Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest January 01-15
General
14.01.2026 – The Church’s silence on China’s egregious violations of religious freedom
ucanews – Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christians across China intensified as this year began, with a new wave of arrests and repression.
Last week, Li Yingqiang, the leader of one of China’s most prominent unregistered Protestant churches, the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan province, was taken from his home in Deyang by police, along with his wife and five other church leaders. They remain in detention without any public charges.
The US Congress’ Select Committee on China said they were arrested because they refused to “bow” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, which has imposed new restrictions that effectively criminalize unauthorized online Christian worship.
12.01.2026 – Nigeria, China and Mexico among top 5 persecutors of christians
Religion unplugged – Nigeria, Rwanda, China, Mozambique and Mexico were the most dangerous countries for Christians from 2023-2025 in five distinct categories of persecution, Global Christian Relief (GCR) said in its second annual Red List
02.01.2026 – Longfu Temple in Hezhou, legally rebuilt in 2024, was destroyed despite local villagers’ protests and resistance.
Bitter Winter – On December 23, in Xinglongzhai Village, Zhongshan County, Hezhou City, Guangxi, the Chinese Communist Party once again demonstrated its unique interpretation of “religious management”: if it exists, demolish it; if villagers resist, gas them; if anyone films it, arrest them.
This time, the target was Longfu Temple, a modest folk‑religion shrine rebuilt by villagers with their own savings after decades of neglect. The temple had stood in the area for generations, long enough that locals cannot even remember when it first appeared. But in today’s China, longevity may be a liability.
Buddhists
13.01.2026 – Three centuries after his death, China is still afraid of the sixth Dalai Lama
Bitter Winter – In Asia, very few have heard of Tsangyang Gyatso. Though unconventional, the Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706) was one of the most remarkable religious figures, leaving an indelible mark on the minds and hearts of the Himalayan people. Born at the end of the 17th century, in Urgyeling, in today’s Tawang district of the federal state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, he lived his first years in Monyul, a Tibetan expression meaning “low lands” and still indicating today the mountainous region of Eastern Himalaya known also as “the Land of the Monpa,” or the ethnic group, mainly adhering to Tibetan Buddhism, that inhabits the area. It has been Indian territory since 1914, when the boundary between Tibet and India was agreed upon and delineated.
Protestants
12.01.2026 – Giving voice to the Persecuted Chinese christians in Los Angeles
Bitter Winter – On the evening of January 9, I attended the “Fasting Prayer Meeting for Persecuted Churches in China” at Harvest Chinese Christian Church in Los Angeles. As a choir member, I stood on stage throughout the gathering, witnessing how hymns, prayers, messages, and testimonies intertwined. They transformed the familiar scripture, “Remember those in prison,” into an inescapable, urgent call to action.
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12.01.2026 – Members of a Chengdu House church detained or movements restricted, families and lawyers say law enforcement information is opaque
China Aid – Since early January, multiple members and coworkers of the Early Rain Covenant Church, a Protestant house church in Chengdu, a city in southwest China, have been taken away by police, subjected to administrative detention, or had their personal freedom restricted. Families and lawyers say that in most cases the authorities have not presented formal legal documents to the families, and that the specific charges and detention locations remain unclear.
According to the church, a seminarian named Song Haibing became unreachable on January 8. Family members later confirmed that Song had been taken away by police of Liangshan and placed under administrative detention for ten days. His work mobile phone and computer were confiscated by police. Song’s wife currently lives in Dujiangyan and has not yet joined the church. People familiar with the situation say she is bearing immense psychological pressure alone as a result of the sudden turn of events.
09.01.2026 – China, Chengdu’s Early Rain Church: Yet another wave of arrests
Bitter Winter – On January 6, 2026, Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church and its members faced a new coordinated police operation. Multiple elders, pastors, assistant deacons, and brothers and sisters were taken away or had their personal freedom restricted. This was accompanied by home raids, home surveillance, communication restrictions, and loss of contact. The incident spans Chengdu and Deyang, with developments ongoing.
Early Rain has circulated a list of “members who have been taken away or had their personal freedom restricted (in known order)”:
08.01.2026 – A pastor’s wife dilemma: between exile in Thailand and imprisonment at home
China Aid – At two o’clock in the morning, urgent knocking echoed outside a residence in the outskirts of Beijing.
Gao Yingjia and his wife, Geng Pengpeng, were hiding at a friend’s home at the time. Several plainclothes men claiming to be police officers stood outside the door. The couple hurried downstairs, trying to keep their footsteps light, and their nearly six-year-old son was asleep upstairs.
They knew time was running out.
Not long afterward, Gao Yingjia was taken from Beijing and escorted to a detention center in southern China’s Guangxi province on the charge of “illegal use of information networks.” Several coworkers who pastored Zion Church alongside him were also detained.
06.01.2026 – China: New arrests at underground protestant churches
hrw.org – (New York) – Chinese authorities have detained half a dozen members of an underground Protestant church based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Human Rights Watch said today. This was the latest in a string of arrests of members of prominent unofficial “house churches” in China in the past year.
The Early Rain Covenant Church posted on social media that on January 6, 2026, police raided the home of its current leader, Li Yingqiang, in Deyang and took him away. It said that other key church members were similarly taken into custody.
“The Chinese government has ushered in the new year with new arrests of underground Protestant church members,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government should immediately free those detained and let them freely practice their religion.”
The Church of Almighty God
07.01.2026 – Zero-out campaign: The ordeal of The Church of Almighty God members in Shandong
Bitter Winter – In recent years, the CCP’s frenzied repression and brutal arrests of members of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) have intensified even further. The so‑called “Three‑Year General Battle,” launched in September 2020, failed to achieve its goal of crushing the Church. As a result, in 2024 the CCP initiated a new “Three‑Year Tough Battle” (2024–2026), openly declaring its determination to “completely destroy” and eradicate The Church of Almighty God. Shandong Province has been one of the regions most heavily targeted by arrest campaigns in recent years.
Falun Gong
14.01.2026 – 12 ways the CCP deprives Falun Gong practitioners of their basic rights
Minghui – Ever since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999, human rights abuses in China have gotten worse and worse. In a normal society, people have basic rights, such as to life, freedom of belief, the ability to work and own property, and safety. They also have access to public services such as transportation.
But the situation in China is different. Staff members in residential communities, workplaces, and educational institutions often receive orders requiring practitioners to write statements to give up practicing Falun Gong. When practitioners travel, including on trains or at customs, their IDs are checked. Because the CCP has lists of practitioners in its system, after their IDs are scanned, practitioners are usually body searched and may have their property confiscated. Sometimes they are detained.
12.01.2026 – Reported in 2025: 4,803 Falun Gong practitioners arrested or harassed for their faith
Minghui- Mr. Liu Xiangzhao, in his 80s, from Lyushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at a farmers’ market on April 24, 2025, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was held in a dark room in the police station and made to sit on the cold cement ground for hours. He shivered uncontrollably. The police forced him to take an unknown drug before they released him. Mr. Liu’s health steadily declined upon returning home, and he died on June 4, 2025.
Having spent 10.5 years behind bars, Ms. Lin Fuhua, a 56-year-old resident of Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province, was harassed again in June and August 2025. As she remained firm in her faith in Falun Gong, the police and local village officials approached her landlord, threatening him with fines if he continued to rent his property to Ms. Lin.
09.01.2026 – Once jailed for 7 years, Inner Mongolia woman gets another 2 years for her faith in Falun Gong
Minghui – A 55-year-old woman in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, was sentenced to two years and given an unknown amount of fine on December 16, 2025, for her faith in Falun Gong. She is appealing the verdict.
Ms. Wang Fenghua was arrested on the evening of June 20, 2025, by officers from the Yuanbaoshan District Police Department and Yunshan Road Police Station. She was held at the Yuanbaoshan District Detention Center. The Yuanbaoshan District Procuratorate approved her arrest on July 1 and moved her case to the Yuanbaoshan District Court on August 8. When her family contacted the Procuratorate for her case status on August 4, the assistant prosecutor, Zhang Xiwen, lied to them and said that they hadn’t received the case from the police yet.
