According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, the case signals an increase in China Communist Party intervention in Christian homes. “The Party overrules the parents in every aspect of a child’s life,” says Representative Foley. “Parents must act as extensions of the state or face severe punishments. In the case of Brother Zhao, his Christian beliefs prevent him from subjecting his children to an atheist public education. The response of the authorities was to detain him, raid his home, confiscate his homeschool materials, and investigate him as a terrorist.” 

Representative Foley says that Zhao and his wife Li Xin have repeatedly been summoned by officials from the Religious Affairs Bureau, Education Commission, and the National Security Agency and threatened with arrest for their refusal to send their children to public school. “Brother Zhao and Sister Li refused to compromise their beliefs and instead continued to provide Christian education for his children in his home,” says Representative Foley.  

According to Representative Foley, twenty police officers then raided Zhao’s home on May 17, showing Zhao a subpoena for proselytism. “First Brother Zhao, and then later Sister Li, were summoned to the police station while officers who remained in the family’s home confiscated books, a computer, a hard drive, and a flash drive,” says Representative Foley. Li was released the same day, but Zhao was forced to serve a 15-day administrative detention penalty and was denied visitation by his family and attorney, according to Representative Foley. “When his attorney complained, authorities said that because the case involved classified information and national security concerns, the visitation request was denied,“ says Representative Foley. Zhao then received a second 15-day administrative detention sentence on July 7, followed by his formal arrest on July 20. 

Representative Foley says that police used the investigation of Zhao’s homeschooling to gather information about Zhao’s church. “Zhao is not the pastor of Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church, but he works closely with the church’s minister, An Yankui,” says Representative Foley. “Brother Zhao and Minister An studied theology together in Chengdu Huaxi Seminary, a Christian university founded by Pastor Wang Yi, the pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church who was sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2019. It would appear to be a case of guilt by association.”  

Minister An wrote, “They arrested Brother Zhao without an arrest warrant and searched his home without a search warrant. They summoned and detained him using the excuse of homeschooling his children, but they interrogated him about our church, completely irrelevant to the case. Until now, his family has not received any document, not even a list of items they impounded nor a detention notice. Everything remains a secret, a public secret. CCP authorities persecute God’s church.” 

Representative Foley agrees that Zhao’s case reveals more than Communist Party concerns over home schooling. “For years, the Chinese government tried to control Christianity by cracking down on China’s megachurches.But Chinese churches responded by shifting away from the megachurch model of professional pastors and Christian educators to a home-based model where Christian parents like Zhao and Li take the primary responsibility for the evangelism and discipleship of their children. The Chinese government knows that it is the home-based model, not the megachurch model, that is the future of the Chinese church. So they are devoting more and more state resources to cracking down on Christian parents. As Christians in the rest of the world, we need to devote more of our resources to supporting Chinese Christian parents like Zhao and Li. They are the new ‘front line’ of the Chinese church.”

Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s partnership with Chinese churches to support home-based discipleship can visit www.vomkorea.com/ssib.