Notice: Since the beginning of the epidemic of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus, national religious groups and religious communities have reacted rapidly. These organizations carefully study the spirit of the important instructions by Secretary General 习近平 Xí Jìnpíng, decision-making initiation, as well as its implementation by the Central Committee of the Party and consider the prevention and control of the epidemic as the utmost task at present. According to the unified requirements of the local Committee of the Party and the government, all Daoist places were temporarily closed, and all collective religious activities were suspended. Thus, the opening of new religious institutes was delayed. These organizations have worked hard to strengthen their propaganda and their advice to believers, to donate material, which has played a positive role in the fight, prevention and control of epidemics. Therefore, «统战新语 Tǒngzhàn xīn yǔ» has successively published specific measures from various religious communities that contribute to winning this battle by controlling and preventing the epidemic.
Since the beginning of the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus, the Daoist community throughout the country has studied and launched the spirit of the important speeches by Secretary General 习近平 Xí Jìnpíng, the decision-making, as well as its implementation by the Central Committee of the Party has promoted good traditions such as patriotism, love from religions and social assistance to save people. The Daoist community gives particular attention to the epidemic situation, takes action, mobilizes widely and reinforces the measures to fight the epidemic among the population throughout the country, everything to help win this battle.
Sensitization and quick action. After the decision of the Central Committee of the Party and the Council of State on the prevention and control of epidemics, the Daoist Association of China gave a great importance to it and quickly applied the measures to install a pilot group in order to coordinate the various tasks of prevention and control of epidemics. During the holidays of the Spring Festival and the non-working days, we organized double service groups, one as the leader of the association and the other as head of department and staff. The Daoist Association of China has published the «Notice on how to do a good job in places of Daoist activities during the Spring Festival» and the «Notice on good work during epidemic prevention and control», which demand that the Daoist associations of the provinces, the autonomous regions and municipalities directly dependent on the central government do a good job in terms of security in places of Daoist activities and reinforce the management of these sites. According to the relevant requirements in the prevention and control of the local epidemic situation, the Daoist community has done a good job of research and protection by accurately collecting the health status and movement of all Daoist employees, by implementing a daily system of Zero report on the staff’s health which is then sent to the corresponding department according to the requirements.
Guide positively, implement the measures. The Daoist Association of China and other Daoist communities around the world disseminate, in a timely manner, the spirit of the central leadership instructions, the latest progress in prevention and epidemiological control, and basic knowledge of epidemic prevention, etc., through the official site, Weibo, WeChat and other platforms. They also actively guide most believers to scientifically and rationally treat the epidemic and respond to it, by orienting them not to create, believe or reproduce rumors. It is recommended that the Daoist community and most of the country’s believers do not leave their usual places of residence and do not participate in massive activities in order to minimize the risk of infection, reduce useless panic and effectively maintain the harmony and stability of the Daoist community. Daoist groupings from various places actively responded to the initiative of the Daoist Association of China, carefully implemented the decision-making and operation of the party and the Government and cooperated in the prevention and control of the epidemic. During the epidemic, all Daoist places were temporarily closed, collective activities such as ritual and prayer meetings were suspended, work was also done to explain the reasons for this to the believers who came to pray. Associations, institutes and Daoist temples from different places activated prevention and control measures, assigned service personnel and pointed out the situation to local departments in a timely manner.
The internal management must be actively strengthened, disinfection and prevention must be carried out in public spaces, tableware, kitchen utensils and key populations, as well as a system for registering the body temperature of residents, their entrances and exits, and their whereabouts; orienting most believers to change their religious way of life and reinforcing the various prevention and control measures. Until today, there are no cases of cross infection, caused by the concurrence of people between Daoist teachers and the staff of Daoist organizations throughout the country.
Collecting donations, help to prevent and control the epidemic. The Daoist community throughout the country has perpetuated the good tradition – “treat all things with gentleness and help society save people” – actively, contributing to the prevention and control of the epidemic through activities such as material donation and assistance, among others. We are having a difficult time with the peoples of the country. According to incomplete statistics, to date, the Daoist community has donated more than 50 million yuan, of which 13.2 million were donated by dependent temples directly from the Daoist Association of China. The Daoist Association of Mount Wudang donated 18 million yuan, The Daoist Community of Shanghai contributed 3.3 million, the Daoist Community of Hunan Province donated 10,766 million, the Daoist Community of Shandong Province has donated 663,300 yuan, the community Daoist from Henan Province contributed 691,600 yuan, the Daoist Community of Jiangsu Province made a donation of 540,000 yuan and the Daoist Community of Zhejiang gave 300,000 yuan. There are no specific statistics on material donations.
The Mexican Daoist Association helps China in the fight against the epidemic.
The overseas Daoist population and organizations are also concerned about the epidemic situation in China. They have sent sympathy letters to the Daoist Association of China to express their concern and have collected donations of anti-epidemiological material to contribute to the fight. Among them, the Japanese Daoist Association expressed its condolences and donated 3000 medical masks to the Daoist Association of Hubei, which have already arrived to this province. The Chinese Daoist Federation of Taiwan, the Daoist Federation of Singapore, the Chinese Daoist Association of South Africa, the Daoist Association of Germany, the Daoist Association of Germany, the Daoist Association of Italy and the Daoist Association Quanzhen of Switzerland collected epidemiological prevention material to support to Hubei. The Daoist Association of Venezuela, the Mexican Daoist Association, the Indonesian Association of places of worship of the three religions, the Daoist Federation of Thailand, the Daoist Federation of the Philippines and other Daoist organizations from abroad expressed their support for the fight against the epidemic in China by email, WeChat and other media and manifested the acquisition of preventive material through various channels.
In addition, on February 4, the believers of the Zehai temple in Semarang, Indonesia, organized a blessing ceremony for Wuhan, which called for the soon end of the epidemic in a specifically Daoist manner. The Daoist community will continue to study and apply the spirit of the important instructions of Secretary General 习近平 Xí Jìnpíng, as well as the decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and its implementation. According to the changes in the prevention and control of the epidemic situation, we will refine the measures and do a good job of disease prevention among employees, control of Daoist places of worship, psychological advice for believers and donation of funds and material, etc. ., in order to help win the fight against the epidemic.
Source: 统战新语 Tǒngzhàn xīn yǔ)