China Raids Underground Church, Detaining Two Leaders Amid Growing Religious Crackdown
An influential Protestant church in China has said two of its leaders were detained after more than dozens of congregants, including children, were rounded up for interrogation.
The raid occurred in Jiangyou, a south‑western city, midway through a Sunday service where armed police officers stormed the ballroom where worshipers were seated.
Founded in 2008 in Chengdu, the church has long been on the Chinese Communist Party’s radar, as religion is tightly controlled in the region.
The church’s founding pastor, Wang Yi, was detained in a 2018 raid and is now serving a nine‑year jail term for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.”
The reason for detaining the two leaders, Yan Hong and Wu Wuqing, remains unclear. The church said Chinese authorities have not yet responded to its statement posted on Telegram.
Photographs and videos released by the church show congregants seated in a hotel ballroom surrounded by SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactical Unit) officers.
According to estimates from some members, at least 50 police officers were present during the raid, which began at 11:00 local time.
More than 30 members and leaders were forcefully taken away in several police vehicles and questioned in the Jiangyou detention centre. Throughout the process, they “fellowshipped, sang hymns, and prayed until most of them were released.”
The remaining congregants—elderly and children—were locked up in the ballroom and made to undergo identity checks. In clips, some people continued singing while an officer in plain clothes repeatedly shouted for them to stop.
Officers tried to get those in the ballroom to sign an affidavit in exchange for release, but the content of the affidavit was never disclosed. The congregants refused, and many were released at 18:00.
Apart from Yan and Wu, those detained for interrogation were released between 21:00 and 23:00 on Sunday.
Both preachers had previously been detained by authorities; the most recent detention occurred in January when they were summoned for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
In 2018, authorities claimed there were 44 million Christians in China, but it remains unclear if this figure includes participants of underground churches.
The Communist Party encourages Christians to join only state‑sanctioned churches led by government‑approved pastors. Many Christians have chosen underground churches, also known as “house churches,” over the years, but authorities have intensified persecution, with arrests becoming more common.
“[Sunday’s] raid is another stark reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to treat peaceful Christian worship as a threat to state control,” said Bob Fu, founder of non‑profit ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution.
In October last year, 30 leaders of Zion Church—one of China’s biggest underground churches—were rounded up across seven cities. Its founder, Ezra Jin, remains in custody.
