Source: Direct Reports from China
Date: May 31, 2018
Bitter Winter has learned that local authorities threaten to close a church in Donghekou Village in Wenxi County, which is part of the prefecture-level city of Yuncheng, Shanxi. The authorities claim that the church building is illegal and that the church should join the official Three-Self Church. Christians in the church refused to obey and continued to attend the meetings as before. Now the local government has cut off their power supply.
On April 28, Tongcheng town government in Wenxi County ordered the head of Donghekou village to inform the deputy director of the church, Ms. Wang Yumei, that the government did not approve the church building plan from the beginning, meaning that the building was illegal. He also told Wang that if it did not join the official church, then they would shut down the church and end its religious meetings.
On May 11, the director of the church, Ms. Han Ping, announced to believers, “Since we are believers of God, we only obey God and magnify God. The government orders us to join the Three-Self Church and accept their leadership, that’s impossible! We’ll never obey!”
On May 15, the Tongcheng town government sent some agents to visit Wang Yumei and pressure her to close the church and end their religious services.
On May 20, about 80 believers still attended a Sunday meeting, however, without the power supply, the future of this church is worrying.
The church of Donghekou Village, established in 2000, is a 1 mu (about 667 square meters) meeting place with over 20 rooms and more than 100 regular churchgoers.
Bitter Winter reports on how religions are allowed, or not allowed, to operate in China and how some are severely persecuted after they are labeled as “xie jiao,” or heterodox teachings. We publish news difficult to find elsewhere, analyses, and debates.
Placed under the editorship of Massimo Introvigne, one of the most well-known scholars of religion internationally, “Bitter Winter” is a cooperative enterprise by scholars, human rights activists, and members of religious organizations persecuted in China (some of them have elected, for obvious reasons, to remain anonymous).
