ordered thousands of monks and nuns to leave the Serthar Tibetan Buddhist Institute, also known as the Larung Gar monastic encampment, located in the Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. The Government maintained that the facility, which housed the largest concentration of monks and nuns in the country, was reduced in size for sanitation and hygiene reasons. Foreign observers believed that the authorities moved against the Institute because of its size and the influence of its charismatic founder, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. After a year's absence, during which time he underwent medical treatment, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was allowed to return to Serthar in July, and thousands of monks and nuns were again in residence at year's end.

The Government had the right to disapprove any individual's application to take up religious orders; however, it did not exercise this right uniformly. In some areas, it was against regulations to join a monastery before the age of 18, but many younger boys continued the tradition of entering monastic life. Young novices, who traditionally served as attendants to older monks while receiving a basic monastic education and awaiting formal ordination, continued to be admitted to some TAR monasteries.

Most Tibetans practiced Buddhism to some degree. This held true for many ethnic Tibetan government officials and Communist Party members. Some 1,000 Tibetan Buddhist religious figures held positions in local people's congresses and committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The Government continued to insist that party members adhere to the Party's code of atheism. A 3-year drive to promote atheism and science among government workers, first begun in January 1999, had apparently ended. During the year, some reports indicated that government workers felt reduced pressure to restrict their personal expressions of religious belief. However, authorities continued to pressure public sector employees, through political training and threats of termination, to demonstrate their loyalty to the State and refrain from actions that could be construed as lending explicit or tacit support to the Dalai Lama. Public sector employees were reportedly pressured not to send their children to India to be educated and to refrain from going on pilgrimages to Mt. Kailash, a holy site in Western Tibet believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be the abode of Lord Shiva, during the Sagadawa festival. Restrictions prevented the celebration of the Dalai Lama's birthday in July. However, major religious festivals such as Monlam, Sagadawa, and the Drepung Shodon were celebrated in a slightly more open atmosphere than in previous years.

The Government continued to oversee the daily operations of major religious sites. The Government, which did not contribute to the regular operating funds of monasteries, retained management control of the monasteries through democratic management committees and local religious affairs bureaus. In recent years, DMCs at several large monasteries began to collect all funds generated by sales of entrance tickets or donated by pilgrims, which previously were disbursed to monks engaged in full-time religious study for advanced religious degrees. As a result, such "scholar monks" had to engage in income-generating activities at least part-time. Experts expressed concern that fewer monks would be qualified to serve as teachers in the future as a result. In addition, the Government moved in recent years to curb the proliferation of monasteries, which it contended were a drain on local resources and a conduit for political infiltration by the Tibetan exile community.

During 1999 the TAR Religious Affairs Bureau confirmed that its officers were members of the Communist Party and that members were required to be atheists; a large percentage of the members of the religious affairs bureaus were non-Tibetans. Regulations restrict leadership of DMCs to "patriotic and devoted" monks and nuns, and they specify that the Government must approve all members of the committees. At some monasteries, government officials also sat on the committees.

Following the December 1999 flight to India of the Karmapa, leader of Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kargyu school and one of the most influential religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism, authorities restricted access to Tsurphu monastery, the seat of the Karmapa. In several public statements, the Karmapa asserted that he left because of controls on his movements and the refusal either to allow him to go to India to be trained by his spiritual mentors or to allow his mentors to come to him. The Karmapa alleged that several of his personal attendants were detained during the year. In August foreign officials were allowed to visit the Tsurphu monastery, where approximately 300 monks were said to be in residence. There were few monks or other visitors present during the visit. Officials claimed that the monks were away on summer holiday visiting their families. According to credible reports, no new monks have been permitted to enter Tsurphu monastery since the Karmapa left, but religious activity at the monastery continued.

The departure of the Karmapa increased tensions and heightened the authorities' efforts to exert control over the process for finding and educating reincarnated lamas. The Dalai Lama, who by tradition plays a role in the selection of important religious figures, continued to refuse to recognize the selection of Sonam Phuntsog as the seventh reincarnation of the Reting Rinpoche, and many of the monks at Reting Monastery reportedly also did not accept the child as the Reting Rinpoche. Sonam Phuntsog lived with his family under heavy guard in his residence near the monastery. Authorities tightly controlled access to the area. Another young reincarnate lama, 9 year-old Pawo Rinpoche, lived under effective house arrest at Nenang monastery and reportedly was denied access to his religious tutors. The Pawo Rinpoche, recognized by the Karmapa, was one of the senior Karma Kargyu lamas remaining in Tibet.

The Panchen Lama is one of Tibetan Buddhism's most prominent figures. The Government continued to insist that Gyaltsen Norbu, the boy it recognized and enthroned in 1995, was the Panchen Lama's 11th reincarnation. The authorities tightly controlled all aspects of his life, and he made a highly orchestrated visit to Tibet in July. His public appearances were marked by a heavy security presence, and the authorities strictly limited access to the boy. Meanwhile, repeated requests for access to Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, to confirm his well-being and whereabouts, were denied. He first disappeared in 1995, when he was 6 years old. Government officials stated that the boy was being held for his own protection and that he lived in Tibet and attended classes as a "normal schoolboy." The authorities also maintained that both boys were well cared for and were receiving a good education. The vast majority of Tibetan Buddhists continued to recognize Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen Lama. The Communist Party urged its members to support the "official" Panchen Lama, and government authorities at both the regional and city levels had pictures of the boy printed for use in public and private religious displays; however, very few photographs of him were on display. Instead, more prominently displayed were pictures of the 10th Panchen Lama, which some foreign observers interpreted as a rejection of Gyaltsen Norbu, the boy recognized by the Government to be the Panchen Lama. Pictures of Gendun Choekyi Nyima were banned by the Government.

The Government stated that since the end of the Cultural Revolution, it had contributed sums in excess of $36 million to $48 million (RMB 300 to 400 million) toward the restoration of a number of important Buddhist sites that were destroyed before and during the Cultural Revolution. Government funding of restoration efforts ostensibly was done to support the practice of religion but also was done in part to promote the development of tourism in Tibet. Most recent restoration efforts were funded privately, although several large religious sites also received government support for reconstruction projects during the year.

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