BEIJING
— The Chinese government has banned online retailers from selling the
Bible, moving in the wake of new rules to control the country’s
burgeoning religious scene.
The
measures to limit Bible sales were announced over the weekend and began
taking effect this week. By Thursday, internet searches for the Bible
came up empty on leading online Chinese retailers, such as JD.com, Taobao, and Amazon, although some retailers offered analyses of the Bible or illustrated storybooks.
The retailers did not respond to requests for comment, although Thursday is the start of a long holiday weekend in China.
The
move aligns with a longstanding effort to limit the influence of
Christianity in China. Among China’s major religions — which include
Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and folk beliefs — Christianity is the only one
whose major holy text cannot be sold through normal commercial channels.
The Bible is printed in China but legally available only at church
bookstores.
The
advent of online retailers created a loophole that made the Bible
easily available. This was especially important in China given the growing dominance of online shopping.
The closing of that loophole follows new government religious regulations that have effectively tightened rules on Christianity and Islam, while promoting Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion as part of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to promote traditional values.
The moves also come as China is engaged in negotiations with the Vatican
to end the split between the underground and government-run Catholic
church. This would end a nearly 70-year split between the Chinese
government and the global church, which Beijing traces to the Vatican’s
historically strong anti-Communist stance.
Observers
said the new measures could be a sign of a broader crackdown. At a news
conference on Tuesday outlining Beijing’s approach, a government
spokesman said the Vatican would never be allowed control over the clergy
in China. That came after a recent government reorganization in which a
hard-line Communist Party department took over management of religious policy.
“It
sounds like the opposition force within the Chinese authorities who
oppose the Vatican-China relations have their voice,” said Yang
Fenggang, head of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue
University. “It clearly shows that they worry or are concerned about
Catholics as well as Protestants.”
Texts for other major religions are available online in China: The Taoist classic the Daodejing is for sale on JD, Taobao, and Amazon, and Buddhist sutras are available commercially.
The Quran was also sold online, perhaps reflecting Islam’s status as a faith practiced by minorities who sometimes enjoy more privileges
than the majority ethnic Chinese population. The Quran is also
available commercially in bookstores and, unlike the Bible, has the
Chinese equivalent of an ISBN, a numeric book identifier.
Both Christianity and Islam, however, have come under heavy government pressure.
From 2014 to 2016, more than 1,500 crosses were removed
from churches in one Chinese province with close ties to Mr. Xi. At the
same time, the government has stepped up measures against what it sees
as excessive public displays of the Islamic faith, such as men wearing long beards or women wearing headscarves, as well as shops and restaurants that do not sell pork products, tobacco or alcohol.
At the same time, government policy has encouraged faiths that it sees as more indigenized, for example by subsidizing Taoist music or folk religious pilgrimages. Mr. Xi has also spoken favorably about Buddhism, calling it integral to Chinese people’s cultural and spiritual life.
This overall approach to faith was reflected in a report issued Tuesday that shows the extent of the country’s religious revival. The previous report, in 1997, showed that China had 100 million followers of all of its officially sanctioned religions. The new report doubles the number.
Although other surveys show higher overall numbers, the new report is significant because it represents official recognition of China’s religious boom.
The
report shows that most religions in China have been quickly increasing
their reach. The number of Buddhist or Taoist believers was not counted
because those faiths lack membership rolls, but their growth can be seen
in the increasing number of temples — to 33,500 and 9,000 today from
13,000 and 1,500 in 1997.
Christianity
presented a more bifurcated picture. Catholicism grew during the same
period to six million worshipers from four million, while Protestantism
increased to 38 million adherents, from 10 million. Most surveys and
experts, however, believe that these figures represent only about half
the total number of believers, because each has a strong underground
church that roughly matches the number of believers in government-run
churches.
In
China, Islam is defined as being practiced by most members of 10
non-Chinese ethnic groups, especially the Hui and Uighurs. Their
populations totaled 20 million in 2018 versus 18 million in 1997,
according to the report.
Both
Christianity and Islam were singled out for contributing to problems in
China. According to the report, government-appointed Muslim figures
condemned violence, especially in the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang,
which is the site of longstanding unrest against control by Beijing.
Christianity
was linked to historic troubles, especially China’s decline in the 19th
century — the “century of humiliation” that Mr. Xi has vowed to
reverse. The report says that Catholicism and Protestantism were
“controlled and utilized by colonialists and imperialists.”
The new report stated that Chinese publishers
have printed 160 million copies of the Bible, exporting it to more than
100 countries. About half were published in Chinese, according to the
report. Assuming none of those were exported, that would roughly mean
one Bible for each of the faith’s adherents.
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