Seeking to stifle meditation sects similar to the banned Falun Gong, China published rules Friday prohibiting exercise groups from preaching religion and strictly limited their size and activities. Teachers of the traditional Chinese exercise qigong must register and be certified by sports officials, according to a copy of the rules that appeared in the state-owned China Sports Daily.
Groups have to be small, dispersed and locally organized, the rules say.
Activities with more than 200 participants require police permission. The government has rounded up its leaders and winnowed the group's numbers but failed to break its organization. Distribution of unlicensed publications, recordings and computer materials are forbidden, along with the sale of trinkets that purport to bestow divine consciousness or supernatural powers. China's officially atheist government labeled Falun Gong an evil cult and accused it of leading some 1,600 adherents to their deaths. At least one other meditation sect, Zhong Gong, has also been banned, its leaders arrested and property confiscated.