• 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

Elderly Christians Harassed And Tortured

08/02/2018Piao Junying |

yellow leaf
Stories of three elderly Chinese Christians in Jilin Province and how they were persecuted for their belief.

In the spring of 2015, Xiao Hong arrived home from the Tumen city market when three police officers apprehended her in plain clothes. She was arrested without a warrant and transferred to a detention center in Yanji for further interrogation. Ms. Xiao was a worker at a house church in Jilin Province.

By the end of the year, the Yanji city court accused Ms. Xiao of “using a xie jiao organization to disrupt law enforcement” and sentenced to three years in prison and four years at a detention center. Xie jiao refers to heterodox teachings in China, and being active in such activities is a crime punishable by Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code with a jail penalty of three to seven years or more.

Time served in the detention center proved to be difficult for Ms. Xiao. She suffered from lung disease due to which she often required a lot of physical assistance. In the wake of her declining health, her family paid 50,000 RMB or over 7000 USD in bribes to the authorities. She was then released on bail in June 2016.

However, that was not the end of her problems. Ms. Xiao was subjected to 24-hour surveillance and did not have a moment or an inch of personal space. Cameras were installed near her home. She was also given a cell phone by the police, which she was expected to answer anytime it rang. She had to submit written reports about her guests, failing which she would be subjected to judicial inquiries.

Meanwhile, Zhuang Xiomei and Li Yuping were also similarly arrested in 2015. Both worked at the house church along with Ms. Xiao. It was through Ms. Li’s cellphone that the local police found out about 80 more Christians in the area and consequently, detained them as well. Except for Ms. Li, everyone was released within 10 to 15 days. Ms. Li, who is over 60 years of age, was put through physical torture, and she was eventually released after a year.

Reported by Piao Junying

Tagged With: Christian Faith in China, Xie Jiao Organizations

Piao Junying profile picture
Piao Junying

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

  • Detained leaders of Church of Abundance Accused of “Violating National Security”

    Detained leaders of Church of Abundance Accused of “Violating National Security”

  • Former Anti-Cult Boss Peng Bo Sentenced to 14 Years in Jail

    Former Anti-Cult Boss Peng Bo Sentenced to 14 Years in Jail

Keep Reading

  • 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.

  • Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin
    Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin

    Three-Self Church honors him as “a great Marxist we love and miss” and says he did “a good job in religious work.” In fact, he increased surveillance and persecuted believers.

  • Chinese Anti-Cult (and Anti-Religious) Propaganda Adopts New Style
    Chinese Anti-Cult (and Anti-Religious) Propaganda Adopts New Style

    Aesthetics liberally borrows from Asian manga (including some banned in China) and suggests you should trust science rather than religion.

  • David Lin: China Promises to Free in 2030 American Pastor Detained Since 2006
    David Lin: China Promises to Free in 2030 American Pastor Detained Since 2006

    His life imprisonment sentence has been reduced after American pressures, but eight further years in jail may be too much for his frail health.

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
  • The Weaponization of the CCP’s “Zero COVID” Against Tibet by Marco Respinti
  • “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

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