Off the wire
• Roundup: India executes man for role in 1993 Mumbai blasts  • Drug blamed for more police assaults in Australia's Victoria state: research  • S. Korea's inflation under downward pressure on temporary, structural factors  • Sluggish GDP growth prediction for LatAm, Caribbean in 2015  • Roundup: S. Korea promoting "creative economy"  • Urgent: 20 killed, 42 missing in landslide in western Nepal  • Chinese-invested internet service provider launches online TV in Cambodia  • Mineiro's Pratto hat-trick sinks Sao Paulo  • U.S. Senate confirms Dunford as next top military officer  • 1st LD Writethru: Myanmar grants amnesty to 6,966 prisoners including Chinese loggers  
You are here: 　 Home

China to enhance management of religious personnel

Xinhua, July 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

China will better manage religious personnel and safeguard the religious circle's legal interests, authorities said on Thursday.

A spokesperson with the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) told Xinhua it has "paid great attention" to reports about Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan Province and vice-chairman of the Buddhist Association of China (BAC).

SARA has asked Henan provincial religious department to verify the accusations against the abbot.

Shi Zhengyi, the accuser, posted a series of allegations on the Internet and said Shi Yongxin was an "embezzler and womanizer" with illegitimate children.

The list of accusations included documents purportedly showing that Shi Yongxin was kicked out of Shaolin in the 1980s following a theft.

The monastery denies all the allegations and has reported Shi Zhengyi to the police for "fabricated and malicious insults and libel."

Meanwhile, the BAC on Thursday called for "the truth as soon as possible."

The accusation "concerns the image and reputation of Chinese Buddhism," the BAC said in a statement. Endi