The Chinese religious sect responsible for the fatal beating of a woman outside a McDonald's outlet in China's Shandong province has millions of members worldwide, and has recently been expanding its membership base in Taiwan.

The Quannengshen sect, founded by Zhao Weishan in the 90s, is infamous for its violent methods of recruiting members and the equally violent way it punishes members who wish to leave the sect.

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On Wednesday, six members of the sect were arrested after they beat up a woman to death for refusing to give her phone number.

A cellphone video of the fatal beating outside a McDonald's restaurant in Zhaoyuan, Shandong province elicited anger from thousands of netizens after it went viral online.

Zhang Lidong, the man who led five others in beating the woman to death, showed no remorse when he admitted to the woman's killing in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV. The video of the interview likewise drew condemnation from thousands of netizens after it was posted on Chinese websites.

Neighbors of Mr. Zhang said he had also beaten his pet dog to death a day before he and five family members met with the McDonald's patron whom they killed in full view of other people on Wednesday

Authorities who searched Zhang's apartment said they found a notepad where the words "kill cruelly," "kill with maltreatment," and "beat the dog" were scribbled.

Several other violent beatings have been attributed to the sect, which is also called Church of the Almighty God, but which the Chinese refers to as a "heretic" sect.  These include the stabbing of 23 children in Henan Province by a 60-year old woman who was a follower of the sect. In August, members of the sect also forcibly removed the eyes of a boy from Shanxi as punishment for his family's leaving the sect.

The sect's founder, Zhao Weishan, fled to the US in 2000 and set up headquarters there. He goes online to communicate with millions of followers worldwide, most of them elderly men and women.

The Chinese sect is believed to be recruiting more members in Taiwan, after Internet users posted a copy of an advertisement placed by Zhao in a Taiwanese newspaper last year

A Christian church official in northern Taiwan's Taoyuan said they are aware of the sect's infiltration of local churches and confirming that several church members have already converted to the sect's beliefs.

Last year, local churches in Taiwan issued a joint statement saying they were distancing themselves from the sect and blamed it for spreading heresy doctrines. 

TagsChurch of Almighty God, Shandong province, Zhao Weishan, Quannengshen, zhaoyuan beating, McDonald's beating