Several 1983 publications with ties to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) accused the late expatriate Chinese Christian teacher Witness Lee (Li Changshou) of being the leader of "the Shouters sect" and of instigating the disorders.
In practice, however, the appellation "the Shouters sect" has been applied far more broadly to many groups that pray openly and audibly and/or do not register or otherwise cooperate with the TSPM.
[12] Following the death of Mao Zedong and the defeat of the Gang of Four, Deng Xiaoping became the de facto leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and of the government of the PRC.
[14][15][16] In 1950 Zhou Enlai worked with Y. T. Wu to craft "The Christian Manifesto" declaring that Protestants in China would support the new government and reject foreign imperialism.
[19][20][21] The CCP itself had first gained traction in China by mobilizing small groups of peasants in rural areas and had grown in strength until it was able to topple the Kuomintang from power.
When the TSPM was reinstituted in 1979, its influence was initially confined to major metropolitan areas such as Beijing and Shanghai,[22] whereas the rapid proliferation of the Christian faith was in provinces such as Henan, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Anhui.
[32] In February 1982 conflicts broke out between Christians in Dongyang and Yiwu counties in Zhejiang province and representatives of the TSPM and the Public Security Bureau.
In its inaugural issue it printed the full text of a mimeographed prayer letter dated April 3, 1982, which had circulated in central and south China after the incident at Dongyang.
Then on February 28 TSPM representatives instigated a group of commune members to conduct a surprise raid on one of the Christian meeting places in Dongyang.
According to the circular letter, a similar raid occurred in Yiwu county, the main difference being that TSPM personnel instructed Public Security Bureau members to disrupt a meeting, which they did, using electric batons.
This report was also picked up by the Chinese Church Research Centre (CCRC), a Christian China watching organization based in Hong Kong.
[36] The July 1982 issue of CCRC News reported that Due to their unyielding resistance, the church at Dongyang, Zhejiang, has gone through severe persecution at the hands of the TSPM and the United Front Department.
The group included the Tao Fong Shan Ecumenical Centre, Hong Kong Christian Council, Lutheran World Federation, China Study Project (Anglican), and Pro Mundi Vita (Roman Catholic), among others.
After news of the incidents and the ensuing repression spread, representatives of some ECSLG member organizations traveled into China and met with TSPM officials.
It said that the TSPM "persecuted many believers who did not side with them, by creating conflicts, fabricating facts, and putting the labels ‘heretical and cultic group’, ‘unpatriotic’, and ‘counterrevolutionary’.
Most recent Western sources follow the version of events reported by the members of the Ecumenical China Study Liaison Group, which echoed the TSPM's portrayal of "the Shouters sect" as a cultic offshoot of the local churches.
[62] Jiang Ping, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CPC Central Committee, was assigned to form a team to investigate the problem of "the Shouters sect."
"[69] When Tang and Ren met with the PRC officials in January 1983, they shared a common interest in suppressing those in the local churches who were aggressively spreading the gospel in China.
The CCP viewed any widespread social movement as a political threat, and the TSPM saw any activity outside of its purview as undermining the legitimacy of its claim to be the sole representative of the Christian faith in China.
On January 16, a TSPM panel, including Tang and Ren, decided that "the Shouters sect" was counterrevolutionary in politics and heretical in religion and should be dealt with swiftly.
"[70] In April 1983 a forty-page book by Tang and Ren titled Firmly Resist the Heretical Opinions of Li Changshou [Witness Lee] was published by the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary as teaching material.
[72] The entire text of Tang and Ren's book was reproduced in the September 1983 issue of Ching Feng, a publication of the Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre in Hong Kong.
[75] Following the publication of the first edition of Tang and Ren's book, a nationwide campaign to suppress "the Shouters sect" and to attack the teaching of Witness Lee was initiated.
On November 17, 1983, U. S. House of Representatives members Don Sundquist, Mark D. Siljander, Christopher H. Smith, and Thomas J. Tauke wrote to Zhang Wenjin, the PRC ambassador to the U.S. expressing concern for two Christians scheduled to be executed the following month and asking for information on the imprisonment of "Shouters."
On December 7 Zhang responded that the Chinese government was engaged in a crackdown on crime in order to maintain social stability and that the arrests were not because of religious beliefs but because of criminal activities.
In May 1984, concurrent resolutions were introduced in both houses of the U. S. Congress expressing America's continuing concern for religious freedom and strongly urging the PRC to release several imprisoned Roman Catholic priests and Protestant pastors and lay workers.
A circular titled "Notice by the Ministry of Public Security Concerning the Banning of the ‘Shouter Sect’ and Other Cult Organizations and Opinions on their Situation and Operations" was endorsed by the State Council and CCP Central Committee in November 1995.