China University Poisons Students' Minds

(Minghui.org) Since 2019, Bengbu University in Anhui Province has been carrying out an “anti-cult” campaign to “educate” its students on the importance of “identifying and opposing cults.”

While on the surface this sounds harmless, Falun Gong practitioners know all too well that this is just another thinly veiled attack on their faith.

Falun Gong is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. While no enacted law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it a cult, the communist regime has been portraying the practice as an “antiscience cult” in an attempt to instigate the general public’s hatred.

Bengbu University is just following the regime’s lead in persecuting Falun Gong, and the focus of this campaign is poisoning the minds of young college students. On December 25, 2024, it held a so-called founding conference of the “Bengbu Higher Education Anti-Cult Alliance” to advance the “anti-cult on campus” campaign.

This latest move was under the directive of the Bengbu City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Bengbu City Anti-Cult Association, both agencies are involved in the persecution of Falun Gong.

During the conference, Bengbu University staffers gave an overview of the school’s “experience” in promoting “anti-cult” to college students. They also invited personnel from the Bengbu City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Bengbu City Anti-Cult Association to observe an “anti-cult” theme class and other political science courses and activities.

During the theme class, Zhang Tingting, a counselor at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, indoctrinated students using skit performances, short videos, and case studies. Li Sai, a teacher at the School of Marxism, gave another class on a, “devout Marxist’s view of religion.”

The university also displayed numerous bulletin boards filled with “anti-cult” information.

The university is also known to have hosted the following events since 2019.

September 17, 2019

On the morning of September 17, 2019, all freshmen were made to attend an anti-cult event hosted by Chen Zhong, deputy director of the armed forces department in Bengbu City. The speaker was Wang Shanguo, the president of the Bengbu City Anti-Cult Association. He warned the students not to promote “cults” on campus.

This event has since become a required freshmen orientation activity. Nearly 20,000 students have been exposed to the propaganda over the past six years.

April 2, 2023

Wang Shanguo came to the university again on April 2, 2023 and gave a talk to students in the college of arts and sciences. Wang Longjian, Party secretary of the college, hosted the event. All faculty and students were required to attend the talk.

October 11, 2023

Hu Youcai, deputy head of the Anti-Cult Brigade of the Bengbu City Police Department, came to the university on October 11, 2023 and gave a speech to the entire class of 2027. He warned the students to resist the infiltration of “overseas anti-China forces” and be resolute about opposing cult activities.

September 19, 2024

More than 3,500 freshmen in military fatigues were summoned to the university’s field on September 19, 2024 to attend an anti-cult event. The Bengbu City Political and Legal Affairs Committee gave 13 student representatives brochures on “anti-cult knowledge.” A student representative read out aloud a call to resist cults and to build a safe campus. All the students raised their fists to pledge allegiance to the communist regime and took part in a signature drive to “promote science and resist cults.”

November 2024

In late November 2024, a group of “volunteers” from the School of Applied Technology of Bengbu University visited the local Wenzhuyuan Community in the High-tech Zone. The community workers gave the “volunteers” “anti-cult” brochures to distribute to local residents, especially the elderly.