Tony Perkins

Chair

Gayle Manchin

Vice Chair

Nadine Maenza

Vice Chair

Commissioners

Gary Bauer

Commissioner

Anurima Bhargava

Commissioner

James Carr

Commissioner

Tenzin Dorjee

Commissioner

Sharon Kleinbaum

Commissioner

Johnnie Moore

Commissioner

Erin D. Singshinsuk

Executive Director

USCIRF’s Mission

To advance international 

freedom of religion or 

belief, by independently 

assessing and unflinchingly 

confronting threats to this 

fundamental right.

FACTSHEET

CHINA

UNITED STATES COMMISSION on

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

732 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite #A714

Washington, DC 20401

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February 2020

The 2019 Regulation for 

Religious Groups in China

By Dominic J. Nardi, Policy Analyst

In December 2019, the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua published the 

Administrative Measures for Religious Groups. The regulation, which went into effect 

on February 1, 2020, requires religious groups to obtain government permission for 

nearly every aspect of their operations. In addition, religious groups must accept and 

propagate the principles of the Chinese Communist Party. This factsheet provides a 

brief overview of the new regulation and explains why it marks a significant escalation 

in the Chinese government’s ongoing crackdown on religious freedom. 

The 2019 Administrative Measures for Religious Groups

The new Administrative Measures for Religious Groups increases the pressure on 

religious communities in China by expanding the scope of activities for which they 

must seek official permission. Article 3 of the regulation bans any religious activity 

by unregistered religious organizations without prior approval. Article 25 grants the 

religious affairs department significant supervisory authority to review the charter and 

annual work plans of religious organizations, as well as to monitor their compliance 

with national and local laws. In addition, religious organizations are required to report 

for review and approval any leadership personnel changes, important conferences or 

meetings, and major expenditures or construction projects. 

In addition to making routine operations more burdensome, the 2019 Administrative 

Measures for Religious Groups also amounts to a significant invasion of religious 

organizations’ privacy and autonomy. The reporting requirements could provide Chinese 

authorities access to sensitive financial, personnel, or other information. As written, the 

regulation gives local authorities broad authority to deny even routine requests. Given 

the systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations in the country, some 

observers fear that Chinese officials will use this authority to target religious groups 

that Beijing deems to be subject to “foreign” influence, including Islam and Christianity. 

The breadth of the reporting requirements also increases the risk that that Chinese 

religious organizations will violate the law—either intentionally or inadvertently—by 

not reporting an activity mentioned in the regulation, thus giving Chinese authorities an 

excuse to take legal action. 

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USCIRF Factsheet: RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN CHINA: February 2020 2

Other sections of the regulation effectively require religious 

organizations to actively support the Communist Party 

and socialist values. According to Article 22, religious 

organizations must participate in the ongoing “sinification” 

campaign by providing interpretations of religious doctrines 

and canons that comply with the government’s version of 

“traditional Chinese culture” and socialist values, manifested 

most notably in the government’s insistence on choosing 

the next reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama. In addition, 

the regulation requires religious organizations to instruct 

clergy and congregants to support the Communist Party 

and socialist values. These requirements go far beyond a 

prohibition against opposing or criticizing the government; 

now, religious organizations are legally obligated to 

effectively act as surrogates for the Communist Party. 

Although the regulation does not specify how religious 

groups will be expected to implement these mandates, 

all of the reporting and approval requirements provide 

government officials frequent opportunities to monitor 

the activities of religious organizations and determine if 

their “support” for the Communist Party is sufficiently 

zealous. As one Chinese Catholic priest told the Catholic 

news agency Asia News, “In practice, your religion no 

longer matters, if you are Buddhist, or Taoist, or Muslim or 

Christian: the only religion allowed is faith in the Chinese 

Communist Party.”

Key Provisions of the 2019 Administrative Measures for Religious Groups 

(translations provided by Bitter Winter)

Article 3

“Without the approval of the religious affairs department of the people’s government, or registration

with the civil affairs department of the people’s government, no religious activities in the name of

religious organizations are allowed.”

Article 5

“Religious organizations must support the leadership of the Communist Party of China, abide by the

Constitution, laws, regulations, rules and policies, adhere to the principles of self-support and selfgovernance, adhere to the direction of Sinicization of religions in China, embody the core values of

socialism, and maintain national unity, ethnic unity, religious harmony and social stability.”

Article 17

“Religious organizations should publicize the guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of

China, national laws, regulations, and rules to the clergy and religious citizens, in order to instruct

and direct the clergy and religious citizens to support the rule of the Communist Party of China,

support the socialist system, follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics....”

Article 22

“Religious organizations ... should provide interpretations for doctrines and canons that meet the

requirements of the development and progress of modern China, and in accordance with the

glorious traditional Chinese culture.”

Article 25

“The religious affairs department of the people’s government shall perform the duties as the

administrative unit, direct and manage the following affairs of religious organizations in accordance

with national laws, regulations, and rules: (1) to review the application to establish, reform, or

unregister a religious organization, to review the conducts of a religious organization before

approving its charters, to review the annual work reports of religious organizations, and to join

with other government departments to direct the unregistering and liquidation process of

religious organizations; (2) to supervise and direct religious organizations to carry out activities and

perform their duties according to laws and regulations, and to handle according to law religious

organizations which have violated laws, regulations, rules, policies and their own charters; ....”
UNITED STATES COMMISSION on INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

732 N. Capitol Street, NW, Suite #A714,

Washington, DC 20401

202-523-3240 (p) 202-523-5020 (f)

www.USCIRF.gov

@USCIRF

Media@USCIRF.gov

Professional Staff

Harrison Akins

Policy Analyst 

Danielle Ashbahian

Communications Specialist 

Keely Bakken

Policy Analyst

Dwight Bashir

Director of Outreach and Policy

Elizabeth K. Cassidy

Director of Research and Policy

Patrick Greenwalt

Researcher

Roy Haskins

Director of Finance and Office Management

Thomas Kraemer

Senior Advisor for Strategic Outreach

Kirsten Lavery

International Legal Specialist

Jason Morton

Policy Analyst

Dominic Nardi

Policy Analyst

Jamie Staley

Senior Congressional Relations Specialist

Zachary Udin

Project Specialist

Scott Weiner

Policy Analyst

Kurt Werthmuller

Supervisory Policy Analyst

Religious Freedom in China

The new Administrative Measures for Religious Groups 

come amidst an ongoing crackdown against all religious 

communities in China. As noted in the U.S. Commission 

on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) 2019 

Annual Report, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other 

Communist Party officials regularly deliver speeches 

warning against foreign influences on religion and 

promoting the “sinification” of Islam, Christianity, 

and Tibetan Buddhism. The 2017 New Regulation on 

Religious Affairs—which went into effect on February 

1, 2018—requires religious organizations to register 

with the government and report donations that exceed 

100,000 yuan (approximately $15,900). In addition, it 

bans “unauthorized” religious teaching. The regulation 

effectively eliminated the legal gray area that had existed 

for independent religious activity since the 1980s. 

Chinese authorities across the country have become more 

aggressive against religious groups that do not conform 

to the government’s vision of “sinification.” During the 

past few years, for example, the government has raided 

hundreds of Protestant house churches and removed 

crosses from churches. In Xinjiang and other parts of 

China, authorities have destroyed or damaged thousands 

of mosques and removed Arabic-language signs from 

Muslim businesses. The Tibetan regional government 

recently passed a law mandating “ethnic unity” in Tibet 

starting on May 1, 2020 by requiring equal participation 

by non-Tibetan ethnic groups at all levels of government 

and imposing stricter management of Tibetan religious 

centers. The Chinese government is currently conducting 

an evaluation of religious texts—including the Bible 

and the Qur’an—and could amend passages deemed 

incompatible with “socialist values.” 

For more information about religious freedom conditions 

in China, see USCIRF’s April 2019 Annual Report chapter

and September 2019 Country Update Religious Freedom in 

China’s High-Tech Surveillance State. 

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the 

U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, 

the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief.