{"id":12058,"date":"2017-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/"},"modified":"2017-03-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T23:00:00","slug":"freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China&#8217;s Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-7162\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7162\" width=\"453\" height=\"304\"\/><figcaption>Chinese soldiers amass outside of Labrang Monastery in Gansu Province to prevent protests during Losar, the Tibetan lunar New Year festival, in February 2016 (Photo: Christophe Boisvieux\/Getty Images).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><em>On 28 February 2017, Freedom House published a new report &#8220;The battle for China&#8217;s spirit&#8221;, which examines the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s policies of religious control and citizens\u2019 responses to them since November 2012. Below is the original statement published on <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/report\/china-religious-freedom\" target=\"_blank\">freedomhouse.org.<\/a> You can download the report at: <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/report\/china-religious-freedom\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/report\/china-religious-freedom<\/a><br> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"text-align:center\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Battle for China\u2019s Spirit:<br> Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The Chinese government\u2019s controls over religion have intensified under Xi Jinping, seeping into new areas of daily life and triggering growing resistance from believers, according to the report <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/report\/china-religious-freedom\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Battle for China\u2019s Spirit<\/em>,<\/a> released today by Freedom House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMany spiritual activities practiced freely around the world\u2014from fasting during Ramadan to praying with one\u2019s children or performing Falun Gong meditation exercises\u2014are restricted and can be harshly punished in China,\u201d said Sarah Cook, a senior research analyst at Freedom House and the report\u2019s author. \u201cThe scale and severity of controls over religion, and the trajectory of both growing persecution and pushback, are affecting Chinese society and politics far beyond the realm of religious policy alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freedomhouse.org\/report\/china-religious-freedom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>The Battle for China\u2019s Spirit<\/em> <\/a>examines the evolution of the Communist Party\u2019s policies of religious control and citizens\u2019 responses to them since November 2012, in the first comprehensive analysis of its kind. It focuses on seven major religious groups that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe party\u2019s rigid constraints render it impossible for state-sanctioned institutions to meet the growing demand for religion in Chinese society,\u201d Cook said. \u201cThe result is an enormous black market, forcing many believers\u2014from Taoists and Protestants to Tibetan Buddhists\u2014to operate outside the law and to view the regime as unreasonable, unjust, or illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Religious controls have taken different forms for different localities, ethnicities, and denominations. In many parts of China, ordinary believers do not necessarily feel constrained in their ability to practice their faith. Others face bureaucratic obstacles, mandatory political \u201creeducation,\u201d or economic exploitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But authorities also regularly deploy harsh penalties, long prison terms, and deadly violence against certain communities. At least 100 million people\u2014nearly one-third of estimated believers in China\u2014belong to religious groups facing \u201chigh\u201d or \u201cvery high\u201d levels of persecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Xi, many persecutory policies have expanded and evolved. A more restrictive legal environment has been put in place. Repression has expanded to target more state-registered congregations and leaders. And the government has adapted religious controls to a new technological landscape, increasing electronic surveillance at places of worship and imprisoning believers for sharing content on social media platforms or using tools to circumvent internet censorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDespite tightening controls, millions of religious believers defy official restrictions in daily life. Indeed, the survival of groups and beliefs that the party has invested tremendous resources to crush represents a remarkable failure of the government\u2019s repression,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIt reflects the party\u2019s difficulty in confronting citizens who are willing to make sacrifices for higher principles. From this perspective, it would appear that in the long-term battle for China\u2019s spirit, an unreformed Communist Party will ultimately lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key findings on Tibetan Buddhism:<br>\n<\/strong>The Chinese authorities impose severe constraints on the religious practice of Tibetan Buddhists, most notably veneration of the exiled Dalai Lama. New measures imposed since November 2012 include punishing assistance to self-immolators, canceling previously permitted festivals, increasing restrictions on private religious practice, and more proactively manipulating Tibetan Buddhist doctrine and selection of religious leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 28 February 2017, Freedom House published a new report &#8220;The battle for China&#8217;s spirit&#8221;, which examines the evolution of the Communist Party\u2019s policies of religious control and citizens\u2019 responses to them since November 2012, in the first comprehensive analysis of its kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12059,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[45,691,679],"news_tag":[673],"class_list":["post-12058","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-inside-tibet","categorie-news","categorie-research-and-analysis","news_tag-repression"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Freedom House Report: The Battle for China&#039;s Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China&#039;s Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 28 February 2017, Freedom House published a new report &quot;The battle for China&#039;s spirit&quot;, which examines the evolution of the Communist Party\u2019s policies of religious control and citizens\u2019 responses to them since November 2012, in the first comprehensive analysis of its kind.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Campaign for Tibet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"545\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@savetibetorg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China's Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-28T23:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png\",\"width\":810,\"height\":545},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/news\\\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China&#8217;s Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Campaign for Tibet\",\"description\":\"LET OP: Plaats je bestelling v\u00f3\u00f3r 16 december om zeker te zijn dat je cadeau op tijd voor Kerst aankomt.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Campaign for Tibet\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/logo-round.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/logo-round.png\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Campaign for Tibet\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/savetibet.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/savetibetorg\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/savetibeteurope\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ICTEurope\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China's Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China's Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet","og_description":"On 28 February 2017, Freedom House published a new report \"The battle for China's spirit\", which examines the evolution of the Communist Party\u2019s policies of religious control and citizens\u2019 responses to them since November 2012, in the first comprehensive analysis of its kind.","og_url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/","og_site_name":"Campaign for Tibet","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/","og_image":[{"width":810,"height":545,"url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@savetibetorg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/","name":"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China's Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping - Campaign for Tibet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png","datePublished":"2017-02-28T23:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-07-at-12.38.01.png","width":810,"height":545},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-house-report-the-battle-for-chinas-spirit-religious-revival-repression-and-resistance-under-xi-jinping\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Freedom House Report: The Battle for China&#8217;s Spirit Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/","name":"Campaign for Tibet","description":"LET OP: Plaats je bestelling v\u00f3\u00f3r 16 december om zeker te zijn dat je cadeau op tijd voor Kerst aankomt.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#organization","name":"Campaign for Tibet","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/logo-round.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/logo-round.png","width":150,"height":150,"caption":"Campaign for Tibet"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/internationalcampaignfortibetnederland\/","https:\/\/x.com\/savetibetorg","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/savetibeteurope\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ICTEurope"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuws\/12058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nieuws"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nieuws"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categorie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categorie?post=12058"},{"taxonomy":"news_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_tag?post=12058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}