Authorities fine Pastor Yang Xibo and wife 200,000 yuan for “organizing a gathering”

Photo: Pastor Yang Xibo with his family (ChinaAid source)

Editors note: All yuan-USD conversions reflect exchange rates at the time of the story

(Xiamen, Fujian province) On July 29, Siming District, the Xiamen City Bureau of  Religious Affairs issued an administrative punishment to Pastor Yang Xibo, and his wife Wang Xiaofei, of Xunsiding Church. They charged the couple with “organizing a gathering.”

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials also heavily fined the couple 200,000 yuan (~$30,938). In the notice to Pastor Yang and Wang, officials assert:

 

[We] found out according to law that your behavior of organizing and holding the Xunsiding Church religious activity in the Liuhong Hall of the Pan Pacific Hotel without the approval of the National Religious Affairs Bureau, and providing for the illegal religious activity violates the provisions of Articles 40 and 41 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs.
 
According to Article 71 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, this government organ plans to impose an administrative penalty of 200000 yuan on [you,] Yang Xiibo and Wang Xiaofei (100000 yuan on Yang Xibo and Wang Xiaofei respectively).
 
According to the provisions of Articles 44 and 45 of the Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, you have the right to make statements and defend [yourself]. Please make a statement and defense to the Bureau of National Religious Affairs of Siming District, Xiamen within three days from the date of receiving the notice.

 

Xiamen Siming District NRAB Punishment Notice. 
(Photo: Pastor Yang Xibo’s Facebook)

 

In recent years, Xiamen Chinese Communist Party (CCP) municipal authorities used tough measures to crack down on the family church [House Church], and the Xunsiding Church, They have primarily targeted Xunsiding Church, which had inherited traditions from the family church for hundreds of years, On May 19, 2019, CCP municipal officials banned Xunsiding Church and fined members 25000 yuan [USD: 3869]. Police besieged Xunsiding Church’s building for 30 days. Afterward, as officers continued to monitor the church, members constantly changed their meeting places. Whether they met in residential buildings, office buildings, hotels, or by the sea, however, public security officers found and repeatedly harassed them.

In Xiamen. one of the earliest areas where Protestants entered China, Christians established the “New Street Church,” China’s first church, in 1848. Because Yang Qingxi, the great-great grandfather of Yang Xibo, a martial arts expert, escorted missionaries into the mountains, he “fathered” the first generation of Christians in the Yang family. Next, Yang Huaide, Pastor Yang’s great-grandfather, who believed in the Lord, put down his shoemaker’s skills and moved to Gulangyu to study theology. Afterward, he served full-time and became the first priest of the “Xiamen Hong Kong Chapel” which the British Presbyterian Church had established in 1888.

After Xunsiding Church closed in the mid-1950s due to political coercion, members moved to Pastor Yang Huaide’s home for gatherings. Later, because two descendants of Yang Huaide, Yang Xinfei and Yang Yuanzhang, spiritual predecessors of the Chinese family church, refused to join the Three-Self Church, CCP authorities imprisoned them for 15 and 5 years. After being released from prison, they continued to serve “the Church.” In 1977, the Church again held religious gatherings in public at No. 5 of Xunsiding Church.

Today, Pastor Yang, the fourth generation from Yang leads Xunsiding Church. He once shared that since childhood after growing up under the influence of the family‘s belief, he decided to be a preacher.

 

Pastor Yang’s aunt, Yang Xinfei, and his father, Yang Yuanzhang.
(Photo: ChinaAid resource)

Over the past 30 years, the Church has held gatherings in private homes with the tacit approval of CCP authorities. In recent years, however, with Xiamen municipal government officials crack down on family churches, they have demolished Church members’ houses. In addition, police stormed the Church on Sundays, beaten, and arrested Christians, and forced Christians to send their children to public schools. CCP authorities have also demolished the tombstones of foreign missionaries.

On March 19, 2021, the United Front Work Department (the National Religious Affairs Bureau) of Siming District, Xiamen City issued a notice. To prevent the rebound of banned illegal religious activities, Xiamen officials require street authorities, to continue to strengthen the investigation of private/business sites. They must organize community cadres to conduct key inspections/ investigations of commercial and residential buildings, as well as commercial hotels on Saturday/Sunday nights (primary periods of religious activities). Once, officials find illegal religious activities, they must immediately report them to the United Front Work Department of the District Party committee (the National Religious Affairs Bureau) for coordination and investigation.

On April 17, public security authorities raided the Church at the newly rented meeting place of the Pan Pacific Hotel. Dozens of police intercepted Church members and clerical workers at the entrance of the hotel conference hall. Officers took each person’s body temperature and registered their ID numbers, one by one. They directed each Christian to remove his/her mask to photograph their face.

After receiving the BNRA’s notice of administrative punishment, Pastor Yang posted a message on social media:

 

~ Yu Bing, ChinaAid Special Correspondent

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Authorities fine Pastor Yang Xibo and wife 200,000 yuan for “organizing a gathering”

Photo: Pastor Yang Xibo with his family (ChinaAid source)

Editors note: All yuan-USD conversions reflect exchange rates at the time of the story

(Xiamen, Fujian province) On July 29, Siming District, the Xiamen City Bureau of  Religious Affairs issued an administrative punishment to Pastor Yang Xibo, and his wife Wang Xiaofei, of Xunsiding Church. They charged the couple with “organizing a gathering.”

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials also heavily fined the couple 200,000 yuan (~$30,938). In the notice to Pastor Yang and Wang, officials assert:

 

[We] found out according to law that your behavior of organizing and holding the Xunsiding Church religious activity in the Liuhong Hall of the Pan Pacific Hotel without the approval of the National Religious Affairs Bureau, and providing for the illegal religious activity violates the provisions of Articles 40 and 41 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs.
 
According to Article 71 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, this government organ plans to impose an administrative penalty of 200000 yuan on [you,] Yang Xiibo and Wang Xiaofei (100000 yuan on Yang Xibo and Wang Xiaofei respectively).
 
According to the provisions of Articles 44 and 45 of the Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, you have the right to make statements and defend [yourself]. Please make a statement and defense to the Bureau of National Religious Affairs of Siming District, Xiamen within three days from the date of receiving the notice.

 

Xiamen Siming District NRAB Punishment Notice. 
(Photo: Pastor Yang Xibo’s Facebook)

 

In recent years, Xiamen Chinese Communist Party (CCP) municipal authorities used tough measures to crack down on the family church [House Church], and the Xunsiding Church, They have primarily targeted Xunsiding Church, which had inherited traditions from the family church for hundreds of years, On May 19, 2019, CCP municipal officials banned Xunsiding Church and fined members 25000 yuan [USD: 3869]. Police besieged Xunsiding Church’s building for 30 days. Afterward, as officers continued to monitor the church, members constantly changed their meeting places. Whether they met in residential buildings, office buildings, hotels, or by the sea, however, public security officers found and repeatedly harassed them.

In Xiamen. one of the earliest areas where Protestants entered China, Christians established the “New Street Church,” China’s first church, in 1848. Because Yang Qingxi, the great-great grandfather of Yang Xibo, a martial arts expert, escorted missionaries into the mountains, he “fathered” the first generation of Christians in the Yang family. Next, Yang Huaide, Pastor Yang’s great-grandfather, who believed in the Lord, put down his shoemaker’s skills and moved to Gulangyu to study theology. Afterward, he served full-time and became the first priest of the “Xiamen Hong Kong Chapel” which the British Presbyterian Church had established in 1888.

After Xunsiding Church closed in the mid-1950s due to political coercion, members moved to Pastor Yang Huaide’s home for gatherings. Later, because two descendants of Yang Huaide, Yang Xinfei and Yang Yuanzhang, spiritual predecessors of the Chinese family church, refused to join the Three-Self Church, CCP authorities imprisoned them for 15 and 5 years. After being released from prison, they continued to serve “the Church.” In 1977, the Church again held religious gatherings in public at No. 5 of Xunsiding Church.

Today, Pastor Yang, the fourth generation from Yang leads Xunsiding Church. He once shared that since childhood after growing up under the influence of the family‘s belief, he decided to be a preacher.

 

Pastor Yang’s aunt, Yang Xinfei, and his father, Yang Yuanzhang.
(Photo: ChinaAid resource)

Over the past 30 years, the Church has held gatherings in private homes with the tacit approval of CCP authorities. In recent years, however, with Xiamen municipal government officials crack down on family churches, they have demolished Church members’ houses. In addition, police stormed the Church on Sundays, beaten, and arrested Christians, and forced Christians to send their children to public schools. CCP authorities have also demolished the tombstones of foreign missionaries.

On March 19, 2021, the United Front Work Department (the National Religious Affairs Bureau) of Siming District, Xiamen City issued a notice. To prevent the rebound of banned illegal religious activities, Xiamen officials require street authorities, to continue to strengthen the investigation of private/business sites. They must organize community cadres to conduct key inspections/ investigations of commercial and residential buildings, as well as commercial hotels on Saturday/Sunday nights (primary periods of religious activities). Once, officials find illegal religious activities, they must immediately report them to the United Front Work Department of the District Party committee (the National Religious Affairs Bureau) for coordination and investigation.

On April 17, public security authorities raided the Church at the newly rented meeting place of the Pan Pacific Hotel. Dozens of police intercepted Church members and clerical workers at the entrance of the hotel conference hall. Officers took each person’s body temperature and registered their ID numbers, one by one. They directed each Christian to remove his/her mask to photograph their face.

After receiving the BNRA’s notice of administrative punishment, Pastor Yang posted a message on social media:

 

~ Yu Bing, ChinaAid Special Correspondent

News
Read more ChinaAid stories
Click Here
Write
Send encouraging letters to prisoners
Click Here
Previous slide
Next slide

Send your support

Fight for religious freedom in China

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