Even mothers with small children and elderly parents they should care for are mercilessly detained and separated from their relatives.
by Zou Luli
In June 2025, “Bitter Winter” reported the arrest of five Christian leaders from the Shenyang Youth Fellowship, a vibrant house church network in Liaoning province. They were charged with “using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of law”—a vague and elastic accusation originally devised to fight “cults” but increasingly weaponized against independent orthodox Christian communities in China.
At the time, Pastor Mingdao, Brother Wang Xiangchao, Brother Shao, Sister Liu, and Sister Gu were detained. Their crime was organizing Bible studies and youth outreach outside the state-sanctioned Three-Self Church. By July 29, thanks to tireless efforts by their lawyers, four of the five were released on bail—everyone except Pastor Mingdao.
But the reprieve was short-lived.
As “Bitter Winter” subsequently reported, on September 26, Brother Wang Xiangchao was rearrested at 4 p.m. and taken to the Kangping County Detention Center.
Between September 26 and 29, Brothers Shao and Sisters Liu and Gu were also re-detained under the same charge. Wang’s wife, Enmei, was subjected to coercive measures—first detained, then released on bail, but now listed as a suspect in the case.
Then came another blow: on September 30, Pastor Mingdao’s wife, Sister Hua Zhao, was taken from her home by police at dawn.
As of October 22, six members of the Shenyang Youth Fellowship remain in detention. Two are out on bail. Three more Christians from other provinces have been arrested as co-defendants.
Behind these numbers are lives unraveling.
Pastor Mingdao and Sister Hua Zhao have a minor daughter at home. His mother is battling cancer. The family is in financial distress. Brother Shao’s household has lost its only source of income. One detained sister has two small children in kindergarten, and her husband is in poor health, struggling to care for them alone.
This is not law enforcement—it’s ideological punishment. The Shenyang Youth Fellowship is not listed among banned xie jiao groups. Yet the authorities have stretched the definition to criminalize peaceful worship and community support. The Fellowship’s emphasis on youth and small-group Bible study seems to have triggered the regime’s paranoia about autonomous faith networks.
The re-arrests, the targeting of spouses, the economic strangulation of families—these are tactics designed to break spirits and dismantle communities. But they also reveal something else: fear. The state fears what it cannot control. And it fears the resilience of faith.
Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
