More than 1,000 crosses removed from churches and 1,300 believers arrested in the Chinese province of Zhejiang

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), there has been a considerable increase in repression against Christians in the People's Republic of China under President Xi Jinping. In the rich coastal province of Zhejiang alone, more than 1,000 crosses were randomly removed from churches, 400 churches were damaged or destroyed and 1,300 believers were arrested. Most of the arrests took place following public protests against the destruction of the houses of worship. According to the US-based human rights group China Aid, the authorities are responsible for more that 17,800 repressive measures against Christian believers in China since the beginning of 2014. "There hasn't been as much religious persecution in China since the Cultural Revolution – and it continues," criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Thursday.

In April 2015, the authorities had again removed crosses from churches in the cities of Lihui, Cixi and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province. On March 24, 2015, pastor Huang Yizi of the Fengwo Church in Pingyang was sentenced to one year in prison after members of the local Protestant Church had tried to prevent law enforcement officials from removing the crosses. More than 1,000 worshipers had gathered outside the courthouse to show support for the 40-year old pastor. Despite the considerable support, Huang was sentenced to prison for "disturbing public order".

On March 25, 2015 – also in Zhejiang Province – eight Christians were sentenced to prison terms ranging from several months to three years, which were suspended on probation because the defendants had signed confessions. They had protested against the destruction of their churches.

The authorities often justify the demolition of churches by referring to a national program against illegally built structures. This mainly affects Christian houses of worship that belong to the officially recognized Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China, which has about 15 million members. However, it is also almost impossible to obtain a permit to build extensions to existing church buildings.

According to Delius, there are internal documents in which the provincial government emphasizes that the campaign is supposed to be used against Christian faith. For the Communist Party with its 85 million members, the increasing popularity of the Christian faith is a threat to their power. According to estimates, there are around 130 million Christians living in China – but only 29 million of them are members of government-approved churches. 23 million of them are Protestants and six million are Catholics

Header Photo: Flickr/allen Li