Authorities pressure Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to register with either the official Catholic Patriotic Association or its Protestant counterpart. Students at state-approved seminaries must pass exams on political knowledge. Official Catholic churches cannot maintain loyalty to the Vatican. While many unregistered Protestant churches and openly pro-Vatican Catholic groups are able to function, scores have been raided, closed, or demolished. Officials have detained hundreds of bishops, priests, and ordinary Protestant and Catholic worshippers for months and, in some cases, years.
Authorities particularly target churches with unorthodox styles of worship.
In Xinjiang, authorities have used the pretext of quelling ethnic separatism to place sharp restrictions on construction of mosques and Islamic religious publishing and education, and have shut down dozens of mosques and Koranic schools. Only five religions are officially recognized in China, with all others being prima facie illegal. China s harsh family planning policy limits urban couples to one child, while in rural areas parents of a girl can petition authorities for permission to have a son. Couples adhering to the policy receive preferential education, food, and medical benefits, while those failing to comply face a loss of jobs and benefits, fines, or even forced abortion and sterilization. Failure to pay the fines sometimes results in seizure of livestock and other goods and destruction of homes.