Cult members detained over doomsday rumors
Print Edition
FIFTEEN cult members have been detained for allegedly trying to attract followers through music and dancing at parks in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The members of the Mentuhui — Disciples’ Congregation — sect, which was outlawed in China in 1995, were held in Ordos City.
Twelve of those held may face charges, while the others received administrative detention, Dongsheng District police said.
According to officers, between March and April, the cult members would gather at dawn and dusk at parks, squares and residential complexes.
These are times when many people in China exercise in public places, including many middle-aged women who gather to dance to recorded music.
To attract recruits, Mentuhui members are said to have played “spiritual songs” and performed “heaven dances.”
Having enticed dancers to join in, they would spread rumors of doomsday and tell them if they joined the group they could avoid disaster and enjoy good health, police said.
The group previously targeted rural residents but has recently sought to recruit educated young people in urban areas, the Inner Mongolia Daily reported.
Mentuhui was founded in 1989 by Ji Sanbao, a villager in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, who claimed to be Christ and have 12 disciples.
He promised followers good health, telling them to pray all day.
Ji died in a car accident in December 1997 in Shaanxi.
China currently lists 14 illegal cults, which also include Quannengshen and Falungong.
Quannengshen, or Almighty God, was in the spotlight last month when six members of the group were alleged to have beaten a woman to death in a McDonald’s in Zhaoyuan City in eastern China’s Shandong Province, after she refused to give them her telephone number.
Five suspects were arrested last Monday for intentional homicide. The other will be charged at a juvenile criminal court.
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