Holy Confucian Church

The Holy Confucian Church or Holy Church of Confucius (孔圣会 Kǒngshènghuì) or Holy Confucian Church of China (中华孔圣会 Zhōnghuá Kǒngshènghuì) is a religious organisation of Confucianism in China, formed by local Confucian churches or halls (孔圣堂 Kǒngshèngtáng). A grassroots movement of local Confucian churches was initiated in 2009 by Zhou Beichen, a disciple of the Confucian philosopher Jiang Qing, when he founded the first church in Shenzhen, The aim was to develop a network of local Confucian churches throughout the country, later to be unified into a national body and possibly become a state religion in China. The national and international body, the Holy Confucian Church of China, was established in late 2015. Zhou Beichen was born in the province of Guizhou in 1965. He studied at the Guizhou University and had work experiences in journalism, publishing and teaching. In the 1980s he was interested in Western philosophy, while in the 1990s he studied the works of many contemporary Neo-Confucian circles. Later, Zhou Beichen approached to Jiang Qing's work on the Gongyang (公羊) school of New Text Confucianism, especially the idea of political Confucianism or the "outer kingship" (外王). In 1996 he met Jiang Qing in person and they founded together the Yangming Academy in Guizhou. Between that year and 2003 he settled down in Shenzhen, making a living with business activity and planning a movement of Confucian holy halls (Kongshengtang), the first of which was eventually founded in 2009. In 2010 it was officially registered as a non-governmental and non-profit (fēi qǐyè 非企业) organisation of public interest (gōngyì 公益), affiliated with the Federation of Confucian Culture of Qufu City. It received support from the Confucian Academy of Hong Kong, although they have remained independent from one another. It also maintained close relations with the Shenzhen local government, and high-ranking dignitaries of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (alias, the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party) attended its ceremonies.