Under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), scandals within the religious community continue to surface. Recently, there have been reports questioning the dismissal of Hu Chenglin, the chairman of the Taoist Association in Shaanxi Province. In April of this year, he was accused of keeping a hidden marriage for over twenty years and having a child, using temple funds to purchase a Land Rover luxury car, assisting his mistress in obtaining a Taoist certificate, and together renting a luxury cruise ship for a trip to Hong Kong.
According to a report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao on May 22, Hu Chenglin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of the Taoist Association in Shaanxi Province, had his positions as supervisor of the Baxian Palace and Xiangzi Temple revoked in early May. He was also stripped of the title of honorary chairman of the Xi’an City Taoist Association. It is believed that his role as chairman of the Taoist Association has also been suspended.
A report citing the official WeChat account of the Shaanxi Taoist Association revealed that on May 11, the association’s acting chairman, He Xingping, organized a special learning session with the resident staff to discuss the matter. He Xingping, who is the deputy chairman of the Shaanxi Taoist Association, has assumed the role of acting chairman, indicating that Hu Chenglin has likely been removed from his position internally.
On April 7 this year, a netizen claiming to be “Daoist Liu Yongheng” posted on Weibo alleging that Hu Chenglin, chairman of the Shaanxi Taoist Association, had falsely claimed to be single and celibate while secretly married with a child for more than twenty years, and involved with multiple mistresses. Hu Chenglin was found to have improperly granted a Taoist certificate to a mistress born in 1997, accompanying her on a trip to Hong Kong onboard a rented luxury cruise ship. Additionally, he was reported to have purchased a Land Rover using temple funds.
Liu Yongheng disclosed that Hu Chenglin had been removed from his positions as a CPPCC member, director of the national Taoist association, among others, but still retained his positions as chairman of the Shaanxi Taoist Association, supervisor of the Xi’an Baxian Palace and Xiangzi Temple, and has not been stripped of his religious status.
“Daoist Liu Yongheng” listed on Weibo as a “residential supervisor of the Xi’an City Taoist Association.” Currently, relevant posts on Weibo are no longer accessible.
Public records show that Hu Chenglin, born in 1974 in Shaanxi, belongs to the 24th generation of the Quanzhen Longmen sect.
Official information indicates that since March 1995, he has been a permanent resident of the Xi’an Wanshou Baxian Palace. In 2013, he served as the chairman of the Xi’an City Taoist Association, and in 2015, he was appointed honorary chairman. At the end of 2014, he took on the role of chairman of the Shaanxi Taoist Association and was elected vice chairman of the CCP Taoist Association in June 2015. He is also a member of the 13th and 14th sessions of the CPPCC. Following a leadership change within the CCP Taoist Association at the end of last year, he did not seek re-election as vice chairman. Prior to these roles, Hu Chenglin also served as supervisor of the Xi’an Baxian Palace and Xiangzi Temple.
After the exposure of Hu Chenglin’s scandal, many netizens mockingly compared him to “Daoist Yi Shengxin” within the Daoist community, drawing parallels to the infamous figure within the Buddhist community. However, the Chinese Communist Party has maintained silence on the matter.
Previously, the former abbot of the Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin (birth name Liu Yingcheng), had also been repeatedly reported for various violations, but it wasn’t until July 2025 that the authorities took action to investigate him. Subsequently, the Shaolin Temple officially announced that Shi Yongxin was suspected of embezzlement, misappropriation of temple funds, violating Buddhist precepts, and engaging in inappropriate relationships with multiple women, having more than one illegitimate child.
In March of this year, the Henan Xinxiang City Procuratorate announced that Shi Yongxin was being prosecuted for alleged embezzlement of duty, misappropriation of funds, non-national staff bribery, and bribery, and the case had been brought before the Higher People’s Court of Xinxiang City.