Profile

Wang Zuo’an is a Chinese politician responsible for the regulation of religion, holding the posts of Director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), and Vice Minster of the United Front Work Department (UFWD). A graduate of Nanjing University’s Department of Philosophy, Wang Zuo’an joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1985 and was assigned to the UFWD. In the 1990s served as acting editor of the state-run Religious Culture Press, which authorised the printing of Bibles. In 1987 he was transferred to SARA and worked his way to Director, replacing Ye Xiaowen in 2009. 

He is also a member of the Central Tibet Work Coordination Group and plays a leading role in the China Association for the Protection and Development of Tibetan Culture (CAPDTC), an offshoot of the UFWD concerned with soft power outreach and the ‘normalisation’ of Tibet. He has stood at the forefront of the PRC's programs to “Sinicise” religion. This functions domestically as  a method to uphold the CCP's rule and safeguard “social stability” through the “unity of Han and ethnic minorities”, but also overseas as an important element of Chinese soft power.

SARA is an important source of administrative guidance by the Chinese government. Prior to 2018 it worked in tandem with the ideological guidance provided through the UFWD, but from 2018 was absorbed directly into the the UFWD in a major overhaul. SARA controls the selection of clergy, educates religious officials on patriotism, socialism, and safeguarding national unity, and determines the interpretation of religious doctrine. It oversees China’s five officially sanctioned patriotic religious organisations, the largest, most active, and most relevant to Himalayan issues being the Buddhist Association of China (BAC), working to ensure they implement the CCP’s agenda. 

Wang, though reputedly personally affable, believes that religious freedom is the CCP’s prerogative to bestow or determine. In a discussion at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Wang stated “We all know that CCP believes in communism, and we are atheists… But if religious people want to participate and want to join the Communist Party, it may violate their ideology and faith values… I’ve worked for the SARA for many years, and I haven’t heard of or haven’t met any religious person who would like to join the Party.” This comment does not contradict the fact that every individual who is accredited and promoted by SARA or the patriotic organisations it oversees, must – by definition – adhere to the objectives of the CCP, and is therefore a controlled missionary.

In 2010 Wang addressed a meeting of over 200 leaders of patriotic religious organisations at the Beijing headquarters of the UFWD, in which he praised their efforts to advance the CCP’s policies through international exchange activities. He underscored the key role of China’s “patriotic” religious officials in China’s soft power abroad and the key interlinked policy areas of Tibetan “national security” and the reunification of Taiwan, emphasising the participation of BAC-accredited Chinese and Taiwanese clerics in the organisation of the Second World Buddhist Forum. Wang expressed his wish that “each religion will continue to develop love of country… [and] vigorously advocate the concept of religious harmony and go a step further in strengthening ideological construction.”  

Wang has undertaken several overseas engagements, including Iran in 2012 to discuss “inter-religious dialogue” and “opposition to religious extremism” with the Ayatollahs. He also came to Nepal in 2015 connection with China's support or the Nepalese government to develop Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, into a major tourism and pilgrimage centre comparable to a “Buddhist Mecca”. During his visit, together with his BAC counterpart for Nepal affairs Master Yin Shun, Wang Zuo’an visited Lumbini where they prayed for world peace.

Network Links

• State Administration for Religious Affairs
  • Qi Xiaofei
  • Ye Xiaowen
  • Zhang Zuo
  • Ren Wuzhi
• United Front Work Department
  • Zhu Weiqun
  • Liu Yandong
  • Du Qinglin
  • You Quan
• Buddhist Association of China
  • Zhao Puchu
  • Yin Shun      
• Politburo Standing Committee
  • Jia Qinglin 
• Overseas figures active in religion and Himalayan issues
  • Hsing Yun
  • Ching Yao
  • Gangchen Tulku
  • Akong Tulku