{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022222222222222223, 'fraction_numerical': 0.00676328502415459, 'mean_word_length': 4.820224719101123, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
China’s Struggle against the Xie Jiao

The chapter discusses two key notions of contemporary Chinese policy about religion, “sinicization” and xie jiao. Both words have a venerable tradition in China, but are used by the regime with new meanings. “Sinicization” was once used to indicate that organizations operating in China should have Chinese rather than foreign leaders, but it now means that leaders should be selected, or at least approved, by the Chinese Communist Party. This also applies to religious organizations. Xie jiao is often translated as “evil cults,” but that translation is misleading. Xie jiao is a label used since the late Ming dynasty to indicate movements the authorities regard as antigovernment and socially dangerous. The politics of singling out and banning xie jiao was passed from Imperial to Nationalist China and then to the CCP regime. An official list of groups banned as xie jiao was reinstated in 1995. The Chinese Criminal Code now includes Article 300, making being active in a xie jiao a crime.