CHINA: Religious issues and persecution – Bimonthly Digest (16-31.07.2024)
General
23.07.2024 – International summit highlights religious freedom challenges in China
World – China Aid founder Bob Fu on Monday said Christians in China are experiencing the worst persecution since the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. Fu spoke during the second International Religious Freedom Summit Asia in Tokyo where more than a dozen speakers discussed freedom of belief throughout the region. Christian persecution is increasing throughout Asia, Pastor Andrew Brunson said at the IRF summit. He and his wife lived in Turkey for more than 20 years before police in 2016 arrested him and charged him with being involved with an armed terrorist organization. He remained in prison until October 2018 when he was released and returned to the United States.
The Church of Almighty God
29.07.2024 – China, “Bitter Winter” obtains a secret document on the repression of The Church of Almighty God
Bitter Winter – Recently, “Bitter Winter” received a secret and previously unknown document issued in July 2020 by China’s Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security. The document, titled “Guiding Opinions on Legally Punishing the Criminal Activities of the ‘Almighty God’ Xie Jiao” (hereinafter referred to as the “Guiding Opinions”), states that it was created to “efficiently” and “severely” crack down on The Church of Almighty God (CAG). It instructs courts, procuratorates, and public security organs to “coordinate between each other, fully utilize existing legal provisions, and conduct precise, efficient, and lawful strikes.” The document explicitly states that the Guiding Opinions must be kept confidential and “cannot be cited in legal documents.”
18.07.2024 – Church of Almighty God: The economy of refugees and ill-founded accusations of human trafficking
Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” commented a recent decision by the Court of Rome, which on June 14, 2024, granted full asylum to a member of The Church of Almighty God (CAG), judging her deserving of the “highest form of protection” in Italy. In this recent decision, the court stated that the most reliable sources agree that just being a member of the CAG exposes devotees to the risk of being jailed and tortured in China. The court also accepted works by scholars, including the undersigned, articles by “Bitter Winter,” and reports by U.S. federal agencies on religious liberty as reliable evidence of the CAG persecution in China, dismissing information spread by Chinese embassies, directly or through fellow travelers, as false.
Buddhists
26.07.2024- “Strict governance of religion” extends to Hui Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists
Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” recently reported on the “China Christian Implementation of Strict Governance of Religion Exchange Meeting” held in Xi’an, Shaanxi from June 27 to 28, 2024, immediately following the high-level national seminar on Sinicization of religion of June 26.
“Strict Governance of Religion” is a comparatively new slogan the United Front Work Department has started promoting among Christians. It means, first, that Christians pastors should put Xi Jinping Thought at the center of their religious meetings and sermons, and, second, that the bureaucrats of the government-controlled Three-Self Church should acknowledge that they have not proved effective enough in making sure that this happens and should accept direct supervision by the CCP and the United Front Work Department.
25.07.2024 – Tibetans forced to remove religious structures outside their homes
RFA – For the first time, Chinese authorities are forcing ordinary Tibetans to remove religious symbols and destroy such structures from the exteriors and roofs of their homes in several villages in a Tibetan area of Sichuan province, two sources with knowledge of the situation said.
Authorities also are prohibiting Tibetans in Sichuan province and elsewhere from organizing and participating in prayer sessions online, said the sources who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
23.07.2024 – Tibetan parents forced to enroll children at state-run residential schools
RFA – Chinese authorities are requiring the parents of students who attend a Buddhist school in a Tibetan area of western China to enroll their children in state-administered residential schools, Tibetans with knowledge of the situation said.
Earlier this month, Radio Free Asia learned that Chinese authorities had closed down the Buddhist school of Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge county, Sichuan province, affecting about 600 students. Another school at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county was also shut down, affecting 1,000 students.
Catholics
30.07.2024 – “Strict governance of religion” for Catholics Too
Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” is paying attention to the “Strict Governance of Religion,” a comparatively new slogan promoted by the United Front Work Department. It implies that the five authorized religions should put Xi Jinping Thought and “socialist values” at the center of their religious meetings and sermons. It also implies that the control of religion by the bureaucrats of the government-controlled religious bodies has not been effective enough. They should now accept a more direct supervision by the CCP and the United Front Work Department.
Falun Gong
31.07.2024 – Falun Gong, 400+ practitioners sentenced in China in the first half of 2024
Bitter Winter – While in various parts of the world, including in Washington DC, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated this month to commemorate 25 years of persecution, China continues its cruel repression of practitioners.
According to the movement’s own statistics, which “Bitter Winter” regards as reliable and confirmed by the high number of cases reported in Chinese media, in the first half of 2024, at least 447 Falun Gong practitioners, located in twenty-seven different provinces and regions, were sentenced by Chinese courts.
28.07.2024 – After 15 years of incarceration, Chongqing woman still faces ongoing surveillance and harassment for her faith in Falun Gong
Minghui – A 61-year-old Chongqing woman has been subjected to ongoing harassment and surveillance since she completed her third prison term in July 2023 for practicing Falun Gong.
The local street committee installed two surveillance cameras facing Ms. Huang Zhenglan’s door in July 2023, right after she was released from prison. Liu Yi of the street committee also brought the police to her home numerous times to harass her.
24.07.2024 – Elderly couple harassed for their faith, police threaten to implicate their family members
Minghui – An elderly couple in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, were recently harassed for their faith in Falun Gong, The police also threatened to implicate their children and grandson.
Mr. Wei Yingxin, 85, is a retired medical scientist from the Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Company in Guangzhou City. He also once worked as a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Management Science. Both he and his wife, Ms. Wan Mengying, have been repeatedly targeted over the past two-plus decades for practicing Falun Gong. He was previously sentenced to four years after an arrest in 2005 and suffered brutal torture at the Yangjiang Prison. He was not allowed to see his mother one last time when she died at 97 in 2008. His younger son struggled to cope with his imprisonment and developed clinical depression.
Protestants
31.07.2024 – Inside China’s first ‘strict governance training class’ for christian pastors
China Aid – Senior pastors from a hundred major state-sanctioned Christian churches in China are holding a “strict governance training class” in Guangzhou. This is the first large-scale meeting of its kind where Christian senior pastors actively respond to the government’s initiative of “strict governance of religion.” The training class is aimed at aligning with the Chinese government’s united front efforts of “Loving the country and loving the Party.”
According to the official website of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China and China Christian Council ( (from July 8 to 12, 2024), senior pastors from a hundred major churches in China gathered in Guangzhou to attend the “strict governance of religion” training class.
29.07.2024 – Elder Zhang Chunlei sentenced to heavy punishment, with additional fines and property confiscation
China Aid – The case against Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church, charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and “fraud”, was sentenced at 10:00 AM on July 24, 2024, at the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court in Guizhou Province. The court issued a first-instance verdict on the two charges against Elder Zhang Chunlei. Elder Zhang Chunlei was sentenced to three years and six months for “inciting subversion of state power” and two years for “fraud”, with a combined sentence of five years imprisonment, to be served until March 16, 2026. The court also ordered the recovery of ￥14,400 yuan from the “fraud” charge and imposed a fine of ￥5,000 yuan.
26.07.2024 – Elder Zhang Chunlei to be sentenced on charges of inciting subversion of state power and fraud
China Aid- It has been announced that the case against Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church, charged with “inciting subversion of state power and fraud,” was scheduled for sentencing on July 24, 2024, at 10:00 AM at the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court. The trial against Elder Zhang Chunlei on suspicion of “incitement to subvert state power” and “fraud,” took place in closed session at the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court on January 27, 2022, and November 29, 2022. After one year and eight months since the trial, a verdict is finally to be announced.
23.07.2024 – Punished for forwarding Pastor Wang Yi’s sermon on WeChat: Gu Ti’s story
China Aid – On July 18, 2024, Sister Gu Ti, a Christian from Guang’an City, Sichuan Province, was administratively punished by the Guansheng Police Station of Guang’an District Branch of Guang’an Public Security Bureau for forwarding Pastor Wang Yi’s sermon video in a WeChat group and was fined 200 yuan.