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Appendix VII: Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Religious Policy

Editor’s note: The document contains excerpts from Chapter 5 of “Propaganda Speeches on Strengthening National Solidarity and Preserving the Unification of the Motherland,” an internal (neibu) book-length document from the Propaganda Committee of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (February 1990). Only 3,100 copies were published. The book, from which this excerpt is taken, was not intended for public circulation. It is described in the preface as a collection of materials for speeches to improve national unity. As the first of its kind, it was expected to set an example that other prefectures should follow. The introduction to the book explains further: “Overall, we hope each administrative area will consult the series of Propaganda Department speech materials and combine them with their own reality to perform the work of national solidarity. We hope that the political task of educating the masses in our prefecture will take on a new dimension in the coming year.” The first three chapters of the book explain the importance of socialism and national unity and the leading role of the Communist Party. The fourth chapter is about the importance of agriculture as the “basis for development.”


Chapter 5: Freedom of religious belief is the Party’s basic policy on religion

Section One: Freedom of religious belief is a long-term policy that will prevail until the natural extinction of religion

1. To acknowledge the characteristics of religion as being long-lasting, nationalistic, complex, and internationalist.…

The condition for the natural extinction of religion is:

The great improvement of social productivity and the abundance of social property, the establishment of high level socialist democracy, and great improvement in education, culture, science and technology. These conditions, as can be imagined, need a long time before they can be realized. With the development of our socialist system, the social system for the natural extinction of religion was established. As we are now still in the primary stage of socialism, however, not all difficulties brought about by natural disaster can be overcome in a short while, and we are also in a context including domestic class struggle and a complicated international situation. As a result, we are not totally ready for the natural extinction of religion, and we must make a long term effort.…

The anti-China, anti-Communist forces abroad consciously used every method in order to manipulate religious organizations in China, or to attempt to do subversive activities by spreading religious thoughts. In fact, what they are undertaking is not religious activities. However, they are very good at using religion as a cover to do exploitative activities and to complicate religious issues. Take the Tibetan Buddhism which is prevailing in our prefecture for example. Because of the interference of the Dalai clique, its characteristics of internationalism and complexity were clearly manifested. In recent years in particular, the Dalai regime carried out separatist activities abroad and frequently interfered with the monasteries in China. It even went so far as to recognize a reincarnation child of a Living Buddha who has died in China, and to recognize reincarnation Buddhas in Spain and America. This method of the Dalai clique to manipulate the monasteries in China purely from the point of view of politics must arouse our attention. The monasteries, the masses of religious people, and the monks must all be alert. We can also see from this event that the anti-China forces abroad made use of the religious influence of the Dalai in China to support the splittist activities of the Dalai clique.…

2. To correctly understand and carry out the policy of freedom of religious belief.…

The Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief also tells us: that a socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party will never use power to impose any religion.…

[T]o oppose feudal superstition does not contradict undertaking a policy of freedom of religious belief. They are two tasks, two things.…

Section Two: To unite the majority of people to build up a strong, modern socialist country is the starting point and standpoint of the Party when it makes and puts into effect the policy of freedom of religious belief

1. It is the Communist Party which enabled religion to get rid of manipulation and exploitation by the exploiting class and to enable both the religious and non-religious masses to be liberated and gain real equality and freedom.…

2. It is the Communist Party which corrected its mistakes on religious issues and gradually is making policy on religion more realistic and more perfect.…

Section Three: Protect proper religious activities, severely expose and attack those exploitative activities which operate under the cover of religion

In order to protect proper religious activities, we first demand that each level of Party and administrative organizations, as well as cadres who undertake to carry out religious policy, strengthen their knowledge of Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong thought. Each level of cadres in our prefecture, including those who work in the agricultural and pastoral area, must familiarize itself with and grasp the scientific theory of Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong thought on religion. They must understand the natural development of such historical phenomena as religion, its appearance, development, and disappearance, so that they will not be aimless in their work. We must remember the lessons we have learned from the past when we adopted simplistic and forceful methods to extinguish religion and eventually got precisely the contrary of what we had expected. Only when we increase our knowledge and improve our thinking, can we consciously carry out the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief, can we stick to the thought of dialectical materialism, can we uphold policy and adhere to the propaganda on non-believers, can we patiently lead the masses of people to raise their acknowledgement, and can we gradually solve the problems related to the spiritual world. Chairman Mao remarked in his “Research Report on the Peasants’ Movement in Hunan”: “Buddha was set up by the peasants, and in due course the peasants will use their own hands to rid themselves of these Buddhas. No one else need bother about helping them.” The work of us cadres at every level is to creatively carry out the Party’s policy, to mobilize the masses to work harder, to create and improve material and spiritual conditions, and to accomplish our due responsibilities so as to promote the natural extinction of religion.

To protect proper religious activities, it is also necessary for the masses of religious people and monks to act in accordance with the Party’s religious policy. Religious activities and religious lives can only be developed and carried out within the scope of what policy and law permit. The masses of religious people and monks must react to the Chinese Buddhist Society’s call advocating “Humanist Buddhism.” As for pious religious people, they have pious desires for the “next life.” The others need not and will not interfere. However, advocating “Humanist Buddhism” stresses this life and reality and is very relevant to reality. In the new state of the socialist system, at a time when the nationalities of people are making joint efforts to build the socialist motherland, the masses of religious people and monks must start from the reality of the present time, the area, and themselves, while inheriting the doctrines on Tibetan Buddhism and its way of practice.

We must also add new content to the doctrines, make new explanations for the development of the cause of socialist construction. For example, while practicing the “five forbidden and the ten good” [precepts] to purify oneself, one must also be patriotic and follow the law, so as to unify the love for religion with patriotism and love for the socialist system. One must be both a religious person and a good citizen to actively participate in the construction of the modern socialist cause, to fully function in it, and to contribute as much as possible to the happy world in this life.

At present, the masses of religious people and monks are responsible for the preservation of social stability. They must further promote stability and solidarity, boycott and oppose “Tibetan Independence” separatist thoughts and actions, preserve the unification of the motherland and national solidarity, and develop national education and raise the national level of literacy and so on. The masses of people and monks must constantly broaden their knowledge of scientific, cultural, and relevant religious knowledge in order to be able to tell proper religious belief from feudal superstitions. All in all, monks and religious masses must be self-conscious and keep up with the Party`s call on religion.…

To protect proper religious activities, the Party and government must consistently preserve those monasteries and religious activity venues that have already been opened. No one is allowed to propagate atheism at religious sites while the religious people are leading a normal religious life. Of course, to undertake religious activities outside the religious site is abnormal, and must be forbidden. Religious professionals are responsible for liaison with the religious masses, for managing religious affairs and keeping them in order, and for preserving monasteries, especially those monasteries that have been listed as important cultural units. Questions must also be considered from the angle of preserving the traditional national culture and developing the tourist economy by preserving religious relics, planting trees, and decorating the surroundings of monasteries. We must bear in mind the reality of the masses of people in our prefecture. They have recently been living a reasonably well-off life; therefore, we must advise them not to donate too much money to religion and, in order to avoid waste of manpower and so on, not to start large construction [projects]. The Party and government hope the masses of religious people and monks will “be patriotic, follow the law self-consciously, and enjoy freedom of belief,” [and that they will] work energetically and follow the steps of the time.

To protect normal religious activities, we must, of course, expose, oppose and attack those people and things which, disguised as religion, make use of the religious feelings of the masses of religious people and monks to oppose the leadership of the Communist Party, oppose the socialist system, oppose the unification of the motherland, oppose national solidarity, and plan separatism.

Because of the influence of bourgeois liberalism and reactionary “Tibetan Independence,” words and actions that oppose the democratic reform movement and the socialist system have recently emerged in the religious field. Some people with ulterior motives also have attempted to recover the feudal temple privileges which had long been abolished. They have attempted to “seize the leadership of one temple, then grasp the masses of people of the whole area,” to make a breakthrough by seizing the monastery in order to realize their political purpose.

Some of our comrades with dim thoughts were not clear about the political plot of the Dalai clique, and they hoped to return the monastery to the past. They consciously and unconsciously behaved contrary to the policy of religious freedom. It should specially be pointed out that the regulation on forbidding young people under eighteen years of age to be religious has not been seriously carried out in some areas. It is not allowed, and the seduction of young people into religion by taking advantage of their inexperience and inability to tell right from wrong is a violation of the policy. It should also be pointed out that, for historical reasons, a large number of monks with considerable education have been centered in the monasteries in our prefecture. The Party and government have hoped that the educated monks will be able to contribute to eliminating illiteracy and raising the cultural quality of the masses of people, especially the young people. However, religion will not be allowed to interfere with education as happened in the past. The abolition of illiteracy must be developed within the limits allowed by law and policy. For example, the textbooks should be the ones uniformly distributed throughout the country. They must be approved and permitted by the relevant department and must be checked and guided by the relevant department, and so on.

Recently, the anti-communist, anti-socialist forces which have escaped from abroad have made use of our “freedom to travel back and forth” policy. Some, upon their return from abroad, used religion as a cover to undertake evil activities such as collecting information, spreading rumors, viciously destroying national relationships, and so on. We must be on guard against all these. The policy of freedom of religious belief does not eliminate or oppose friendly correspondence with those overseas, but treasures this friendly communication and offers even more advantageous opportunities for sincere friendly communication. Ten years’ experience proves that the Party’s policy on religion is a guarantee that patriotic religious people can have active participation in their external activities. From now on, we will adhere to and further develop our external work. However, we will not tolerate any thoughts and deeds that are anti-communist, anti-people, or that advocate separating the motherland and destroying national unity. To oppose and attack activities under the cover of religion is a contradiction which can be termed a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy. Generally, it is not difficult to solve this kind of contradiction so long as we have sufficient evidence and follow the relevant laws. The mistakes and harmful words and actions which appear in daily life because of an inaccurate understanding of religious policy and because of lack of sufficient education belong to the [category] of internal contradictions among the people. The right method is to educate, to persuade, and to combine criticism with self-criticism. Never confuse the two kinds of contradictions and adopt the wrong treatment.

Overall, the Party’s policy of freedom of religious belief is a long-term policy which was made by the Party according to the theory of Marxism and Leninism combined with the specific situation in China. The starting point for making and carrying out religious policy is to lead all people, including religious people, to work for the construction of a powerful and modern socialist China. Through repeated experience, we have learned that when we carefully carry out religious policy, the contradictions that emerge as a result of religious problems are better addressed; that national unity, solidarity, and unification benefit; and that religious people’s enthusiasm for building socialism develops. Otherwise, problems will pile up, national relationships will be flawed, stability will suffer, and the people’s enthusiasm for building the motherland will be injured. It is obvious, therefore, that to continue to propagate the religious policy to the masses, especially the religious people, and to raise their level of self consciousness is long-term work. It will not end until the natural extinction of religion.


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February 2004