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Religious freedom is guaranteed in the Chinese constitution, but although there has been much progress in the field since 1978, religious practioners of different persuasions continue to be controlled, harrassed, and arrested in China. There are five officially approved religions in the country: Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism, but non-sanctioned religious groups or those wanting to stay independent from the state are not permitted and are repressed. The crackdown on religion is particularly harsh in the Tibet Autonomous Region and in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. In recent years the Chinese government has suppressed and outlawed spiritual movements and groups which it labels "cults," such as the Falun Gong.
- On September 14, 2007, the U.S. Department of State issued its latest Report on Religious Freedom in China.
- On May 1, 2008, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued its "2008 Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) Recommendations," as well as its 2008 Annual Report, which goes into more detail about the March 2008 riots in Tibet and surrounding areas. (The Commission was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor religious freedom in other countries and advise the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress on how best to promote it. More information can be found here.) Chinese officials immediately criticized the Annual Report for being groundless, on which see this People's Daily article.
- The Chinese government's official statements regarding Tibet can be found a 1997 white paper on freedom of religion. In May, 2004, China issued a new white paper on Tibet that deals extensively with issues of religious freedom. (See also the discussions of religion in several other white papers, also available in Chinese.)
- For information from different NGOs on the state of religious freedom in China, see for example the Human Right Watch report, China: State Control of Religion from 1997, and its more recent reports on Tibet and Xinjiang. See also a 1999 report from Amnesty International on Xinjiang. For more information on religion in Tibet, see reports from the Tibetan Information Network. This website is available only as an archive and was last updated in 2005.
- For background on Falun Gong from a scholar of Chinese religions, including a considerable bibliography, see this excellent site. A less academic perspecitive comes from Time Asia. For information from Falun Gong itself, see Falun Dafa Information Center. And for the Chinese government's condemnation of Falun Gong, see a special page in the People's Daily.
- In March 2002, Human Rights Watch issued "Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong," an investigation and assessment, with policy recommendations.
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