The Constitution provides for freedom of religious belief; however, the Government seeks to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organisations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. During the year, some unregistered religious groups were subjected to increased restrictions-and, in some cases, intimidation, harassment and detention-although the degree of restrictions varied significantly from region to region, and the number of religious adherents, in both registered and unregistered churches, continued to grow...

The Government continued, and, in some areas, intensified a national campaign to enforce 1994 State Council regulations and subsequent provincial regulations that require all places of worship to register with government religious affairs bureaus...There are six requirements for the registration and establishment of venues for religious activity: Possession of a meeting place; citizens who are religious believers and who regularly take part in religious activity; qualified leaders and an organised governing board; a minimum number of followers; a set of operating rules; and a legal source of income. There are five officially recognized religions-Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism.

At the end of 1997, the Government reported that there were more than 85,000 approved venues for religious activities. Some groups registered voluntarily, some registered under pressure...

Citizens lack the means to change their government legally, and cannot freely choose or change the laws and officials that govern them.

There are no independent domestic NGO's that publicly monitor or comment on human rights conditions. However, an informal network of dissidents in cities around the country has become an incredible source of information about government actions taken against activists. The information is disseminated to the outside world through organizations such as the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Movement and the New York-based Human Rights in China.