In Shanghai, children are taken to court where they can participate in a mock trial and “sentence” members of “illegal religions” to heavy jail penalties.
In a disturbing display of state-sponsored indoctrination, the Chinese government has once again turned its propaganda machine toward the youngest and most impressionable members of society. In a series of summer activities in Shanghai’s Baoshan District, children were trained to become “little guardians” of the community—armed not with curiosity or compassion, but with slogans and scripts designed to vilify “illegal” religious groups labeled as xie jiao (often translated as “evil cults” but meaning “organizations spreading heterodox teachings”). Earlier this summer, in the Baoshan District, children had already been mobilized to distribute anti-xie-jiao flyers.
These activities, cloaked in the language of “community service” and “scientific literacy,” are nothing short of ideological grooming. Children were encouraged to recite anti-xie jiao rhetoric, distribute pamphlets, and even perform skits that demonize religious minorities. The campaign’s goal is clear: to instill unwavering loyalty to the state narrative and to normalize the suppression of spiritual diversity.
What’s most chilling is the celebratory tone with which this manipulation is presented. An account published by the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association praises the “pure power” of children defending their “harmonious homeland,” as if innocence were a weapon to be wielded against dissent. This is not education—it’s exploitation.
Perhaps the most unsettling moment came when children were ushered into a real courtroom to participate in a mock trial. Under the guidance of actual judges, they assumed roles as “judges,” “prosecutors,” “defendants,” and “defense lawyers,” reenacting a criminal case in full procedural detail and “sentencing” xie jiao members to heavy jail penalties. The exercise was framed as a lesson in legal literacy. Still, its true purpose was far more insidious: to deepen their understanding of “illegal behavior” through the lens of state-defined morality.
Immediately following the mock trial, children were given a “rule-of-law” lecture titled “Revere Science, Stay Away from Xie Jiao.” This lecture used real-life cases to reinforce the dangers of religious groups deemed unacceptable by the state. This immersive experience blurred the line between education and indoctrination, turning the courtroom—theoretically a symbol of justice—into a stage for ideological conditioning.
China’s use of the term xie jiao has long been a tool to delegitimize and criminalize religious groups that fall outside state-sanctioned doctrine. From Falun Gong and The Church of Almighty God to underground Christian churches, the label has justified surveillance, detention, and re-education. Now, by enlisting children in this crusade, the state is perpetuating its crackdown and ensuring its longevity.
This is not just a violation of religious freedom; it’s a violation of childhood. Teaching children that spiritual plurality is a threat and that obedience to the state is the highest virtue is robbing them of the faculties that make them human: empathy, critical thought, and moral agency.
The international community must not remain silent while children are conscripted into ideological warfare. This is not a cultural quirk or a domestic policy—it’s a human rights crisis. We must call out this campaign for what it is: a systematic effort to erase religious identity and replace it with state dogma.
Let us not applaud the “little guardians.” Let us protect them from propaganda, fear, and a future where belief is a crime and silence is survival.
Source: Bitter Winter
