Christians in Henan province, China, must complete an online form and receive approval to attend church services, according to reports by the non-profit China Aid and the Christian Broadcasting Network..If believers in Henan province want to participate in religious activities, they must make online reservations before they can attend services in churches, mosques, or Buddhist temples. The registration is made through an application called “Smart Religion,” developed by the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission of Henan Province..App users select the religious venue they want to attend. The use of religious identification keywords such as “mosque,” “temple,” “Christianity,” and “Catholicism” is not allowed in the description.. Henan province, ChinaHenan province, China .Applicants must fill in their personal information, including name, phone number, ID number, permanent residence, occupation, and date of birth, before they can make a reservation. Those who are allowed into the church must also have their temperature taken and show a reservation code..Officials said staff would assist elderly believers or older adults who may not know how to operate the mobile phone applications. However, the cumbersome application procedures reduced the number of believers attending churches. The app’s legality has also been questioned..According to the official website of the Ministry of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of China, as early as July 2020 several platform projects like the “Smart Religion” app were inspected at a symposium held in Henan on the construction of a religious big data management platform. The digital platform is the foundation of the religious affairs management improvement project, and the China Construction Bank of the Henan Branch provided technical support..In August 2022, the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau of Puyang County in Henan and the Henan Billion Second Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. signed a project contract for the “Construction of an Independent Command Platform for the Management of Smart Religion.”.Information from the app is fed into a larger “Smart Religion” platform run by the State Administration of Religious Affairs. This product utilizes big data, artificial intelligence, electronic maps, and mobile web information. .Henan is not the only province where government watches believers closely. In the Chang’an district of the province of Shaanxi, a 720-degree virtual reality panoramic map is made through precise positioning and video surveillance of the venues used for religious purposes. Then, multidimensional data analysis is used to improve religious affairs management..International Religious Freedom Summit Co-Chair Sam Brownback told CBN News, "Now they're even requiring people to register on their phones to be able to go to church. Well, that's so they can track them and shut the places down…".“We're just seeing the continuation of the Xi Jinping regime becoming a full Mao regime.”.In December 2021, China's State Administration of Religious Affairs announced measures restricting all forms of religious activities. Churches, religious groups, and colleges that plan to conduct online worship services must obtain an Internet Religious Information Service Permit..On March 1, 2022, further measures were introduced that banned live broadcasts or online recordings of religious ceremonies. The measures also forbade an organization or individual from raising funds "in the name of religion.".According to Wikipedia, Henan province has roughly 99 million people and is thought to have one of the largest Christian populations of East Asia. Most believers attend house churches..China’s Henan Daily reported on Feb. 24, 2023, Zhang Leiming, member of the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Party Committee and head of the United Front Work Department, went to the Provincial Ethnic and Religious Committee to investigate the implementation of the technology. Leiming said it is necessary to strictly manage religion in a comprehensive way to unite and guide the majority of religious believers to follow the Chinese Communist Party unswervingly..Zhang Leiming is an associate professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research. He has affiliations with the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN), the Chinese Flux Observation and Research Network, the Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling.
