"A stranger was called evil and beaten to death just because she refused to give her phone number [to them]? Their crime is unbelievable and incomprehensible," said Yan Xiang, a resident in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.

Yan said that the crime showed the cult's control over people, and urged authorities to severely punish and crack down on such organizations.

Police records showed that the killing in Zhaoyuan was not the first time Quannengshen has been responsible for violence. In late October and early November 1998, robberies and assaults connected with the cult were reported over 12 days in Tanghe County, central China's Henan Province, with some victims' limbs broken and their ears cut off.

On January 10, 2011, Li Guirong, a female resident in Henan's Lankao County, killed her own daughter. The reason she gave to the police was that taking care of her daughter took time away from spreading the word about Quannengshen.

On December 16, 2012, Min Yongjun, reportedly influenced by the doomsday philosophies of Quannengshen, attacked elementary school children in Guangshan County, Henan, injuring 23 students and an elderly woman.

Min confessed during police inquiries that he believed "he was doomed and hoped to do things to make the world remember him before he died."

Quannengshen was formed in 1990 in Henan by Zhao Weishan, and the cult claims to be an offshoot of Christianity and also that Jesus has been resurrected in the body of Yang Xiangbin, a Chinese woman who also goes by the name Deng Shandian, or Lightning Deng.

Before the formation of the cult, Yang, then a resident in Datong City, north China's Shanxi Province, failed her college entrance exam. Three years later, she claimed to be the embodiment of God and the second coming of Jesus. She is suspected to be suffering from schizophrenia.

The cult operates as a secret underground organization, and it is much like a pyramid scheme in which one member tries to get more to join the cult after themselves. It requires its members to surrender their property to the group and has introduced tight rules and regulations to control the members.

In the first five years after the sect was founded, they focused on rural areas for recruiting new members. In November 1995, Quannengshen was listed as a cult in China.

According to Chinese law, a cult is an illegal organization that tries to control people by deifying their own leader, deceiving members under the guise of being a religion and engage in activities that harm society.

Despite the illegality of Quannengshen, it has still grown while remaining in hiding. From 1995, they expanded to urban areas, trying to recruit college students, business people and entrepreneurs in order to gather funds and skilled individuals for the organization.

In order to escape the police, Zhao fled to the United States in 2000 and has controlled and ordered the members of Quannengshen from there ever since.

Before December 21, 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar, which Quannengshen believed would be the end of the world, members of the cult were very active in spreading their doomsday message door to door and at public venues and pledged to ensure the safety of its followers from the coming apocalypse in exchange for money and other assets.

Ma Qiang, head of the anti-cult reconnaissance team with the Qinghai Provincial Public Security Department, revealed that till the early 2010s, most of the cult's members were unemployed people from urban areas or other low-income groups hit by illness or disaster. People in their 40s make up the majority of Quannengshen's membership.

Stopping the damage

Fully aware of the impact of cults on society, the Chinese Government has remained tough on them. It was reported that by the end of 2012, nearly 1,000 members of Quannengshen had been detained or punished by the police for breaking the law.

Wang Zhongwu, a sociologist with Shandong University, said that severe suppression of cults should be maintained to prevent more people from being hurt.

The call was echoed by Wang Shuli, an expert on religious issues. "The incident in Zhaoyuan highlighted just how sinister cults like Quannengshen can be," he said.

China has listed and banned 14 cults and their activities.

"The various cults have taken a heavy toll on China, destroying property, claiming lives and threatening social stability," said Wang Shuli. "Unlike legitimate religions, they preach fallacies and break laws. Their leaders and core members, who have little background in orthodox religions, seek to enrich themselves at the cost of others."

Wang Shuli advised authorities to severely punish the criminals, make sure people are properly educated on the situation, and expose the cult to the public at large.

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