CHINA:Special bimonthly FoRB newsletter (15-31.08.2022)
Buddhists
26.08.2022 – Two monks sentenced to prison for challenging Chinese government propaganda
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) strongly condemns the sentencing of two monks, Tenzin Dhargay and Rigtse, to prison for merely exercising the right to freedom of expression, a right protected in the Chinese Constitution as well as in major international human rights instruments that the government of People’s Republic of China is party to.
Dhargay and Rigtse are from Bharong Village in Sershul (Ch: Shiqu) County, Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the traditional Dzachuka area in Kham province. Dhargay is a monk from the Dza Sershul Monastery.
Both monks had been detained incommunicado for almost two years and sentenced on an unknown date in June this year.
25.08.2022 – Chinese authorities arrest Tibetan man for having a photo of the Dalai Lama
Chinese authorities in Tibet have detained a Tibetan man for possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s foremost Buddhist spiritual leader who has been living in exile since 1959, RFA has learned.
Karma Samdup, of Sernye township of Nagchu county (in Chinese, Nagqu), had a picture of the 14th Dalai Lama around his neck and hanging in his car when authorities arrested him on Aug. 12, a Tibetan living in exile, who requested anonymity to speak freely, told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Protestants
25.08.2022 – Update on Xi’an Church of Abundance: beatings, police abuse and house surveillance
On August 20, 2022, Guo Jiuju, the wife of Senior Pastor Lian Changnian of Xi’an Church of Abundance, and Zhang Jun, wife of Pastor Lian Xuliang, sent a prayer request letter to .The letter details the severe persecution from the Shilipu Police Station in Xi’an on the church members.
Around 4:00 P.M. on August 17, the Xi’an Public Security Bureau arrested Pastor Lian Changnian and his wife Guo Jiuju; Pastor Lian Changnian’s son Pastor Lian Xuliang, his wife Zhang Jun and their nine-year-old son; as well as church co-worker Sister Xing Aiping and Fu Juan. The Shilipu Police Station of the Baqiao Branch forcibly searched their homes and took them to the police station in the jurisdiction for interrogation. Even the 9-year-old child was not spared and was taken to the police station. They were sent back home that night but it caused shock and trauma to the child.
24.08.2022 – House Churches Attacked and Banned in Several Provinces
On December 3 and 4, 2021, the Chinese Communist Party held in Beijing a National Conference on Work Related to Religious Affairs, the first such conference since 2016. Xi Jinping spoke at the Conference, and called for a more aggressive campaign against “non-Sinicized” and “illegal” forms of religion.
23.08.2022 – Police violently raided Sunshine Reformed Church and arrested member
On August 21, 2022, the Sunday service of Sunshine Reformed Church in Changchun was raided by local police. Around 9:45 A.M., police suddenly burst into the church, dispersed those in attendance, and purposefully took away Pastor Guo Muyun and his wife Li Guoxiang as well as Elder Qu Hongliang, Zhang Liangliang, Li Chunyang, Cao Yunqiang, Hao Zheqiang, Xu Huaibin, and Li Lei.
To view videos of the raid and subsequent violence, visit here.
Once the raid began, Pastor Guo Muyun calmly asked people attending the service to go home, and Christians left one after another. Outside the church, chaos ensued as people were taken away, some women were pressed on the ground, and children cried next to them. Police beat Christians while violently enforcing laws, which resulted in two female Christians losing consciousness. Some Christians kneeled and performed first aid to the woman who passed out and Li Guoxiang asked a man to call for emergency medical services.
22.08.2022 – Church of the Rock: Pastor Geng Zejun Sentenced to 1 Year and 3 Months in Prison
The name of Pastor Geng Zejun is known to the readers of Bitter Winter. He is the pastor of the Church of the Rock, a house church with a reformed theology located in the Huinong district of the prefecture-level city Shizuishan.
Shizuishan is the second largest city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It is located in the north of the region, near the border with Inner Mongolia. The name of the region comes from the Hui Muslims, who represent roughly one third of its population.
Catholics
24.08.2022 – Beijing tells new Catholic leaders to ‘fend off infiltration by foreign forces’
Top political adviser Wang Yang has urged new Catholic leaders in China to resist foreign influence and ensure that control of the church remains in the hands of patriots.
He made the remarks after the two state-sponsored Catholic Church bodies in China elected new leaders at a twice-a-decade conference that wrapped up in Wuhan, Hubei province on Saturday.
During the three-day meeting, Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing was appointed chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, replacing Bishop John Fang Xingyao of the Shandong diocese.
23.08.2022 – China’s catholic leaders vow to accelerate sinicization.
Two state-sponsored Church bodies in China have elected new leaders during a five-yearly national conference who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, on Aug. 20. Senior officials from the CCP also attended the gathering and delivered speeches.
The meeting attended by some 345 Catholic bishops, clergy, and religious from across China ended with the election of new leaders of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China (BCCCC), says a report on the BCCCC website.
23.08.2022 – New Chinese Catholic leaders say they’ll follow Communist Party principles
Two state-sponsored church bodies in China have elected new leaders, who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party.
The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, Aug. 20. The national conference is held every five years, and senior Communist Party officials also attended the gathering and delivered speeches, reported ucanews.com.
The delegates unanimously accepted the work report of the Ninth Standing Committee on church efforts and activities in the promotion of patriotism, socialism, and sinicization in the Catholic Church as outlined by President Xi Jinping.
Falun Gong
29.08.2022 – Wuhan Woman secretly sentenced to two years for her faith
The family of Ms. Shen Yanqiao recently learned that she has been secretly sentenced to two years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Shen, a Wuhan City, Hubei Province resident, was arrested in July 2021 and detained at the Wuhan City No. 1 Detention Center. The authorities denied her family visitation and kept them in the dark of her situation. Although her family confirmed that she has been taken to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison to serve a two-year term, they still don’t know when she was sentenced and by which court.
23.08.2022 – Crimes committed by Minister of justice Tang Yijun in the persecution of Falun Gong
July 20 marked 23 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in 1999. July 20 this year, Falun Gong practitioners in 38 countries submitted an updated list of perpetrators to their respective governments, urging that those on the list (and their family members) be barred from entry and their assets frozen.
The 38 countries are: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Czechia, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, Mexico, Chile, and Dominica. Please refer to New List of Perpetrators Submitted to 38 Governments on the 23rd Anniversary of the Persecution of Falun Gong for details.
21.08.2022 – Hefei City, Anhui Province: Over 40 Falun Gong practitioners indicted and sentenced since 2018 by same procuratorate and Court
At least 40 Falun Gong practitioners in Hefei City, Anhui Province, have been sentenced since 2018 for upholding their faith. They were all indicted and sentenced by the Shushan District Procuratorate and Shushan District Court, both of which were designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the region to expedite the prosecution process.
Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, in 1999, sentencing Falun Gong practitioners to prison through the rubber-stamp judiciary branch has been one of the major persecution tactics, especially after the abolishment of the forced labor camp system in 2013.
Other religions
30.08.2022 – Xie Jiao: China updates the list—with some new entries
Qin Yi, one of the most famous Chinese actresses, died this year on May 9, three months after she had turned 100. It is not surprising that Chinese state television showed in the months following her dead some of her old movies, including “Woman Basketball Player no. 5.” Despite including a propaganda element, they allowed Qin Yi to show her considerable skills—not to mention that Chinese premier Zhou Enlai once famously called her “the most beautiful woman in China.”