By Li Xiaoming and Wang Yi, translation by China Change, published: March 3, 2016 “As I watched Zhang Kai’s so-called TV confession, my heart ached to no end,” a Chinese Twitter user wrote. He speaks for many of us. Zhang appeared thin and haggard, his dishevelled hair and lusterless eyes all the image of a concentration camp prisoner. He sou [...] Keep reading »

By Qin Chenshou, published: March 1, 2016 On social media, lawyer Qin Chenshou (覃臣寿), who now represents Zhang Kai, has provided us with an introduction to Zhang Kai’s biography and work. China Change is pleased to provide a translation. — The Editors   Zhang Kai is a practicing lawyer in Beijing and a Christian member of a house [...] Keep reading »

By China Change, published: February 29, 2016   Lawyer Zhang Kai was taken into police custody in Wenzhou on August 25, 2015. He was placed in residential surveillance in a designated location for six months, after which he appeared on Chinese television to make a “confession” on February 25. Zhang, 37, appeared thin and haggard, and his hair [...] Keep reading »

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 »