The message delivered to Catholic leaders in eastern China was unmistakable.

On July 2, Catholic church authorities from across Jiangsu Province gathered in Nanjing for what outwardly appeared to be another provincial leadership meeting. Instead, those attending were instructed to study Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s speech commemorating the Communist Party’s 105th anniversary, Beijing’s newly enacted Ethnic Unity Law, directives issued during a national conference on religious organizations, and additional policy documents issued by China’s official Catholic leadership.

For many observers, the meeting represented far more than another round of political education. It demonstrated how thoroughly the Chinese Communist Party now expects religious institutions to function as instruments of the state. Faith alone is no longer enough. Churches are increasingly expected to reinforce Party ideology alongside religious teaching.

According to Catholics interviewed in the reporting, the changes have become impossible to ignore. Political study sessions have become routine. Surveillance cameras monitor churches from both inside and outside. Representatives of the state controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association regularly attend Mass. Priests face strict limits on overseas travel, and contact with foreign Catholic organizations is increasingly discouraged or prohibited. One longtime Catholic summarized the situation simply: “It’s gone too far, but there’s nothing we can do.”

The Jiangsu meeting was not an isolated event. It was another visible step in a much larger campaign that reaches far beyond Christianity. It reflects a broader effort to reshape China’s religious communities, ethnic minorities, and cultural traditions into a single political identity defined by loyalty to the Communist Party.

The New Ethnic Unity Law

The timing of the meeting is significant because one of the principal subjects of study was the Communist Party’s newly enacted Ethnic Unity Law.

Officially known as the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, the legislation is presented by Beijing as a framework for strengthening national unity and building what Party leaders describe as “a shared community for the Chinese nation.” Government officials argue that it will encourage stability, modernization, and social cohesion across China’s 56 officially recognized ethnic groups.

Critics, however, see something fundamentally different.

The law transforms years of Communist Party policy into permanent legal doctrine. Rather than preserving the distinct identities of China’s many peoples, it encourages their gradual absorption into a single national culture centered on Party ideology and the dominant Han Chinese identity.

The implications extend well beyond politics. Languages, religious traditions, customs, education, family life, and historical identity increasingly become subjects of government policy rather than cultural inheritance.

For civilizations that have preserved unique traditions for hundreds or even thousands of years, the stakes could hardly be higher.

Religion Must Become “Chinese”

The Ethnic Unity Law complements Xi Jinping’s long running campaign to “Sinicize” religion.

Xi first introduced the concept during a national United Front Work Conference in 2015. Under this policy, China’s officially recognized religions are expected to align their teachings, leadership, administration, and public activities with Communist Party ideology.

Supporters describe sinicization as adapting religion to Chinese society. Critics argue that it means subordinating religious belief to political authority.

The policy has transformed religious life across China. Political ceremonies, including flag raising events and the singing of the national anthem, have become increasingly common at churches, mosques, and Buddhist temples. Some mosques have been required to remove traditional domes and architectural features. Churches have introduced political study sessions alongside religious activities, and Party oversight has become increasingly visible throughout religious institutions.

Sinicization is not simply about making religion more Chinese. It is about ensuring that every religious organization ultimately answers first to the Communist Party.