Xinhua photojournalist Yasser Zhang speaks to Father Zhang Fengming, a Catholic priest in a rural village in Shaanxi Province who is faced with a dwindling, ageing flock. more ›

In a standoff between a group of Hui Muslims and Chinese police over the demolition of a mosque in Ningxia province, dozens were left injured and more detained: more ›

There's a new surge in Christmas celebrations in the People's Republic, but not everybody seems to know what the holiday season is really for, says the Christian Broadcasting Network. more ›

Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, has raised eyebrows with an article published in Qiushi, or "Seeking Truth," a biweekly journal published by the Chinese Communist Party. In it, he warned that the party would suffer "pernicious" consequences if it overturned a ban on party members to subscribe to religious faiths. more ›

AP reports that government officials forcefully shut down an outdoor Christmas party organised by Christians in Xitan village (溪坦村) in Zhejiang province. Xitan bills itself as a "Christmas village", and it comes under the jurisdiction of Ruian city which is home to many underground churches and manufactures some 500 million yuan in Christmas products each year. more ›

The office of the Karmapa Lama has issued an official statement in response to charges by the Indian police that he was taking foreign money and acting as a spy for China: more ›

Catholic news portal AsiaNews.it reports that the ordination of a Vatican-approved bishop, Father Peter Luo Xuegang (罗雪刚), will take place tomorrow in the diocese of Yibin in Sichuan province. But here's where it gets tricky -- while the consecrating bishop on paper is the 95-year-old Msgr. John Chen Shizhong, a bishop from the diocese who is in communion with the Vatican, China may want Paul Lei Shiyin, the recently installed bishop of Leshan who is now president of the Catholic Patriotic Association, to take part in the laying on of hands. The participation of Lei, who was excommunicated by the Holy See in July, could render the ordination of the new bishop "illegitimate" according to Vatican rules. more ›

Peter Foster of The Daily Telegraph breaks the story of a man who set himself on fire October 21 on Tiananmen Square, but the incident appeared nowhere in Chinese news media. Here's what happened according to a reader who witnessed the incident: more ›

Li Yang, the celebrity English teacher who is now better known around China as a shameless wife-beater, announced his decision to convert to Islam past midnight on November 6, which happens to be Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims worldwide. more ›

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If you thought the Dalai Lama's newly-announced succession plans were ridiculous, then you really need to read China's response:

China says the Dalai Lama does not have the right to decide who will take over from him when he dies. It says Beijing will decide who will be the next Dalai Lama. more ›

Tough times call for tough measures. What's a Dalai Lama to do when he knows unfriendly forces may usurp his office after he's gone? Well, apparently, he could start "emanating" instead of reincarnating (more on what this means later), or he could completely abolish the office of the Dalai Lama. These options were announced in a lengthy statement released yesterday by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, 76, on the subject of his reincarnation. more ›

Stephen MacDonnell of Al-Jazeera offers this excellent bird's eye view of the rise of evangelical Christianity in modern day China. In this episode of 101 East, he visits the government-approved Chongyi Church in Hangzhou, supposedly the world's largest Chinese megachurch, where evangelist Luis Palau preached at a gospel rally last year. He also speaks to Zheng Datong, pastor of a house church in Wenzhou, as well as Samuel Lamb, the 86-year-old pastor of the 4,000-strong Rongguili Church, an unregistered church that has grown too influential for local police to raid. He also attempts to visit the open-air service of Beijing's Shouwang Church, but the service doesn't take place as believers are taken away by police as soon as they arrive. more ›

Thousands of people are celebrating the seven-day Shoton festival (also known as the Yoghurt Festival or Banquet), one of the most important festivals in the Tibetan calendar that has been celebrated since the 11th century. more ›

China has got the entire world's market of religious paraphernalia cornered. Not only have Chinese manufacturers been making everything from statues of Guru Nanak (revered by the Sikhs), to Hindu gods such as Shiva, Vishnu and Ganesh, to the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico, they've also been edging out producers of Ramadan lanterns and keffiyeh's in the Middle East. more ›

Muslims in the capital celebrate Ramadan, the fasting month in the Islamic calendar. more ›

Eric Fish of Sinostand has a funny and oh-so-true piece on why the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese Communist Party are really just estranged brothers in disguise. The two really have more in common than you think, so why aren't they better friends? more ›

Gays and lesbians across China were left pleasantly stunned last evening by an unexpected report from national broadcaster CCTV which not only slammed award-winning actress Lü Liping (吕丽萍) for stoking homophobia, but also assured members of the LGBT community of their place in society. more ›

138 instructors, disciples and students of the United Studios of Self Defense, said to be the largest martial arts school in North America, have arrived at the Shaolin Temple for the school's 15th annual pilgrimage. The abbott of the Shaolin Temple, Ven. Shi Yongxin (yes, the monk rumoured not so long ago to have visited prostitutes) presided over a blessing ritual and handed certificates of recognition to each disciple. more ›

Paul Lei Shiyin, the new bishop of Leshan installed by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association without papal approval, has been excommunicated by the Holy See. In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican said, "Rev. Lei Shiyin, ordained without the Papal mandate and hence illegitimately, has no authority to govern the diocesan Catholic community, and the Holy See does not recognize him. The effects of the sanction which he has incurred through violation of the . . . Code of Canon Law remain in place... An episcopal ordination without Papal mandate is directly opposed to the spiritual role of the Supreme Pontiff and damages the unity of the Church." more ›

For our Roman Catholic readers, a special mass is to be held tonight at the St Ignatius Cathedral to mark the liturgical feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The announcement from the Italian Cultural Institute:

The IIC Shanghai is glad to announce the celebration of the Holy Mass in Chinese language with the Holy Lesson in Italian language, which will be held on Wednesday 29th June 2011, at 19:00 at St.Ignatius Cathedral, XuJiahui. more ›

Gay groups have called for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in China to boycott movies by award-winning actress Lü Liping (吕丽萍) and her husband, director Sun Haiying (孙海英), after the former kicked up a maelstrom of debate on Sina Weibo for expressing support for the homophobic sentiments of a Chinese pastor in Rochester, New York decrying the legalisation of same-sex marriage by the New York State Senate. more ›

Beijing's embattled Shouwang Church has been rocked by a split in its leadership team of more than a dozen, marked by the departure of one pastor, one preacher and two deacons, according to the South China Morning Post. more ›

Pope Benedict offered special prayers for the Catholics in China who face severe constraints to practice their faith. He composed a prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai for the occasion and asked that Catholics all over the world observe May 24 as the "World Day of Prayer for the Church in China", an annual day of prayer observed every year since 2007. more ›

If you're the sort to believe in online rumors, here's a juicy one for you: Abbot Shi Yongxin (释永信) of the world-famous Shaolin Temple was reportedly caught soliciting a prostitute during a recent vice crackdown in Henan province. more ›

News of the recent crackdown on the Shouwang Church, one of the largest house churches in Beijing, has sent shockwaves across the fellowship of house churches in China, with many pastors now urging their flocks to stand alongside Shouwang in prayer and support. more ›

An unregistered church in Beijing has been making headlines this month for attempting to continue unauthorized services outside the control of authorities. The saga continued today as dozens of church members were detained after attempting to attend a banned Easter service. The church, Shouwang, was evicted from its former location after refusing to come under the direct supervision of the Chinese government. An unidentified church member reported that the pastor and church leaders have also been placed under house arrest. more ›