• 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

Christians Get Jail Time for Having, Photocopying Bibles

03/20/2019Lu An |

The Bible is recognized as one of the books with the most significant impact on the world. In China, that impact means a run-in with authorities.

The Bible

Having even a photocopy of the Bible is a capital offense in China, where believers of all stripes are consistently persecuted, harassed, surveilled and, sometimes, tortured.

So it’s not surprising, though no less amazing, that Christians can serve hard prison time for having photocopies of words from the Holy Book. That’s the lesson Li Liang (pseudonym), a leader with the Local Church in central Anhui Province, learned after he was sentenced to five years in prison for photocopying the Bible. He has since been released, though he hasn’t technically regained his freedom, as he’s constantly subjected to police surveillance and intimidation.

At the time of his release, the police threatened him, saying if he continued to believe in God, he would be sentenced to at least ten years in prison, and his family members would also be implicated, since Chinese authorities believe in collective punishment, where the “sins” of one family member are visited upon the others.

According to a source, when Li Liang was arrested in 2012, the police searched his home and found two printers, a large quantity of printer paper, as well as Bible chapters of which he had made copies and was preparing to distribute to believers. Because of this “evidence,” the police considered Li Liang to be “the head of a counter-revolutionary organization” and took him into custody, where he was tortured for information about the source of the materials and other church news, for four months – before he was sentenced.

During the Cultural Revolution, “counter-revolution” was considered a crime, and was widely used by the Chinese authorities, with most of the targets being religious persons and dissidents. The 1997 revision of The Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China removed this crime and replaced it with “subversion of state power” – i.e., rebellion.

An anonymous believer in Li Liang’s church said the reason that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) charges Christians with the crime of “counter-revolution” is to establish the absolute authority of the Communist Party.

And as the authorities’ religious persecution continues to intensify, people in China can be persecuted merely for possessing a single religious book, while storing religious books is even more dangerous.

Li Wenqiang, a pseudonym, is a Christian with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Shenzhen city, in southern Guangdong Province. Two years ago, the library at his church was raided by officials from the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television and the city’s Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs and other departments. More than 200,000 Bibles and religious books were seized. Li and another Christian responsible for managing the books were sentenced to three years in prison (with five years’ probation) for “illegal business operations.”

According to sources, the two are still being monitored by the authorities and have been restricted from leaving Shenzhen for five years. If they violate this provision, their prison term will be calculated anew.

Those who believe in God will face growing persecution and suffering in the future, one believer said. Everyone must be prepared: Without faith, it will be difficult to carry on.

Reported by Lu An

Tagged With: Authorities Against Christians, Detention in China

bw-profile
Lu An

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Aygul Eli: How CCP Is Punishing the Brightest Uyghur Students

    Aygul Eli: How CCP Is Punishing the Brightest Uyghur Students

  • Nearly 120 Church of Almighty God Members Arrested

    Nearly 120 Church of Almighty God Members Arrested

  • Christians Forced to Choose Between State Benefits and Faith

    Christians Forced to Choose Between State Benefits and Faith

  • How China Exploits Prisoners to Make Goods for Export

    How China Exploits Prisoners to Make Goods for Export

Keep Reading

  • Police Hunt for and Persecute Buyers of Religious Books
    Police Hunt for and Persecute Buyers of Religious Books

    After an online Christian bookstore owner was arrested, buyers were traced and investigated all over China as part of CCP’s drive against “illegal publications.”

  • Delayed Treatment in Detention Results in Believer’s Death
    Delayed Treatment in Detention Results in Believer’s Death

    A 21-year-old member of The Church of Almighty God was kept in captivity despite his serious illness. When he was finally released, it was too late to save him.

  • 30 Police Officers Raid a House Church in Guangdong
    30 Police Officers Raid a House Church in Guangdong

    They first cut off the power supply, then terrorized the congregation. Two pastors were taken in for interrogation, threatened to give up their faith.

  • Forget Christmas, Celebrate Mao Zedong
    Forget Christmas, Celebrate Mao Zedong

    Prohibited from observing Christmas, the Chinese were urged instead to salute and worship the Great Helmsman, Mao Zedong, on his 126th birthday on December 26.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • France Joins China and Russia by Introducing Special Police Techniques Against “Cults” by Massimo Introvigne
  • “Socialist Spiritual Civilization”: The Great Comeback of an Old CCP Concept by Hu Zimo
  • The Fate of Tibet After the Inevitable: A Tibetan Opinion by Ugyen Gyalpo
  • Ngaba Prefecture, Sichuan: Massive Re-Education to Prevent Tibetan Self-Immolations by Lopsang Gurung
  • Wang Hai: Miao Christian Pastor Still Harassed and Investigated by Mo Yuan
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 7. The Scientologist as Artist by Massimo Introvigne
  • Mark Fino: No Asylum in Japan for Evangelist Threatened in Bangladesh by Tom Eskildsen

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