ICC Note:
Chinese authorities carried out several arrests in the days surrounding the Chinese Lunar New Year. According to China Aid, more than 80 were arrested and six detained for participating in house churches. The Christians were arrested for refusing to join one of the state-run churches, called the Three Self Patriotic Movement. The six that were detained were fined for “gathering and praying under the name of Christianity.” The last two years China has taken a strong stance toward Christianity and doubled its efforts to coerce underground churches to join the state-run church. Members of underground churches do not want to join the state-run church as they are under strict control of Beijing.
3/6/2017 China (China Aid) – Persecution broke out in China’s northwestern Xinjiang in the days surrounding the Lunar New Year as authorities arrested more than 80 Christians for attending house church meetings and detained six others, China Aid recently learned.
Public security bureaus invaded a network of house churches known as Fangcheng Fellowship in Urumqi, Shawan County, and Kuytun, accused at least 80 Christians of “engaging in religious activities at non-religious sites” in the days leading up to and after the Lunar New Year. They were arrested for refusing to join the state-run Three-Self Church.
Similarly, on Jan. 20, police officers in Wusu, Xinjiang, disturbed a group of Christians at prayer in their church, after they were previously urged to join the Three-Self Church. The officers labeled their gathering illegal and took 10 of them away. Of those imprisoned, the authorities released the elderly, the sick, and those who had previously been arrested. Six women, including Chen Xiangyan and Zhu Xiaohua, were detained for 15 days, beginning on Jan. 25, and fined 1,000 Yuan ($145 USD) for “gathering and praying under the name of Christianity.”
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