Authorities in China on Tuesday (Oct. 8) released on bail a church leader jailed since August 2023 for printing Bibles, while the Christian co-founder of a special children’s school has been arrested on charges of “inciting disturbances” for his human rights activism.
The Haidian Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau charged Zhu Bin, co-founder of the Beijing Special Children School, with “inciting disturbances” on Sept. 29 and were holding him in the Haidian District Detention Center, according to human rights outlet Bitter Winter.
Authorities have repeatedly raided and harassed Zhu’s school, the outlet reported. An advocate for social justice and welfare, since the COVID-19 outbreak he has made significant contributions to charity, raising funds for patients and disaster victims, according to the rights outlet.
“When the scandal of the ‘Chained Mother of Eight’ erupted in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, in 2022, Zhu Bin called for an investigation by collecting signatures and mailing a petition to the National People’s Congress,” Bitter Winter reported. “The scandal involved a man presented as a model CCP [Chinese Communist Party] activist who bought from human traffickers a woman who gave him eight children and kept her chained for years.”
Zhu’s petition made him a nationally known figure and led to his detention, the outlet stated.
In Shunde, Guangdong Province, the Shunde District People’s Court released on bail Shunde Shengjia Church elder Zhu Longfei after 14 months in jail. Zhu faces charges of “illegal business operations” for printing Bible study materials for use within the church, according to advocacy group China Aid. Zhu and others lead an unofficial church free from the controls and interference of the government-controlled Three-Self Church.
Zhu and siblings Zhu Longjiang and Zhu Qiaoling were all detained when their 79-year-old mother died of illness on March 15, according to the advocacy group.
“The three siblings were all detained in the detention center and were unable to say a final goodbye to their mother in the hospital before she died, nor could they attend their mother’s funeral,” China Aid reported.
Zhu Longfei was arrested on Aug. 9, 2023. More than three months before his arrest, on May 24, 2023, Shunde police and other departments had raided his church and arrested Pastor Deng Yanxiang, deacon Zhu Longjiang, deacon Wang Weicai and Zhu Qiaoling on suspicion of “illegal business operations.”
“Two Bible study venues were also raided by over 100 people, and a large number of books, tables and chairs were taken away that day,” China Aid reported.
On Nov. 30, 2023, the case of Zhu Longfei and that of the previously detained Pastor Deng Yanxiang, deacon Zhu Longjiang, deacon Wang Weicai and Zhu Qiaoling were combined into one case prosecuted by the Shunde District People’s Procuratorate.
“The church’s printing of devotional materials (‘Daily Scripture Interpretation’) for internal use was labeled as ‘illegal business operations’ and characterized as ‘printing and distributing illegal publications that seriously endanger social order and disrupt market order, with particularly serious circumstances,’” China Aid reported.
A trial was held on Aug. 5-9, and during a second one on Aug. 19-30, the court on Aug. 23 granted bail to siblings Zhu Longjiang and Zhu Qiaoling. At this writing, Pastor Deng Yanxiang and deacon Wang Weicai were still detained at Nanhai District Detention Center.
“Lawyers hope that God will hear their prayers, comfort their families, and let them be released soon as well,” China Aid reported.
In Linfen City, Shanxi Province, female preacher Yang Rongli of the Sola Fide network of churches on Oct. 3 spent her 66th birthday in jail at Yaodu District Detention Center awaiting trial on charges of “fraud,” Bitter Winter reported.
Her Golden Lampstand church had continued to hold outdoor services in 2021 following authorities’ destruction of their $2.6 million USD worship site, and Yang and many other church leaders and co-workers were arrested on Aug. 7, 2021, by police in Yaodu District, Linfen City on charges of “fraud,” according to the outlet.
Except for five members released on bail, Yang, her husband Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, and six others were formally arrested by the Yaodu District Procuratorate,” and the case was transferred to the Linfen City Procuratorate for review and prosecution, according to Bitter Winter.
Unless again postponed, their trial was due to take place on Oct. 22. Yang, who suffers from diabetes for which she has been denied treatment, has suffered deteriorating health, Bitter Winter reported.
While constructing the Golden Lampstand Cathedral in Linfen City in 2004, officials harassed the project with tactics such as cutting off water and electricity, the outlet reported.
“In 2009, when officials recognized the commercial value of the church’s location and sought to demolish the Golden Lampstand Church, they met with strong resistance,” Bitter Winter reported. “Consequently, the Fushan County Government in Linfen City responded with severe retaliation.”
On Sept. 13, 2009, more than 500 police officers surrounded the site and its Gospel Shoe Factory, injuring more than 100 Christians. On Oct. 11, 2009, Linfen City Police arrested Yang under charges of “illegal occupation of agricultural land” and “gathering a crowd to disrupt traffic.” She was sentenced on Nov. 25, 2009 to seven years in prison and fined 30,000 yuan ($4,245 USD) under these charges.
She served her sentence in Xinkang Prison and was released on Oct. 10, 2016.
After the new arrest in 2021, her trial has been repeatedly postponed, according to Bitter Winter. The Oct. 22 trial was scheduled to take place in Yaodu District Court.
China ranked 19th on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
