China's State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) under the UFWD posted a report on its official website of a meeting convened on May 23 to discuss curbs on the construction of large statues. The meeting was presided over by Wang Zuo'an, Deputy Minister of the UFWD and Director of the State Religious Bureau. Heads of the united front and religious work departments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities participated in the conference.The heads of religious work departments in Shanxi, Jilin, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Guangdong gave speeches on the status of governance in recent years. Participants exchanged views and discussions on implementing the spirit of the National Conference on Religious Work and doing a good job in dealing with the abuse of large-scale open-air religious statues. Wang Zuo'an and other members of the conference summarized recent efforts to limit construction and analyzed the main issues regarding the matter. They insisted that "We must further unify our thinking and raise awareness",the meeting noted that "it still faces severe challenges and the task is very onerous". The Conference jointly demanded that every locale in China address the overbuilding of large outdoor religious statues in order to limit the commercialization of Buddhism and Daoism. It also requested locales incorporate an official schedule, clearly establish responsibility and pace for the task, work hard, and guarantee the completion of the task as scheduled.
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