{"id":49663,"date":"2024-04-09T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=49663"},"modified":"2024-04-09T12:56:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T03:56:34","slug":"vomk-report-298","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2024\/04\/09\/vomk-report-298\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: WIFE PAYS THE PRICE FOR STANDING UP FOR IMPRISONED HOUSE CHURCH PASTOR HUSBAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49673″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”The wife of a house church pastor in China posted a defense of her husband, who has been imprisoned for more than a year, on Chinese social media last month. Within hours, the post was blocked, police had descended on her home, and she and her parents-in-law were receiving threatening phone calls from authorities demanding that the post be withdrawn.” 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]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley, <\/span>Chen Ying, the wife of <\/span>Linfen<\/span> Covenant House Church pastor Han Xiaodong, posted <\/span>the statement on Chinese social media giant Weibo on March 9, entitled, \u201cRepresentatives of the National People\u2019s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC): please Pay Attention to the Case of Religious Persecution Against Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and Wang Qiang in <\/span>Linfen<\/span>, Shanxi Province\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\u201cChen Ying posted the statement, but it was <\/span>co-<\/span>signed <\/span>by the wives of Li Jie and Wang Qiang<\/span> and was written in defense of all three of their husbands<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d says Representative Foley. She says the social media post <\/span>was addressed to a host of public officials and agencies including China\u2019s <\/span>National People’s Congress<\/span>, the <\/span>Supreme People\u2019s Court, <\/span>the <\/span>Chinese <\/span>g<\/span>overnment website, <\/span>and several local news outlets and law enforcement agencies.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49666″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, Chen Ying posted the statement at 7:54 a.m. Beijing time, but the post was blocked within hours. \u201cAround 11:45 a.m., seven police officers from the <\/span>Yaodu<\/span> District Police Station arrived at her home, threatening that <\/span>they would come to her home every day until <\/span>she <\/span>deleted the <\/span>post,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cShe explained that the post had already been blocked and she <\/span>didn\u2019t<\/span> know what else to <\/span>delete<\/span>. But two hours later the lead police officer called her on the phone with the same demand.<\/span> Chen Ying sent out an urgent prayer letter<\/span> to her network<\/span>, expressing her confusion about how to handle the situation and <\/span>asking for prayers for her three <\/span>children<\/span>, who were afraid.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that Chen Ying\u2019s parents-in-law called her <\/span>that afternoon.<\/span> \u201cThey had also been threatened by the police, and they were urging her to delete the post,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>So<\/span> she sent out a <\/span>second letter<\/span> to her network asking for prayer.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley notes that all three families have suffered before and during their husbands\u2019 detentions. \u201cPolice <\/span>shut off the <\/span>power, water, and electricity<\/span> at Preacher Li Jie\u2019s home and forced the eviction of h<\/span>e, his wife Li Shanshan, and their <\/span>family <\/span>during the coldest day of winter<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>.<\/span> \u201cWen <\/span>Huijuan<\/span>, Wang Qiang\u2019s wife, was pregnant with her second baby during this time and faced a lot of stress. By the grace of God, the baby was born healthy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49670″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Han Xiaodong (back left), his wife Chen Ying (back right), and their family” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|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 <\/span>she believes <\/span>that police are <\/span>likely pressuring<\/span> Chen Ying specifically because she was the one who posted the letter on Weibo. But Representative Foley thinks that Chen Ying is strong enough to endure the pressure, due in part to her prayer network but also due to the <\/span>Christian <\/span>discipleship <\/span>commitment <\/span>evident<\/span> in <\/span>her relationship with her husband. \u201cChen Ying wrote a touching letter to her husband<\/span>,<\/span> Pastor Han Xiaodong, <\/span>in prison last January, saying, \u2018Honey, you always reminded me that people should not put the lamp under a basket. I <\/span>didn\u2019t<\/span> get it before, but people living near us <\/span>all care about us and are curious about us after the incident so that we can share our stories and God\u2019s story with them.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Linfen<\/span> Covenant House Church is an unregistered house church<\/span> in Shanxi Province<\/span>. According to Representative Foley, the church has faced persecution from authorities because they refused to join <\/span>China\u2019s<\/span> state-sanctioned \u201cThree-Self\u201d Protestant church<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>Ministers of the church signed \u201cA Joint Statement by Pastors: A Declaration for the Sake of the Christian Faith\u201d <\/span>initiated<\/span> by the pastor of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church, Wang Yi, who in December 2019 was given a prison sentence of 9 years for “inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations.” \u201cThe <\/span>Linfen<\/span> Covenant house church pastors were interrogated by police multiple times, and the church was forced to move,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cThe church\u2019s school was also raided multiple times. Then on August 19, 2022, during an outdoor family event organized by the church, over a hundred police officers raided the venue. Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and Wang Qiang were then detained on suspicion of \u2018fraud<\/span>\u2019,<\/span> a detention that has now lasted over one and a half years.<\/span> The authorities\u2019 claim of \u2018fraud\u2019 arises from the idea that because the church is unregistered, it is not legally able to take an offering. <\/span>To this day, there has been no trial, and the judges have repeatedly avoided communication with the lawyers.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”49669″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Han Xiaodong, one of the accused leaders of Linfen Covenant House Church” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|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]In the March statement posted on social media by Chen Ying and signed by the other two pastors\u2019 wives, the women called for attention to the religious persecution cases against their husbands and urged all levels of courts to reject religious persecution cases that violate human rights and disregard facts. They urged the Linfen People\u2019s Court to hold open and timely trials and send representatives to observe the trial. They also demanded supervision of local judicial authorities to ensure fairness and transparency in judicial proceedings and to set bail for their husbands. The wives state in part:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cSuch unscrupulous arrests of Christians not only create meaningless false and unjust cases but also fail to demonstrate any righteousness or goodness. This is persecution against Christians carried out in the name of the rule of law. It undoubtedly violates the principle of governing the country according to law and seriously harms the religious sentiments of the people. We firmly believe that our husbands are innocent.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in learning about or supporting Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with persecuted Christians in China can visit <\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/china<\/span><\/span><\/a> or give via electronic transfer to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

KB Bank: 463501-01-243303<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Account Holder: (<\/span>\uc0ac<\/span>)<\/span>\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please note \u201cChina\u201d on the transfer.<\/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=”49673″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”The wife of a house church pastor in China posted a defense of her husband, who has been imprisoned for more than a year, on Chinese social …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":49674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","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":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49663","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=49663"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49684,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49663\/revisions\/49684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}