Persecution of Christians in China: because there are no checks on the power of the Chinese government within China, human rights abuses against Christians such as those that are described in this article are rampant. China offers yet another instance of the persecution of Christians by governing officials that is unfortunately on the increase not only in China, but in all too many other nations around the world. Please pray for the Orthodox Christians and other Christians of this land, that they would experience the Resurrection after carrying the Cross.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“New Tortures Target Church of Almighty God Members,” by Wang Yichi, Bitter Winter, March 20, 2021:
“I was taken to a highly guarded cell block, and the prison guard arranged two prisoners to surveil and control me. Their task was to have me give up my belief,” said a female CAG member from the central province of Hunan, who agreed to talk to Bitter Winter. In November 2018, the Hunan provincial police carried out a unified arrest operation targeting CAG members. Over 100 CAG members, including the one who told her story to us, were arrested one after the other. She was sentenced to two years in prison for her belief, and released from jail in November 2020.
During her prison term, she reports, she was subjected to inhuman mistreatment and torment as she refused to give up her belief. The guard punished her by letting her stand at attention for 18 hours every day for 14 consecutive days, during which the guard prohibited her from going to the toilet, and ordered her to have meals while standing there. As she was given little food, she was always starved.
“On the fourth day when I was standing at attention, my feet became numb, feeling like lead. When I went to the toilet at night, I had to move slowly with my hands supporting my knees. The backs of my feet and my legs were all black,” she said. “If I stayed in the toilet over the three minutes they set, the prisoners would shout to urge me, and pour cold water over my body. As they poured water on me more than once, my shoes were always wet, making my feet swollen even more, so that I had difficulties in putting my feet into my shoes. My hands also began to be swollen and numb. I was sleepy and hungry, dazed and flustered.”
“Nine days later, as I was not allowed to excrete in time, my stomach was bloated in pain, so that I had no appetite, and could not sleep well at night,” the woman said, recalling that because she stood for a long time, her hands and feet were terribly swollen. She had difficulty in breathing, but the prisoners who surveilled and controlled her still punished her by letting her stand until midnight.
After she stood in for 14 days, as she refused to write the statement promising to give up her belief, the guards punished her by letting her sit still on a small stool for 18 hours every day, during which she was not allowed to go to the toilet. “I really could not hold on, getting incontinence of urine and feces. It was greatly painful to sit on the small plastic stool,” she said. “Other prisoners covered their noses when passing by me.” Because she was prohibited from excreting during a prolonged time, she had constipation and could not urinate, and she still has not recovered now.
We also interviewed another CAG member from the southeastern province of Jiangxi, who was compelled to stand still and locked in a small dark room during his prison term. He was arrested in July 2018 for helping in the production of CAG videos, and was later sentenced to one year and ten months in prison.
In prison, as he refused to sign the three statements of repentance, break-up and guarantee promising to give up his belief, he was punished to stand still over a dozen hours every day for more than ten consecutive days. Later, the prison guards locked him in a 3-square-meter dark room (specially used to lock “disobedient” and mentally-ill prisoners). On two other occasions, they locked him together with mentally-ill prisoners. The guard incited the prisoners to beat him, and when they had a relapse, they would stain a towel with feces and put them on his face.
To force him to give in, the guards then locked him in a large cell. “Seventeen or eighteen prisoners were locked there, and we were punished to stand still several hours every day, not allowed to move or speak. And we were waked up every half an hour for roll call at night. This went on repeatedly until dawn,” he recalled. “I was locked there for about three months. The guard did not allow me to take a bath, nor did they give me enough food. I lost more than 15 kg.”…
