Tag: China

Pastor who helped N. Korea defectors found dead

May 4, 2016 North Korea China, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea

A pastor who helped North Korean refugees escape their homeland has been found dead near the border with China. Rights activists suspect , quoting Yonhap, the official Korean news agency. Korean-Chinese pastor Han Choong Yeol, 49, well-known for helping North Korean defectors, left his home in Chiangbai, a Chinese town . . . Read More

US religious-freedom report urges government to add 7 countries to worst-offenders list

May 2, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Iraq, Middle East, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Taliban, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

What is happening? The primary US government agency on global religious freedom issued its annual report 2 May. It says “religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault” during the past year, and says America should add seven countries to its list of worst offenders: Central African Republic . . . Read More

Church where pastor’s wife killed wins land rights

April 28, 2016 China China, Henan

Less than two weeks after a pastor’s wife was killed in a government authorised church demolition in China’s central Henan province, the and its pastor for use as a religious site. A task force made up of the township government, the local ministry of land and resources, and a village administrative . . . Read More

Hong Kong Christians oppose Beijing’s policy

April 26, 2016 China Beijing, China, Hong Kong, Xi Jinping

Christians in Hong Kong protested outside Beijing’s liaison office there Sunday, urging the Chinese authorities to respect religious freedoms following President Xi Jinping’s recent insistence that religious groups ‘devote themselves’ to his reforms, . Cardinal Joseph Zen Zekiun, the former Bishop of Hong Kong, joined about 50 protestors at the . . . Read More

China: woman buried alive in church demolition

April 19, 2016 China China, Crosses, Henan, House churches, Zhejiang

The wife of a church leader in China’s central Henan province was killed by being buried alive when she tried to prevent the destruction of her husband’s house-church, . Ding Cuimei and her husband, Li Jiangong, stepped in front of a bulldozer as it began to destroy Beitou church on . . . Read More

China: TV ‘confession’ of Christian lawyer

March 2, 2016 China China, Crosses, Wenzhou, Zhang Kai, Zhejiang

A well-known Christian rights lawyer who tried to help prevent a wave of by Chinese authorities has appeared on state television confessing to crimes after a months-long disappearance – the latest case in China’s widening crackdown on Christians. On a news programme on state-controlled Wenzhou TV on 25 Feb., Zhang . . . Read More

China is world’s largest producer of Bibles

March 2, 2016 China Bibles, China, Nanjing

China continues to be the largest producer of Bibles in the world, thanks to the Amity Printing Company in Nanjing. Twelve million copies came off Amity’s presses in 2015, the majority for export. The company stated in a press release that it has the capacity to print 20 million Bibles each . . . Read More

N Korea detains US man ‘stealing’ for his church

February 29, 2016 North Korea China, Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, USA

A US student held in North Korea since early January was detained for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his Pyongyang hotel and has confessed to “severe crimes” against the state, . Otto Warmbier, 21, a student at the University of Virginia, was detained before boarding . . . Read More

China: Zhejiang pastor jailed for 14 years

February 26, 2016 China China, Crosses, Jinhua, Joseph Gu, Zhejiang

A Chinese pastor has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, and his wife to 12 years, after they were found guilty of corruption, financial crimes and gathering people to disturb social order, an official provincial newspaper reported today (26 Feb.). Both Bao Guohua, the pastor of a state-sanctioned church, . . . Read More

China pastor arrest ‘politically motivated’

February 2, 2016 China China, Chongyi Church, Crosses, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Joseph Gu, Zhejiang

The pastor of China’s largest official Protestant church has been detained and accused with embezzling funds. Rights activists claim his detention is “politically motivated”, after he spoke out against the government’s . Gu Yuese is pastor of Chongyi Church in Hangzhou, a government-approved church with around 10,000 members. He was . . . Read More

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