Persecution of Christians in China: as we have reported here for quite some time, the Chinese government is in the midst of an all-out campaign to transform Christianity altogether, making it subservient to the Chinese Communist Party. To that end the distribution of Christian literature must be sharply restricted; hence the sentence upon this bookseller.
Holy Orthodoxy has a three-hundred year history in China, with the first Orthodox Christians coming into the country in 1685. In the 1980s, the Chinese Orthodox Church began to experience a revival. But now all its growth is seriously imperiled.
Pray that it not be snuffed out. The Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, requests once again that the Chinese government end these repressive measures, grant official recognition to the Chinese Orthodox Church, and give full religious freedom to all the Christians of that nation.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Chinese Christian Bookseller Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison,” International Christian Concern, October 1, 2020:
10/01/2020 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a Chinese Christian online bookstore owner, Chen Yu, was charged with “illegal business operations” on September 27. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 200,000 RMB ($29,450 USD).
According to a document from the People’s Court of Linhai City, shared by Father Francis Liu from the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness, in addition to the seven-year sentence and imposed fine, Chen will also have his iPhone confiscated. Additionally, the 12,864 Christian books from his bookstore will be destroyed by the Linhai City Public Security Bureau.
On September 1, 2019, Chen, who operated his online bookstore in Zhejiang province’s Taizhou city, was detained for selling unapproved religious publications imported from Taiwan, the US, and other countries. Consequently, the police launched a nationwide investigation to track down the bookstore’s customers through sale records and confiscated their purchased books.
On November 6, 2019, ICC also published the accounts of many Wheat Bookstore customers who were harassed by local authorities. According to China Aid, the Chinese government was utilizing this investigation opportunity to search for “illegal [religious] activities locally.”
A house church pastor from Shenzhen city in the southern province of Guangdong also told Bitter Winter, “People who buy Christian books are practicing believers, so the government looks into them to determine how dangerous they are to the stability of their regime.”…