Overseas Chinese Christian Businesswoman Who Visited House Churches in China is Kidnapped, Tortured by State Security Agents

China Aid Association

(Los Angeles—Jan. 26, 2012) A Chinese Christian businesswoman from Canada who visited China late last year was kidnapped and tortured by Chinese state security agents after she visited two persecuted Chinese house churches during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season, ChinaAid has learned.

Jenny Chen, who is in her 50s, was held by state security agents and denied food and water for nearly two days.  About to go into shock, she was taken to a police hospital, from where she managed to escape and get on a flight to Los Angeles, arriving in the United States on Jan. 17.

Chen, who does business in Canada, the United States and China, had learned of the severe persecution inflicted on Shouwang Church in Beijing and the Linfen house church in Shanxi province from reports online.

(Photo taken by Jenny Chen on Christmas Day 2011 of an armored personnel carrier and other police vehicles outside Jindeng Church in Linfen, Shanxi province.)

Family Of Jailed China Activist Flees To US: Rights Group

Beijing, Jan 24, 2012 (AFP) -The wife and son of outspoken former Chinese professor Guo Quan, who is serving a 10-year sentence for "subversion", have left China for a new life in the United States, a rights group said Tuesday.

The news comes days after Yu Jie, a famous writer who defiantly published a critical biography of Premier Wen Jiabao in 2010 in Hong Kong, also fled into exile in the United States after he was physically abused by authorities.

Li Jing and the 12-year-old Guo Yi arrived in Los Angeles on Monday by plane to start a new life in the United States, the US-based ChinaAid group said in a statement emailed to AFP.

"They will be appealing to the US government and international groups to pay close attention to Guo’s case and for help in winning his release," the group said, without providing further details.

Guo -- a former university professor in eastern China -- was jailed in October 2009 for "subversion of state power."

Activist's Family Escapes China

Radio Free Asia  2012-01-24

The wife and son of a Chinese opposition party founder will highlight his case in the US.

Photo courtesy of ChinaAid

Guo Quan's wife and son arrive in Los Angeles, Dec. 23, 2012.

The wife and son of jailed Chinese opposition party activist Guo Quan have arrived in the United States to raise awareness of his case, activists said this week.

Guo's wife Li Jing and his 12-year-old son Guo Chengyi arrived in the U.S. on Monday, fellow activists said.

"They have ... arrived in Los Angeles," said Bob Fu, founder of the U.S.-based Christian rights group ChinaAid. "In a few days' time they will travel to Washington D.C. to attend some events, and then they will be lodging a special appeal to Congress and the American people," he said.

Wife, Son of Well-Known Political Prisoner & Christian Guo Quan Arrive in US

China Aid Association

(Los Angeles—Jan. 23, 2012) With the assistance of ChinaAid and a number of churches in the United States, the wife and child of well-known Chinese political prisoner and Christian Guo Quan have left China and arrived Monday in Los Angeles.

(Photo: Ms. Li Jing and her son, Guo Yi, are welcomed at LAX by Prof. Eddie Romero, left, and former prisoner of conscience Wu Chaoyang. Click on photo to enlarge.)

Guo’s wife, Li Jing, and their 12-year-old son, Guo Yi, traveled by way of Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea. They were met at the Los Angeles airport by the director of ChinaAid’s LA office, Prof. Eddie Romero, also pastor of Hacienda Christian Fellowship, and Christian human rights activist Wu Chaoyang, a prisoner of conscience from the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement who had earlier arrived in the United States.  Ms. Li and Guo Yi are devout Christians.

NEWS FLASH: Under International Pressure, China Releases Pastor Shi Enhao

China Aid Association

(Suqian city, Jiangsu—Jan. 23, 2012) A Chinese house church pastor and vice president of the Chinese House Church Alliance sentenced last summer to a two-year labor camp term was unexpectedly released last Friday and is now home, ChinaAid has learned.

The legal basis for the early release of Pastor Shi Enhao is not yet known, but his case was No. 3 on ChinaAid’s list of 2011’s Top 10 Cases of Persecution of Churches and Christians released last Thursday, Jan. 19. (See http://www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/chinaaid-picks-2011s-top-10-cases-of.html)

Banned Student Fellowship Group Files Administrative Lawsuit

China Aid Association

(Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia—Jan. 22, 2012) A Christian students fellowship group in Inner Mongolia that was banned by Chinese authorities last year has filed an administrative lawsuit after its appeal of the government action was rejected, ChinaAid has learned.

As previously reported by China Aid Association, the local police and the Bureau of Minority and Religious Affairs of Ulanqab’s Jining district on Sept. 15, 2011 banned the Mengfu (Blessed) Fellowship for engaging in “illegal evangelism.” The authorities also confiscated 2,110 yuan (US$331) from the offering collection box, an Acer notebook computer, two projectors, a camera, a stereo system, and 17 video tapes.

ChinaAid Picks 2011’s Top 10 Cases of Persecution of Churches and Christians in China

Submitted by China Aid Association
January 19, 2012

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Amos 5:24

2011 can be regarded as China’s “year of political and religious persecution” or “year of Beijing terrorism.”  Last year saw the revival of extreme leftist ideology and a severe deterioration of the rule of law, bringing with it not only the most severe deterioration in political and religious freedom for the Chinese people since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution and the 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, but also blatant human rights violations and a worrying economic crisis.  Because of the Arab Spring Jasmine Revolution in 2011, a systematic crackdown on churches and prominent Christians that was launched in the second half of 2010 was extended and lasted for the whole of 2011. 

ChinaAid’s selection of the top 10 persecution cases for 2011 is based on the severity, impact and significance of each incidence of persecution and is a highly representative list.  These cases occurred in different parts of China and involved both urban and rural house churches, as well as “Three-Self” churches and Catholic churches.  The victims included pastors, human rights lawyers, political dissidents and artists.

1.    Beijing Shouwang Church―nonstop persecution throughout the year

In 2011, Beijing Shouwang Church, a well-known house church in Beijing with more than 1,000 members, was forced to hold its worship services outdoors.  The government’s persecution of the church has lasted for 38 weeks nonstop and is ongoing.  This large-scale and persistent crackdown on Shouwang Church is part of the government’s widespread suppression of house churches in 2011 and can be viewed as a continuation of the persecution that started with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(This July 3, 2011 photo shows Shouwang church members who managed to get to the outdoor worship site starting their Sunday morning worship service.)