By Pastor L, published: January 30, 2016 [Update at the end, January 31] About a fortnight ago, the two government-controlled Christian organizations in Hangzhou—the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Christian Council—removed the lead pastor of the Hangzhou-based mega church “Chong-yi Church” (崇一堂), acting at the behest of the gov [...] Keep reading »

By Yaxue Cao, published: December 21, 2015 The Living Stone house church sits in the highlands of China’s southwest Guizhou Province, in the capital, Guiyang. Protestant and non-denominational, it is the largest house church in the area. Over the past year the church has been subject to all manner of government repression, and since the beginning [...] Keep reading »

By Yaxue Cao and Pastor L, published: December 15, 2015 This interview was conducted on November 23, 2015.   Yaxue Cao (YC): Paster L, I interviewed you in late July at the height of the Chinese government’s cross-removal campaign. The campaign of demolishing churches and removing crosses had lasted a year and half by then, and several large [...] Keep reading »

China Change, November 3, 2015   Wu Zeheng (吴泽衡), the founder of Guangdong-based Buddhist group Huazang Dharma, was sentenced to life in prison and lifetime deprivation of political rights on October 30, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. Wu was also levied a fine of 7.15 million yuan. The Zhuhai Intermediate People’s [...] Keep reading »

A Report by the Initium Media, published: August 31, 2015 Zhang Kai (张凯), a prominent Chinese rights lawyer who has been living for a year among Christians in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, and assisting in their litigation against the government’s encroachments, disappeared with his assistant on Aug. 25. They are understood to have been taken [...] Keep reading »

By China Change, published: August 7, 2015   The ongoing forced demolition of crosses, and in some cases entire churches, taking place in Zhejiang is an extraordinary occurrence: the Chinese government appears determined to remove all traces of the symbol of Christianity in the public realm, with no regard to the antagonism it is provoking amo [...] Keep reading »

By Zhao Chu, published: August 4, 2015 This article has been making the rounds on social media in China. It was published a year ago following the demolition of churches or crosses in the prosperous coastal Zhejiang province (watch a Telegraph video here). China Change’s recent interview with a local pastor sheds more light on the still ongoing c [...] Keep reading »

By Yaxue Cao, published: July 29, 2015 Yaxue spoke with Pastor L in Wenzhou on July 26.   YC: I began paying attention to the demolition of churches and tearing-down of crosses in Zhejiang last year after reading many international media reports on the demolition of the Sanjiang Church (三江教堂) in Wenzhou. Recently there’s been a resurgenc [...] Keep reading »

By China Change, published: February 12, 2014   On January 24, 2014, when all eyes were on the New Citizens Movement trials, in Tongzhou District, Beijing (北京通州区), police detained more than a dozen house church Christians and, two days later on January 26, 12 of them were announced to have been criminally detained. In recent days, ri [...] Keep reading »