Doomsday Belief Lands 400 in Jail in China

After an unstable fanatic stabs 22 Chinese middle-schoolers, China cracks down on doomsday cult

As the supposed doomsday approaches this Friday, Dec. 21, China is cracking down on what it's deeming fanatics—arresting more than 400 members of a popular "cult" in Western Qinghai province and dozens more elsewhere. Members of the Almighty God Christian group were detained for spreading rumors about the end of the world, while others were suspected of wounding people.

A day before the massacre of 20 children and six educators here in the U.S. at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in China, a man identified as Min Yingjun, entered a school in the Henan province and stabbed 22 middle school students. Media reports indicated he was unstable over fears of the world ending.

In light of the incident, in which the children suffered injuries but were not killed, police in China have been warning people to be wary of end-of-the-world scams and cults. Many people around the world believe that something will happen on Dec. 21, as the Mayan “Long Count” calendar ends a 5,200-year cycle. (BBC)

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