With nearly 100 million Christians, the Church is the largest social force in China not controlled by the Communist Party. As a result, there are increasing efforts to restrict the way Christians operate. A considerable number of Christians are still imprisoned. Church meetings continue to be disrupted in several provinces. Churches have also been closed and landlords pressured to stop renting to Christians. In 2017 some of China’s underground churches were pushed to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement, while a new law on religion is being rolled out in 2018.
China: 100 Christians sent to ‘re-education’ camps in Xinjiang
More than 100 Christians have been sent to “re-education” camps in China’s north-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the past few months, World Watch Monitor has learned. In these camps, also known as “study centres” or “mind-transformation centres”, they are taught how to be loyal to the communist ideology. Most […]
China’s new religion regulations expected to increase pressure on Christians
All religious establishments in China will be bound by the new Regulations for Religious Affairs that came into force today (1 February). The regulations, which define the administrative framework around religious activities, have the stated aim of “protect[ing] citizens’ freedom of religious belief”. Detailed criteria are given for religious organisations […]
Chinese bishop reshuffle reinforces fears of state meddling
Fears are growing that China’s communist government may be gaining more control over the Catholic Church there, as news emerged that the Vatican asked two bishops it had appointed to step aside in favour of ones selected by Beijing. These developments have taken place following a state campaign against China’s […]
For Chinese Muslims the cost of becoming a Christian is loneliness
For the few thousand Muslims in China who have become Christians, life is characterised by loneliness. Cast out from their families and communities, in the rural areas where most of them live it is difficult to find other Christians, especially under China’s strict religion regulations. Often Christians of Muslim background […]
China: 6 Christians jailed as pressure on churches increases
A Chinese court in the southwestern province of Yunnan sent six Protestant Christians to prison last week for their membership of an “evil cult”. The verdict comes as part of a provincial crackdown on cults, as the ruling Communist Party continues its national campaign to restrict unregistered churches before new religious […]
Prominent China church demolished – second in month
Chinese authorities demolished a church in northern China this week, the second in less than a month, ahead of new regulations on religion due to come into force on 1 February. Explosives were set off inside the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi province on Tuesday (9 January). According to […]
Chinese priest missing after ‘brief chat’ with authorities
A Chinese priest has been missing from his home town in China’s eastern Zhejiang province since government officials took him away just after Christmas “for a brief chat”. Father Lu Danhua was taken from a priest’s dormitory on 29 December by officials of the State Administration for Religious Affairs to […]
Chinese church leaders released, as parents ignore religious-teaching ban
Chinese bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of the coastal city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, was released on Wednesday (3 January) after being detained for seven months – the second high-profile church leader released in the past two weeks. It is thought international pressure helped secure the bishop’s release, according to AsiaNews. In […]
China: Christmas banned by university’s communists
A Chinese university has banned Christmas in order to help young people resist the “corrosion of Western religious culture”, reports The Telegraph. A notice posted online at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, north-eastern China, said “some young people are blindly excited by Western holidays, especially religious holidays like Christmas Eve and Christmas […]
Chinese Christians told to believe in President Xi, not Jesus
Villagers in southeast China have reportedly been told by local officials they will only receive aid if they profess their faith in the Communist Party and its leader. Christianity has grown rapidly in China and “by some estimates Christians … now outnumber the 90 million members of the Party”, according […]