{"id":58892,"date":"2026-05-06T10:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=58892"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:15:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:15:55","slug":"vomk-report-396","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2026\/05\/06\/vomk-report-396\/","title":{"rendered":"GUANGZHOU: LONGTIME AMERICAN MISSIONARY COUPLE DEPORTED AS CHURCH CRACKDOWN WORSENS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58904″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”A religious suppression campaign in Guangzhou, a major industrial city in southern China, escalated this month with a church raid, the deportation of a longtime American missionary couple, and the arrest of Chinese Christians for distributing printed Christian materials. That\u2019s the report from Voice of the Martyrs Korea and its US-based sister organization, China Aid. They say that local law enforcement raided Yongji Church on April 12, leading to the immediate deportation of an American Christian couple who had served in China for three decades. Also on the same day, in an unrelated operation, Chinese Christian Zheng Shulin was arrested and charged with \u201cillegal business operations\u201d on suspicion of distributing literature on Christian apologetics and creation science.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left|color:%23111111″ google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” css=”” el_class=”headline”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58898″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]On April 12, another Christian, Ms. Li Yuesui, was also arrested in Guangzhou. It is reported that Ms. Li was accused of receiving orders for the Christian publications being distributed by Mr. Zheng. At present, Mr. Zheng and Ms. Li are both being detained in Guangzhou.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]\u201c<\/span><\/span>Guangzhou was once one of the most active areas for house churches in China,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>Each of these incidents looked at individually raises concerns, but when they all happen together\u00a0<\/span>in the same month<\/span>\u00a0in the same city, they show a serious surge in government activity against Guangzhou\u2019s Christian community. We need to pray\u00a0<\/span>urgently to the\u00a0<\/span>Lord\u00a0<\/span>for the Christians of Guangzhou<\/span>, that he will grant them to\u00a0<\/span>continue to serve\u00a0<\/span>him\u00a0<\/span>without fear<\/span>. And we\u00a0<\/span>need to pray for and support those who have been arrested and expelled because of their faithful witness to the Lord.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says that the American Christian couple who were deported had lived and served in Guangzhou for\u00a0<\/span>nearly three<\/span>\u00a0decades and were known among local believers as \u201cgodly and low-key<\/span><\/span>\u201d.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Dr. Bob Fu, President of the China Aid Association, says the deportations reflect increasing efforts by Chinese authorities to\u00a0<\/span>eliminate<\/span>\u00a0foreign religious figures\u00a0<\/span>in the\u00a0<\/span>countr<\/span>y\u00a0<\/span>even those that serve quietly and have deep community connections.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Separately, t<\/span>he prosecutor’s office accused Mr. Zheng of\u00a0<\/span>conducting \u201cillegal business operations\u201d\u00a0<\/span>mail. However,\u00a0<\/span>Representative Foley says that\u00a0<\/span>people close to Mr. Zheng who are familiar with the matter strongly question this<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u201cThis case does not involve any commercial activities\u00a0<\/span>or political communications\u00a0<\/span>on the part of Mr. Zheng\u00a0<\/span>at all<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>There is no profit motive or actual profit in\u00a0<\/span>Mr. Zheng\u2019s ministry<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>China Aid President Bob Fu\u00a0<\/span>commented: \u201cThis is clearly a means of criminalizing religious expression. In China,<\/span>\u00a0the charge of \u2018<\/span>illegal business operation<\/span>s\u2019\u00a0<\/span>is often\u00a0<\/span>used\u00a0<\/span>to combat ideas that the government deems to be spread without permission, even if the parties involved have no incentive to profit.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58913″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”Guangzho Yongji Church” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13|text_align:center|color:%23111111″ css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Mr. Zheng is currently in criminal detention. Under China’s criminal procedure law,\u00a0<\/span>authorities have\u00a0<\/span>37 days\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>determine<\/span>\u00a0whether to move forward with a formal arrest.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Representative Foley says, \u201c<\/span>In recent years, under the\u00a0<\/span>direction\u00a0<\/span>of the\u00a0<\/span>Communist Party\u00a0<\/span>leadership, China has continued to strengthen the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/span>Sinicization<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>\u00a0process of religious affairs, aiming to\u00a0<\/span>completely eliminate<\/span>\u00a0the influence of\u00a0<\/span>so-called \u2018<\/span>foreign religious\u00a0<\/span>forces<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span>. Th<\/span>is crackdown in Guangzhou is further evidence of that strategy in action.<\/span>\u00a0It must be countered through prayer as well as the public awareness of Christians around the world.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau has not yet issued a public comment on the above case<\/span>s<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donation<\/a> or give via electronic transfer to:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>KB Bank: 463501-01-243303<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Account Holder: (<\/span><\/span>\uc0ac<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Please note \u201cChina\u201d on the transfer<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”58904″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_custom_heading text=”A religious suppression campaign in Guangzhou, a major industrial city in southern China, escalated this month with a church raid, the deportation of a longtime …","protected":false},"author":1959,"featured_media":58905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","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\/58892","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\/1959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58892"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58999,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58892\/revisions\/58999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}