• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
  • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / Testimonies China

Almost 2,000 Believers Persecuted in Chongqing

09/23/2018Yao Zhangjin |

The meeting place is no longer in use; tables and chairs have been stacked up. (provided by an inside source)
The meeting place is no longer in use; tables and chairs have been stacked up. (provided by an inside source)

Since April this year, authorities in Chongqing’s Jiangjin district launched a campaign to completely shut down house churches.

Zhong Changhong is one of the top-level leaders of Great Praise Church responsible for the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing. The church has many members, with more than 1,000 believers in Chongqing’s Jiangjin district alone. Between April and May of this year, the authorities have attempted repeatedly to force Zhong Changhong and seven other chief co-workers of the church to join the government-controlled Protestant Patriotic Three-Self Movement, which they refused to do amid all the threats.

To avoid further persecutions, the Great Praise Church decided to close down more than 40 of its meeting places in Jiangjin district, leaving over 1,000 believers with no place to congregate and forced to hold their meetings in secret. A member of the Church said that there used to be a meeting place next door to her, but it has now been shut down and the cross on the door removed.

Despite the Church’s decision to close down some meeting places, government officials still threatened Zhong Changhong that they would not leave him peace.

Previously, the authorities recorded information about believers at the church’s meeting places and also prohibited co-workers from privately organizing gatherings, threatening to arrest members of the congregation.  They also threatened the landlords who rented places for meetings to be fined 20,000 RMB (over 3,000$).

Additionally, local governments at all levels in Jiangjin are also increasing their efforts to combat religious belief and comprehensively shut down house church meeting places.

According to some calculations, seven house church meeting places in Baisha town have been shut down since April, leaving more than 200 believers without a place to worship. In Lishi town, over 40 places have been shut down, leading to the suppression of over 400 believers; and more than 200 believers in the towns of Xihu and Yongxing have also been persecuted.

Reported by Yao Zhangjin

Form for registering Christians’ information (provided by an inside source)
Form for registering Christians’ information (provided by an inside source)

 

Tagged With: House Churches

Yao Zhangjin profile picture
Yao Zhangjin

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Beijing Lampstand Church: Families Demand Release of Arrested Pastor, Co-Worker

    Beijing Lampstand Church: Families Demand Release of Arrested Pastor, Co-Worker

  • House Churches Attacked and Banned in Several Provinces

    House Churches Attacked and Banned in Several Provinces

  • Church of the Rock: Wife of Detained Pastor Speaks Out

    Church of the Rock: Wife of Detained Pastor Speaks Out

  • House Church Under Attack in Guiyang

    House Church Under Attack in Guiyang

Keep Reading

  • Covenant Home Church Banned in Shanxi
    Covenant Home Church Banned in Shanxi

    After the detention of four leaders, the authorities decided to liquidate the popular house church. 

  • Taiyuan Reformed Church Under Police Attack
    Taiyuan Reformed Church Under Police Attack

    Brother Zhao Weikai has been arrested on May 17. The house church in Taiyuan (China) has been repeatedly harassed in the last few months.

  • Persecution of Protestant Churches Intensifies
    Persecution of Protestant Churches Intensifies

    House churches and state-controlled Three-Self churches across China are raided and closed down. Believers are questioned, and their homes are searched.

  • Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online
    Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online

    Chen Lijun was detained in August. His wife reports he is still in jail, and his family is in desperate conditions.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Pro-Chinese Propaganda by The World Muslim Communities Council: Uyghurs Strike Back by Gulfiye Y
  • Zhanargul Zhumatai: “Help Me, I Just Want to Leave China” by Ruth Ingram
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 1. The Aesthetic Mind by Massimo Introvigne
  • Stricter Rules on Private Tutoring Protect Ideology Rather than Parents by Wang Zhipeng
  • Japan Religious Donations Law. 4. The Return of Brainwashing by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong Kong: Christian Scholar Peng Manyuan Released but Not Rehabilitated by Gladys Kwok
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 3. Art as Communication by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 4. Art and Illustration by Massimo Introvigne
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 5. Professionals vs. Amateurs by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

Instant Exclusive News
Instant Exclusive News

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

Follow us

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY