“Cult Crimes” and Fake News: Eye-Gouging in Shanxi
On August 24, 2013, a six-year old boy called Guo Xiaobin was kidnapped by a woman who gouged out his eyes. The investigation on the horrific crime was followed with considerable emotion by Chinese public opinion, and was concluded by the police early in September...
| Published in: | The journal of CESNUR |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2017]
|
| In: |
The journal of CESNUR
|
| Further subjects: | B
Church of Almighty God
B Eastern Lightning B Guo Xiaobin B Eye-Gouging Themes in China B Eye-Gouging Accusations Against Christians B New Religious Movements in China B Xie Jiao |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | On August 24, 2013, a six-year old boy called Guo Xiaobin was kidnapped by a woman who gouged out his eyes. The investigation on the horrific crime was followed with considerable emotion by Chinese public opinion, and was concluded by the police early in September 2013. The crime had been perpetrated by the boy’s aunt, Zhang Huiyeng, who had committed suicide on August 30, 2013. There were no references to religion in the Chinese media until the homicide committed in a McDonald’s diner in Zhaoyuan on May 28, 2014 was attributed by the Chinese authorities (falsely, as it later came out) to the Church of Almighty God. In June 2014, the attack on Guo Xiaobin was presented by Chinese anti-cult sources as perpetrated by the Church of Almighty God. No evidence of any involvement of the Church of Almighty God on the crime exists, and the government seems to have created the accusation after the McDonald’s incident to further justify its persecution of the Church, exploiting a century-old Chinese anti-Christian theme of accusing Christians of gouging out eyes. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2532-2990 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of CESNUR
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.26338/tjoc.2017.1.2.5 |