Guilt by association

(株連). A tactic that the CCP uses to force religious believers to give up their faith by harassing their families. Ancient Chinese rulers, dating back to the Shang dynasty (1766 to 1122 BC), used “familial exterminations” or “guilt by association” – punishing or beheading criminals along with their relatives. Later, the terms were used to refer to punishment when all family members were implicated for the crimes of one person; the declared goal of the practice was crime reduction.