“The government was concerned that religious figures might be able to use social media and other online platforms to get around the government’s management of religious organizations,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “The new regulations move online religious content completely off mainstream Internet sites and only onto government-licensed religious platforms, where user registration is required and the government can carefully monitor the content. The effect is that all religious talk is moved further away from where the general public can hear it.” 

Representative Foley notes that the new regulations also apply to the online activities of foreign nationals in China, as well as religious personnel from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. She notes that in addition to restricting or banning most online religious activities, the regulations require that all permitted online religious activities must demonstrate support for China’s Communist Party and the government’s policy of “Sinicization” of religion. 

 “Article 2 of the new regulations says, ‘Religious clergy who engage in online behavior shall love the motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party of China’, and ‘accept government supervision and social supervision’. Article 3 says that online religious content must ‘adhere to the direction of Sinicization of religion in our country’ and ‘actively guide religion to adapt to socialist society’,” says Representative Foley, quoting the “Online Conduct Guidelines for Religious Clergy”. She notes that the articles also explicitly ban “colluding with foreign forces” on religious content, “disseminating religious ideas to minors”, and “undermining the harmonious coexistence between different religions”. 

 “These bans are worded in the broadest possible way. They cover every possible aspect of religious activity online. And they apply to the broadest possible group,” says Representative Foley. “It’s a new and higher level of control over religion by the Communist authorities. It’s no longer sufficient for churches to register with the government. These new regulations make it so that even the official government registered ‘Three-Self’ churches can only share religious content online if they apply for and receive what is called an ‘Internet Religious Information Service License’. Even if they receive that license, they still can only share government-approved content on government-approved websites.”  

Representative Foley says that increased Communist Party control over the Chinese Internet is one reason her organization continues to move toward low-tech solutions in its partnership with Chinese Christians.  

 “We do a twice-daily shortwave radio broadcast into China with the sermons of Chinese Christians who have been persecuted or martyred for their faith,” says Representative Foley. “We might think, ‘Do people even own shortwave radios these days?’ But shortwave radio remains very popular in China, because unlike online activity, listening to shortwave radio leaves no ‘trace’ that can be followed by the government. The government’s only defense against shortwave radio is to air as many of its own shortwave broadcasts as it can while trying to jam our broadcasts. But that’s a very expensive and still ineffective solution.” 

 But Representative Foley says that shortwave radio is only one of many strategies Chinese Christians are using as high-tech surveillance of Christians increases in China. She says that older Chinese Christians and Christians living in the countryside have once again become important to the Chinese church. “The younger generation of Christians has a difficult time thinking about how to carry on their Christian lives without the use of cell phones or WeChat or the Internet or gathering together in church buildings. This makes it very easy for the authorities to track them and shut them down,” she says. But older Chinese Christians and Christians living in the countryside were trained in ‘low-tech’ ways of living the Christian life. They survived for decades under Communism using such strategies, and they are once again teaching these ways to the Chinese church.” 

 Individuals interested in learning about or supporting Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s work in partnership with persecuted Christians in China can visit www.vomkorea.com/en/china or give via electronic transfer to: 

KB Bank: 463501-01-243303 

Account Holder: (사)순교자의소리 

Please note “China” on the transfer.