Catholic Limin Primary School : With governmental permission, Guizhou diocese is managing a public school established on property returned to the
Church this year.
The public school stood on the site of the former Church-run Sacred Heart School, which was confiscated in the
1950s. Following summer renovations, the former Xin'an No. 4 School in Anlong county, some 2,000 kilometers southwest
of Beijing, reopened as Catholic Limin (benefiting the people) Primary School when the new school year began Sept. 1,
2001.
Since it is rare in China for the religious sector to run a school, media covered the official school-opening ceremony Sept.
4, 2001. The head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau of Qianxinan Buoyeizu Miaozu Autonomous Prefecture,
where Anlong county is located, said during the ceremony that the Church's running the school is a "delightful thing."
Anlong's chief administrator also spoke, praising the Church's zeal, sincerity and concrete contribution in developing the
new generation.
The Church in China opened non-formal educational institutes such as language and computer schools as early as 1982.
With funds from overseas Catholic groups, it has also built a number of schools under the Hope Project, a government-
sponsored campaign to build schools in the poorer regions of the country.
However, some of these schools were built on condition that school management remains with the government. In some
dioceses, local government officials do not allow the Church to run schools of any kind on the ground that religious
activities should be restricted to religious venues.
Although Catholic Limin Primary School is run by the Church, it is not allowed to offer religious education. According to
Chinese law, religion and education must be separated.
