State Regulation of Religion in Contemporary China

Since the 1980s reform era, China has permitted regulated religious practice through five state-sanctioned bodies, the Buddhist Association of China, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Islamic Association of China, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants, registered under the 2004 Regulations on Religious Affairs and its later revisions.

Unregistered house-church Protestant congregations and underground Catholic communities loyal to Rome rather than the state-approved church operate outside this framework and face periodic restriction; a 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement on bishop appointments sought to bridge this divide, though its practical effect remains contested.

The government's treatment of Islam in Xinjiang, including mass internment of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in what officials call vocational training centers, has drawn sustained international criticism and United Nations scrutiny since 2017. Tibetan Buddhism faces distinct restriction, including state control over the recognition of reincarnate lamas following the disputed 1995 selection of the Panchen Lama. The US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report has for successive years designated China a Country of Particular Concern.