Christian man writes letter regarding family’s persecution

David Guan with his family. (Photo: Courtesy of David Guan)

ChinaAid

(Weifang, Shandong—Aug. 27, 2019) A 20-year-old man from China’s Shandong Province wrote a prayer letter describing his family’s persecution and begging the international community to pray for his parents and Chinese churches.

The man, David Guan, recalled often witnessing officers take his father away for interrogation when Guan was only three or four years old. He said government personnel often harassed his family. Even at school, teachers encouraged other children to not associate with him and pressure him to give up his faith. In 2013, Guan said the officials’ persecution of his family escalated as they used his safety as leverage to “force my parents to give up their faith and to give up their service at the church.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping took power in 2013, and under his rule, the Chinese Communist Party has introduced the “Sinicization” of religion—an attempt to bring religion under further government control. Since then, religious practitioners have experienced a narrowing in allowed religious practices, enshrined in the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs. As a result, many religious people have been imprisoned, harassed, and even tortured for their faith, and the lawyers who try to help them are often targeted.

A translation of Guan’s letter is forthcoming.

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