Under siege from coronavirus, China targets poems

The people of China are under siege from the coronavirus, with thousands of cases reported and the death toll rising, prompting quarantines and travel restrictions.

But the Chinese Communist Party still apparently has time to attack poetry.

Specifically, the target is the religious couplets families display to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Bitterwinter, an online magazine monitoring religious liberty and human rights in China, reports on the latest aggression against religion by the Chinese Communist Party.

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"Throughout China, local governments were making sure that no religious couplets were sold or displayed in peoples' homes, threatening to fine or even imprison violators," the magazine said.

The tradition is to write wishes, often on red paper, and hang them on the doors or gates of their homes. Spring Festival couplets are the most common and traditional form to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the magazine explained.

But the government in China has banned them.

"Religious couplets are forbidden, so are the couplets with the word 'love.' If you sell such couplets, not only will they be confiscated, but you will be fined," government officials warned shopkeepers in Luhe, a township in Henan's Shangqui city, according to the report.

One shopkeeper told the magazine: "We don't carry religious couplets. Even if we had them, we wouldn't dare to sell them."

There clearly was fear in the shopkeeper's comment.

"If our customers get into trouble for posting them, they may reveal the source, and we'll be in trouble," he said, according to Bitter Winter. "A few years ago, many shops sold religious couplets. In 2018, the government started banning them. Last year, all couplets were confiscated from shops, and this year, sellers are threatened to be fined and imprisoned.

The magazine reported local governments are encouraging religious believers to replace religious couplets with Communist Party propaganda and portraits of President Xi Jinping, which they distribute for free.

The magazine reported a believer from a village under the jurisdiction of Suiyang's Luhe township confirmed every household received couplets with CCP slogans from village officials, "who demanded to post them instead of religious ones for the holidays."

Among the new couplets?

"The party practices benevolent rule."

"Walk with the party."

"Strengthen our belief to follow the party."