Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest December 16-30
General
31.12.2025 – From reconnection to strategic prudence: A three-year review of China’s Church International exchanges (2023–2025)
Christian China daily – For observers of the church in China, the trajectory of international exchanges over the past three years has undergone a distinct transformation. What began as a rush of reconnection in 2023 evolved into a year of bold diplomatic breakthroughs in 2024 before settling into a new era of strategic prudence in 2025.
Data from public records and official statements between 2023 and 2025 show that the total volume of international exchanges in 2025 declined significantly. Rather than broad-spectrum engagement, the pattern moved toward more focused interaction, prioritizing specific multilateral platforms and regional partnerships.
Buddhists
29.12.2025 – Top political advisor meets Chinese Buddhist delegates
China Daily – China’s top political advisor Wang Huning has met with delegates attending a national congress of the Buddhist Association of China from Sunday to Monday in Beijing.
Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, stressed the importance of implementing the Party’s basic policy on religious affairs and guiding Buddhist figures and believers to contribute to the country’s modernization drive.
Protestants
30.12.2025 – Yang Jianxin, pastor of a house church granted parole, returns home early
ChinaAid – After years of hardship, a heartening piece of news has arrived in the depths of winter. Pastor Yang Jianxin of Sanmenxia City, Henan, has been granted parole and has returned home early, truly a reunion after the fog has lifted.
It is reported that Pastor Yang Jianxin of the Reformed House Church in Lingbao, Henan, who was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for adhering to his faith convictions, has now been approved for parole due to health reasons. At present, Pastor Yang has returned home and is beginning a long period of physical rehabilitation, accompanied by his family and friends.
23.12.2025 – A House church leader in Yunnan Chine sentenced to six months in prison for “organizing illegal gatherings’
China Aid – A court in southwestern China’s Yunnan Province recently sentenced a house church leader to six months in prison on the charge of “organizing illegal gatherings.” The case has once again drawn attention to the legal boundaries of religious activities in China and the situation facing house churches.
According to the court judgment, the People’s Court of Shuangbai County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, issued a first-instance verdict on December 17, 2025, finding Christian believer Bian Fuzhen guilty of “organizing illegal gatherings” and sentencing her to six months in prison. The court also ordered the recovery of 12,560 RMB in offerings collected by the church, of which she is a member, since its establishment.
22.12.2025 – Zhejiang: Five-day police operation in Wenzhou targets Christians
Bitter Winter – Between 13 and 18 December 2025, Taishun County, Wenzhou City, in Zhejiang Province, witnessed a large-scale operation targeting Christian communities in Yayáng Town. Accounts from residents, online testimony, and publicly posted notices allow reconstruction of the sequence of events, which included an unusually heavy police presence, mass detentions, and coordinated public messaging.
Residents reported that police units from several cities, including Hangzhou and Pingyang, entered Yayáng Town on 13 December. Witnesses described checkpoints at the town’s entrances, patrols along main roads, and searches of residential areas. Over the first two days, more than one hundred Christians were taken from their homes or workplaces.
19.12.2025 – A Chinese christian’s testimony: Lifting the veil on China’s “three-self Church”
Bitter Winter – When learning about the current state of Christianity in China, many people often misunderstand the coexistence of the “Three-Self Church” and the “house churches” as two “equal” choices. However, the “Three-Self Church” is not merely a religious entity, but a control mechanism embedded within Christianity by the authorities. This misleading terminology conceals a profound reality of religious persecution. Many believers participate unknowingly, unaware that their faith has been distorted. Since 1949, the government’s deception and suppression of religious beliefs have never ceased; its distortion and tampering with the Bible and the church have only intensified.
19.12.2025 – China Aid condemns massive police raid on Yayang Church network in Wengzhou
China Aid- ChinaAid strongly condemns a sweeping and coordinated assault by Chinese authorities on a major house-church network in Yayang Town, Taishun County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province—widely known as the “Jerusalem of China” for its vibrant Christian community.
In the early hours of December 15, 2025, more than 1,000 police officers—including special police, riot police, and firefighters mobilized from multiple localities—surrounded and forcibly stormed Yayang Church, the representative church of the Yayang area. Several hundred believers who were inside the church were arrested and held at undisclosed locations until approximately 11:00 a.m. that morning. Key church coworkers were placed under criminal detention. Personal belongings were illegally confiscated, roads leading to the church were completely sealed off, and Christians in Yayang Town are currently barred from entering Yayang Church.
17.12.2025 – Linfen’s Covenant Home Church: Wife protests mistreatment of pastor Li Jie in jail
Bitter Winter – In August 2022, police stormed a parent–child camp organized by Linfen’s Covenant Home Church of Linfen City, Shanxi. What began as a raid soon escalated into a campaign of dismantling: Pastor Li Jie and Elder Han Xiaodong were arrested in October, Elder Wan Qiang followed on November 9, and by November 16, the church itself was officially “liquidated.”
As “Bitter Winter” reported, verdicts against members of the Golden Lampstand Church, another targeted house church in Linfen, were handed down on June 20. Just days later, Pastor Li Jie and Elder Han Xiaodong of Covenant Home Church were sentenced in a separate case.
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02.12.2025 – Beijing police raids thanksgiving gathering in a guesthouse; christians state private event met with “detention wwithout legal paperwork”
China Aid – On what was intended to be Thanksgiving dinner on an ordinary Thursday evening, police suddenly burst into a guesthouse in Beijing’s Fengtai District, where more than ten Christians were taken to a police station for questioning. One woman remains detained at the time of reporting. Church members accuse police of failing to present any legal documents.
According to a notice from Zion Church, at about 7:30 p.m., over ten Christians were preparing for a small private dinner in a rented guesthouse near the Capital University of Economics and Business. Participants said it was simply a “family-style Thanksgiving sharing,” with no religious ceremonies, and was not open to the public.
Falun Gong
29.12.2025 – Once jailed for 7 years, 65-year-old Guangdong woman gets another five years for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A 65-year-old woman in Jiexi County, Guangdong Province, was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison in August 2025 to serve a five-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Li Meihong was arrested on May 13, 2024, for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Hepo Town. Officers from the Hepo Town Police Station took her to the Jieyang City Detention Center. Jieyang City oversees Jiexi County.
The Jiedong District Court in Jieyang City tried Ms. Li in February 2025 and sentenced her to five years. She was admitted to prison in August 2025. The case status of Ms. Hong Xirong, a practitioner who was arrested with Ms. Li on May 13, remains unknown.
27.12.2025 – Jailed a total of 15.5 years for their faith, Beijing couple in their 60s lose only source of income
Minghui- For upholding their faith in Falun Gong a married couple in their 60s in Beijing were jailed a total of 15.5 years. In addition, the wife’s pension, their only source of income, was garnished in November 2025, when the authorities started to seize her future benefits to pay the “debt” she “owed” them.
Shortly after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Wang Zicheng, a former employee of the Panfeng Hotel, was fired from his job and was not allowed to apply for retirement benefits. He and his wife, Ms. Zhang Aiping, were both arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 5 years and 4 years, respectively. Their two young children were left to fend for themselves while the couple were detained.
23.12.2025 – Five Heilongjiang residents sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong
Minghui – Five Suiling County, Heilongjiang Province, residents were sentenced to prison on October 16, 2025, for their faith in Falun Gong.
Mr. Li Zhongyuan was given five years and Mr. Wang Yu four and a half years. Mr. Xiu Zhongchen and Mr. Zhao Shuquan were each sentenced to two and a half years with four years probation. Mr. Jiang Ming was given two years with three years probation. All five were also each fined 10,000 yuan.
The practitioners were arrested on May 10, 2025, per an order from the Heilongjiang Province Public Security Bureau. Police in Hailun City and Suihua City were in charge of the arrests, assisted by their counterparts in Suiling County. Both Hailun City and Suiling County are under the administration of Suihua City.
