On 27 October Chang Hao, a popular preacher from Zhenxiong in Yunnan province, was released from Zhenxiong County Detention Centre after completing his twelve-day administrative detention.
Staff drove him straight to the police station in Poji town, where he was interviewed separately by the deputy secretary of the town, the director and deputy director of the Religious Affairs Bureau and the heads of both county and city departments of Domestic Security Protection, all of whom pressurised him to join the officially-recognised Three-Self Church. He responded, “It is impossible to persuade me to give up my faith. Not to mention going to jail, I will maintain my faith even if I am beheaded.”
After the interviews Chang Hao was sent home, where he was reunited with his family – he is pictured with his wife. He discovered that during his detention church members had been subjected to varying degrees of pressure and intimidation and church equipment including chairs and projectors had been looted. Guards were posted day and night at the entrances to his home and the home where the church meets.
After his release Chang Hao wrote a long article, Documentation of the Oct 15 Zhenxiong Church Case, which details his experience in detention and was published by China Aid.
Baptism service raided
According to Chang Hao’s detention release notice, his crime was “harming society in the name of religion and qigong”, but China Aid states that “the actual reason for Chang Hao’s detention was that his church baptised new believers”. (Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice that involves movement, controlled breathing and meditation.)
He had invited well-known pastor and former prisoner John Cao from Changsha in Hunan to come and baptise 13 new Christians at his church in Zhenxiong on 15 October, using an inflatable pool (pictured). Police raided the baptism and detained everyone present, including Pastor John, taking them to the Zhenxiong County Public Security Bureau for questioning.
Late that night police took Pastor John back to Changsha and the other Christians were released one by one except for Chang Hao, who was detained for twelve days. It was his twentieth administrative detention. During the Covid pandemic he became popular by distributing masks inscribed with Bible verses, an initiative that online news source Bitter Winter said “mightily disturbed the authorities”.
Imprisoned for over a year
On 14 April 2023 officers from the Zhenxiong Public Security Bureau raided Chang Hao’s small rural church in Zhenxiong county, took him away and confiscated Bibles, Christian books and gospel masks. On 15 May he was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a charge often used against unregistered religious leaders.
On 23 November 2023 he was prosecuted at the Zhenxiong County People’s Court – the procuratorate accused him of “posting and forwarding false information and inappropriate remarks on the Internet many times, causing serious chaos in public order and causing serious negative social impact”. On 14 May 2024 the Zhenxiong Court sentenced him to one year and one month in prison. He was released from prison and returned home that day, although he was kept under surveillance.
Before Chang Hao became a preacher he worked in a factory, where a fire burned his hands so badly that he could no longer hold things and he became a state-recognised disabled person.
(China Aid, Bitter Winter)
Photos: China Aid