(CNN) -- More than 600 members of a fringe Christian group in China have been detained for spreading rumors of an impending apocalypse, pegged to the Mayan calendar, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
Known as the Almighty God cult, the group latched on to the Mayan doomsday scenario to predict the sun would not shine and electricity would not work for three days beginning on December 21.The cult was established in 1990 in central China and requires its members to surrender their property to the group.Group members have spread doomsday rumors door-to-door or at public venues and claimed only they could save people's lives, according to authorities.var currExpandable="expand15";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2012/12/19/pkg-mayan-community-parker.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121219102050-pkg-mayan-community-parker-00015629-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand15Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand25";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.source='bestoftv/2012/12/18/debunking-doomsday-mayan-calendar.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/121218084850-debunking-doomsday-mayan-calendar-00005515-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand25Store=mObj;Read more: Some believe Friday is doomsday on the Mayan calendar; the Mayans don'tDecember 21, 2012, is the endpoint of a more than 5,000-year Great Cycle marked on the "Long Count" calendar of the Mayans, an ancient Native American civilization from Mexico and Central America.Some say this date marks the end of the world, while others suggest it marks the beginning of a new era.Most of the cult members seized by police were detained for five to 10 days for disturbing social order, Xinhua reported. Police have seized a large number of leaflets, banners, computer discs, slogans, books and printing machines.Read more: China cracks down on 'Doomsday cult'Arrests have been reported in Qinghai, Sichuan, Guangdong, and Guizhou provinces and in the capital, Beijing."Advice before catastrophe: Satan's men will be extinct. Only the 'Almighty God' can save man. Anybody who resists God will go to hell," a leaflet said.Cao Wei, a police officer with the Shanghua police station in Lanxi City, said cult members ask new believers to write letters of assurance to show their loyalty to the "Almighty God" and to evangelize.Xinhua reported that one member wrote a letter saying, "I must preach to 100 people today, or I will be cursed."Most of the cult's members are in their 40s, unemployed people in urban areas or low-income groups affected by illness or disaster. The group believes that Jesus has been resurrected as a Chinese woman, Xinhua reported.Authorities say the cult intimidates people who try to leave.
Check out CNN's latest news, commentary, photos, and videos on our China special section. December 14, 2012 -- Updated 0335 GMT (1135 HKT) 
Here are five key China stories that "On China" host Kristie Lu Stout has her eye on for 2013. December 11, 2012 -- Updated 1359 GMT (2159 HKT) 
CNN's Anna Coren reports on an entire Chinese family's struggle with HIV after the mother was infected in a hospital.December 3, 2012 -- Updated 1339 GMT (2139 HKT) 
When James Law looks in the mirror he sees weather reports, e-mails and his heart rate. China is looking to lead tech development in the "Internet of Things" industry.December 11, 2012 -- Updated 1422 GMT (2222 HKT) 
Without legal or political recourse to address their grievances, Tibetan protestors risk their lives, says the London-based Free Tibet.November 30, 2012 -- Updated 0713 GMT (1513 HKT) 
For centuries political satire has been a staple for much of Chinese humor, and remains so during the Communist era, writes CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz.December 1, 2012 -- Updated 0823 GMT (1623 HKT) 
Prominent human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng told CNN his nephew's conviction in China was retribution for Chen's escape.November 16, 2012 -- Updated 1622 GMT (0022 HKT) 
As China anointed its new leadership, CNN asked five experts to explain what they see as the country's most pressing challenges.November 26, 2012 -- Updated 0728 GMT (1528 HKT) 
Mainland Chinese students lead international enrollment across U.S. higher education, including at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. 
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A Chinese state-run site was fooled Tuesday by a satirical story that declared North Korea's Kim Jong Un the "sexiest man alive."The story on People's Daily Online on Tuesday illustrates the mutual backscratching that China and North Korea exercise through their government-run media. The incident also shows foreign media outlets' difficulty in navigating The Onion's brand of satire.The Chinese website had underscored its story by including its own 55-page photo gallery to accompany the text, which was published in both English and Chinese. But the pages and the images were no longer available Wednesday.A woman responding to a call Wednesday to the office of the website said it was "impossible that the People's Daily will quote from any unreliable media -- we do verify our news and sources."The woman, who declined to identify herself, noted that the item had been removed.The People's Daily Online has a separate office from the print version of the Chinese Communist Party's main newspaper.Tracy said he's not surprised when legitimate news sites fall for his high-level tomfoolery, but this was the first time The Onion had named a "sexiest man alive." "We knew it would get a response," he said "but we didn't expect it would get life from abroad."A satirical post on The Onion congratulated the People's Daily for its coverage.The site "has served as one of the Onion's Far East bureaus for quite some time, and I believe their reportage as of late has been uncommonly fine, as well as politically astute," said The Onion's Grant Jones in a e-mail statement. "May our felicitous business association continue for centuries to come."Earlier Tuesday, The Onion pointed readers to the Chinese website: "please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."Read the Chinese storyTwitter users went wild over the editorial faux pas. "It makes me cry from another room!" Tweeted Francesca Ulivi @fraubass."Not sure they know this was a joke," wrote @loweringthebar."Curse of the #Onion again," said Colin Freeman @colinfreeman99.Yes. Again. If this scenario sounds familiar it's because The Onion is no stranger to fooling government-run news outlets.In September, an Onion satire fooled Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency. Fars published an Onion story claiming that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans preferred Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over President Barack Obama.On the Chinese microblog Sina Weibo, netizens made their own teasing comments about People's Daily."Foolish foreigners, the party paper was born to be funny," wrote @sheldon-BaiBai."The world was fooled by the People's Daily, because no Chinese believes this paper," wrote @Hai_Dao_Wu_Bian.The Onion never writes its stories with the intention of fooling government agencies, Tracy said. But "it's great when it happens. We hope it happens more often."This prank, he said with obvious glee, may turn out to be the legendary Onion fake story that veterans will talk about for years to come. "We essentially just fooled the government of China."CNN's Jethro Mullen and CY Xu contributed to this report.