China : Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest May 01 – 15
General
07.05.2025 – Wang Huning on religion: Enforce “rule of law on religious work”
Bitter Winter – When Wang Huning speaks, it is always a good idea to listen. Wang is currently the top ideologist of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and the Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He frequently attends meetings between the CCP and the leaders of the five authorized religions. He seems to have a special interest in religion.
02.05.2025 – China bans missionary work without State approval in new restrictions
Religionunplugged – The Chinese Communist Party enacted new restrictions on foreign missionaries there May 1, preventing them from preaching, evangelizing and establishing various religious organizations among other activities without official government approval.
Establishing schools, appointing clergy, using the internet to conduct illegal religious activities and producing, selling or distributing Bibles and religious audio-visual products are among activities punishable by law for foreigners and Chinese nationals that aid them, according to the rules posted online by China’s National Religious Affairs Administration.
Muslims
02.05.2025 – “Sinicization” of Islam continues at full speed
Bitter Winter – The program of “Sinicization” of Chinese Islam continues. As readers of “Bitter Winter” know, “Sinicization” does not mean adapting religions to Chinese culture but submitting them to the complete control and ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
From April 14 to 21, a specialized “Training Course on Following the Direction of Islam’s Sinicization in China for 2025” took place at the Central Academy of Socialism in Beijing.
Yang Faming, President of the Chinese Islamic Association, and Xu Shaogang, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Dean of the Central Academy of Socialism, gave speeches at the opening ceremony. Imam Muhati Remu Xirifu, Vice President of the Chinese Islamic Association, chaired the ceremony.
Buddhists
09.05.2025 – Sinicization of Chinese Buddhism: What does it mean?
Bitter Winter – We are in the middle of the Five-Year Plan for the Sinicization of Buddhism in China, from 2023 to 2027. Last month, the progress of the Plan was discussed at a “Special training course on adhering to the direction of Sinicization of Buddhism in China,” jointly organized by the China Buddhist Association and the Central Academy of Socialism on April 21. Forty-seven full-time senior teachers from forty-four Buddhist colleges convened at Beijing’s Central Academy of Socialism to participate in the discussion.
Catholics
05.05.2025 – China’s shadow over the Conclave: Two bishops appointed without Vatican’s approval
Bitter Winter – One of the most problematic aspects of Pope Francis’ legacy is the Vatican’s relationship with China, which I discussed in “Bitter Winter” after the Pontiff’s death. Different assessments of the Vatican-China deal of 2018 exist, but one fact is that Beijing keeps violating it.
The 2023 situation regarding the new bishop of Shanghai, the most significant diocese in China, illustrates this issue. The Holy See officially reported that it had discovered Bishop Shen Bin had been transferred to Shanghai “from the media.” To uphold the agreement, the Pope legitimized Bishop Shen Bin “ex post,” and the Vatican even invited him to a conference in Rome.
02.05.2025 – The next Pope needs a better China policy
First things – Reforming the Vatican’s policy on China should be a priority of the next papacy. The current approach is defined by the Vatican’s controversial 2018 agreement with China to share power with Beijing in the appointment of Catholic bishops. It severely compromises the Catholic Church in China and erodes papal religious and moral authority.
Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Cardinal Parolin is the architect of the China deal and its chief enthusiast. Beijing has not-so-subtly signaled that he is China’s top pick for the next pope. At a press conference on April 22—one day after Pope Francis’s death—Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun dangled the prospect of “improvement of China-Vatican relations” through “continued” partnership, and no one among the leading papal candidates has more experience working with China than Cardinal Parolin.
Falun Gong
11.05.2025 – Tianjin woman sentenced to 5.5 years for practicing Falun Gong
Minghui – A Tianjin resident has been sentenced to five and a half years for her faith in Falun Gong, Minghui.org recently learned.
After nearly ten months in detention, Ms. Wei Sanmei has lost a significant amount of weight and her hair had turned gray. She is currently appealing the wrongful conviction.
Ms. Wei was arrested on the morning of July 12, 2024, by Zhai Bangjun, chief of the Fengnian Village Police Station, along with instructor Xu Shengde and other officers. Her Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, and a printer were confiscated. She was put on criminal detention at the Fengnian Village Detention Center. The Dongli District Procuratorate later indicted her.
10.05.2025 – Married couple and wife’s sister convicted for practicing Falun Gong, husband previously jailed for a total of 13 years
Minghui – Three members of an extended family in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, were sentenced to prison in 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, Minghui.org recently learned.
Mr. Han Laiqing, his wife Ms. Guo Jinxian, and Ms. Guo’s sister Ms. Liu Buxian, were arrested on November 9, 2023, by the police from the nearby Qingxu County (which is under the jurisdiction of Taiyuan City). Mr. Han was held at the Taiyuan City Second Detention Center, while the two sisters were taken to the Gujiao Detention Center, also in Taiyuan.
The three practitioners were later sentenced to prison by the Yingze District Court in Taiyuan: Mr. Han was given three years, Ms. Guo four years and Ms. Liu fourteen months. Mr. Han and Ms. Guo appealed, but lost the case on April 9, 2024. Ms. Liu completed her term on January 9, 2024, but was subjected to frequent police harassment since.
08.05.2025 – 71-year-old Falun Gong practitioner tortured to death in Chongqing
Bitter Winter – Tang Fenghua, a 71-year-old man from Chongqing, fell seriously ill while imprisoned at Yongchuan Prison, where he had been tortured due to his faith in Falun Gong. He was transferred to Chongqing Second Municipal Hospital for treatment but passed away there on April 17, 2025. His family was informed only recently.
Tang owned a successful furniture store near the old military subdistrict in Yongchuan. He has been repeatedly detained since 1999 and served two prison sentences totalling five years.
Protestants
06.05.2025 – Chinaaid association president Bob Fu co-signed a letter urging the U.S House of Representatives to pass a bill on combatting forced organ harvesting
ChinaAid – ChinaAid Association, together with a coalition of other human rights organizations and individuals issued a letter urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote in favor of HR 1503, the “Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025.” This bipartisan bill, introduced by Rep. Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Keating (D-MA), aims to combat the heinous crimes of forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking.
06.05.2025 – Hui Christian pastor released from prison as others continue to face harassment
CSW – Hui Christian Pastor Ma Yan was released from prison and reunited with his family on 17 April after he spent more than eight months in detention for ‘organising illegal gatherings’ in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. His release was confirmed on X by user @fanghong00.
Ma was charged and tried on 10 February 2025 for organising a gathering of no more than ten Christians in Jinfeng District, Yinchuan, Ningxia, which was raided by police officers on 9 August 2024. CSW sources suggested that Ma pleaded guilty during the trial because the charge of ‘organising illegal gatherings’ carries a lighter sentence compared to other charges and does not attract moral stigmatisation.
06.05.2025 – China, Christian media mobilized for CCP propaganda
Bitter Winter – Following the directives of the United Front, Christian media should devote more space to Xi Jinping’s thought and Party documents such as those that emerged from this year’s Two Sessions.
Christian (Protestant) media in China can be legally published only by the government-controlled Three-Self Church. They already publish plenty of Party propaganda, but have been told it is not enough.
04.05.2025 – Attendees at a Shanghai House Church were taken to a police station and briefly detained during Sunday service.
ChinaAid – A reliable Chinese house church network platform, “Kingdom Intercessory Prayer News,” issued a notice stating that a church in Jinshan District, Shanghai, was disrupted by local government authorities during its Sunday worship service on the morning of May 4. Approximately more than twenty church members were taken to the police station for brief detention and were all released later that afternoon. ChinaAid Association has expressed concern over the incident and will continue to follow up on the details regarding the church.
04.05.2025 – Trial of Linfen covenant House Church case involving pastor Li Jie and others accused of fraud is about to begin
ChinaAid – The high profile fraud case involving three members of the Linfen Covenant House Church, Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and Wang Qiang, is scheduled to be heard soon in a local court on May 8, 2025. Currently, Li Jie and Han Xiaodong remain in detention at a detention center, while Wang Qiang has been approved to be placed under residential surveillance at his home.
On May 2, the Covenant House Church issued an announcement calling on the public to pray for the three brothers in Christ facing imminent trial, asking God to grant them hearts of courage and wisdom.
