The grander a dictator’s ambitions, the more likely he is to see religion as a threat. So it is with Xi Jinping, who has ruled the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with increasing ruthlessness since November 2012, when he became general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. He continues to escalate his government’s war against those who believe that he and the CCP are accountable to a higher power. In this way he is PRC founder Mao Zedong’s “true successor,” as argued by Chinese historian Jung Chang.
Of late, Xi’s enforcers have been targeting Zion church, a large, unregistered house congregation. As reported by The Washington Post:
Since October, Chinese authorities have moved aggressively to dismantle Zion and a network of related churches across the country. In a coordinated sweep, police detained Ezra Jin, Zion’s 56-year-old founding pastor, and nearly 30 other church leaders and members in eight cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu. At least 18 people have been charged on suspicion of “illegal use of information networks,” fraud and other crimes.
Their only “crime” was to put God before the Chinese state. The attack on Zion is the latest step in a systematic campaign to turn religion into yet another state appendage. Since taking office, Xi has intensified his efforts to ensure the CCP’s control over the Chinese people and his control over the CCP. Beijing has increasingly circumscribed personal liberties that, though always limited and contingent, were nevertheless once real and meaningful. As reported by Freedom House, the Communist Party “maintains tight control over all aspects of life and governance, including the state bureaucracy, the media, online speech, religious practice, universities, businesses, and civil society. CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping has consolidated personal power to a degree not seen in China for decades. Following a multiyear crackdown on political dissent, independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and human rights defenders, China’s civil society has been largely decimated.”
Before Xi gained control, the Maoist era’s vicious religious persecution seemed well in the past. Most abuse was at the provincial level and varied widely around the country. Many religious believers were left alone as long as they avoided politics. A dozen years ago I even spied a traditional Christian fish symbol on a car in Beijing traffic.
That is no longer conceivable, unless the driver desires a prison term. As per the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom: “Religious freedom conditions in China remained among the worst in the world. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping continued to lead efforts to update and enforce China’s ‘sinicization of religion’ policy, which requires the complete loyalty and subordination of recognized religious groups to the CCP, its political ideology, and its policy agenda.”
The most detailed assessment of the dismal status of religious liberty in the PRC comes from the China Aid Association. Although the CAA’s latest report is from 2024, the situation has only deteriorated since then. The regime’s intent is clear:
Wang Huning, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, attended the Spring Festival symposium for heads of national religious groups. In his speech, he emphasized the need to conscientiously study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s remarks on religious work, uniting and rallying religious figures and the religious public around the Party and government; to adhere to the direction of Sinicization of religion, adhere to the core values of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and enhance the “five identities” (of the motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Chinese Communist Party, and socialism with Chinese characteristics) among religious figures and the religious public; to insist on being politically reliable, having religious attainments, being a person of integrity … and cultivate patriotic religious leaders.
Premier Li Qiang opined that “religion should be actively guided to adapt to socialist society.” Politburo member Shi Taifeng explained that “to promote the Sinicization of religions is to go ever deeper to open up new horizons for the Party’s religious control in the new era.” Repression continues to escalate as another year dawns. As reported the Post: “Human rights groups, experts on China’s religious policy and members of Zion have said that the crackdown represents a significant escalation of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s campaign to force Christian churches to accept direct control from the atheist Communist Party or disband.”
Beijing evidently has grown desperate. Despite more than 70 years of communist rule, the Chinese people continue to resist the dictates streaming from Beijing. China Aid’s Bob Fu told the Post that “this is the first time there has been a nationwide hunt targeting an urban house church in many years.” Although Zion has received the most attention, it is not alone. According to The Christian Post: “More than 1,000 police, SWAT and paramilitary units carried out a crackdown on Christian churches across at least 12 congregations for days in Yayang Town, Zhejiang province, detaining hundreds, according to a watchdog report. Residents say that officers from several districts in Zhejiang, including Hangzhou and Pingyang, were deployed to Yayang Town, with the first wave of detentions taking place before dawn.”
Even this is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. China Aid details the expansive campaign, including “forced demolition of churches and other meeting places,” “forced banning and closing of churches,” “the imprisonment, arrest and sentencing of church leaders and members on unwarranted or fabricated charges, [and] prolonged detention,” “multiple disruption of gatherings,” “continued persecution of released church leaders,” “administrative penalties, detention, fines,” “abuse of detained church leaders,” “restrictions on the involvement of the Church in external relations,” and “harassment of church meetings.”
The victims are many. Those ensnared in the Zion operation “included people who had been Christians since childhood, and others who had joined the church recently. They ranged in age from their 30s to their 50s, and included lawyers, physicists and music students.” China Aid publishes a separate report on examples of persecution. For instance, Elder Zhang Chunlei of the Ren’ai Church in Guiyang was arrested in 2021. Only in 2024 was he tried for “fraud” and “inciting subversion of state power,” and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Also in 2021, Rev. Kan Xiaoyong was arrested, along with several co-workers, and charged with “using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law,” “cult crimes and illegal business operations,” and other crimes. He was convicted in early 2024 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Chang Hao, a pastor in rural Zhenxiong County, Yunnan Province, was arrested in 2023 and charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was accused of “repeatedly publishing and forwarding false information and inappropriate remarks on the Internet, causing serious disruptions to public order and a negative social impact.” He was convicted the following year and sentenced to 13 months in prison. Independent preacher Chen Wensheng in Hengyang City was arrested, tried, and convicted in 2024. His crime was street evangelism, more technically “illegal organization and financing of illegal gatherings.” His sentence was 19 months in prison.
And on it goes. The CCP is determined to prevent Chinese people from sharing their faith. From Xi Jinping on down, regime officials recognize that many people find the Gospel message more attractive and persuasive than tedious excerpts from “Xi Jinping Thought” and propaganda about the Communist Party’s supposedly beneficent and prescient rule.
Mao Zedong was unable to eradicate religious faith in the PRC. Xi Jinping will be no more successful. Popular dissatisfaction with their party-state vision is already widespread. Xi and the CCP offer only an ersatz antidote for life’s many challenges, encouraging disillusioned youth to “let it rot” and “lie flat” and their disaffected elders and well-offneighbors to emigrate. And Christianity continues to endure after decades of persecution. Despite Xi’s worst efforts, as the Chinese people desperately look beyond politics for answers, they are more likely to turn to the Bible than The Communist Manifesto.
