Typical of such election is the one held in Kirin last June. The Changchun Jih Pao reported on June 5, 1959 that "from May 18 to 28, the Catholic Patriotic Association of Kirin held in Changchun a meeting for the study of socialism with the participation of 52 representatives, including the acting bishop, priests and Catholic laymen."
Would such a meeting go about its task immediately? No, it had to "educate" the conferees first. Thus, "they discussed the government work report of Premier Chou En-lai delivered at the first conference of the second National People's Congress. When they reached the paragraph concerning the struggle against imperialism, they called to mind the controls which the Vatican imposed on Chinese Catholics and they expressed great indignation at the imperialist schemes of aggression under the cloak of religion."
The unprecedented election of the bishop also had to be justified. So the paper continued: "After exposing and criticizing the reactionary character of the Vatican, the conference studied ways and means to rid the Chinese Catholic religion of imperialist controls and to realize self-government, self support and self-propagation for the church. Members of the clergy and other representatives at the conference said with one voice that the history of the Vatican was one of extreme reactions, corruption and ugliness, and that the Vatican consistently advanced the interests of reactionaries and aggressors under the mask of religion.
"Dioceses in Kirin province, for example had been, since establishment, under the control of the reactionary Vatican and imperialism, and this state of affairs, which is repugnant to the inviolable independence of the motherland, must be fundamentally changed. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the conference decided, must be independent and on its own, electing its own Chinese bishops."
Therefore, 38 members of the clergy and other representatives held "a secret ballot" on May 26 and unanimously elected Wang Wei-min of the Catholic Church of Changchun as their bishop. Wang was consecrated on May 31 by Archbishop Pi Shu-shih of Shengyang, who is national chairman of the "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association."
The news story might have escaped the scrutiny of the unsuspicious had it not indicated the presence of the puppet master. But it tagged on this paragraph: "Also present at the ceremony were Kao Shan, a sectional director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the State Council; Pai Shan, deputy director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the People's Council of Kirin; and responsible personnel of the relevant bureaus of Changchun, Heilungkiang and Harbin."
Indeed, representatives of the regime and the Chinese Communist Party were omnipresent and omnipotent. On July 14, 1959 for example, the "Catholic Congress of Heilungkiang" elected Wang Jui-huan as the first bishop of Harbin. The news was belatedly reported by the Heilungkiang Jih Pao of Harbin on July 25. Not only "responsible members of the Provincial Bureau of Religious Affairs" spoke at the meeting, but Chang Jui-lin, director of the "united front work department" of the CCP Provincial Committee, was invited to address the closing session, and Yang Yi-chen, secretary of the CCP Provincial Committee and "deputy governor," condescended to receive the whole body of the delegates on the eve of the closing of the conference.
At almost the same time but a thousand miles apart, the Hanyang Diocese elected on July 19, 1959 Tu Shih-hua its bishop. The new bishop immediately pledged "to continue, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, to unfold penetratingly the anti-imperialist, patriotic campaign, resolutely sever all ties with the Vatican, and struggle against it to the end." In reporting the news, the Changchiang Jih Pao of Wuhan added with a long face: "Responsible officials of the Hupeh Provincial People's Council, the People's Council in Hanyang District, the United Front Work Department of the CCP Wuhan Municipal Committee and the Provincial and Municipal Bureaus of Religious Affairs were also present."
In Kiangsu province, four new bishops were consecrated on November 15, 1959 in the Shihku Road Church in Nanking. All four were, naturally, elected by the "patriotic" Catholics-Li Wei-kuang, archbishop of Nanking, Shen Chu-ming, bishop of Soochow, Yu Cheng-tsai, bishop of Haimen, and Chien Yu-june, bishop of Hsuchow. The consecration followed second representative conference of the "Kiangsu Provincial Catholic Patriotic Association" held from November 4 to 13, during which, according to the Hsinhua Jih Pao of Nanking:
"Wang Jen-shan, vice director of the propaganda department of the CCP Kiangsu Provincial Committee, Mei Tsun, vice director of the united front work department of the CCP Provincial Committee, and a responsible cadre of the Provincial Bureau of Religious Affairs were invited to address the meeting."
It is quite natural that these "elected bishops" no longer maintain any relation with the Vatican, for they have two new bosses: the Chinese Communist Party, as represented by its "united front work departments" and the Peiping regime, as represented by its "Bureau's of Religious Affairs."