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Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

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Home / China / News China

A Nearly Completed Church Demolished in Henan

07/03/2018Bitter Winter |

Source: Direct Reports from China
Date: July 3, 2018

On June 13, authorities demolished a church nearing completion in the village of Huangzhuyuan in Henan Province. A four-storied building of 2,000 square-meters that cost over 1.1 million RMB to build has been reduced to rubble without serving as a place of worship even for a day.

At 9 a.m., almost thirty vehicles arrived at the village, which is in Jizhong town, Dancheng County, Zhoukou city, and surrounded the church. A group of over a hundred people, including armed policemen, government officials, and villagers has gathered outside the building. Church leaders, preachers, and over a dozen elderly believers stayed inside the church trying to protect it from demolition. The two sides were in a stalemate for a couple of hours; the government officials continually urged the believers in the church to evacuate, intimidating and harassing them. Eventually, the believers, hoping to protect the safety of the church leaders, left the building. As soon as they came out, two excavators began tearing down the church.

Two days later, the main church building was completely taken down. All the money to build the church came from offerings made by believers. It was under construction for one and half years, starting in November of 2016.

A witness filmed how the church was gradually demolished.

https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Church-Demolition-Henan-video1.mp4
https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Church-Demolition-Henan-video2.mp4
https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Church-Demolition-Henan-video3.mp4

Tagged With: Religious Liberty

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Bitter Winter

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).

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