• 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 / News China

Leading House Churches Targeted in China

05/10/2021Qi Junzao |

Beijing’s Zion Church, Renai Church in Guiyang, and Early Rain in Chengdu continue to be under attack.

by Qi Junzao

Zion Church, before its main place of worship was closed.
Zion Church, before its main place of worship was closed (from Twitter).

There is no pause nor mercy in the CCP campaign to crack down on independent house churches. The limited tolerance granted to some of them in the pre-Xi-Jinping era is gradually coming to an end. Either the house churches join the government-controlled Three Self Church, or their leaders go to jail. It also happens that house churches are labeled as xie jiao, “heterodox teachings,” and their elders and pastors prosecuted under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code, originally conceived to crack down on banned new religious movements.

Beijing’s Zion Church is one of the most famous house churches in China. In 2018, it was officially “dismantled” and banned by the authorities, which tried to bankrupt it by imposing extravagant fines. It was also accused of being a xie jiao. Much to the CCP’s surprise, however, Zion Church did not disappear. It lost its place of worship, as the CCP persuaded the landlord to cancel the lease, but devotees continued to meet in private homes. A believer told Bitter Winter that there are “hundreds” of Zion Church meeting places, not all of them in Beijing, and the total membership may be in excess of 25,000.

Obviously, this is not something the CCP can tolerate. Two Zion Church preachers, Qie Jiafu and Huang Chunzi, have been arrested in their homes in the last days of April. It is unclear whether they will be formally incriminated, but believers are afraid that this is just the beginning of a new crackdown on their church.

In March, Bitter Winter reported about the attack against another significant house church, Renai Reformed Church, in the prefecture-level city of Guiyang, in Guizhou province. When the church’s  elder, Zhang Chunlei, went to the police station to negotiate the release of the devotees arrested during a police raid in a hotel where they had gathered for praying, he was arrested himself.

Elder Zhang with family, from Twitter.
Elder Zhang with family, from Twitter.

Elder Zhang should have been released after 11 days of administrative detention, but this did not happen. When his wife and the Christians of the Renai Reformed Church protested, they were told that Zhang’s case was being investigated. On May 1, he was formally indicted for “religious fraud” and placed under criminal detention at Yunyan Branch Detention Center. Houses of Renai Church members were also searched by the police, and religious items were confiscated.

On May 7 in Chengdu, Sichuan province, yet another pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, Wu Wuqing, was arrested for “disturbing the public order” after officiating the funeral of a church member. Wu had already been arrested in April, and Early Rain’s leader, pastor Wang Yi, is currently serving a nine year sentence in jail.

These are significant messages sent to all house churches throughout China. Unless they submit to the government, their days are numbered.

Tagged With: House Churches, Religious Persecution

bw-profile
Qi Junzao

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • After 26 Years, Uyghurs Remember the Ghulja Massacre

    After 26 Years, Uyghurs Remember the Ghulja Massacre

  • Iran: “Christians Are Constantly Watched as Spies”

    Iran: “Christians Are Constantly Watched as Spies”

  • Falun Gong’s Report on Persecution in 2022: 172 Killed, 633 Sentenced

    Falun Gong’s Report on Persecution in 2022: 172 Killed, 633 Sentenced

  • Pakistan: Why Lynching of “Blasphemers” Continue

    Pakistan: Why Lynching of “Blasphemers” Continue

Keep Reading

  • Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria
    Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria

    The number of cases went from 271 in 2021 to 294 in 2022. They should not be dismissed lightly.

  • 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.

  • Christian from Wenzhou Prosecuted in Sichuan
    Christian from Wenzhou Prosecuted in Sichuan

    Lin Xuesui wanted to be a missionary. He has ended up being a prisoner of conscience.

  • Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online
    Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online

    Chen Lijun was detained in August. His wife reports he is still in jail, and his family is in desperate conditions.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • There Are Christian Uyghurs, Too: New Organization Launched in London by Ruth Ingram
  • The Last Words of a Uyghur Father: A Son’s Memory by Abdurehim Gheni Uyghur
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • Chinese Agents Tried to Bribe U.S. Tax Officer in Anti-Falun-Gong Plot by Massimo Introvigne
  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum by Massimo Introvigne
  • Vandalism Against Catholic Churches on the Rise in Bavaria by PierLuigi Zoccatelli

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