CHINA: Special bimonthly FORB newsletter (1-15.08.2022)
Buddhists
10.08.2022 – Monk disciplinarian detained in connection with 2013 self-immolation tortured in undisclosed location
A Tibetan monk named Tseta, 25, was detained for about seven months shortly after Tenzin Sherab, a 33-yr old Tibetan nomad, died of self-immolation protest in May 2013 in Chumarleb (Ch: Qumalai) County, Kyegu (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
New information received by TCHRD provides evidence that Tseta, a disciplinarian (Tib:ghe-gheu / dean of a monastic institute) at the local Adril monastery, was taken into custody for taking photos of Sherab’s body and sharing it with outsiders. He was subjected to severe beatings and torture in custody and forced to confess about his role in making the information about the self-immolation public.
03.08.2022 – Yarchen Gar Buddhist Novice nuns deported back to Tibet for ‘reeducation’
Yarchen Gar used to be the largest monastery in the world. It is located in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, part of historical Tibet now incorporated into the Chinese province of Sichuan. Most of the Yarchen Gar residents are Tibetan Buddhist nuns, and the huge monastery was nicknamed the “City of Nuns.” At one stage, some 10,000 nuns lived there.
Until a few years ago, the CCP kept the nuns under surveillance but also welcomed tourists to the Yarchen Gar, using it to argue that Tibetan Buddhists enjoyed religious freedom. In fact, when the authorities felt the monastery was growing too much, parts of it were demolished, since the beginning of the 21st century.
Protestants
15.08.2022 – Authorities raid Early Rain Covenant Church gathering, one detained
Early Rain Covenant Church disclosed that Chengdu authorities raided their in-person gathering yesterday. Police required congregants to register their ID numbers. Some members refused to register their IDs, resulting in one violent arrest.
Yesterday morning, about 50-60 believers gathered at a tea house in Wuhou District, Chengdu, and attended an in-person Sunday service. 20-30 police officers in uniform and plain clothes raided the meeting. They announced that “Early Rain Covenant Church” had been shut down, and it was illegal for them to gather. Police locked the tea house door, requiring everyone to register their IDs before leaving.
11.08.2022 – Xi’an Church of Abundance: Crackdown on a historical house church
On August 10, 2022, the Church of Abundance (Fengsheng), a historical house church in Xi’an, Shaanxi, which managed to survive and operate for some thirty years, sent an appeal to Bitter Winter and other media, claiming that since July 20 it is the victim of a heavy crackdown by Xi’an Shilipu Subdistrict Police, led by an officer called Zhang Haibo.
Homes of believers have been raided, and some of them have been taken to the police station for interrogation. Money belonging to the church has been confiscated.
09.08.2022 – Zhang Chenghao’s wife suddenly detained.
Elderly believers in a church located in an East China city make up nearly 70% of the congregation. Despite the small number of believers, the church’s various ministries are in full swing, with the elderly believers outnumbering younger believers in participation. How have they achieved it? Recently, a pastor of the church showed their practical experience to the Gospel Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper.
09.08.2022 – House Church faces fines totaling over $5 million
A house church in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, faces a hefty fine as authorities continue to crack down on house churches that are not registered with the government and therefore deemed “illegal.” Members of the church have asked for the prayers of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Wang Family Wedding Church was founded in 2006 and had a congregation that peaked at 1,500 attendees. The church was raided by the religious bureau of Xiangzhou district, Zhuhai city, on September 27, 2016; officials confiscated more than 40 computers and 300,000 yuan (44,310 USD) from the church and arrested its pastor, Wei Xiaomei, her husband, Li Bingxin, and staff member Zhang Tao (a Macau resident). The couple and Zhang Tao were charged with “fraud” in 2017.
05.08.2022 – An Yankui’s wife detained right before his trial
Yesterday, Zion Reformed in Taiyuan sent out prayer requests for Minister An Yankui and Zhang Chenghao, both charged with “illegally crossing the national border.” Their trial will be this morning. Yao Congya, An Yankui’s wife, was taken away by police before the trial for 15-day detention.
Taiyuan Zion Reformed Church asked people to intercede for Minister An Yankui, Zhang Chenghao, Yao Congya, and Taiyuan Zion Reformed Church by quoting 1 Corinthians 4:9, “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.”
Falun Gong
14.08.2022 – Woman suffers memory loss after injection in hospital, sentenced to four years for her faith.
Even though Ms. Liu Hongxia’s lawyer requested a postponement of her trial due to her poor health, the judge heard her case on July 13, 2022, as scheduled, and sentenced her to four years for practicing Falun Gong. The 47-year-old woman was so weak and emaciated that she couldn’t even sit up and slumped in her chair during the entire proceedings.
Ms. Liu of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on October 28, 2021, when the police officer following her saw her putting up Falun Gong posters in residential buildings. She was admitted to Dalian City Detention Center.
She has been on a hunger strike since February 14 of this year to protest the persecution of her faith, which has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
10.08.2022 – Seven women, including four in their 70s and 80s, stand trial for practicing Falun Gong
A total of 366 Falun Gong practitioners sentenced for their faith were confirmed in the first half of 2022.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Since then, countless practitioners have been arrested, detained, sentenced, and tortured for upholding their faith. But due to strict information censorship in China, the incidents can’t always be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.
The newly confirmed cases include one that took place in 2013, two in 2014, one in 2016, one in 2017, one in 2018, one in 2019, 12 in 2020, 145 in 2021, and 202 in 2022. For the 202 prison terms that have been handed down in 2022 so far, 45 were in January, 36 in February, 44 in March, 37 in April, 22 in May, and 17 in June.
05.08.2022 – Sichuan woman now a vegetable after suspicious fall while serving time for her faith
When a Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, woman was released on July 20, 2022, after serving three years for practicing Falun Gong, her family was devastated to see this once-healthy woman had become a vegetable.
Ms. Liao Guanghui, born on February 26, 1953, fell down on March 10, 2021, while incarcerated in Sichuan Province Women’s Prison, which is located in the capital city of Chengdu. She has remained unconscious ever since. The prison denied her family’s request to release her on medical parole and held her in custody until the end of her term. Due to her prolonged coma, the prison hospital declared that she has become a vegetable.
Because the prison hospital didn’t properly fix her skull during the craniotomy, she has a large sunken area on the right side of her head. She also has a suction tube in her throat, a feeding tube in her nose, and a urinary catheter. Her entire body is stiff.
04.08.2022 – Zhang Chunhe: veteran Falun Gonh practitioner sentenced to four years.
On July 13, 2022, the District Court of Haizhu District, one of the urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, sentenced a woman called Zhang Chunhe to four years of detention for “using a xie jiao to undermine the implementation of the law.” This is a standard formula derived from Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code indicating that a defendant is active, in any capacity, in one of the banned religious movements listed as “xie jiao,” or groups spreading “heterodox teachings.”
02.08.2022 – Targeted for her faith since 19, Jilin woman sentenced again to prison
Simply for upholding her faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Yin Jun was expelled from college at the age of 19 and later served two labor camp terms and a prison term totaling 7.5 years. She was recently sentenced again to two years and ten months, again for her faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yin, a 41-year-old native of Fusong County, Jilin Province, was residing in Changchun City in the same province, when she was arrested at around 8 a.m. on June 18, 2020 by a group of officers who had been waiting outside her apartment building.