{"id":35167,"date":"2021-02-09T12:48:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T03:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=35167"},"modified":"2021-02-10T10:50:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T01:50:03","slug":"vomk-report-142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2021\/02\/09\/vomk-report-142\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: CROSSES REMOVED FROM 5 WENZHOU CHURCHES IN SECRET NIGHTTIME RAIDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”35156″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Authorities in Wenzhou, China continue to remove crosses from churches in the region. The latest round of cross removals began overnight on January 15, when authorities tore down crosses at four churches in the city, including Yongzhong Street Canghe Church in Longwan District. Then early morning February 1, the cross was removed from Wenzhou\u2019s Shuixin X\u2019tian Church.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, local government officials hired crane operators to demolish the crosses.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first time the crosses\u00a0<\/span><\/span>had been forcibly removed from these churches<\/span><\/span>. \u201cO<\/span><\/span>fficials previously removed the cross of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Canghe<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>C<\/span><\/span>hurch on June 30, 2014<\/span><\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>Later, the church quietly installed a much smaller cross.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0But now even that cross has been torn down.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Shuixin<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>X\u2019tian<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Church also had its cross torn down by authorities in 2014<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”35169″ img_size=”600×600″ alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Map of Whenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that o<\/span><\/span>n January 16, members of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Canghe<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Church filed a report with the local public security bureau stating that their church cross had been stolen. In response, Wenzhou\u00a0<\/span><\/span>P<\/span><\/span>ublic\u00a0<\/span><\/span>S<\/span><\/span>ecurity\u00a0<\/span><\/span>B<\/span><\/span>ureau\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Longwan<\/span><\/span>\u00a0District branch issued the notice, \u201cThe stolen cross of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Canghe<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>C<\/span><\/span>hurch does not fall under the jurisdiction of this public security bureau. The public safety organs will not be handling the investigation.”<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley says that this newest wave of cross removals has not caught pastors in Wenzhou by surprise. \u201cPreviously,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wenzhou Pastor Yan\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Xiaojie<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>had\u00a0<\/span><\/span>posted on social media<\/span><\/span>, \u2018<\/span><\/span>The evil wave will re-emerge in 2021<\/span><\/span>.\u2019 He wrote, \u2018<\/span><\/span>Again, there is forced demolishment, illegal demolishment, indiscriminate demolishment, demolishment at night.<\/span><\/span>\u2019 And indeed,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>these<\/span><\/span>\u00a0latest cross\u00a0<\/span><\/span>removals happened in the darkness.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”35166″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Authorities in Wenzhou, China removed the cross at Yongzhong Street Canghe Church in an overnight raid on January 15.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”35158″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Authorities use a crane to remove the cross from 100-yr-old Shuixin X\u2019tian Church on February 1.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Representative Foley notes that both\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Yongzhong<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Canghe<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Church and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Shuixin<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>X\u2019tian<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Church have long histories<\/span><\/span>. \u201c<\/span><\/span>Official records\u00a0<\/span><\/span>show that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>both churches are<\/span><\/span>\u00a0more than a century old,\u201d she said. The Christian population is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wenzhou<\/span><\/span>\u00a0is reported to be more than<\/span><\/span>\u00a0one million, with the number of officially registered churches more than one thousand.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]Cross removal in Wenzhou enters its seventh year this month, says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span><\/span>From February 2014 to January 2016, Xia\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Baolong<\/span><\/span>, the Zhejiang provincial secretary, issued the order to remove all crosses in the province. In April 2014,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>authorities removed the cross from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wenzhou\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Sanjiang<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Christian Church<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and<\/span><\/span>\u00a0several other church<\/span><\/span>es<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>T<\/span><\/span>housands of worshippers camped\u00a0<\/span><\/span>out around the church\u00a0<\/span><\/span>to protest the demoli<\/span><\/span>tion<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>W<\/span><\/span>ithin two years, authorities forcibly removed crosses from more than one thousand churches<\/span><\/span>, and there were\u00a0<\/span><\/span>20 forced disappearance<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0of ministers from Wenzhou in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>one\u00a0<\/span><\/span>six<\/span><\/span>–<\/span><\/span>month<\/span><\/span>\u00a0period<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>These two recent overnight raids on the crosses of these five churches<\/span><\/span>\u00a0shows that cross removal is not a thing of the past. We need to be diligent to stand with and pray for the churches of Wenzhou and all across China.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”35161″ img_size=”286×435″ alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”A copy of the notice Wenzhou Public Security Bureau\u2019s Longwan District branch issued regarding the \u201cstolen\u201d cross.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/project\/china\/<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UhZsl-jVtCw”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”35156″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Authorities in Wenzhou, China continue to remove crosses from churches in the region. The latest round of cross removals began overnight on January 15, when authorities tore …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":35154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,1,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-uncategorized","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}