BITTER WINTER

Testimonies China

Shenyang Christian School Struggles to Survive for 23 Years

Shenyang Christian School Struggles to Survive for 23 Years

Authorities have been persecuting the school for over two decades, forcing its constant relocation. Various Christian movements and religious groups in China have opened up private schools where classes on religions are taught alongside the regular curriculum. Due to...

Christians Punished for Defending Their Place of Worship

Christians Punished for Defending Their Place of Worship

A congregation in Yulin City, Shaanxi had repeatedly been raided by the local police at night and had their property looted. Some Christians were sentenced for up to five years.   The congregation site was located in Yulin city and was the meeting place for the...

Three-Self Churches in Changchun Ordered to Remove Crosses

Three-Self Churches in Changchun Ordered to Remove Crosses

Many government-controlled Protestant Three-Self churches have been shut down or ordered to remove their crosses in the city of Changchun.   An administrative village in Wanjinta township, Nong’an county, Changchun city is home to a small Three-Self church with...

House Church Christian Arrested for Intending to Go to Taiwan

House Church Christian Arrested for Intending to Go to Taiwan

A house church member from Yucheng in Dezhou city, Shandong Province was apprehended after buying an online ticket to go to a religious event. In January 2018, Liu Fangfang (pseudonym) bought a plane ticket online to attend a religious event in Taiwan and was arrested...

At Least 60 Muslims arrested in a Xinjiang Village

At Least 60 Muslims arrested in a Xinjiang Village

Only four Muslim adults remain in 30 households on one of the alleys in a Xinjiang village; the rest are detained in camps. Since this spring, at least 60 individuals from a village in Manas County of the Changji prefecture in Xinjiang have been apprehended by...

Forced Temple Demolitions by the Chinese Government

Forced Temple Demolitions by the Chinese Government

Many Buddhist temples have been demolished since February across various provinces under the false pretext of “unapproved construction projects.” Hou Aiyun, the 83-year-old caretaker of the Guangxiao Temple in Zhengzhou, was barely awake when law enforcement personnel...

Muslim and Other Religious Beliefs Banned in Xinjiang Schools

Muslim and Other Religious Beliefs Banned in Xinjiang Schools

Elementary and middle school students in the region are being forced to abandon their religious belief. Preceding the holy month of Ramadan in May this year, the head teacher at a school in Xinjiang’s Turpan issued a verbal directive for all Uyghur or Islamic imagery...

Construction of a Three-Self Church Forcibly Stopped

Construction of a Three-Self Church Forcibly Stopped

Local authorities decided to stop the building of a church after they sold the land to the congregation and issued all necessary permits. The construction of a church building that belongs to China’s state-sanctioned Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement was...

New Centre for Three-Self Church Members Demolished    

New Centre for Three-Self Church Members Demolished    

Authorities destroy a newly-built center for members of a government-controlled Three-Self church in Guangdong Province. A believer from mainland China wrote to Bitter Winter about the destruction of a five-story center for believers built by a government-controlled...

Imam Arrested for Discussing the Quran Online

Imam Arrested for Discussing the Quran Online

An imam from Henan Province was lured to come to a police station and has been detained for over eight months. Wang Haoyi (pseudonym), an imam from Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo city in Henan Province was arrested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government for explaining...