• 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

 Difficult Path to Worship Venue for Elderly Christians

03/03/2019Tang Zhe |

To avoid being monitored or arrested, preachers in Jiangxi lead members of their congregation to a distant meeting venue very early in the mornings.

icy mountain pathAt four o’clock in the morning, the faint light from a flashlight flickered slightly in the bitterly cold wind. It is deep into the winter season and an elderly Christian named Qu Mei, pseudonym, along with a few of her elderly brothers and sisters from church are traversing the mountain road on their way to the meeting venue. The mountain road is less than one meter wide and is on a steep slope. The slope is covered with a thin layer of frost. To one side of the mountain road there is a steep precipice. Vehicles are unable to pass, so the Christians have no choice but to travel by foot.

“It isn’t slippery on this side. There is ice over there; it’s slippery,” the elderly Christian walking at the front and leading the way said as he carefully extended his foot to try the road ahead. Only after he confirmed that it wasn’t slippery do the others, who are following closely behind, continue walking forward one by one.

This is how a few elderly Christians from a house church in Jiangxi Province’s Jiujiang city got to worship service.

The meeting venue where Qu Mei and her fellow church-goers used to attend was shut down by the local government; the pastor in charge of the venue was intimidated and coerced by town government officials into signing a statement promising not to attend house church gatherings. Other preachers were similarly threatened and prohibited from preaching to believers anymore, or else face arrest, but instead, to avoid being monitored or arrested by the authorities, the preachers had no choice but to lead the several followers to a distant meeting venue very early in the mornings.

“I’m in my 60s. There are believers who are older than me, in their 70s or 80s. They’re rather aged and are more likely to slip and fall on this mountain road,” Qu Mei said. “Each time we meet, we have to leave at four o’clock in the morning and reach the meeting place before six. Government personnel start work at eight, so we need to wrap up our gathering before then. We only have this one time to meet every week, so we need to go no matter how difficult it is.”

As the early morning light breaks through the misty fog, about-two-inch-long icicles can be seen clinging to the branches of trees on the mountain. The icicles are just as tenacious as the faith of these believers, who refuse to retreat despite the persecution they are suffering.

“Keep your voice down when singing. If we continue like this, we will be discovered sooner or later,” said the preacher, surnamed Fang, who has been repeatedly threatened and summoned for talks by the authorities.

The room where the gathering is held doesn’t have a door and the glass on some of the windows is broken. As the believers sit together, they are so cold that their noses run. The gathering lasts for less than two hours. As eight o’clock approaches, the gathering ends and the elderly believers hurriedly disperse.

These few hours of hardship are only the tip of the iceberg of what Christians in China face every day under the rule of President Xi Jinping.

Reported by Tang Zhe

Tagged With: Christian Faith in China

bw-profile
Tang Zhe

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Harbin: Christian Music School Teachers Awaits Trial

    Harbin: Christian Music School Teachers Awaits Trial

  • Our Lady of Naju: Catholic New Religious Movement Followers Harassed in Hong Kong

    Our Lady of Naju: Catholic New Religious Movement Followers Harassed in Hong Kong

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

    Church of the Rock: Wife of Detained Pastor Speaks Out

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

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

Keep Reading

  • Chen Yu: 7 Year Sentence for Selling Christian Books Confirmed on Appeal
    Chen Yu: 7 Year Sentence for Selling Christian Books Confirmed on Appeal

    Western media and NGO had protested against the first-degree sentence in September 2020. The appellate judge confirmed Chen should remain in jail.

  • China: Christians Arrested for Attending Conference in Malaysia
    China: Christians Arrested for Attending Conference in Malaysia

    The detained pastors and laymen legally went to Kuala Lumpur to attend an event organized by well-known evangelist Tang Chongrong.

  • Pastor Geng Zejun Committed to Trial
    Pastor Geng Zejun Committed to Trial

    The preacher of the Church of the Rock in Shizuishan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, remains in jail and may be sentenced in July.

  • Two Sentenced for Attending a Christian Conference in Malaysia
    Two Sentenced for Attending a Christian Conference in Malaysia

    One year of jail is the penalty for a pastor and a co-worker from Shanxi who went to an event organized by famous evangelist Tang Chongrong

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