Three Christians were placed under administrative detention on January 18. The Anhui house church has been harassed by the authorities since 2018.
by Jiang Tao
On January 18, 2024, a gathering of the Fuyang Maizhong Reformed Church in Fuyang, Anhui province, was raided while children had come together to pray and sing. Police officers from the Economic and Technological Development Zone Branch of the Fuyang Municipal Public Security Bureau detained three Christians who were leading the children, called Dai Chuanli, Wang Dandan, and Ma Jiahui, and searched their homes. The Public Security placed the three Christians in administrative detention for fifteen days, pending further investigations.
Being raided by the police is a familiar experience for the Fuyang Maizhong Reformed Church. Its problems started in 2018 when, as reported by “Bitter Winter;” its leader signed the protest of house church pastors against the Regulation on Religious Affairs that came into force on February 1 that year.
After having been put under surveillance and harassed for several years, the church was attacked on October 8, 2021, when Elder Chang Shun was taken away by the police while leading a prayer meeting in a private home. Since Chang was not vaccinated, his case was repeatedly postponed until he was administratively detained in September 2023. He was released but detained again on November 3, 2023. Two other Christians of the church, Han Meng and Han Xuri, were also detained on the same day.
Meanwhile, on October 21, 2023, an office building where members of the church had gathered for a Bible study session, was also raided, and seven believers were detained for several hours. Other devotees of the Fuyang Maizhong Reformed Church report constant harassment by the police.
After the detention of Dai Chuanli, Wang Dandan, and Ma Jiahui was disclosed on social media, those who had posted about them were in turn summoned and interrogated by the police.
All this is part of an ongoing nationwide crackdown on house churches that refuse to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church. The crackdown implements a strategy launched by Xi Jinping himself at the National Conference on Work Related to Religious Affairs of December 3–4, 2021.
