Kwan Lee goes behind Chinese closed doors. Be a Sino-fly on the wall to see how Baba Beijing works on the inside.

Note before starting: this is an email from Kwan Lee to the other members of the China Writers’ Group, following Jeff J. Brown’s exposé of Evan Osnos at The New Yorker Magazine (https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2023/11/21/a-critique-of-the-recent-article-in-the-new-yorker-magazine-by-evan-osnos-chinas-age-of-malaise/).

China’s little-known United Front Work Department

Evan Osnos can spin whatever he wants about who’s who; the people replaced; tossing names; gives reasons; invents narratives, meta-narratives and blah blah blah yadah yadah yadah, … He can even imagine with utter delight that he’s uber brilliant … What’s certain is that his ilk and his house negros are taken care of by the right people in the appropriate way in Mainland China.

Beyond the Public Security Department, THERE IS AN ENTIRE DEPARTMENT of the Central Committee of the CPC called the ** UNITED FRONT WORK DEPARTMENT ** (UFWD). Its main bureau is in Beijing, of course (135, Fuyou Street, Xicheng District).

The Central Committee of the CPC (Communist Party of China, the official version with the right order or my preferred version the CCP, the Chinese Civilization Party) is the core ruling group of China. A group of ~ 200 people from which the CPC Politburo and the CPC Politburo Standing Commitee are constituted.

During the Imperial Era, the Ministry of Rites, among other responsibilities, had duties resembling those of the United Front Work Department. Below are the explanations that will make that strange rapprochement more obvious.

The United Front Work Department (UFWD) gathers intelligence on, manages relations with, tries to gain influence over elite individuals and organizations INSIDE & OUTSIDE Mainland China.

The United Front Work Department (UFWD) also detects and manages as skillfully as possible potentially subversive individuals or clearly identified subversive individuals. And Evan Osnos’ Chinese buddies (and their ilk) are part of the potentially or clearly subversive & disruptive people to be continuously checked because they can be used by foreign powers for questionable goals, needless to say.

The UFWD is also dealing with the religious affairs. All kinds of religions : religions & “religions”.
(Yes, it’s relevant in a post about Evan Osnos. Just read till the end: https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2023/11/21/a-critique-of-the-recent-article-in-the-new-yorker-magazine-by-evan-osnos-chinas-age-of-malaise/)

Originally created as the RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS BUREAU in 1951 (2 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949), the National Religious Affairs Administration (NRAA) is an “external name” of the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The NRAA was formerly known as the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). SARA was merged into the United Front Work Department in 2018.

This expression “external name” requires an explanation. It’s a Chinese bureaucratic arrangement or disposition. “One institution with two names” is an arrangement where a Chinese government agency exists in name only (in this case the NRAA, former SARA, former Religious Affairs Bureau), and its functions are in practice performed by another government agency (in this case the UFWD), so that in effect one institution has two or more official names for political, historical or bureaucratic reasons.

China’s five officially sanctioned religious organizations are :

*1- Buddhist Association of China
*2- Chinese Taoist Association
*3- Islamic Association of China
*4- Three-Self Patriotic Movement (Protestant). Three-Self means *autonomy from foreign money, *autonomy from foreign missionaries meaning indigenous missionary work and *self-governance meaning no foreign religious authorities meddling into Chinese religious affairs.
*5- Catholic Patriotic Association.

Any religious organization, WITHIN OR OUTSIDE the 5 officially sanctioned religious organizations adumbrated above, MUST REGISTER with the United Front Work Department (often called in everyday life “the Religious Affairs Bureau” even if right now it’s no more its official name) before being allowed to operate in Mainland China. The scenes from China of churches, mosques or temples razed to the ground by bulldozers come from the religious associations not having registered with the UFWD (colloquially “the Bureau of Religious Affairs”) AS DEMANDED BY THE CHINESE LAWS, not at all reflecting China’s hostility to religious freedom, on the contrary.

CONCLUSIONS :

*** I- Religious freedom in China is real at the condition it’s truly for quenching personal spiritual aspirations & social belonging needs BUT stops when a given “religion” is a tool for subversion. Religion of course is mostly about the traditional religions known by all BUT ALSO INCLUDING the “religion” of the “fascist imperialist Liberal school”, the most dangerous of all of them.

Similarly , the “religion” of “freedom, democracy, human rights, market economy, invisible hands, autocracy versus democracy, anti-Xi Jinping, etc.”, Soros-associated or not, is also under strict surveillance. Evan Osnos is obviously one of the high priests of that “religion”. It has been duly noted in Beijing.

*** II- Manipulative and convoluted narratives/meta-narratives can have an effect on epistemologically under-developed people and this becomes staggeringly dangerous for everyone when that kind of people are granted an illusion of political sovereignty so they can be more easily manipulated by an unhinged kakistocracy.

I remind everyone that George Soros has been kicked out of Mainland China in 1989 (34 years ago) BUT his shenanigans are still operating in the West.

I want to quote Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) wishing to reassure his peers the French noblemen : Don’t worry about the voting system, the people will choose as they are told.

Tocqueville was 100% right !

Not even mentioning that the machines counting the votes can be completely rigged nowadays.