Case briefings

Introduction In August 2021 CSW published a briefing on the case of Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church. In 2019 dozens of church members, led by Pastor Pan Yongguang, fled from China to Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea following increasing pressure from the authorities on their church and its associated…

In 2019, Pastor Pan Yongguang and dozens of members of his church, Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church (SHRC), fled from China to Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea following years of harassment by the Chinese authorities. Facing increasing pressure from the authorities on their church and its associated school, as…

Introduction The removal of crosses from Christian buildings, the demolition of churches, and the arrest of Christians in China over the past few years has been widely reported. Alongside these violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, there are a number of new developments which indicate that the…

Summary Chang Weiping (常玮平) is a human rights defender and lawyer who was taken away by police officers in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, on 22 October 2020. He is being held on suspicion of ‘subversion of state power’, under ‘Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location’ (RSDL): this is essentially a…

Introduction New research points to a sudden and significant increase in online hostility towards Christians. In a new and worrying trend, some internet users in China have alleged that the January 2021 coronavirus outbreak in Hebei Province originated in a church, causing a storm of online hostility towards Christians, with…

The Catholic Diocese of Fengxiang is located in Shaanxi in Northwest China. Despite the introduction of several economic and technological development zones, inequality and poverty persist, exacerbated by a rural-urban divide. Many churches in Fengxiang are not wealthy, and their priests sometimes live on the edge of poverty themselves, devoting their time to ministering to the rural…