Li Wenxi, a Christian bookseller in Beijing who wanted to help the believers in Taiyuan (Shanxi) open their own bookstore, was beaten, threatened and arrested by the local police. "Don't you dare bring Christianity to Shanxi!" he was told, "This is our place". Now his wife, Li Caihong, is trying to seek help online because her husband has been held without trial in a prison for the past three months.
Li's story began in December when he traveled from Beijing to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province in northern China, to help local Christians open a Christian bookstore. Due to his extensive knowledge of the market, he had managed to run a bookstore in the capital and survive. In Shanxi, the situation was not as good.
Right after the opening of the bookstore, state security agents stormed the place and confiscated hundreds of religious books that Ki had brought with him. A few days later, they called him and told him they would return the books. With no idea it was a trap, Li went to the police station. That was the last time his wife heard from him. Since then, she has prayed for him every day. The police later told her that her husband had been charged with "running an illegal business". They refused to release him on bail because of the seriousness of his "crime".
Li Caihong turned to the internet in desperation in an attempt to get her husband back to their two children. She took to Weibo, China's popular social media platform, to tell her story and ask for help. Her message was reposted over 4000 times and received hundreds of comments. "Shanxi is one of the places where Christians are persecuted the worst," wrote one blogger.
Taiyuan officials wrote the same in a statement on their website in March: "Yingze District successfully fought a case of Christianity," they wrote in an article boasting about their raid on an "underground" church. However, the authorities were later forced to retract the article after it faced massive criticism on Weibo, where someone had published it.
In China, worship services are only allowed in buildings and with staff registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. It is illegal to hold prayer and worship services in unauthorized places.
However, many choose to risk the consequences of the law to avoid the stifling scrutiny of local patriotic associations. Protestant groups have in some cases applied for permission to build a church, but local authorities have rejected their applications.
Since 2007, a campaign has been underway against underground protesters. They number around 50 million believers, according to a conservative estimate. The campaign's goal is to incorporate these congregations into the patriotic movement Three-Self, which is a state-controlled Protestant organization, or alternatively to simply suppress them.
Source: AsiaNews
