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Nanjing punishes officials for temple honouring Japanese war criminals
- Viral social media post reveals a Buddhist temple housed tablets dedicated to four Japanese military figures who took part in the Nanking massacre
- Eastern Chinese city sacks the temple’s leader and the head of the district’s religious affairs bureau
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The Nanjing city government has punished religious affairs officials and the leader of a Buddhist temple after social media posts revealed Japanese war criminals were honoured at the temple.
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The principal monk in charge of Xuanzang Temple in the eastern Chinese city has been dismissed and the temple has stopped daily activities for “rectification”, the Nanjing government said in an announcement on Friday afternoon.
The director of the ethnic and religious affairs bureau of the city’s Xuanwu district has also been dismissed.
The city said party discipline authorities and public security departments would continue to investigate. The director of Nanjing’s ethnic and religious affairs bureau has been admonished and its deputy director has been suspended while the investigation is under way, according to the city government’s announcement.
The controversy went viral on Thursday, when a social media user shared photos showing memorial tablets at the temple bearing the names of four Japanese war criminals who took part in the Nanking massacre.
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