Min Zhiting

Chinese Taoist leader

Min Zhiting, priest: born Xinyang, China 5 May 1924; clothed a monk 1941; Director, China Taoist Association 1997-2004; died Beijing 3 January 2004.

When Min Zhiting, also known by his Taoist name Yuxi, took over the leadership of the government-approved China Taoist Association in 1997 on the death of its former director Fu Yuantian, he came to the post with a respected record. He had spent many years editing Taoist canons, codifying rites and recording temple music. He was considered a fine example of the older school of culturally refined clergy dedicated to passing the tradition to younger generations.

But the leadership of the association, to which all Taoist temples must belong to be allowed to function, led to inevitable compromises with the Communist Party. He served as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a high-level government advisory body of non-Communist but loyal figures. Min played his role pretending to the outside world that religious freedom exists in China.

Like the leaders of the four other state-approved faiths, he was obliged to condemn Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that obsesses the Chinese leadership and which has been subjected to a vicious campaign of repression at home and denigration abroad. In 2001 Min claimed that, in contrast to Taoism, which he said treasures life and promotes social welfare, Falun Gong deliberately aims to deprive innocent people of their lives and called on all Chinese Taoists to fight the group vigorously.

Taoism, an indigenous Chinese faith that began at least 25 centuries ago, is based on a belief in the Tao - Chinese for "the way" - an unseen force that envelops the universe. The association says there are 30,000 to 40,000 Taoist priests in the country. Experts estimate that China has about 260,000 practising Taoists, while the total number of believers may number more than 100 million.

Born in Henan province in central China, Min had to flee to Shaanxi when he was 11 to escape the Japanese. It was in 1941 in Huashan, Shaanxi province, that he took his vow to become a Taoist priest of the Perfect Purity (Quanzhen) Order. From 1951, he spent most of his time in the Eight Immortals Temple in Xian, gradually rising to national prominence as a religious educator and leader. He moved to Beijing in 1985.

Like all faiths, Taoism was brutally suppressed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Many temples were destroyed. Min's was closed down. It was not until the early 1980s that Taoist temples could revive their religious activity and the Taoist Association was re-established.

Taoist scholars regard one of Min's greatest achievements as his recording in 1990 of 69 variations of the Perfect Purity chant, making it possible for the first time to write a musical score for the chant. Until then, it had been handed down orally from generation to generation.

Min was once asked whether it was right for dead Chinese Communist leaders, such as Chairman Mao Tse-tung and Premier Zhou Enlai, to be respected as gods in Taoist temples. "Their achievements were respected by people, and they will be respected as gods, yet it needs time," he responded:

That's our Chinese tradition. People who have made contributions to our people and country won't be forgotten by their descendants. Their souls in heaven will not only protect people of their own period, but also protect their descendants. Those are our religious beliefs.

Felix Corley