The popular preacher from the Miao ethnic group was released in 2020 but his troubles are not over.
by Mo Yuan
Pastor Wang Hai is a legendary figure in Yunnan. He comes from a family of the Miao ethnic minority, where his father and brothers already served as elders of the Miao Trinity Church in Yongshan county, Yunnan province.
With great sacrifices, his father managed to enroll him at Yunnan Bible Seminary, and he was ordained in the government-controlled Three-Self Church in 2012. By then, he was already moving from village to village with his motorbike, planting new churches, and converting hundreds of Miao villagers. Most of them were very simple folks from villages with no regular water or electricity supplies. Yet, they were conquered by Wang’s young, dynamic, and amiable ministry.
This activism was not exactly welcome in the Three-Self Church. Proselytization, the establishment of new churches, and missions among ethnic minorities are not acceptable in an organization whose aim is to control and limit religious activities, not to expand them.
Wang was put under surveillance together with his parents. They were detained in August 2020. Wang, however, was released on bail on October 19, 2020.
He remains under surveillance and investigation, and his activities have been limited.
