General
27.02.2026 – International forum in Tokyo addresses unreported realities of human rights abuses in China
China Aid – On Monday, February 23, the second international forum “China’s Human Rights Abuses Unreported by the Media”, jointly organized by Japan’s Happiness Realization Party and Federation for a Democratic China, was held in Tokyo. The forum aimed to expose the severe human rights situation and the current plight of religious freedom in China. The following day, Dr. Bob Fu was warmly welcomed during his visit to the headquarters of the Happiness Realization Party, further strengthening dialogue and exchanges with Japanese political leaders.
26.02.2026 – Echoes of the sacred: Jao Tsung-I’s Chinese religion across five millennia
Bitter Winter – An erudite journey through China’s spiritual imagination, where oracle bones, Daoist talismans, and Chan enlightenment form a single, continuous conversation.
23.02.2026 – China, you’re never too old or too young to fight “cults and illegal religions”
Bitter Winter – China’s anti-religious propaganda has always been ambitious. Still, its latest campaign shows a new approach: no one is too young or too old to be pulled into the fight against xie jiao, literally “organizations spreading heterodox teachings,” now increasingly used to designate “cults and illegal religions.”
Toddlers, get ready. Grandparents, lace up your shoes. In Lanzhou, Gansu’s capital, the struggle for ideological purity now reaches from the schoolyard to the morning exercise group. The outcomes are, depending on your sense of humor, either very alarming or unintentionally funny.
18.02.2026 – The luminous Nestorians: When Christianity was already Chinese
Bitter Winter – “Bitter Winter” regularly reports on the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to “Sinicize” all religions, a policy that in practice means subordinating faith communities to Party ideology.
Yet the term Sinicization has a much older and far wealthier history. Long before the CCP existed, foreign religions entering China engaged in genuine processes of cultural translation, intellectual dialogue, and theological creativity.
Christianity is a prime example. When propaganda today insists that Christianity must be Sinicized because it is a “Western” faith, it overlooks the fact that Christianity was already Sinicized—deeply and successfully—more than a millennium ago.
The first significant instance came through the Nestorian Church of the East, whose missionaries in the Tang dynasty created what Chinese sources called Jingjiao, the “Luminous Religion.”
The Church of Almighty God
18.02.2026 – The persecution of The Church of Almighty God from bad to worse
Bitter Winter – The 2025 annual report on the persecution of The Church of Almighty God (CAG), released on February 13, 2026, echoes similar documents the CAG has published for several years.
Although the CAG itself produces these reports, “Bitter Winter” has long regarded their data as reliable. Our own continuous monitoring of Chinese media, police announcements, and public security press releases confirms the same patterns the report describes: mass arrests, heavy sentences, and the steady expansion of campaigns aimed at eliminating CAG believers.
What the Church documents from inside is echoed, often unintentionally, by the CCP’s own official channels—a convergence that suggests the authenticity of the picture presented.
Protestants
25.02.2026 – Christian missionary Dong Yanmei still detained despite expired legal deadline
Bitter Winter – The case of Beijing house church missionary Dong Yanmei, known among Christians as Ruhamah, has taken a troubling turn.
Although the legally allowed period for preliminary detention has expired, authorities in Mianyang, Sichuan, have not released her, and her family and lawyer have received no explanation.
Dong, a native of Mianyang and a longtime Christian missionary at a Beijing house church, was arrested on March 23, 2025, along with three other believers. All four had previously traveled abroad using valid Chinese passports to visit Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea’s Jeju Island, which do not require visas for Chinese citizens. They also attended Christian gatherings during their trip.
18.02.2026 – Violent attack less than a year after release: Chen Yunfei seriously injured after being attacked
China Aid – Human rights defender Chen Yunfei, who served an eight-year prison term and was released last year, has once again fallen into a life-threatening situation. In response to a violent assault that occurred in early January this year, Chen Yunfei and his legal representative, lawyer Lu Siwei, recently went to the Zhujiang Road Police Station in Chengdu to lodge a formal protest and engage the police.
Lawyer Lu Siwei emphasized that this was not a simple public security incident, but a premeditated criminal offense, and demanded that the police severely punish the perpetrators and uncover who orchestrated the attack behind the scenes.
18.02.2026 – Early Rain Covenant Church suffers further crackdown: elder’s wife released on bail, their children’s devices remain seized
China Aid – In the latest round of repression against Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Zhang Xinyue, the wife of elder Li Yingqiang, was granted bail on February 6 and returned to her home in Deyang. On February 13, she released a prayer letter expressing gratitude to church members and supporters and calling for continued prayers for her two minor children.
According to Zhang Xinyue’s letter and church briefings, on January 6, authorities carried out a large-scale operation against the church. Li Yingqiang was taken away from their home in Deyang, and his wife was subsequently detained. Their two children, a 14-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, witnessed their parents being taken away.
17.02.2026 – Suizhou Church case continues to escalate: 72 year old Christian song Yude is prevented from receiving further treatment while in detention center
China Aid – A case involving Christians in the Zengdu District of Suizhou, Hubei Province (commonly known as the “Suizhou church case”), has continued for more than two years since police carried out a coordinated operation in 2023 and arrested nearly 30 Christians.
Among them, 72-year-old Christian Song Yude, a native of Nanyang, Henan, is currently detained at the Suizhou Detention Center. While in custody, his hernia condition has severely worsened, yet he has still not received any effective medical treatment, causing grave concern for his health.
16.02.2026 – Hefei’s Ganquan Church: Pastor Zhou and Elder Ding sentenced to 4.5 and 4 years
Bitter Winter – The news from Hefei on February 13 was grim but not unexpected. After more than two years of detentions, delays, and opaque legal maneuvers, the Shushan District Court has handed down heavy sentences against two leaders of Hefei’s Ganquan Church.
Pastor Zhou Songlin has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison, with a fine of 30,000 yuan, while Elder Ding Zhongfu received a four‑year sentence and a fine of 28,000 yuan. Both men are being held at the Hefei (Male) Detention Center in Changfeng County, where they have remained since their arrest in late 2023.
The court also ordered the confiscation of more than 366,000 yuan deemed “illegal income,” with instructions to pursue any remaining amount, and authorized the disposal of seized property and frozen bank accounts.
Falun Gong
28.02.2026 – Once jailed for 11 months, 48-year-old Heilongjiang woman gets another 4 years for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A 48-year-old woman in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province was sentenced to four years for her faith in Falun Gong, Minghui.org learned recently.
Ms. Feng Yunjuan, born in August 1977, was arrested on April 16, 2025, by plainclothes officers who followed her home. Her family was not notified of her indictment, trial, or sentencing.
They later hired a lawyer, and the lawyer learned of her wrongful conviction when he visited her recently. She is currently serving time at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison.
24.02.2026 – Hebei man sentenced to 4.5 years in Inner Mongolia for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A middle school teacher in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, was recently sentenced to 4.5 years by a court in Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia, for talking to people about the persecution of his faith, Falun Gong.
Mr. Xi Zhaojun was arrested on July 8, 2025, while he traveled to Shangdu County. The arresting officers from the Daheishatu Town Police Station gave him 15 days at the Houqi Lockup in Shangdu.
The police in Shangdu worked with their counterparts in Zhangjiakou to ransack Mr. Xi’s and his mother’s homes on July 15. They confiscated their Falun Gong books, a portrait of the founder of Falun Gong, and his mother’s cell phone.
20.02.2026 – After being jailed for 11 years, Heilongjiang man sentenced to another five years for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A 66-year-old man in Dongning City, Heilongjiang Province, is appealing a five-year prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Shen Jinxiang was arrested during a police sweep on July 18, 2025. He was first held in the Dongning City Detention Center, then transferred to the Hailin City Detention Center on August 27.
He appeared in the Hailin City Court on December 24 and 30, 2025, and was sentenced to a five-year prison term with a 2,000-yuan fine on February 4, 2026. See the related reports about his sentencing.
