ICC NOTE: Zhejiang province in China has been the focal point for the Communist Party’s crackdown on Christianity through the removal of crosses and demolition of churches. Now, the crackdown on house churches have spread more to the southern province of Guangdong. Evolving methods are being used in order to catch church leaders and congregations off guard. Letters are being sent to the churches stating they are carrying out illegal religious activities, requesting them to cease all activities. Forced closures and loss of property have been seen in various locations in the province. China’s continued plan to eliminate Christianity from its shores is under the belief that religion is a specific tool used by “hostile foreign forces” to influence the Chinese people. 

2/16/2016 Guangdong, China (Radio Free Asia) – Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have stepped up their targeting of unofficial “house” churches not regulated by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ia its Three-Self Protestant Association.

The Zhongfu Wanmin Church in Guangdong’s industrial city of Dongguan has been forced to move premises after it received an official letter from the local religious affairs bureau requiring it to “cease all illegal religious activities,” its pastor told RFA on Friday.

“A lot of churches are getting these letters saying they are carrying out illegal religious activities now, and requiring them to stop,” pastor Li Peng said.

“Some have been forced to stop gathering for worship, while others have been forced to move premises,” he said.

“[We have been] inspected and told to stop,” Li said. “Then I requested an administrative review, and then I filed a lawsuit, but that failed.”

Li said the church is continuing to meet in premises bought with loans taken out by the congregation.

The crackdown in Guangdong comes after authorities in the eastern province of Zhejiang launched a regional campaign targeting visible church crosses for demolition as “illegal structures” in the name of civic pride.

According to Zhang Mingxuan, president of the Chinese House Church Alliance, Guangzhou now seems to be following suit, albeit with slightly different tactics.

“A lot of churches in Guangzhou are being persecuted, including the Guangfu church run by Ma Zhao and others,” Zhang said.

“Churches in Shenzhen have also been targeted, but not to the same degree,” he added.

Passing out leaflets

Elsewhere in the province, police detained and questioned a woman after she handed out leaflets and tried to spread her Christian faith in Shantou city.

Jiang Junying of the Zhongfu Tongxin Church was detained as she paced the streets of Shantou’s Chenghai district, handing out leaflets to passersby during the Chinese New Year holiday in a bid to make new converts to her Protestant faith.

“It was at about noon on the first day of the new year, while she was handing out leaflets about the Gospel,” a fellow church member surnamed Guo told RFA.

“She was taken to the Chenghua police station by officers who were from that police station,” she said.

“She wasn’t released until six or seven in the evening,” Guo said. “Now we can’t get in touch with her, and we think she’s still out there, handing out leaflets.”

Guo said police had been keen to identify which church Jiang attends, but that she had refused to answer.

“They asked which church, but she wouldn’t tell them. She just said she was handing out leaflets on her own initiative,” she said, adding that Jiang cannot speak Mandarin.

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