(Linfen, Shanxi – December 17, 2025) During a brief and restricted meeting, Yang Hongzhen ,et with her husband, Li Shuangping. This was her visit with him after being permitted to enter the detention facility on December 16. She went with anticipation, but upon leaving, she found it difficult to conceal the heaviness in her heart.
“Before the meeting, I told myself to be strong,” Yang Hongzhen recalled afterward. “But once I actually saw him, I completely broke down.”
Li Shuangping, now 52 years old, was visibly thinner, with a haggard appearance. Even so, his tone remained firm and clear. Relaying her husband’s words, Yang Hongzhen said that he told her to “hold fast to her principles of truth and persist in walking well through this final stretch of the road.”
Yang Hongzhen said it was precisely her husband’s endurance in adversity that gave her a deeper understanding of the meaning of “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Spoken about in the Christian faith. She said that this strength was “truly showcased authentically” in Li Shuangping.
Li Shuangping currently suffers from high blood pressure. His family is concerned that prolonged detention and pressure may further affect his physical condition.
Li Shuangping became a Christian in 1993. In 2001, he joined a house church established in Linfen, Shanxi, by Pastor Wang Xiaoguang and his wife Yang Rongli, and later became an important coworker in this church. In November 2009, Li Shuangping was found guilty of “gathering a crowd to disrupt traffic order” and was sentenced to two years of reeducation through labor.
After completing his sentence on July 31, 2011, Li Shuangping gradually became one of the church’s main leaders and, after Wang Xiaoguang and Yang Rongli were released from prison, he and the pair worked together in church affairs.
On August 6, 2021, Li Shuangping was again taken away by police for investigation. The following day, he was given 15 days of administrative detention for “illegally carrying out activities in the name of a social organization.” On August 22 of the same year, authorities placed him under criminal detention on charges of “fraud,” and he was formally arrested on September 28.
Yang Hongzhen also experienced multiple detentions. In 2009, she and her husband were both sentenced to two years of reeducation through labor. On September 30, 2021, she was criminally detained and arrested by police on charges of “fraud,” and was not granted release on bail pending trial until April 11, 2022.
The Linfen Golden Lampstand House Church, to which the couple belongs, has long been under close surveillance by local authorities. The Linfen Golden Lampstand Church maintains a pure faith and exerts significant regional influence.
China Aid Association