Nearly 60 academics from all over the world attended the Beijing Symposium, and it was full of predictable denunciation of the Chinese folk religious movement, Falun Gong. Interestingly, many house church leaders interviewed express surprise that the government did not crack down harder this year. The ministry released its findings to Compass on the understanding they would not be named. Estimates start at 100,000 members and up. Members are put on starvation rations and told to pray not to Christ but to the founder of the movement, San-Shu, who claims to forgive sins.
Members also undertake dangerous fire baptisms and refuse medical treatment.
Various provincial governments outlawed the movement in 1995. Started in 1982 by a man called Ji San Bao, he changed his name to San-Shu after becoming a Christian. Then he quickly began to propound heretical viewpoints. He married again, to a woman called Hsu-Shu, who claims to be the living manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Members of the group must pray in the name of these two leaders.