Holy Confucian Church
| Holy Confucian Church 孔圣会 Kǒngshènghuì |
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| Type | Confucian church |
| Classification | Confucianism |
| Orientation | Gongyang school (New Text Confucianism) |
| Scripture | Four Books and Five Classics |
| Polity | self-supporting |
| Founder | Zhou Beichen |
| Origin | 2009 first local congregation, 2015 national church China |
| Official website | http://zhksh.org/ |
The Holy Confucian Church or Holy Church of Confucius (孔圣会 Kǒngshènghuì) or Holy Confucian Church of China (中华孔圣会 Zhōnghuá Kǒngshènghuì) is a body formed of many local Confucian churches or halls (孔圣堂 Kǒngshèngtáng) in China. The grassroots movement was initiated by Zhou Beichen, a disciple of the Confucian philosopher Jiang Qing, who founded the first holy church in Shenzhen in 2009. The aim of the movement was to develop a network of local Confucian churches throughout the country, eventually unifying into a national body and becoming the state religion of China. The Holy Confucian Church has received support from the Confucian Academy of Hong Kong, although it has developed independently from the latter.
In 2010 the first holy church in Shenzhen was officially registered as a non-governmental non-profit (fēi qǐyè 非企业) organisation of public interest (gōngyì 公益) affiliated with the Federation of Confucian Culture of Qufu City. The Holy Church maintains close relations with local government officials and high-ranking dignitaries of the State Administration for Religious Affairs attend its ceremonies. The national and international body, the Holy Confucian Church of China, was finally established in late 2015.
Zhou Beichen was born in the province of Guizhou in 1965. He studies at the Guizhou University and experienced with work in journalism, publishing and teaching. In the 1980s he was interested in Western philosophy, while in the 1990s he studied the works of many contemporary Neo-Confucian circles.
Later, Zhou Beichen approached to Jiang Qing's work on the Gongyang (公羊) school of New Text Confucianism, especially the idea of political Confucianism or the "outside kingship" (外王). In 1996 he met Jiang Qing in person and they founded together the Yangming Academy in Guizhou. Between that year and 2003 he settled down in Shenzhen, living with business activity and projecting the Confucian holy halls (Kongshengtang) movement which officially started in 2009.
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