Kitts/Violence, Conspiracies, 10. The Complicated Relationship between Xie Jiao and Cult in the PRC

The People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) maintains a systematic and consistent set of policies toward Xie Jiao (邪教), often mistranslated as “destructive cults.” Due to the sensitiveness of the topic and for certain other reasons, international academic scholars often lack appreciation of the concept according to PRC’s own understanding. When James R. Lewis visited Zhejiang University in 2018, he asked this author to write an objective and detailed introduction of the PRC’s own view toward Xie Jiao. China is a big country with a long history of experiences and lessons relating to this issue, so the topic is worth critical exploration. The main purpose of this chapter is to offer a critical exploration of the Chinese official viewpoint and policies. Thus, this article will analyze the logic behind the whole system in order to render this system comprehensible for western scholars. This article consists of three main parts: The first part introduces the PRC’s definition of Xie Jiao and the PRC perspective on how and why Xie Jiao may be considered destructive. The second part illustrates Falun Gong as a typical Xie Jiao, acknowledging its transformation from Qi Gong to Exceptional Function to Buddhism to apocalyptic cult. The third part is the analysis of the PRC’s treatment of Xie Jiao from the perspective of religious policy, including criteria of identification, the policy principles, and its potential difficulties.