New Religious Regulations for Foreigners in China

A few weeks ago, the Chinese government announced an updated set of regulations to govern the religious activities of foreign personnel. Many secular and Christian media outlets in the West trumpeted this as something new, indicating the government’s desire to ban foreign religious involvement in China.

These regulations went into effect on May 1 and apply to all foreigners living in or visiting China (including tourists) and their religious activities.^{1 2}

Are They Actually New Regulations?

A close read makes it clear that these are detailed implementation regulations for an older set of regulations from 1994 governing foreigners’ religious activity in China.³ They are designed to add more specificity for implementing the original 1994 regulations. The new regulations also share characteristics with other religious regulations issued in the last decade that include greater specificity about administration, control, approvals, penalties, and linkages to laws and regulations in other areas.  Further, they also emphasize that no religious activities should negatively impact other national policies and priorities, such as ethnic harmony.

Since 2012, the Chinese government has been in the process of updating or creating regulations for all types of religious activities in China. In addition to updating previously existing rules, new areas have been added, such as internet content, registration of religious workers, etc.⁴

When the new regulations were first published, Chinese media provided a summary of why the new rules were needed:

The State Administration for Religious Affairs said the revision was urgently needed to regulate foreigners’ religious activities in China. With China’s further opening-up, the number of foreigners coming for business, tourism, and visits has increased, leading to a growing demand for religious activities. The previous rules needed improvement, especially in regulating collective religious activities.⁵

The explanatory article also indicated that foreigners in China are prohibited from engaging in 11 specific religious activities:⁶

1. Interfering in or controlling the affairs of Chinese religious groups, religious schools, or religious activity sites, or interfering with the appointment and management of religious personnel.
2. Establishing religious organizations, setting up religious offices, religious activity sites, or religious schools.
3. Promoting religious extremist ideologies, supporting or funding religious extremism and illegal religious activities, or using religion to undermine China’s national unity, ethnic solidarity, religious harmony, or social stability.
4. Unauthorized preaching or conducting collective religious activities.
5. Recruiting religious followers among Chinese citizens or appointing religious personnel.
6. Using religion to obstruct the implementation of China’s judicial, educational, marriage, or social management systems.
7. Producing or selling religious books, religious audio-visual products, religious electronic publications, or other religious items, or distributing religious propaganda materials.
8. Accepting religious donations from Chinese organizations or citizens.
9. Organizing or conducting religious education or training.
10. Using the internet to carry out illegal religious activities.
11. Other illegal religious-related activities.

What Is the Content?

There are 38 articles in five sections.

The first section covers general provisions such as defining who is a foreigner and what is included in religious activities. It emphasizes overarching principles such as the independence of Chinese religious groups and the need to abide by Chinese laws and regulations. This section specifies that these new regulations are detailed implementing regulations for the original 1994 regulations on foreign religious activities in China.

The second section covers collective religious activities. However, the definition of collective is left ambiguous and is defined at the local government level. This section provides the guidelines for how group activities can be registered and how these relate to established Chinese religious bodies. 

Section three covers religious exchanges between foreign individuals and organizations and established Chinese religious organizations. It also defines what types of printed material and media may enter China and lists 11 religious activities that foreigners may not engage in. 

The fourth section covers legal liability for government officials overseeing the religious affairs of foreigners, individual foreigners, and Chinese religious groups and clergy. 

The final section includes some supplementary articles covering the starting date (May 1, 2025) and which administrative level of government is responsible for implementing these regulations.

How Were They Developed?

As part of the decade-long development of more comprehensive religious regulations, China issued these new regulations in draft form in 2018 and accepted public comment. In 2020, a revised set of draft regulations was again published with a public comment process and period. Any reader interested in the changes in the development process of the new regulations can find the original draft regulations in English translation along with the original Chinese texts.⁷ Previously, ChinaSource summarized the 2018 draft regulations in a blog post.⁸

With these new regulations, you can see a continuation of general trends in China, such as securitization, control over social organizations, and aligning the whole of society around national policies and priorities.

If you compare the two versions of the draft regulations, you can find a variety of changes. One example would be in the title, changing from foreign group religious activities to foreign religious activities, which is much broader. The initial draft stated that the regulations would apply to groups with more than 50 participants. In the final draft, the minimum number is unspecified and is left to local religious administrative organs to determine based on their local situation.

Another example of a change would be adding a clause on potential civil or criminal prosecution of government officials who do not implement the regulations as stated. The number of articles in the regulations has also expanded from 22 in the original draft to 38 in the final version.

What Is the Impact?

Talking with both Chinese and Western friends in China, the reaction has been rather muted. One friend stated that the regulations only codified what had already been practiced at the local level. Since these regulations have already been available in draft form for over five years, many of the specific clauses have already been translated into practice at the local government level.

These more detailed regulations will particularly impact official religious exchanges between individuals and organizations with religious bodies in China. There are more restrictions and administrative hurdles to clear, and local religious bodies or authorities have less discretion in interpreting the regulations.

Throughout the regulations, there are restrictions on foreign Christians sharing religious activities with Chinese Christians.

For foreign group religious activities, such as international fellowships in various cities, the requirements for organizing, applying, and managing such a group have become more demanding and complicated. How they will be implemented and the impact on the lives, work, and worship of foreigners living in and visiting China remains to be seen.

How Should We Respond?

First, we should not respond with declarations that China has banned missionaries. China has never granted visas to foreigners to enter the country to engage in religious activities, and these regulations do not change that in any way.

Second, we need to put them into context, seeing them as part of a decades-long development of more detailed regulations of religious activity (of all kinds) in China. For those wanting to serve in China, it is a reminder that we need to understand the country’s historical and political context and seek ways to live and work there in a manner that is deemed to be “locally appropriate.” We must remember that living and working in China is a privilege, not a right.

Third, we should pray for foreign Christians living in, working in, and visiting China. These regulations add another layer of complexity to living wisely and harmlessly, allowing God’s love and grace to shine through. Pray that God will grant them wisdom and perseverance.

1. The Chinese title of the regulations is 《中华人民共和国境内外国人宗教活动管理规定实施细则》; the English title is “Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Religious Activities of Foreigners within the Territory of the People’s Republic of China.”
2. The original Chinese text is available at https://www.sara.gov.cn/static/content/ywdt/qtyw/2025-04-01/1356550603266883584.html (accessed 5/3/2025). An English translation is available at https://bitterwinter.org/religious-activities-by-foreigners-in-china-new-restrictions-from-may-1/ (accessed 5/3/2025).
3. The “Regulations on the Administration of Religious Activities of Foreigners within the Territory of the People’s Republic of China” was originally promulgated on 1/31/1994 as State Council document number 144.
   See https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%8E%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD%E5%A2%83%E5%86%85%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E5%AE%97%E6%95%99%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86%E8%A7%84%E5%AE%9A (accessed 4/30/2025).
4. For a summary see https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/articles/a-readers-guide-to-laws-and-regulations-of-the-new-era/ (access 4/30/2025).
5. See https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202504/1331313.shtml (accessed 5/3/2025).
6. For the list in Chinese, see https://ad.chinanews.com/gn/2025/04-01/10392481.shtml (accessed 5/3/2025).
7. The translation of the 2018 draft regulations is at Measures on the Administration of Foreigners’ Group Religious Activities in the Mainland Territory of the P.R.C. (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) (accessed 4/30/2025).  The 2018 draft Chinese is at https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/measures-on-the-administration-of-foreigners-group-religious-activities-in-the-mainland-territory-of-the-p-r-c-draft-for-solicitation-of-comments/ (accessed 4/28/2025).  The English translation of the 2020 draft regulations is at https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/foreign-religion-in-china/ (accessed 5/3/2025).  The 2020 draft Chinese is at https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/foreign-religion-in-china/ (accessed 4/28/2025).
8. See https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/blog-entries/religious-activities-by-foreigners/ (accessed 4/30/2025).

Joann Pittman

Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio

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