• 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 / Testimonies China

Land Owner Forced to Use Site for Cultivation After Church Demolition

08/25/2018Jiang Tao |

church demolition
Base of the walls of the church once under construction

The authorities tore down a state-controlled church in Chenji town two years ago and have not permitted its reconstruction so far.

In May 2016, a church that belongs to the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement was under construction in Henan’s Chenji town. The villagers had spent over 74,000 USD to purchase the land as well as building materials.

However, the authorities would not allow for the construction to go on unhindered. First, workers from the town’s Bureau of Land Management arrived at the site one day and declared that the building’s permit hadn’t been issued yet. They also destroyed one corner of the walls that had been built. The landowner halted the construction immediately.

A few days later, the construction resumed, but again, officials showed up. This time, the director of the Land and Resources Bureau of Yongcheng city as well as around 50 officials from the town’s land management office arrived at the site. They also brought along an excavator, with the intention to demolish the church.

The police officers formed a human barricade to block the believers and also threatened them against taking any photos or filming videos of the scene. Behind the barricade, the excavator completely tore down the single floor that had been constructed so far (video).

A Christian at the scene lamented, “churches are being demolished all over the country now. Will they ever let us build again?”

In the past two years, the landowner has repeatedly tried to rebuild the church and gain the necessary permissions. However, with no hope for success, he has given up now. In August 2018, the person in charge of the church reluctantly decided to reconvert the land to agricultural use.

Reported by Jiang Tao

 

church demolition2
Bricks left behind at the base of the church wall

 

Tagged With: Three-Self Church

Jiang Tao profile picture
Jiang Tao

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Religion at the Chinese Communist Party Congress: Christians Told They Should Become “More Marxist” 

    Religion at the Chinese Communist Party Congress: Christians Told They Should Become “More Marxist” 

  • Pastor Hao Zhiwei: 8-Year Prison Sentence Confirmed on Appeal

    Pastor Hao Zhiwei: 8-Year Prison Sentence Confirmed on Appeal

  • Churches Told to Worship the CCP or Face Closure

    Churches Told to Worship the CCP or Face Closure

  • Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin

    Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin

Keep Reading

  • Seventh-day Adventist Clergy Get Heavy Jail Sentences in Guizhou
    Seventh-day Adventist Clergy Get Heavy Jail Sentences in Guizhou

    Officially, Adventist congregations in China are part of the Three-Self Church. Those who kept their distinctiveness are now persecuted.

  • Closed Churches Ordered to Be Sold, Rented, or Destroyed
    Closed Churches Ordered to Be Sold, Rented, or Destroyed

    Local governments repurpose places of worship and turn them into propaganda centers, entertainment venues, or factories. Some are even leveled to the ground.

  • Hohhot Bible Trial: Defendants Charged with “Collusion with Foreign Forces”
    Hohhot Bible Trial: Defendants Charged with “Collusion with Foreign Forces”

    Heavy jail penalties are sought against Christians who purchased “legal” Bibles from the Three-Self Church but distributed them “illegally” as part of house church activities.

  • Three-Self Church and Communist Party, “One Heart and One Mind”
    Three-Self Church and Communist Party, “One Heart and One Mind”

    The National Day offered to the government-controlled Protestant Church the opportunity to call Christians to unconditionally obey the CCP.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Chinese Muslims Told Mosques Should Preach Communism Too by Ma Wenyan
  • China’s “Query System for Islamic, Catholic, and Christian Clergy,” Another Tool for Repression by He Yuyan
  • Hebei: Friends Pray in Your Home, the CCP Cuts Off Your Water and Electricity by Lai Mingxia
  • Christian Students Asked to Study 20th Congress and Celebrate “Heroes” Who Betrayed the Church by Zhang Chunhua
  • Russia: Two Evangelical Pastors Prosecuted, Falsely Accused of Raising Money for the Ukrainian Army by Massimo Introvigne
  • Filipino Catholic Priest Arrested for Slandering Unrecognized Marian Apparitions by Massimo Introvigne
  • Pakistan, Young Christian Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy 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