Important documentary evidence of the destruction of unregistered religious buildings in Wenzhou at the end of last year has been obtained by the Keston News Service. A carefully planned campaign against "feudal superstition" was carried out from October to the end of December. The campaign destroyed hundreds of Buddhist, Daoist and Christian temples, shrines and churches, with explicit approval of Communist and state authorities, according to Keston.
Several Christian house-church leaders claimed the catalyst for the campaign was a visit by President Jiang Zemin. The original decree in July 2000 asked Christians, Buddhists and Daoists to personally demolish their "illegal" structures. They did not, so the authorities moved in at the end of the year and took action.
The Washington Post reported in December that more than 1,500 churches, temples and shrines around Wenzhou were either shut down or destroyed. In nearby Qiaotou township, officials had threatened to tear down illegal churches, but after a shut-down, the buildings were re-opened. This year those churches all were destroyed or turned into recreation centers. One leader said, "The Party can supervise our bodies and our minds, but we can't let it supervise our souls."
(http://www.keston.org/010531CH.htm)