DUBLIN (Compass Direct News) – Authorities in China again thwarted efforts by Shouwang Church to lease a worship facility at the year’s end, and the Beijing congregation again met outdoors on Sunday (Jan. 1) – resulting in the arrest of 48 members, sources said.

“The church tried three times to rent three different venues, but it was all to no avail because of the authorities’ intervention,” a source close to the church told Compass. “On Dec. 17, Shouwang signed a rental contract with a landlord for its new indoor worship venue. Two days later, the church’s books and some other belongings were moved into the new rented space.”

In the days that followed, however, the landlord terminated the contract due to pressure from “the local police station, the housing management office and leaders of various government agencies,” church leaders announced to members on Dec. 23.

Church leaders had initially arranged to have an indoor meeting on Sunday (Jan. 1) in a room they had leased from the Beijing Parkview Wuzhou Hotel on Dec. 17, according to a post on Shouwang’s Facebook page. But due to police interference and the cancellation of the lease, they moved to Plan B – a continuation of the outdoor worship services held every Sunday since April 10.

Shouwang began meeting outdoors last year after authorities blocked their attempts to rent worship venues or use a building they had purchased. Church leaders had hoped the situation would change early in the new year.

“The outdoor worship service has come to an end,” Shouwang had announced on its Facebook page. “We first want to offer our thanksgiving to God … We also pray that God will continue to open a way for us.”

The post also described how the church had recently signed three leases with landlords in Zhongguancun, the area where the church has worshiped since it was founded, but that all three were revoked.

New Year Arrests
Police detained at least 48 church members who gathered for outdoor worship on Sunday (Jan. 1), releasing 40 of them by midnight, Shouwang’s governing committee stated on its Facebook page.

Early on the morning of Dec. 25, church members had arrived at Zhongguancun square only to find it heavily guarded with industrial-strength rails blocking access, the committee reported. Police arrested 41 Christians who attempted to worship at the square, releasing all but one by midnight. The final detainee was released at 3 p.m. on Dec. 26.

During the 38 weeks of outdoor worship in 2011, police detained almost 1,000 church members and held many more under house arrest, according to the committee.

One church member who shared his testimony on the Facebook page on Dec. 26 said that the Christians detained indoors usually felt sorry for those waiting outside in the cold as they were able to “read books and have fellowship in a warm room.” But on Christmas Day an officer interrogated him, taunting him for being afraid to give his home address and threatening to “hold you for more than 10 days so that you will lose your job. I will find out where you live and force you to move.”

“As for my job, no one can fire me if God does not allow it,” the church member wrote. He also advised other church members, “How long they detain you has nothing to do with whether you cooperate with them or not, just as God’s love for you has nothing to do with what you do. So do not be afraid, and be brave in speaking out as the Holy Spirit guides you.”

His advice was timely as Shouwang church plans to continue meeting outdoors until a more permanent solution is found, and officials seem just as determined to stop them.

“By arbitrarily detaining peaceful religious believers in the capital city on the first day of 2012, Beijing authorities show that they are determined to continue their crackdown on independent religious groups in the coming year,” China Aid Association President Bob Fu stated on Sunday (Jan. 1).

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) – Thirteen Chinese Christian believers were taken into custody by authorities during an outdoor worship service held by the Beijing Shouwang Church on September 11. The gathering was the church’s 23 outdoor service.

According to ChinaAid (www.chinaaid.org), many believers have been detained at home since Saturday.

A report on the ChinaAid website says police from Guangying Police Station took a female believer to a hotel for detention.

“As far as we know,” ChinaAid says, “at least thirteen believers were taken away on Sunday morning for going to the planned location to join the outdoor service, either at the spot or on their way there (including Pastor Wang Shuangyan and a male believer from a church in another city).”

ChinaAid says two of them were released on the way to a police station, and others were sent to eight local police stations of their respective areas. Four believers who went to visit at Malianwa Police Station were dragged into a room for interrogation by force.

Eleven believers were later released (including the female who was taken away on Friday night), and the other three believers were still under detention in two different police stations until Midnight on the 12th. The last male believer was released at 7:30am on uesday, the 13th.

According to ChinaAid, one of the females among those who were detained in police stations, who was celebrating her birthday, was taken away because she went to the outdoor service with other two women in the morning. She was released for a while around noon, and then was taken into Zhongguancun Police Station again and was detained in the basement.

“Many believers, taking moon cake and birthday cards, went to accompany her, and waited outside the police station,” ChinaAid said.

“When she was released around 11:00pm at night, they celebrated together and enjoyed the love of being in the fellowship of Christ. May God remember what she and other believers sacrificed.”

The man who was arrested, who was not released until Tuesday morning (after forty-eight hours detention), spent an unforgettable Mid-Autumn day at Shuguang Police Station.

ChinaAid reported: “In this special evening of Mid-Autumn day with no moonlight, our brother met his wife and child in the lobby of the police station under the watch of guards. Our sister witnessed that he was full of peace and joy when he hugged his child. Although it was Mid-Autumn day, a day to be with family, many believers went to wait outside police stations to be companions with those who were under detention. During this period of spiritual warfare, our love of being one family in Christ makes this Mid-Autumn day very special.”

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) – Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that one of the largest unregistered Protestant churches in Beijing plans to risk arrest by worshipping in a park this Sunday (April 10) after eviction from the restaurant where they have met for the past year.

The CDN story says that a source has told them that the owner of the Old Story Club restaurant issued repeated requests for the Shouwang Church to find another worship venue, and authorities have pressured other prospective landlords to close their facilities to the 1,000-member congregation.

“Unwilling to subject themselves to the controls and restrictions of the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the congregation has held three services each Sunday in the restaurant for more than a year,” the story continued.

“The Church members have said they are not opposed to the government and are not politically active, but they fear authorities could find their open-air worship threatening. ‘Normal’ (state-sanctioned) religious assembly outdoors is legal in China, and even unregistered religious gatherings are usually tolerated if no more than 50 people gather, said a source in China who requested anonymity.”

Although the congregation technically risks arrest as an unregistered church, the primary danger is being viewed as politically active, the source said. “For a larger group of Christians to meet in any ‘unregistered’ location led by an ‘unregistered’ leader is illegal,” he said.

“The sensitivity of meeting in a park is not being illegal, but being so highly visible. Being ‘visible’ ends up giving an impression of being a political ‘protest.’”

For more information, please go to www.compassdirect.org

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — In a troubling setback, Chinese authorities last week launched a crackdown directed at Christians who belong to China’s huge network of unregistered house churches, calling a “cult” one of the fastest-growing populations of Christians in the world.

According to a news release from ChinaAid, the powerful Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party launched “Operation Deterrence” on Dec. 1.

ChinaAid said according to the Politburo’s top-secret instructions, the crackdown on the largest component of the mainland Chinese church is to continue through March 2011.

“CCP Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Social order,” the foot soldiers of China’s security apparatus, have been told to collect information about house churches throughout the country and turn these reports in to their superiors. A long “blacklist” of church leaders and influential believers has also reportedly been drawn up.

ChinaAid said earlier and sketchier reports had described “Operation Deterrence” as a broader crackdown on human rights defenders and activists during which 20 rights defenders were to be arrested and sentenced. The action was timed to coincide with the Dec.10 award ceremony for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

The latest information, obtained by ChinaAid from more than one reliable source, makes it clear however that the target of the crackdown is more narrowly focused and may be directed solely at China’s network of house churches and their members.

Recent government actions against Christians, including official harassment of influential house church leaders, the ordination of a Catholic bishop in defiance of the Vatican’s wishes and even the cyberattacks that brought down ChinaAid’s Chinese and English news websites, appear to have been a prelude signaling the advent of the crackdown.

ChinaAid said in recent years, the Beijing regime had stepped back from its previous hostility toward, and adamant opposition to, the house church movement. That led many Christians in China and overseas to believe these unregistered congregations could win official sanction without having to join the government-run Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the only Protestant church officially allowed to function in China.

However, ChinaAid said, Operation Deterrence is reminiscent of the previous era of hostilities and often brutal government persecution that had for decades driven unknown hundreds of thousands of believers “underground,” worshiping in secret and fearing for their lives and freedom.

The Politburo directive gave four reasons for labeling the house churches a “cult.” ChinaAid said the reasons were that house churches advocate and promote the Christianization of China; they seek the unity of all churches in China; they promote the unity of the Chinese church with churches worldwide and they want to have dialogue with the government.

ChinaAid said the reasons are specious, and demonstrate the Chinese government’s ignorance of religious issues, because none of the reasons conforms to the accepted definition of a cult.

A dictionary definition describes a cult as “a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.”

ChinaAid said labeling Chinese house churches as a cult could have serious implications, and represents a major step backwards in the thawing of relations in recent years between the Beijing regime and the house church network.

Once Chinese authorities have given a person or a group a negative label of any kind, it is almost impossible to do away with that designation.

ChinaAid commented that the Beijing regime seldom admits a mistake or reverses its decisions, and even on the rare occasions that it does, negative public sentiment lingers. It can impact an individual or group for years, detrimentally impacting a person’s ability to find or keep a job, for example.

In the case of the Chinese house churches, ChinaAid said , being labeled a cult could stop the progress that has been made in recent years toward winning official acknowledgment of their existence, the right to register and operate like any other citizens group in China, and an end to official religious persecution.

In the cyclical nature of China’s political life, hardliners who have been sidelined in the recent warmer climate could seize on the “cult” label to re-exert their authority.

ChinaAid said that could result in the more practical and immediate possibility that the same measures long used against practitioners of Falungong, which the Beijing regime labeled a cult in late 1999, can now be employed against house church Christians. The Chinese government’s brutal systematic campaign against Falungong since July 1999 has earned it worldwide censure.

According to international human rights observers and the U.S. State Department, Falungong practitioners are among the most harshly persecuted groups in China and they account for as many as half the prisoners in China’s vast re-education-through-labor camps in recent years.

They have also been given long prison sentences, ChinaAid said, and even the death penalty simply because of their religious practices. Reports of Falungong practitioners being beaten to death in prison or while in other forms of detention have been common. The specter of similar treatment now hangs over house church Christians as a result of the “cult” label.

Beijing authorities very effectively turned the tide of public opinion against the non-violent, meditating Falungong practitioners by using the same re-labeling tactic they are now adopting with the house church Christians.

ChinaAid said while originally regarded as an apolitical exercise group, Falungong was reclassified by the government as “an evil cult,” “a sect” and “superstition.” A subsequent government media campaign eroded any public opposition to the government’s crackdown on Falungong.

ChinaAid said while the Politburo’s reasoning in labeling Chinese house churches as a cult does not conform to the word’s definition, the Politburo’s reasons are accurate in describing the house churches’ desires and motivations.

The growth of Christianity in China, overwhelmingly in the house churches, has been so startling in recent years that even secular observers and the mainstream international media are predicting China could soon become the world’s largest Christian nation.

ChinaAid said while accurate figures are unavailable, estimates of the total number of Protestant Christian believers in China range from at least 40 million to as many as 130 million. That puts the number of Christians on par with or exceeding the number of Chinese Communist Party members, who total 60 million. The Chinese government’s internal figures from 2006 put the number of Protestant Christians at 35 million.

MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) — The Chinese-language website of ChinaAid Association, which monitors and reports on religious persecution and other human rights abuses in China, and a bilingual companion website have both collapsed under cyber attacks.

The assault began Tuesday evening, the group said in a news release on Wednesday.

ChinaAid’s Chinese-language website at www.chinaaid.net and its www.monitorchina.org website, which provide Chinese and English material about religious persecution and the rule of law, were both inaccessible as a result of the attacks.

ChinaAid said heavy malicious traffic had repeatedly caused the website’s server, located in the United States, to crash. Its technical staff was still working Wed. evening to restore the websites. ChinaAid’s mirror English-language site at www.chinaaid.org, hosted by a different server, has so far been unaffected.

ChinaAid said it is impossible to say definitively who was behind the attacks. However, ChinaAid has persistently reported on the increased official persecution directed at religious believers, particularly house church Christians.

That, the group said, that has been part of a wider government crackdown on dissent since the announcement in early Oct. that the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The organization posts almost daily updates on the human rights situation in China on all three of its websites.

ChinaAid said China is known to have a vast network of hackers who are regarded by international experts as a major threat to global internet security.

ChinaAid said the U.S. State Department documents released Sunday by Wikileaks included a U.S. Embassy cable that linked China’s Politburo to a 2009 attack on Google’s computer systems.

“The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said,” ChinaAid said the New York Times reported Sunday.

Meanwhile, ChinaAid said, Wikileaks itself was under attack following its release of 250,000 State Department documents. A forceful Internet-based attack had rendered its website inaccessible to users in U.S. and Europe, and suspicion had fallen on China again.

ChinaAid was founded in 2002 to draw international attention to China’s human rights violations against house church Christians.

In addition to monitoring and reporting on religious freedom violations in China, the Midland, Texas-based organization also assists victims of religious persecution to assert their rights and works to promote the rule of law in China.

ANHUI, CHINA (ANS) – ChinaAid is reporting that at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, November 12, 2010, Bozhou Municipal Public Security Bureau in Anhui and Bozhou Bureau of Religion raided a house church on Qingming Street.

“More than 10 believers were taken away by the officials; five of them were detained and were not released until that afternoon. Without going through any paperwork, the government officials confiscated items belonging to the church,” said a ChinaAid spokesperson.

“In this process of persecution and growth, the Chinese church is encouraged to play well the role of Samaritans, abandon excuses of cowardice and their fears, and bravely face dark and violent forces of the government by adhering to the principles of Christian ethics and morality. They should unite and help each other, firmly refuse to make compromises and produce greater light and salt.”

ChinaAid says that it expresses “deep regret and puzzlement” at the “ultra-leftist policies” that the Chinese government and its local government are pursuing recently.

“ChinaAid firmly believes the church will grow increasingly mature in the storm of persecutions and it will eventually change the entire cultural and social fabrics of China and glorify the hallowed name of Jesus Christ,” added the spokesperson.

For more information, go to: www.chinaaid.org

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — Chinese authorities are stepping up their campaign of harassment and oppression in the wake of the Nobel Peace prize winner announcement and the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.

ChinaAid (www.ChinaAid.org ) says the government’s oppression of Beijing Zhongfu Holy Mountain Institute has been steadily increasing. It says the “Holy Mountain” magazine department was raided by Beijing Public Security Bureau on October 27, 2010.

ChinaAid reports that the persecution of house churches and non-governmental organizations in Beijing was planned by authorities, after it was announced that a Chinese citizen had won the Nobel Peace Prize and the recent convocation of the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. A large delegation representing the Chinese church was stopped from attending the Congress.

“These attacks are purposely set up to frame Dr. Fan Yafeng, making it seem that he is conducting an illegal business,” said ChinaAid in a media release.

“ChinaAid solemnly warns the Chinese government that any form of persecution of Dr. Fan will bring nothing but rebuke from Chinese society and the international community; this is a futile fight. Cease the persecution of Dr.Fan and his contemporaries before it is too late,” the organization said in its news release.

Pastor Bob Fu, President of ChinaAid, is calling on Christians from China and all over the world to support Dr. Fan and others under persecution. “We will keep a close watch on this situation,” he said.

SHANDONG (ANS) — As a Chinese pastor arrived at his church along with some of his members for a routine morning Bible study, they were attacked and beaten.

The reported incident occurred on Oct. 26.

According to a news release from ChinaAid, Pastor Zhan Gang of Jiaozhou Church’s attackers were hired by the local Three-Self Patrotic Movement (TSPM) church.

ChinaAid said the alleged perpetrators were suspected of being plain-clothed agents. Pastor Zhan is also the general secretary of Chinese House Church Alliance.

ChinaAid said the Christians were forcibly removed from the building.

The attack was led by the TSPM director’s sons, namely Wang Zhanquan and Wang Zhanhua — both reportedly non-Christians. The director of the Bureau of Religion was directing this operation from behind the scenes. He said he would not allow Zhan Gang to enter the church because he is not a leader of a TSPM church.

As a result, ChinaAid said, nearly 1,000 Christians led by Pastor Zhan will no longer be able to conduct normal gatherings.

ChinaAid said the organization supports the members of Jiaozhou Church in their request for Christians all over China to closely monitor this situation, pray for them, and provide help.

The organization added, “We request that the TSPM officials in Shandong stop their attack on house church Christians.”

ChinaAid is a nonprofit Christian organization which tries to expose the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church.

For more information about ChinaAid go to www.ChinaAid.org.

SICHUAN/HENAN, CHINA (ANS) — ChinaAid (www.ChinaAid.org) has told the ASSIST News Service that on Sunday, September 26, 2010, Youqing Church in Qu County, Da Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, was raided by the local police.

“Objects were smashed, books were confiscated and people were taken to the local police station,” said a ChinaAid spokesperson. “Their family members were requested to pay money to bail out the detainees.

“On September 29th at 5 p.m. local time, four of the church members attempted to negotiate with Sichuan police in hopes of having their confiscated belongings returned to them in accordance with law. Instead, they were arrested on the spot.”

ChinaAid is also reporting that a raid was conducted on Wednesday,September 22, 2010, at around 4 p.m on the Mid-Autumn Festival Day where a house church meeting in Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan province ,was invaded and all who were present, except for one elderly woman, were arrested.

“Two foreign pastors present at the meeting, one from the United States and one from Russia, were detained and so was their translator,” said the spokesperson. “During the arrests, one member of the church, Ma Hanzhong, was beaten. The whereabouts of the two foreign instructors are unknown. The officials of Henan province have threatened to sentence the detained believers to re-education through labor.”

In both of these critical cases, ChinaAid calls for worldwide attention and advocacy on behalf of those in need.

“We encourage Christians to stand with the persecuted and continue to pray for them,” added the ChinaAid spokesperson.

The local police officers intimidated the elderly Christians by saying they had joined a cult. They tricked the elderly people into leaving their fingerprints on the statement of guarantee that the police officers had prepared beforehand, in which these Christians are said to have claimed they would “give up the house church.”

On March 25 of this year, Yucheng County Public Security Bureau of Shangqiu, Henan province used the Christians to making money, by arresting Christians from the local house churches and then demanding the families pay living expenses. After receiving money, they released most of the people and the case should have been over.

However, four Christians, Gao Jianli, Hua Yulan, Liu Yunshan and Zheng Yumei, when asked if they still believed in Jesus, refused to be swayed by threats. Instead they boldly affirmed their faith. As a result, they were detained for 15 days and then sentenced to one year of re-education through labor.

Gao Jianli, who applied for an administrative reconsideration, will appear in court for his case on Friday, July 1, in Xuchang. Tianmiao Town Police Station has notified the Christians that they are not allowed to sit in the court as visitors. They threatened some elderly Christians, saying, “What you believe in is a cult. Don’t believe in it anymore. You even goad the children to believe in the religion.”

The following is an account by Yang Huiwen, a Christian human rights attorney. He tells what happened when the police from Yucheng County Public Security Bureau came to threaten elderly Christians, including his grandmother Liu Fengyun.

Place: Yuyuan
Time: about 4 o’clock

Two people in plain clothes, one in white, one in gray, led by their team leader, entered the home of the two elderly people. They didn’t show any identifications. As they entered the room, they said, “We are from the Public Security Bureau and we are here to investigate something. Who took down your name?” (He was taking out the list of names as he said this.)

The elderly person said, “Changjun told us to write it. He asked for our ID and we wrote the names according to the ID.

“How did you give the fingerprint?”

“We are illiterate. Changjun told us to do the fingerprint.”

“How old are you?”

“69.”

“Did you attend the gathering in the home of Hua Yulan?”

“We have not attended their gathering. Both of us are sick and are in poor health. We can’t travel far.” Then, one of them said that our church donated 5,000 yuan to the earthquake disaster zone in Sichuan. The elderly person said, “We learn from good people, are patriotic, and love our religion. We, the believers of the Lord, teach people to be good citizens in every step we make. So we made double donations.”

At this time, the PSB officers said, “We did the same. We donated over 1,000 yuan to the earthquake disaster zones in Sichuan.”

The elderly person said, “You have salaries, but we have nothing!”

When the elderly person asked them when Jianli could be released, one of the officers answered that Jianli and his people are still being reformed. “If they are doing well, it will take a few more months. If they are not doing well, it may take a year.”

One of them said, “Qingmin’s family has built two buildings. How did they do it? How come they are so rich?”

The elderly person answered, “He is working on his brother’s land!”

Then, one of them said, “You people are baptized in the sink built by yourselves and the pastor puts a few drops of water on your faces. This is a cult. You people weep when you pray to the Lord and you even train your children. Please reform and correct yourselves!”

Finally, they told the two elderly people to give their fingerprints. The two elderly people did so without looking at what was written on the paper. After that, the two police officers left.

Place: Gaozhuang
Time: about 5 o’clock

One of them was dressed in police uniform and two others were in plain clothes. One of them was in white and the other was in gray with short sleeves. They entered the home of an elderly person. The person in police uniform came in with a stern face and, in all seriousness, he yelled, “Is Tian Changjun home?” (He didn’t show any identifications.)

The elderly person answered, “Yes, he’s home.”

The person in police uniform bellowed, “Tell him to go with us to the commune. We are here to investigate something and we’ll let him come back in an hour.”

The elderly person was scared and asked, “What happened? Can’t we do it at home?”

The person in the police uniform said, “We can’t do it at home and we need a desk and a chair.”

After the elderly person begged him again and again, he finally agreed to conduct the interrogation at home. The person in the police uniform left and got into a white vehicle. The vehicle was parked outside the door and the two people in plain clothes stayed behind to interrogate.

The person in white plain clothes asked, “Tian Changjun, did you tell people to give their fingerprints and write their names?”

Tian Changjun answered, “Yes, it was I.”

The person in white plain clothes asked, “Whose name did you write first?”

Tian Changjun said he wrote Yu Yuan’s name first and then his mother’s.

The person in plain clothes wrote the names of several people and Tian Changjun wrote five names. At this time, the person in white plain clothes asked (pointing at the rest of names), “Who wrote these names?”

Tian Changjun said he didn’t write those and it was the people themselves who wrote them.

The person in white plain clothes asked, “How do two of you contact each other?”

Tian Changjun said they met in the street and the other person told him the name. After that, the person just left.

The person in gray plain clothes asked, “Has Xuewen come to your house?”

The elderly person said, “No.”

Then the person in gray plain clothes said, “It is said that Xuewen and Wang Zhuang are in-laws by marriage of their respective children.

The elderly person said she doesn’t know that.

Then the person in gray plain clothes said in all seriousness and in a loud voice, “This may not be possible. You must tell me the truth.”

Then the person in white plain clothes said: “Have you ever attended their gatherings?”

Tian Changjun said, “No”.

The person in gray plain clothes said, “Jianli and Yunhua have reformed themselves. You shouldn’t mess up in believing what you believe in now. This is all superstition. They are fooling you around. You baptize people in a sink and train children and let children attend your gathering. Which school is that?” The person in gray plain clothes then said, “Do you really believe this?”

The elderly person said she has not attended the gatherings. The person in gray plain clothes said, “I see you can’t go out because there are young children around you. How old are you?”

The elderly person replied, “73.”

The person in gray plain clothes asked, “How many sons do you have?”

The elderly person said, “Two.”

The person in gray plain clothes asked, “What are their names?”

The elderly person said, “Hongjun and Changjun. The eldest son is now over 40 and Changjun is 36.”

The person in gray plain clothes said, “What’s your name?”

The elderly person replied, “Liu Fengyun.”

The person in white plain clothes said, “You must tell us the truth. Otherwise, you’ll be responsible for all the consequences.”

At last, they told the illiterate elderly person to do a fingerprint without showing her what was written there. The elderly person was very obedient and did whatever she was told to; she pressed her finger wherever she was told to press, and pressed her fingers as many times as she was told to.

During this time, I went to my grandma’s place (Liu Fengyun). On entering the house, I saw two people in short sleeves were sitting on chairs. One of them was in white and the other was in gray. The person in white was sitting facing my uncle (Changjun) and the person in gray was sitting facing my grandma (Liu Fengyun). As soon as I entered the door, I asked, “What are you?”

The person in white plain clothes said, “We are here to investigate something.”

Grandma said, “They are investigating people who believe in the Lord. Don’t you get involved in this.”

I asked, “Where do you come from?”

The person in white plain clothes said he was from the Public Security Bureau.

I said, “I know you are from the Public Security Bureau, but which Public Security Bureau?”

The person in white plain clothes said, “I’m from Yucheng County Public Security Bureau, and just now a person in police uniform came over and he’s now in the vehicle outside and he wants the two of us to investigate something here.”

I asked them whether they had identification papers with them. The person in white plain clothes said, “Yes. I’ll take them out.” As he said that, he was writing something. Then after a while, he said he didn’t want to take them out.

I said, “You should present your identifications once you enter this door.”

The person in white plain clothes took out his paper where it is written “Yucheng County Public Security Bureau.” Then he put it back into his bag. The person in gray plain clothes said, “We are handling a case. According to general rule, you should stay away from this. Could you go out?”

I said I would go watch TV. Then I went into my room.