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Chengdu Early Rain Church: Pastor Wang Yi’s Family Denied Visitation Rights; Elder Li Yingqiang and Two Others Denied Access to Bibles
China Change, October 29, 2026 Pastor Wang Yi (王怡) is the founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, a house church in Chengdu, China. On December 9, 2018, police raided the church and arrested dozens of pastors, elders, preachers, and workers, including Pastor Wang Yi. In December 2019, the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” He is currently serving his sentence at Chengdu Jintang Prison (成都金堂监狱). Over the past nearly eight years, his family has been permitted to visit him only five times—an extraordinary anomaly that blatantly violates Chinese prison regulations, which grant inmates one family visit per month. In late September this year, reports circulated overseas that Pastor Wang […]
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Reports
  • Open Letter from the Early Rain Covenant Church Regarding Pastor Wang Yi’s Health and Family Visits

    Open Letter from the Early Rain Covenant Church Regarding Pastor Wang Yi’s Health and Family Visits

    October 5, 2026 To all fellow members sharing in the redemptive grace of Christ within the Kingdom, and to friends from all walks of life who care about Pastor Wang Yi: We greet you in Christ! Recently, information regarding the health status of Pastor Wang Yi has been circulating online, and like all of you, we are deeply concerned. In …
  • In Zion Church Case, Chinese Authorities Punish and Harass Defense Lawyers to Force Them Out

    In Zion Church Case, Chinese Authorities Punish and Harass Defense Lawyers to Force Them Out

    China Change, March 24, 2026 Last October, following the detention of 18 pastors and church workers of Zion Church, including its lead Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), as many as forty lawyers joined the defense team as the case progressed. The Zion Church members were charged with “the crime of illegally utilizing information networks” and detained in Beihai, Guangxi province. The …
  • Full Text of Xu Zhiyong’s Court Judgment

    Full Text of Xu Zhiyong’s Court Judgment

    China Change, January 29, 2026 In December 2019, Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and more than 20 other Chinese lawyers and ordinary citizens held a two-day gathering in the southeastern city of Xiamen, Fujian province, later referred to as the “Xiamen Gathering.” Shortly afterward, Chinese authorities launched arrests targeting the participants. Many of them fled China or went into hiding. Ding …
  • The 10th Anniversary of the 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders: Ten Notable Events Over the Past Year

    The 10th Anniversary of the 709 Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers and Defenders: Ten Notable Events Over the Past Year

    China Change, August 7, 2025 The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the “709” crackdown. A full decade has passed since the mass arrest of lawyers that shocked both China and the world, and this persecution has not ended. Over the past year, several more lawyers have been arrested, sentenced, or placed in administrative detention. Some have been stripped …
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Analysis and Opinions
  • On Doing Small Things Towards Change – A Book Review

    On Doing Small Things Towards Change – A Book Review

    Andréa Worden, January 31, 2026 Xu Zhiyong (许志永),  美好中国 (published in Chinese by Bouden House, NY, 2025).[1] English translations of the 24 essays comprising A Beautiful China are available on the website of China Change. Anthony J. Spires, Everyday Democracy: Civil Society, Youth, and the Struggle Against Authoritarian Culture in China (Columbia University Press, 2024). In Yaxue Cao’s introduction to …
  • ‘Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics’: Establishment, Destruction, Reconstruction, Reform, and Reversal

    ‘Socialist Rule of Law with Chinese Characteristics’: Establishment, Destruction, Reconstruction, Reform, and Reversal

    Li Fangping, August 21, 2025 It’s been seven decades since the promulgation of Communist China’s first Constitution in 1954. To evaluate the journey of its rule of law, the successes and failures, I’m going to divide my analysis into four periods. I. The CCP’s founding leaders never meant to honor PRC’s first Constitution The 1954 Constitution of the People’s Republic of …
  • 1,296 Days in Limbo: The Trial of Xie Yang and the Eleven Notices That Delayed It for Thirty-Two Months By Way of Punishment

    1,296 Days in Limbo: The Trial of Xie Yang and the Eleven Notices That Delayed It for Thirty-Two Months By Way of Punishment

    Yaxue Cao, July 29, 2025 I. At 10 a.m. Beijing time on July 30, 2025, after 1,296 days in detention, lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) is  finally standing trial at the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court. He is charged with “inciting subversion of state power.” This is the second time Xie Yang has been imprisoned since the internationally known “709 Crackdown” on …
  • A Decade On — It’s Time to Stop

    A Decade On — It’s Time to Stop

    Chen Guiqiu, ex-wife of Xie Yang, July 28, 2025 Human rights lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳) was arrested in January 2022, shortly after displaying a banner in support of an elementary school teacher in his province who had been arbitrarily detained in a mental hospital for online expression. As of today, he has been held for 1,295 days without trial. His …
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Interviews and profiles
  • The Last Hong Konger – A Personal Farewell to Mr. Lam Wing-kee (1955-2026)

    The Last Hong Konger – A Personal Farewell to Mr. Lam Wing-kee (1955-2026)

    Yaxue Cao, October 7, 2026 1.    I didn’t know Mr. Lam Wing-kee well, having met him only twice. In late April 2017, I learned from Ann Lau’s newsletter that Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) was coming to Washington. I didn’t know Ann other than that she was based in Los Angeles and her organization – the Visual Artists Guild – had been …
  • A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part Three – ‘My Burden Is in Guizhou’

    A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part Three – ‘My Burden Is in Guizhou’

    Yaxue Cao, May 30, 2026 (Continued from Part One: The Forefathers and Part Two: An Evangelist at 16) ‘My burden is in Guizhou’ When Yang Hua left home as a youth of 16, little did he know he was part of a vast undercurrent movement that would deeply influence Chinese society in the years to come. In the fourth year …
  • A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part Two: An Evangelist at 16

    A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part Two: An Evangelist at 16

    Yaxue Cao, May 5, 2026 (Continued from Part One) Clandestine Bible training Faith was for Yang Hua a habit before it was a conviction. Like other Christian families with small children, he was carried to Sunday worship in a basket on his parents’ backs when he was little; when he was old enough, he walked on foot. He learned hymns …
  • A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part One –  The Forefathers

    A Christian Story From the Mountains of Guizhou, Part One –  The Forefathers

    Yaxue Cao, April 26, 2026 Introduction If we are to take stock of the Christian experience in China, the story of Pastor Yang Hua (仰华) may provide a good example. A third-generation Christian, the history of his family’s faith spans ninety years and can be traced back to the work of the China Inland Mission started by Hudson Taylor, one …
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