China: Religious issues and persecution – Bimonthly Digest February 16-28
General
25.02.2025 – China’s Ministry of Public Security reports increased anti-religious repression in 2024
Bitter Winter – A report published last week on the WeChat account of China’s Ministry of Public Securityclaims that in 2024 the Ministry conducted an unprecedented campaign, with record numbers, “to address xie jiao organizations, focusing on risk prevention, law enforcement, and comprehensive governance. These actions aimed to control the growth and spread of xie jiao organizations, thereby reducing potential threats to national political security and ensuring social stability.”
24.02.2025 – Chinese Liaison Officer Sangay Kyab participates in protest against religious persecution inside China
Tibet.net – On 22 February 2025, Sangay Kyab, the Chinese Liaison Officer for European countries, participated in a protest organised by Chinese Christian groups in Basel, Switzerland.
The protest, organised by The Association for the Defence of Human Rights and Religious Freedom and co-organised by The Church of Almighty God.This event was held at Basel train station in Switzerland.The event was held on February 22 at different locations in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. It was attended by individuals who had fled China due to religious persecution. The gathering aimed to condemn the arrest of 648 believers in Jilin Province in April 2024 and the reported torture and killing of two individuals.
The Church of Almighty God
28.02.2025 – The transnational persecution of The Church of Almighty God: an appeal
Bitter Winter – Information laboriously obtained and verified by the specialized daily magazine “Bitter Winter” confirmed that in October 2024, 648 members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) were arrested in the Jilin province, in China. Most of those arrested were women, and there are credible reports that several of them were tortured and sexually molested by police officers. Two female devotees, Wang Yuxia, 61, and Wang Fuhua, 49, died because of the torture.
In February 2025, the CAG released its yearly report on persecution. It noted that in August 2023, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission issued a secret directive for a three-year “Tough Battle” against CAG, starting in 2024. As a result, from January 2024, nationwide investigations led to mass arrests, particularly from June onward.
26.02.2025 – The Church of Almighty God publishes yearly report of persecution
Bitter Winter – As it does every year, The Church of Almighty God (CAG) has released a yearly report on its persecution in China, covering the year 2024. Obviously, this is a document coming from the CAG itself. However, “Bitter Winter” regards its data as reliable, based also on our constant monitoring of Chinese media and public security press releases and announcements, which frequently report on mass arrests and heavy sentences against CAG members.
According to the report, the persecution of the CAG intensified in 2024. Internal CCPdocuments revealed Xi Jinping himself’s strong focus on these operations. In August 2023, the CCP Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission issued a secret directive for a three-year “Tough Battle” against CAG, starting in 2024.
24.02.2025 – Church of Almighty God: 648 members arrested in Jilin, two died from torture
Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” has received verified information about the campaign conducted in 2024 in China against members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). After nearly six months of surveillance, investigations, and groundwork, the CCP launched continuous arrest operations across the country in the latter half of the year.
According to incomplete statistics, in October 2024, 648 CAG devotees were arrested in Jilin Province. On October 11 alone, 210 church members were taken into custody in Changchun City, and within four days, two of them died due to persecution.
Falun Gong
27.02.2025 – After 17.5 years of prior incarceration, 55-year-old man gets another 14-month prison term for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A 55-year-old resident of Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, was recently sentenced to 14 months for practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Yang Jiangwei, a former employee of Liangjin Dayang Electric Power Installation Company, was arrested on April 19, 2024, after he was seen putting up a self-adhesive sticker reading “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance [Falun Gong’s core tenets] is good” on a utility pole. He appeared in the Lianshan District Court on December 26, 2024 and January 16, 2025, before being convicted in February 2025. It’s not clear where he is currently detained. Details of his hearing can be found in the first related report below.
24.02.2025 – 61-year-old Liaoning woman secretly sentenced to three years, having served two previous terms totaling nine years
Minghui – A 61-year-old Benxi City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to three years and fined 4,000 yuan on December 10, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhao Huijun was arrested on April 11, 2024, while talking to people about Falun Gong on the street. Officers from the Gaoyun Police Station raided her home and confiscated her computer. The police also pressured her family’s landlord to evict them under the pretext that someone wanted to buy the property.
Prosecutor Ma Jing from the Xihu District Procuratorate and her assistant Hu Xinyu indicted Ms. Zhao on July 19, 2014.
21.02.2025 – 60-Year-Old Shandong teacher dies after years of persecution for her faith in Falun Gong
Minghui – Ms. Hu Keling filed a complaint in 2015 against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in her arrests and abuse. The Laixi City, Shandong Province, resident was subjected to close surveillance by the police afterward and had to move from one place to another. The unstable life plus the mental pressure took a toll on her health, which started to decline in 2018. She never recovered and died in November 2024. She was 60.
Ms. Hu contracted tuberculosis when she was three years old and suffered from breathing difficulty all year round. She developed insomnia while a middle-schooler. More illnesses followed as she entered adulthood, including serious heart disease, abnormal curvature of the cervical spine, and heel pain. Nothing helped until she took up Falun Gong in October 1998. All her symptoms disappeared in just two weeks, and she could finally breathe well and sleep soundly at night.
18.02.2025 – Cases of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted in psychiatric hospitals
Minghui – In its decades-long campaign to persecute Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sends mentally healthy practitioners who refuse to renounce their faith to psychiatric hospitals for “treatments.”
Practitioners are injected with nerve-damaging drugs, subjected to high-voltage electroacupuncture, force-fed, tied up, and beaten. The most widely used technique is injecting them with poison. The pain suffered by the victims is unimaginable, and many practitioners indeed became mentally ill or have died as a result.
Protestants
14.02.2025 – Tibet authorities prosecute ten christians on cult charges
China Aid – It is reported that on December 25, 2024, the Bayi District Procuratorate in Linzhi City, Tibet, filed a prosecution against ten Christians – Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei, Ren Xiaoyun, Wang Haiying, Li Chunjie, Qin Chenglan, Li Xiaolin, Xiao Mingzhi, Wang Ying, and Li Yan – on suspicion of sabotaging the enforcement of laws by organizing and utilizing cult organizations.
The reason given is that they publicly preached Christian doctrines such as everyone being sinful and needing to confess and repent. It is understood that some of these Christians have been serving in the Tibetan region for many years.
17.02.2025 – Pastor Bob Fu, President of China aid association, testified before the U.S. congressional committee on international religious freedom
China Aid – During his visit to Washington D.C., Pastor Bob Fu, Ph.D., founder and president of ChinaAid Association, attended a U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) hearing as a witness on the afternoon of February 6 at 1:30 PM. The hearing was held in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building. Following the hearing, Pastor Fu met with Senator Ted Cruz to discuss issues related to religious freedom in China.
17.02.2025 – Xia’an Church of Abundance case pre-triall conference reveals multiple prosecution violations, lawyers apply for bail for denfendants
China Aid – According to reports, a pre-trial conference was held on February 7, 2025, for the “fraud” case against Pastor Lian Changnian and his son Pastor Lian Xuliang of Xi’an Church of Abundance, and Preacher Fu Juan.
Defense lawyers pointed out multiple flaws in the prosecution’s charges, with clear evidence of torture during the defendants’ detention, and among multiple alleged “victims” cited by the prosecution, only one appeared in court and publicly denied being a “victim.” Lawyers requested bail for the three defendants.