Two More House Churches Raided by Police in China’s Xinjiang Region

China Aid has learned of two more police raids on house churches in Xinjiang.

China ‘the largest hypocrisy in the world’, says Richard Gere

The actor Richard Gere has labelled China the world’s “largest hypocrisy” and condemned the communist nation’s continuing occupation of Tibet during a television interview at a religious event in India.

Gere, a Buddhist who is a devotee of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, spoke out during an extensive primetime interview on English-language news channel NDTV 24×7 last night. The actor, who is in India for the 10-day annual Kalachakra Puja Buddhist celebration, said China had failed to gauge the level of cultural idiosyncrasy in Tibet.

“China is a very difficult place to live if you are a free thinker, if you are an artist, if you are a religious person, but especially in Tibet,” said Gere. “I think they (China) have so wrongly gauged the Tibetan people, thinking they could subvert the deep, deep, deep religious beliefs and make them true communists. It’s never going to happen. Their whole lives have revolved around Buddhism, around their teachers, around their gurus … the high ideals of Buddhism. They are not going to change that in a hundred years, two hundred years, a thousand years. That will never go away.”

Dalai Lama accuses China of ‘cultural genocide’

The Dalai Lama has blamed the Chinese government’s policy of “cultural genocide” in his native Tibet for a wave of self-immolations that has struck restive Tibetan areas of western China this year.

At least 11 Tibetans, all of them Buddhist nuns, monks or former monks, have set themselves on fire since March to protest against Chinese rule and religious repression, according to human rights and exile groups.

The Chinese government has blamed the Dalai Lama for encouraging the self-immolations and says he and his “clique” are engaged in “disguised terrorism” and “pursuing separatism by harming people”.

At a press conference in Tokyo on Monday, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said Beijing’s hardline policy towards any hint of dissent among Tibetans was the real cause of the demonstrations.

Week 13: China arrests 19 more Christians in Beijing

BEIJING (BP)–Despite restrictions due to the Chinese Communist Party’s 90th anniversary, members of Shouwang Church in Beijing continued to meet outdoors July 3, leading to at least 19 arrests.

Church members defied the Chinese government for the 13th consecutive week with the outdoor service. The illegal church, which was evicted from its leased meeting space in April, reported in a translated statement on ChinaAid.org that police were waiting outside the church’s designated worship site, an open-air plaza in northwest Beijing, and “only a few dozen people” were able to meet because, “many believers were under stricter detainment at home. Some individuals were taken to be detained in hotels nearby.”

Week 7: China arrests 25 more Christians

BEIJING (BP)–They came hoping to sing hymns, read Scripture and worship together, but 25 members of Shouwang Church in Beijing were arrested May 22 during the seventh consecutive week that the congregation has bucked the Chinese government and refused to stop meeting.

Few other details of the latest round of arrests were available, but ChinaAid — which monitors religious freedom in China — reported that 18 of the church members had been freed by the end of the day.

In one possible sign that the confrontation is not nearing an end, the last two weeks have seen an increase in the number of church members attending the illegal service. After 13 members were arrested in the fifth week, 20 were arrested last week, and now 25.

Exiled Tibetans Claim CCP Detained 300 Monks in Sichuan

Tibetan exiles said on Monday (May 23) that, according to their sources, CCP security forces detained about 300 monks from the Kirti monastery in the Aba prefecture of Sichuan province. They say the roundup was part of the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown after a Tibetan Buddhist monk lit himself on fire in protest.

Two exiled monks and a Tibetan writer say their sources told them the monks were detained and taken away in covered military trucks on April 21. Supporters had gathered around the monastery, but police beat them and drove them away with dogs.

The head of the Kirti monastery, Kirti Rinpoche lives in exile in Dharamsala, India. He said his sources told him the conditions at the monastery have become “suffocating” due to intense pressure from the CCP.

China Unlikely to Ease Crackdown on Shouwang House Church

Mission Network News,  China (MNN) ―  Making waves on NPR, CNN, BBC and the New York Times, the story of one persecuted house church has struck international chords.

The Shouwang Church in Beijing has been in a battle of rights with China for years, but the struggle has only just come into focus for most. The 1,000-member church was ousted from its building when their landlord was pressured by officials to evict them. For the six weeks following, Shouwang members have been meeting publicly outside.

Amnesty Annual Report 2011- China

The Chinese government responded to a burgeoning civil society by jailing and persecuting people for peacefully expressing their views, holding religious beliefs not sanctioned by the state, advocating for democratic reform and human rights, and defending the rights of others. Popular social media sites remained blocked by China’s internet firewall. The authorities continued to repress Tibetan, Uighur, Mongolian and other ethnic minority populations. On the international stage, China grew more confident and more aggressive in punishing countries whose leaders spoke publicly about its human rights record.

Background

China Continues Totalitarians’ Historic Oppression of Christians

by Bruce Walker –

Every incarnation of totalitarianism must eventually war with Christianity. Sometimes this is simply outright persecution of any type of Christianity. More often, though, brutal regimes have manifested their hatred of Christianity by rigorously oppressing genuine and independent Christian faith and replacing it with a state-sponsored and state-controlled “Christianity.”

Writers in imperial Japan before WWII documented this totalitarian control by their own government. In his book Darkness of the Sun: The Story of Christianity in the Japanese Empire, Richard Terrill Baker described the special, virulent hatred the Japanese felt toward Christianity:

A founding document for a new China

by Michael Gerson-

Over the past five Sundays, more than 100 members of the Shouwang Church in Beijing have been detained to prevent them from meeting. It is a confrontation between state and conscience with broad implications for the future of China.

A member of the church, speaking to me anonymously, described the congregation as mainly “intellectuals and professionals.” What began as a Bible study group for university students has grown to 1,000 worshipers — the Chinese equivalent of a mega-church. “The Christians are very serious Christians,” she told me. “They are not political at all. They respect the government, love the country, respect authority. But they want to follow God, to engage in normal Christian practice.” And they find such practice impossible in China’s state-sponsored churches, which were initially designed to keep religion a government-controlled monopoly.

5th week: China arrests more Christians

BEIJING (BP)–At least 13 members of a Beijing church were arrested Sunday, May 8, in the fifth straight week of its defiance of the Chinese government, which continued to force people out of their homes in an effort to pressure the congregation.

One family learned they were being kicked out of their home at 6:40 Sunday morning, before the service even began.

The high-profile clash between the government and Shouwang Church — one of the largest unregistered illegal churches in Beijing — has led to hundreds of house arrests or detentions. More than 500 church members were placed under arrest on Easter weekend alone, prevented from leaving their houses or apartments.

Human Rights Tribunal in Canada Finds Chinese Association Discriminated against Falun Gong

New York–In a decision challenging the Communist Party’s efforts to extend the persecution of Falun Gong beyond China’s borders, the Human Rights Tribunal in Ontario ruled on April 27 that a local Chinese association had discriminated against an elderly Falun Gong practitioner when revoking her membership and using demeaning labels to refer to her faith.

“I conclude that the respondents breached the [Ontario Human Rights] Code and discriminated against the complainant on the basis of her creed,” wrote tribunal vice-chair Ms. Michelle Flaherty in the decision. “The Tribunal orders the corporate respondent to pay the complainant the sum of $15,000 for loss arising from the infringement of her rights.”

Don’t pick a fight with China’s Christians

China’s security establishment is in a ruthless mood at the moment, taking on the “tall poppies” of the law, the media, the blogosphere and the arts without apparent fear of a backlash from a public that instinctively knows the value of compliance, and the price of defiance.

However, there is another, much larger grouping, that is also heading for a collision with the “Goon State” (that’s the Economist’s) and with potentially much more serious consequences – the millions of Evangelical Christians who choose to worship outside China’s official churches.

For the last four weeks one of Beijing largest unofficial churches, the Shouwang, or WatchTower, church has been in a stand-off with police over its desire to worship free from state control, with hundreds of its members detained and its leaders put under house arrest.

4th week: China arrests 30 church members

BEIJING (BP)— For the fourth week in a row, a Chinese “illegal” church refused Sunday to follow government orders not to meet, and this time at least 31 of its members were arrested.

Once again, reporters were blocked from the site.

The arrests of the members of Beijing’s Shouwang Church in a public square came after church leaders made clear in the preceding days that they would not buckle to pressure from the Communist Party. More than 160 were arrested the first week they tried to meet outdoors, about 50 were arrested the second week and approximately 40 on the third week, Easter Sunday. The declining number of arrests likely is due to the government placing so many other members under house arrest, which prevents them from even leaving their homes. On Easter Sunday, more than 500 church members — including every church staff member, lay leader and choir member — were under house arrest.

Do Not Politicize a Church that is Focused Only on Matters of Faith- Beijing Shouwang house churches’s Response to Global Times’ Commentary

Translated by China Aid Association-

Do Not Politicize a Church that is Focused Only on Matters of Faith

The Global Times newspaper (hereafter, the Times) on April 26 ran a commentary with the headline “Some Churches Should Avoid Becoming Politicized” (hereafter, the text), in which it comments on the recent events in Beijing related to Shouwang Church’s outdoor worship, and just as the title says, it was a well-intentioned reminder to Shouwang. This is the only formal Chinese reporting we have seen in the domestic media of Shouwang Church’s outdoor worship. Therefore, it is necessary that we, as the party involved, provide some clarifications and explanations regarding some of the issues raised in this commentary, so that readers can have a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of this incident.

Dozens Chinese Detained At Easter: Unofficial Christian church members are targeted in the latest clampdown

Authorities in the Chinese capital have detained dozens of members of an unofficial Christian group as they tried to attend an outdoor Easter service.

At least 30 worshippers from the unregistered Shouwang church were held by police on Sunday in Beijing’s western district of Zhongguancun as they showed up for the service, according to U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid.

“There were more than 1,000 police officers in Zhongguancun [on Sunday],” ChinaAid founder Bob Fu said.

China’s spreading crackdown target ‘unofficial’ church, More than 100 detained

Unofficial Christian church members and leaders are being targeted by China’s government in its latest clampdown on dissent sparked by calls for “Jasmine” rallies inspired by recent uprisings in the Middle East.

More than 100 members of the Shouwang Protestant church were detained by police in Beijing after they attended an open-air prayer gathering on Sunday.

Shouwang’s Pastor Jin said the authorities had released most of the congregation by Monday night.

Wife Seeks Release of Husband and Lawyer in China

Tian Lu is a quiet young woman with bright eyes and a winning smile—until the conversation moves to her family. That family has been shattered, and Ms. Tian has fled to the United States from China to try to rescue her husband and the lawyer who sought to help them.

Known to her friends as Lu Lu, Ms. Tian has suffered imprisonment and torture; her husband and the lawyer who tried to defend him have been imprisoned and tortured; and her grandmother, her husband’s mother, and her husband’s grandfather have died prematurely due to worry over her and her husband, Lu Lu says.

Christian Persecution: Chinese expand their tactics, report says

WASHINGTON (BP)–The Chinese government intensified its pressure against Christians in 2010 for a “fifth straight year of escalating persecution,” according to ChinaAid Association, a Christian human rights organization based in Washington.

Beatings, torture, arrests, harassment and church demolitions are among the 90 recorded cases of persecution, a nearly 17 percent increase over 2009, according to a report released by ChinaAid on March 31.

The cases “are just the tip of the iceberg,” according to a ChinaAid news release. “The Chinese government’s stranglehold on information and the authoritarian regime’s other security measures make getting a true picture of the extent of persecution impossible. Nevertheless, the fact that the documented incidences of persecution came from all parts of China and involved people from all levels of society makes the report a useful guide.”

Chinese Restaurant Owner Dies from Labor Camp Torture

New York – A 42-year-old owner of a dumpling restaurant in Northeast China died in his home at the end of February, unable to recover from one and half years of physical and mental torture in a Re-education Through Labor (RTL) camp, the Falun Dafa Information Center has learned. His is one of over 400 documented Falun Gong deaths in Liaoning province since 1999.

Mr. Shi Hongbo (史红波), who owned a restaurant in Jinzhou district of Dalian in Liaoning province, was abducted outside of his home on October 14, 2008 while en route to work. Three weeks later he was sentenced to the Dalian RTL Camp for one and a half years. Camp personnel subjected him to numerous rounds of torture, including shocking him simultaneously with multiple electric batons and tying him down for several days at a time with all four limbs stretched out. As a result, Shi developed heart problems and high blood pressure. In September 2009, Shi was transferred to Weiningying Re-education Through Labor (RTL) Camp.

House church in Southwest China raided and Leader arrested

At 5 p.m. local time, March 10, Ms. Liao Zhongxiu, leader of a house church in Qu County, Sichuan Province, was arrested on so called “suspicion of utilizing a cult organization in undermining the implementation of the state law and regulations.” She is currently detained at Qu County Detention Center.

At about 3:30 p.m. local time, September 26, 2010, Youqing Church in Qu County, Dazhou, Sichuan Province was raided by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB). The police officers smashed the items of the church, confiscated books, took people to the local police station and then forced their families to pay money to bail them out. At 5 p.m., September 29, some Christians of the church went to the PSB station to negotiate in the hope of retrieving the confiscated items in accordance with law. It ended up with five of the believers were arrested on the spot and were detained for 15 days.

Chinese Christians Persecuted in Two China Provinces Henan and Jiangsu

(Henan and Jiangsu – March 7, 2011) On the afternoon of March 1, agents from the DSPS (Domestic Security Protection Squad) of Xiayi County, Henan Province came to a house church in Hanzhen Town and took away three Christians, two of whom were women. The agents seized copies of the Bible, over 1,000 yuan of cash and copies of a book titled “A Stormy Life” by Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance.  After the DSPS agents conducted an interrogation that lasted over three hours, they released the three Christians and warned them not to associate with Pastor Zhang Mingxuan.  The agents also accused them of believing in a cult.

At 7 p.m. on March 4, Public Security Bureau agents from Suqian, Jiangsu Province went to Nanyang, Henan Province and took Pastor Shi Enhao, vice-president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, back to Jiangsu for detention. The latest update is that he was released on March 6.

Ten Things to Know about China as Hu Jintao Arrives in the United States

NEW YORK— On the eve of Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s arrival in the United States for a state visit, the Falun Dafa Information Center urges the media, human rights groups, the American public, and especially, U.S. officials meeting with the delegation, to keep the following ten facts about China at the forefront of their minds.

1. The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a widespread, systematic campaign against tens of millions of innocent people.
2. The Chinese Communist Party’s campaign involves a deliberate top-down strategy to use extraordinary levels of violence.
3. Falun Gong practitioners are the largest group of prisoners of conscience in the world, numbering in the hundreds of thousands at any given time.
4. Every three days, a new case of a Falun Gong practitioner dying from abuse in police custody is reported.
5. The victims of these atrocities are people from every walk of life in Chinese society.
6. Falun Gong practitioners are not the only victims; all Chinese people are affected.
7. The Communist Party has gone to great efforts to cover-up and deflect attention from these crimes.
8. A large-scale, grassroots Samizdat-like effort is informing Chinese people about persecution occurring in their neighborhoods, towns and cities.
9. International public pressure does protect people in China.
10. Communist Party officials have sought to expand the persecution of Falun Gong beyond China, including to the United States.