CHINA : Religious issues and persecution – Bimonthly Digest January 16-31

 

Church of Almighty God

31.01.2025 – Church of Almighty God refugees asylum claims. (Article 1 to 7)

Bitter Winter – A series of nine papers written by experts defending the right of Chinese refugees belonging to the Church of Almighty God not to be deported back to China. Critical analyses of arguments used by some EU member states to deny them asylum.

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16.01.2025 – Denied asylum in Italy, Church of Almighty God member was arrested and tortured in China

Bitter Winter – This is the story of a member of The Church of Almighty God, the most persecuted Christian new religious movement in China, who was denied asylum in Italy and returned to China, where she was arrested and tortured.

Xiao Li (not her real name) talked to a “Bitter Winter” reporter after she was released from jail. She is still kept under surveillance and risked her life to tell her story. The author of this text, if identified, will be detained too. For this reason, we cannot disclose all details. We believe, however, that the story needs to be told, as it documents the connection between Chinese intelligence work and harassment of refugees in Italy and other countries where they seek asylum and the detention and torture of members of dissident religious groups in China.

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Buddhists

30.01.2025 – United for Tibet: The formal launch of the European Parliamentary friends of Tibet

Tibet. net – Brussels: In a significant move to bolster support for Tibet, the European Parliament witnessed the formal launch of the EP Friends of Tibet today on the initiative of MEP Prof. Dainius Zalimas and with the support of over 20 MEPs from all major political groups within the European Parliament.

The event was launched at the European Parliament in Brussels with the participation of 7 MEPs and Parliamentary Assistants representing a dozen EU member states despite falling on a busy day with the Holocaust memorial being observed around the same time.

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Falun Gong

28.01.2025 – Two brothers imprison their 78-year-old mother because she practices Falun Gong

Minghui –  When police in China harass Falun Gong practitioners, they often threaten to implicate their family members, including having them expelled from school or terminated from their jobs. Fearing that his son might be denied admission to a police academy, a man in Rushan City, Shandong Province, and his brother held their 78-year-old widowed mother in a secret location and cut off her communication with the outside world, simply because she wouldn’t renounce Falun Gong.

Ms. Xun Peiying’s grandson decided to apply for the police academy around July 2024. He ordered her to give up practicing Falun Gong, fearing that if she did not, he would fail the political background check. When Ms. Xun refused, he destroyed her copy of Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong. Days later, Ms. Xun’s two sons led a group of family members to her place and demanded that she record a voice memo, saying she would stop practicing Falun Gong. She refused to comply.

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25.01.2025 – Jilin Man sentenced to 4 years for practicing Falun Gong, sent to prison Hospital due to frail health

Minghui – Mr. Zhu Yujun from Shulan City, Jilin Province, was sentenced to four years for practicing Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhu was arrested on June 5, 2024 during a police sweep in which more than 50 other Falun Gong practitioners were arrested. He was given criminal detention at the Shulan City Detention Center. An insider reported seeing him being beaten by two guards. One of the guards said, “This guy refused to answer questions and deserves to be beaten.”

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22.01.2025 – At least 17 Falun Gong practitioners still jailed at Lanzhou Prison in Gansu, serving up to 12 years

Minghui – At least 17 men from various parts of Gansu Province are still held at the Lanzhou Prison for their shared faith in Falun Gong.

The Lanzhou Prison is designated to jail male Falun Gong practitioners in the province. It has 15 divisions, with practitioners detained in the first 11 divisions. 

The prison has two main sections, a living quarter and a workshop. The living quarter comprises five buildings with about 3,000 inmates in total. Each floor of the buildings houses about 150 people who have to share six faucets and six toilets in the only restroom. There is a long line every morning waiting to use the restroom. After a long day of work, the inmates must return to their floor. They can at most walk around in the hallway. No other workout is allowed. 

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03.01.2025 – Retired military officer sentenced to another six years for his faith, having previously served 13 years

Minghui –  A 60-year-old Lanzhou City, Gansu Province resident was sentenced to six years in prison and a 5,000-yuan fine on December 28, 2024, for practicing Falun Gong.

This is the third time Mr. Yang Xuegui has been sentenced since the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of his faith in July 1999. He was previously given eight years in 2002 and sentenced to another five-year term in 2018.

Mr. Yang’s latest arrest was on March 4, 2024, after he was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong on January 16, 2024. He was put in criminal detention the next day and issued a formal arrest warrant on March 15.

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Catholics

22.01.2025 – China ordains 11th bishop under Sino-Vatican agreement

Bitter winter – A newly created Catholic diocese in China’s Shanxi province witnessed the ordination of its first bishop under a recently renewed secretive China–Vatican agreement, according to a report.

Father Antoine Ji Weizhong, 51, was ordained as the Bishop of Luliang on Jan. 20 in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Fenyang, said the Vatican’s Fides.org news service.

Bishop Ji will lead Luliang diocese, formed from the now-suppressed Fenyang diocese, which will remain a suffragan of Taiyuan archdiocese.

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Protestants

24.01.2025 – Mass arrests and prosecution of House Church leaders in Tibet, preaching on zoom deemed illegal

China Aid – On Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, a prosecutor’s office in the Tibet Autonomous Region filed criminal charges against 10 Christians from the Chinese house church “All Ranges Church.” This is the latest case of nationwide crackdown against this banned Christian group following the arrest of 8 Christians in Hubei Province last September. 

The 10 indicted believers – Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei, Ren Xiaoyun, Wang Haiying, Li Chunjie, Qin Chenglan, Li Xiaolin, Xiao Mingzhi, Wang Ying, and Li Yan – were all charged with violating Item 1, Article 300 of the “Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China”, a notorious and controversial charge: “Sabotaging the enforcement of laws by organizing and utilizing cult organizations.” 

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22.01.2025 – Guangdong, Shengja Church: Leaders sentenced for “illegal business operations”

Bitter Winter – On January 17, 2025, the People’s Court of Shunde District in Foshan City, Guangdong province, gave its verdict in the case of the Shengjia Church, a house church in Shunde. 

Preacher Deng Yanxiang received a prison sentence of two years, which will expire on May 23, 2025, considering the time spent in pre-trial detention. The sentence is being served in the Nanhai District Detention Center. The other four defendants, Wang Weicai, Zhu Longjiang, Zhu Qiaoling, and Zhu Longfei, were sentenced to terms ranging from one year and two months to one year and five months. These are covered by their pre-trial detention and they have been released.

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15.01.2025 – Ten Church co-workers taken away by police during Sunday Worship at Province

China Aid – According to reports, on Sunday morning, January 5, 2025, an evangelical house church in Nanchang (which wishes to remain anonymous) experienced serious disruption during their Sunday worship service. 

The worship service was forcibly halted, and at least ten church co-workers were taken to the police station for questioning and detention. Among them, three Christians – one Brother and two Sisters – were detained for more than 24 hours. The following morning, the police station verbally informed these three Christians of their administrative detention. Though the official penalty notice wasn’t issued that afternoon, they were released the following afternoon. 

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15.01.2025 – Pastor SHEN shaochun of ‘Living water fellowship’ released 9 months early after serving 7-year sentence for ‘organizing illegal border crossing’

China Aid – According to reports, Pastor Shen Shaochun of the “Living Water Fellowship” in Huaiyuan, Bengbu, Anhui Province, was released from prison at the end of 2024. His wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson traveled to the Xishuangbanna Prison in Yunnan Province to pick him up. 

Pastor Shen was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018, with a term until September 2025, for “organizing illegal border crossing” after establishing “Living Water School” and serving as a volunteer teacher in Wa State, Myanmar. He was released 9 months early and has safely returned to his home in Nanjing. 

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