{"id":38951,"date":"2021-10-19T13:57:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T04:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=38951"},"modified":"2021-10-19T15:07:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T06:07:28","slug":"vomk-report-175","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2021\/10\/19\/vomk-report-175\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: IMPRISONED CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE OWNER\u2019S APPEAL POSTPONED INDEFINITELY"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”38942″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”(Linhai, Zhejiang Province) A Christian bookstore owner who was sent to prison for selling books by foreign Christians and by Early Rain Church Pastor Wang Yi has had his appeal hearing postponed indefinitely. Authorities blamed the postponement of the hearing of Zhang Xiaomai, the owner of Xiaomai Bookstore in Linhai, Zhejiang Province, on Coronavirus concerns.” 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][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]No new date has been given for the\u00a0<\/span>appeal, according to Zhang\u2019s mother, who received notice of the delay from Zhang\u2019s attorneys.\u00a0<\/span>Zhang was\u00a0<\/span>arrested on September 11,\u00a0<\/span>2019<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>convicted\u00a0<\/span>o<\/span>n September\u00a0<\/span>28,\u00a0<\/span>2020\u00a0<\/span>on charges of\u00a0<\/span>selling illegal religious overseas publications online<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0He\u00a0<\/span>was sentenced to\u00a0<\/span>seven\u00a0<\/span>years\u00a0<\/span>in prison\u00a0<\/span>and given a fine of\u00a0<\/span><\/span>200,000\u00a0<\/span>CNY<\/span>\u00a0(<\/span>approximately\u00a0<\/span>3<\/span>7 million KRW<\/span><\/span>)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Zhang\u00a0<\/span>immediately appealed his conviction.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Hyun Sook Foley,\u00a0<\/span>Zhang\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>arrest made national news in China. \u201c<\/span>In addition to his local store,\u00a0<\/span>Zhang\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>bookstore<\/span>\u00a0sold Christian books online<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cWhen he was arrested, t<\/span>he Ministry of Public Security<\/span>\u00a0announced that\u00a0<\/span>state security\u00a0<\/span>agents would\u00a0<\/span>be\u00a0<\/span>contact<\/span>ing<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>his online\u00a0<\/span>customers\u00a0<\/span>by using receipts they had seized<\/span>\u00a0as evidence<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>They reportedly\u00a0<\/span>contacted\u00a0<\/span>over 10,000\u00a0<\/span>of Zhang\u2019s customers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>throughout China<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d Representative Foley says that t<\/span>he key question in the\u00a0<\/span>inquiry\u00a0<\/span>was\u00a0<\/span>whether\u00a0<\/span>customers had purchased\u00a0<\/span>the book\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Transformation of the Gospel<\/span><\/span>\u00a0by Wang Yi<\/span>, the pastor of the embattled\u00a0<\/span>Early Rain Covenant Church<\/span>\u00a0who was sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2019<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”38945″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Sources told Voice of the Martyrs Korea that authorities confiscated all copies of Wang Yi\u2019s book\u00a0from Zhang\u2019s customers, as well as another 12,000 books from Zhang\u2019s store, as evidence for the trial. The\u00a0books\u00a0will be destroyed, the sources said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Representative Foley, the primary business of\u00a0Xiaomai\u00a0Bookstore was\u00a0providing its customers access to\u00a0foreign\u00a0Christian publications.\u00a0Authorities claimed that Zhang sold over 20,000 books to\u00a0more than\u00a010,000\u00a0customers. The books were\u00a0reportedly\u00a0worth\u00a0nearly\u00a0<\/span>3\u00a0million\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>CNY (approximately\u00a0500 million\u00a0KRW).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years, the\u00a0<\/span>CCP has\u00a0<\/span>increased\u00a0<\/span>its enforcement against\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>sale,\u00a0<\/span>purchase<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0and reading of\u00a0<\/span>Christian materials\u00a0<\/span>outside of official state channels<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cThe punishments are especially high when\u00a0<\/span>the materials\u00a0<\/span>involved\u00a0<\/span>were written by foreign Christian authors or by Chinese Christians who have been targeted by the government.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”38957″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”A bookstore in China (Photo: Flickr).” 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\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Zheng\u00a0Jinmei, Zhang\u00a0Xiaomai\u2019s\u00a0mother, sent out an open prayer request after his first trial:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore [Zhang\u00a0Xiaoomai’s] first trial, I cried every day so that I was out of strength and didn\u2019t want to eat, but God comforted me, woke my soul up, and used a lot of brothers and sisters who we don\u2019t know to help us and pray for us, I know that God doesn\u2019t abandon us, thank you all! The following is my prayer:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \n
  1. May the Lord help my son\u2019s faith and be with him so that my son knows what happened to him is the cross that God permits him to bear. God\u2019s grace is sufficient regardless of the result.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. May the Lord oversee prosecutors and judges of<\/span>ZhangXiaomai\u2019s\u00a02nd<\/span>\u00a0trial so that they will handle Chen Yu\u2019s case with justice. May God\u2019s conscience guide them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. There have been alot of changes in the faith environment in China because everyone faces enormous pressure. May the Lord reveal His works in this time\u00a0and help us follow him courageously.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in\u00a0<\/span>learning more about\u00a0<\/span>Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>partnership with Chinese\u00a0<\/span>unregistered\u00a0<\/span>church<\/span>es<\/span>\u00a0can<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>visit\u00a0<\/span><\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/china<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”38942″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”(Linhai, Zhejiang Province) A Christian bookstore owner who was sent to prison for selling books by foreign Christians and by Early Rain Church Pastor Wang Yi has …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":38943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","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\/38951","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=38951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}