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Chengdu hospital survey
China has expanded scrutiny of religious affiliation into public workplaces in Chengdu, with a public hospital ordering employees to disclose their religious beliefs, according to a report cited by The Epoch Times.
“the hospital circulated an internal notice stating that it was conducting a comprehensive survey of employees' religious beliefs”
The hospital notice described a “comprehensive survey of employees' religious beliefs” as part of requirements for the “regular investigation of ideological, ethnic, and religious work,” and it instructed the hospital to cover “every individual without leaving anyone out.”
The notice said employees were required to provide the requested information without concealing or omitting relevant details, and those without religious affiliations had to select “no religious belief.”
It also stated that members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are not permitted to practise any religion, and employees with religious affiliations were required to report the matter to their Party branch.
Schools check families
The reported scrutiny also extended into Chengdu’s education system, where education authorities collected information on students’ religious backgrounds and those of their parents, according to The Epoch Times accounts cited by The Tribune.
An administrative employee at a university in Sichuan identified as Chen told The Epoch Times that schools were investigating the religious beliefs of students and their family members and passing the information to higher authorities.
A separate employee at Chengdu’s education authorities told The Epoch Times that annual background checks are carried out on students' families before children enter school, with religious affiliation among the details collected.
The Times of India similarly described that schools conduct background checks on students' families every year before new students enter school, with religious affiliation among the information collected, and said the information is passed up the administrative chain.
Party control and policy
The reports frame the Chengdu measures as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader approach to treating religion as an issue of political and ideological management, with the “Sinicization of religion” policy described as expecting religious groups to align with Chinese political and cultural priorities.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping has also called for tighter Party control over religious affairs”
The Tribune said the CCP has repeatedly called for stronger Party leadership over religious affairs, and it added that in 2025 Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on Party authorities at all levels to strengthen their leadership over religious affairs and incorporate it into the Party’s overall leadership system.
The Times of India likewise said Xi Jinping called for stronger Party leadership over religious affairs and for religious work to be incorporated into the Party's broader leadership system, according to the report.
Organiser described the Chengdu drive as offering a glimpse of how Beijing seeks to monitor faith as a potential political and administrative concern, and it said the CCP is expanding scrutiny of religious affiliation beyond places of worship into China’s hospitals and schools.