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State Administration for Religious Affairs
State Administration for Religious Affairs
Traditional Chinese	國家宗教事務局
Simplified Chinese	国家宗教事务局
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Guójiā Zōngjiào Shìwù Jú

National Religious Affairs Administration
国家宗教事务局
	Old Logo of the NRAA
Department overview
Jurisdiction	China
Status	External name of the United Front Work Department; State Administration of the State Council (historical)
Headquarters	Prince Chun Mansion, 44 Houhai Beiyan, Xicheng District, Beijing
Department executive	Chen Ruifeng, Director;
Parent department	United Front Work Department
Website	www.sara.gov.cn

The National Religious Affairs Administration (NRAA), formerly the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), is an external name of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Formerly, it was an executive agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China which oversaw religious affairs in the country. SARA was merged into the UFWD in 2018.^[1]^[2] The names of the former agency were retained by the UFWD as external names under the system called "one institution with two names".^[3]

History

Originally created in 1951 as the Religious Affairs Bureau, SARA was closely connected with the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and charged with overseeing the operations of China's five officially sanctioned religious organizations:

The State Administration for Religious Affairs was established to exercise control over religious appointments, the selection of clergy, and the interpretation of religious doctrine. SARA was also meant to ensure that the registered religious organizations support and carry out the policy priorities of the CCP.^[4] For instance, SARA has maintained a "living Buddha database" to track prominent Tibetan Buddhists who are loyal to the CCP.^[5]^[6]

Ye Xiaowen directed the SARA from 1995 to 2009. During his tenure, he issued the State Religious Affairs Bureau Order No. 5, which furthered state control over reincarnations in Tibetan Buddhism, and attempted to suppress underground Catholics loyal to Rome (which he considered "colonial") and not to the government-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.^[7] After Ye was promoted to the Secretary of the CCP Committee at the Central Institute of Socialism, the former Deputy Director Wang Zuo'an was promoted to Director.^[8] In 2018, that NRAA was merged into the UFWD.^[1]

Leadership

Directors

Religious Issues Research Group of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council

Name	Chinese name	Took office	Left office	Ref.
Shao Quanlin	邵荃麟	August 1950	January 1951

Religious Affairs Department of the Cultural and Educational Committee of the State Council

Name	Chinese name	Took office	Left office	Ref.
He Chengxiang	何成湘	January 1951	1954

Religious Affairs Bureau

Name	Chinese name	Took office	Left office
He Chengxiang	何成湘	1954	March 1961
Xiao Xianfa	萧贤法	March 1961	1975
Bureau Disestablished		1975	1979
Xiao Xianfa	萧贤法	April 1979	18 August 1981
Qiao Liansheng	乔连升	1982	1983
Ren Wuzhi	任务之	1983	1992
Zhang Shengzuo	张声作	1992	1995
Ye Xiaowen	叶小文	May 1995	March 1998

State Administration of Religious Affairs

Name	Chinese name	Took office	Left office
Ye Xiaowen	叶小文	March 1998	September 2009
Wang Zuo'an	王作安	September 2009	June 2022
Cui Maohu	崔茂虎	7 June 2022	18 March 2023
Chen Ruifeng	陈瑞峰	20 March 2023	Incumbent