Beijing, Nov 08: A county government in Eastern China has displayed unusual vigour in a campaign to suppress religious groups, closing hundreds of churches and temples, a Hong Kong-based rights center reported today. A total of 10 churches and 392 temples have been shut down, and in some cases demolished, over the past two months in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, the information center for human rights and democracy said in a statement. Repeating a practice once common in revolutionary China, 92 temples have been turned into cultural venues of various kinds, according to the information center. Similar campaigns have been launched in other parts of Zhejiang, including the provincial capital of Hangzhou, where at least 10 churches have been torn down in the period from July to October, the center said.
It is little more than a week ago that Premier Wen Jiabao told journalists in Beijing that Chinese enjoy religious freedom. Bureau Report