Officially recognised faith groups in China are promoting the flying of national flags at religious events amid a push by the ruling Communist Party to extend its ideological control over religious life.
A statement viewed today on the website of the party's United Front Work Department that oversees such groups says flying the flag would emphasise that the fates of the party, nation and individual are "bound tightly together".
The officially atheistic party has tightened its grip over the country's five officially recognised religions this year, ordering that Christians, Muslims and others work toward "sinosization".
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have been confined to re-education camps, where they told to repudiate Islam and their traditional Uighur culture and pledge fealty to the party.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)