On December 9, 2018, Wang Yi, lead pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, and more than a hundred church members were arrested by local police at the church's office and at their homes. Early Rain Covenant Church was not registered with the government and was regarded as an 'underground' church.
'The closure of this Chengdu church shows that the Xi Jinping government's crackdown on religious freedom in China is far from over,' said Wang Yaqiu, a China researcher. 'The Chinese government claims to respect religious freedom — this action makes a mockery of that claim.'
Authorities also searched and sealed off multiple properties belonging to Early Rain Covenant Church, including its office, kindergarten, seminary, and covenant institute, and several more church members had their homes raided. Police forced church members to sign pledges promising not to attend further church gatherings and blocked them from going to the church's school. The church's WeChat account was also shut down at the same time.
Some church members who have since been released say they were beaten by police. One said he was tied to a chair and denied water and food for 24 hours. Dozens of church members remain in detention. Some families of detainees say they have received formal notices of detention from the police, while others have received no notice at all and do not know the whereabouts or safety of their relatives. According to a written notice received by Wang Yi's mother, Wang Yi has been criminally detained on suspicion of 'inciting subversion of state power.' The wife of church elder Li Yingqiang said that, according to a police notice, Li was detained on suspicion of 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble.'
Wang Yi is a prominent Chinese Christian figure and former legal scholar known for his inspiring sermons and outspoken criticism of the Chinese Communist Party. Shortly before his arrest, Wang published an article criticizing the government's tight controls on religion and calling on Chinese Christians to practice civil disobedience — for example, defying government orders barring proselytizing outside religious venues or prohibiting children from attending church. Two days after his arrest, a statement he had prepared before being detained circulated online. In it, Wang vowed to 'resist, by peaceful means... all administrative and judicial measures that persecute the church and interfere with Christian belief.'
In recent years, police have repeatedly harassed Wang Yi and other leading members of Early Rain Covenant Church, an independent evangelical congregation with more than 500 members. In early 2018, the church organized a joint petition protesting the newly revised Regulations on Religious Affairs. The regulations ban 'unauthorized' religious instruction, prohibit participation in religious study or conferences held abroad, and expand local authorities' power to control religious activity. The Chinese government already imposed extensive restrictions on religious practice — including limiting recognized belief to five officially sanctioned religions and confining religious activity to officially approved venues — and the new rules tightened control even further.
Some church members believe that this mass arrest may have been triggered by the fact that the earlier joint petition gathered signatures from more than 400 pastors nationwide. In September, Chengdu authorities notified the church that its activities violated official religious policy.
Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has demanded that religion undergo 'Sinicization,' or 'adapt to Chinese characteristics' — in effect requiring religious organizations to support the leadership of the Party and the government — and Christianity has faced ever-tighter control as a result. Authorities have demolished hundreds of Christian churches or the crosses atop them, forced congregations to relocate, confiscated Bibles and other church property, and installed surveillance cameras in churches permitted to keep operating. Starting in April, online sales of the Bible were banned. In September, Beijing authorities shut down Zion Church, one of China's largest underground Christian congregations.
In March, Pastor Cao Sanqiang was convicted of 'organizing others to illegally cross the border' between China and Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison. Cao had long been involved in education programs for impoverished ethnic minorities in Myanmar. In 2014, Pastor Zhang Shaojie was sentenced to 12 years on charges including 'fraud' and 'gathering a crowd to disturb public order.'
In September, the Roman Catholic Church and China reached an agreement aimed at resolving a decades-long dispute over the appointment of bishops in China. China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, split between an underground church loyal to the Pope and an official church whose bishops are chosen by the state. Under the agreement, future bishops will be nominated by Beijing, subject to a papal veto. Many hoped this agreement would end the persecution of underground-church bishops. Yet in November, Bishop Shao Zhumin of Zhejiang was forcibly disappeared by authorities — the fifth time he has been disappeared in the two years since becoming bishop. Shao's whereabouts remain unknown.
At the same time, the Chinese government continues to tighten restrictions on Buddhism in Tibetan areas, and has imposed unprecedented controls on religious activity in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang, as documented in detail by Human Rights Watch.
'Pastor Wang Yi has said that even behind bars he will keep fighting for his faith,' said Wang Yaqiu. 'Everyone who supports religious freedom should stand with Wang Yi and protest the Chinese government's suppression of religion.'