Feb 19, 2004

Chinese church leaders arrested


Cultural genocide in China continues: shocking video of church destruction
The persecution of unregistered house church Christians in China continues as three church leaders were arrested in the final week of January. In addition, The Voice of the Martyrs, an American Christian aid organization, has received shocking video tape of a Chinese house church being bulldozed into rubble by government authorities.

On the evening of Jan. 24, Ms. Qiao Chunling, a 41-year-old resident of Fangcheng city, Henan province, was arrested during a house church service at Guanlin, Luoyang city. Ms. Qiao is a very important house church leader closely associated with Mr. Li Tian'en, one of the most prominent house church leaders in China.

Another church leader, Ms. Xu Yongling, age 58, was arrested about 11 p.m. Jan. 25 at Nanyang city, Henan province. She was asleep at the home of a local church member when police raided and arrested her. "Deborah" Xu is the sister of prominent house church leader Peter Xu Yongze, who now lives in the United States. She has been arrested many times in the past. She is now the leader of the "Born Again Movement" church, which has millions of members throughout China. She has remained single her entire life in order to serve the Lord whole-heartedly.

Mr Zeng Guangbo, 35-year-old, was arrested in the evening of Jan. 25 at a house church at Zengzhuang village, Yuanzhuang town, Deng county, Henan province. However, Guangbo escaped from custody two days later, and is currently in hiding in China. Zeng is a former military policeman who worked in the Department of Broadcasting and TV in Beijing before he was expelled because of his relationship with Peter Xu's house church in 1988. Since his first arrest, Mr Zeng has become a very active house church leader.

NEW VIDEO
Shocking video of an unregistered Chinese church being destroyed has been smuggled out of China and received by The Voice of the Martyrs.

The Tu Du Sha Church at Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province was bulldozed to the ground last June 26. The church was started around 1930 by Hudson Taylor's group, China Inland Mission, and had grown in size to a weekly attendance of 1,500 members.

Police first arrived before 4:00 a.m. expecting the church to be empty. Instead, they found 300 believers gathered for prayer. The police left, but returned just before 8:00 a.m. with 200 military policemen and more than 40 vehicles. In spite of the protests of church members, the church was completely destroyed. A Chinese Christian covertly videotaped the entire scene, and the video was smuggled out of the country.

"This is the first time we see in the visual form a house church building bulldozered by the Chinese authority," said Bob Fu, president of CAA. "This tape shows how the Chinese government treats Christian groups that refuse to register."To view segments of the video, as well as a complete explanation of the attack, log on to www.persecution.com/china.