• 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 GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • 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 / News China

China’s Social Media Platforms—Tools of Religious Persecution

05/19/2020Wan Zixin |

The Chinese government is using WeChat, a popular multi-purpose social media and messaging app, for mass surveillance, including to monitor people of faith.

by Wan Zixin

In July 2019, the police took away the director of a Three-Self church in the eastern province of Zhejiang for joining a WeChat group of the Bo’ai Church—one of the 30 churches with ties to abroad in China listed for elimination. Because the church originates from the United States, the director was warned not to join any social media groups created by churches from the US because of “China’s bad relationship with this country.” She was also forced to write a statement promising only to attend gatherings in approved churches, leave and never join again Christian WeChat groups affiliated with foreign countries.

After the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and the Ministry of Public Security adopted the Work Plan of the Special Operation to Investigate and Deal with Overseas Christian Infiltration According to Law in 2019, social media accounts of churches with ties to abroad have been targeted for investigation. Subsequently, many Christians were arrested for joining WeChat groups of Bo’ai and other churches, even if they were not members of these places of worship.

“WeChat has become extremely unsafe, and we’ve been trying new communication tools,” said a member of a house church in Zhejiang’s Taizhou city that was closed last year. A local Public Security Bureau officer told her that the venue was marked for closure because the congregation discussed church affairs in their WeChat group, and authorities tracked them down.

In early December, the police raided a house church venue in Qingdao city in the eastern province of Shandong, arresting its preacher and believers who were present at the time. Using the preacher’s WeChat account, the police summoned the rest of the congregation.

In late February, three unexpected guests joined a WeChat group of a Three-Self church in Shenyang, the capital of the northeastern province of Liaoning: the secretary of the local government CCP committee, a local UFWD commissioner, and a public security officer.

“We contact each other on WeChat as meetings are impossible amid the coronavirus epidemic,” the director of a Three-Self church in Shenyang city told Bitter Winter. “But government officials also started joining various churches’ WeChat groups one after another, monitoring what believers talk about. People of faith have to be extremely cautious. We do not dare to post anything sensitive or remarks that might cause conflicts with the government. If our WeChat group is banned, we’ll lose the only way to contact each other.”

In March, the Religious Affairs Bureau in a locality of Liaoning Province issued an order, allowing only officially-approved religious groups and venues to open accounts on WeChat. One account is permitted per organization or place of worship and is limited to those who attend meetings and have registered their personal information. Applications for a WeChat group have to be submitted to the religious affairs authorities at all levels, and activities online can start when all of them approve the requests. All un-approved accounts were ordered to be dissolved. Group administrators who refused to do so were threatened to be punished.

A man using the WeChat app

In late January, a Three-Self church pastor from the central province of Henan reposted an article on WeChat about demolished churches, arrested preachers, and distorted Christian teachings in China. The pastor’s church was forcibly closed down shortly before the coronavirus outbreak, and he commented in the post that with religious persecutions, the CCP is provoking God. He called on all churches to pray for China. Soon after, the article was removed, and the Religious Affairs Bureau reprimanded the pastor.

“Officials asserted that the article’s remarks were political,” a preacher from the church said. “We don’t dare to re-post it for fear of implicating the congregation even more.”

Tagged With: Religious Persecution, Surveillance

bw-profile
Wan Zixin

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Qianjia Village, Longmenfan Township: Inside the Orwellian World of a “Model Village” in China

    Qianjia Village, Longmenfan Township: Inside the Orwellian World of a “Model Village” in China

  • The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies

    The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies

  • Alibaba Software Selectively Monitors Trips To and From Xinjiang 

    Alibaba Software Selectively Monitors Trips To and From Xinjiang 

  • 米国務省の信教の自由に関する2023年版報告書:敵に厳しく、味方に甘い

    米国務省の信教の自由に関する2023年版報告書:敵に厳しく、味方に甘い

Keep Reading

  • After 26 Years, Uyghurs Remember the Ghulja Massacre
    After 26 Years, Uyghurs Remember the Ghulja Massacre

    On February 5, 1997, a peaceful protest was transformed into a bloodbath by the Chinese police and soldiers. 

  • Less Apps on Chinese Smartphones from January 1, 2023
    Less Apps on Chinese Smartphones from January 1, 2023

    A new regulation limits the number of pre-installed Apps phones can be sold with, and makes it more difficult to download new ones. The aim, as usual, is more surveillance.

  • Wang Zang and Wang Li: Marry a Poet and Go to Jail
    Wang Zang and Wang Li: Marry a Poet and Go to Jail

    The poet was sentenced for protesting against the repression of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kong democrats, and Falun Gong practitioners. His wife just for being his wife.

  • Russia, Pastor Moskvitin’s Church Headed for Liquidation
    Russia, Pastor Moskvitin’s Church Headed for Liquidation

    After its leader’s arrest, the Ministry of Justice is now seeking a “final solution” destroying the New Creation Church.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Hui Muslims Clash with Police Over Mosque’s “Sinicization” by Ma Guangyao
  • Chinese Muslims Told Mosques Should Preach Communism Too by Ma Wenyan
  • Hong-Kong-Style National Security Law Comes to Macau by Gladys Kwok
  • Pakistan: Bishops’ Patience Exhausted After Killings at Catholic School by Daniela Bovolenta
  • Hebei: Friends Pray in Your Home, the CCP Cuts Off Your Water and Electricity by Lai Mingxia
  • Russia: Two Evangelical Pastors Prosecuted, Falsely Accused of Raising Money for the Ukrainian Army by Massimo Introvigne
  • Pakistan: Hindu Mother Killed While Trying to Protect Daughter from Abduction by Marco Respinti

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

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

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

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