GUANGXI, CHINA — Oct. 30, 2026 — After more than a year in detention in southern China, Beijing Zion Church Pastor Wang Lin is urging fellow Christians to persevere, describing their shared suffering as a sign of belonging to one body in Christ.
In an Oct. 22 letter from Beihai’s Second Detention Center, Wang reflects on the meaning of Christian suffering while describing overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and psychological distress.
“Since ancient times, the scar of bearing the cross has been among the most important marks of the entire Body of Christ,” Wang writes, drawing on his theological studies and the history of Christians who endured persecution.
Wang, a former lawyer who earned a doctorate in Old Testament theology from Wheaton College in Illinois, was arrested at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport on Oct. 9, 2025, and subsequently transferred to Beihai, a coastal city in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
He is among eight Beijing Zion Church leaders and workers who remain detained following the October 2025 crackdown. They face charges involving fraud and illegal business operations, with court proceedings postponed in August.
A year of harsh detention conditions
Wang’s letter provides a firsthand account of conditions inside the detention center, expanding on earlier reports from relatives and former detainees about overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, and insufficient medical treatment.
According to Wang, 30 to 40 detainees sleep on a communal wooden platform measuring 40 square meters (430 square feet). During the day, they crowd into an exercise yard of about 30 square meters (320 square feet).
Wang describes mosquitoes and other insects infesting the sleeping area. He recalls being bitten twice during the night and says another detainee discovered a bright red centipede, about two inches long, crawling into his folded clothing.
Meals consist mainly of boiled vegetables, with an egg each morning and soybeans twice weekly. Wang also describes inadequate medical care for detainees with chronic illnesses, including hypertension and diabetes, who struggle to receive timely treatment.
He reports that a 36-year-old detainee died after suddenly becoming ill in October, alarming others at the facility. Wang did not identify the person or specify the illness, and ChinaAid News could not independently verify the reported death.
More distressing than these physical conditions, Wang writes, are the loudspeakers used to issue daily announcements and instructions at extremely high volume and in a commanding tone.
“If music can soothe our souls, these loudspeakers seem to tear my soul apart, as if they are trying to shatter my entire being and turn me into a puppet without feelings or thoughts, one that obeys the loudspeaker’s commands absolutely,” Wang writes.
He compares the broadcasts to repeated bombardments, saying he relies on prayer and perseverance to endure them.
Finding strength in shared suffering
Despite the hardship and uncertainty surrounding his case, Wang draws encouragement from knowing that other Zion Church members are persevering alongside him. Although some are detained just 100 to 200 meters away, he has glimpsed them only occasionally while being taken for questioning during the past year.
Wang writes that thinking about fellow believers who endured similar consequences, despite having played smaller roles in church activities, helped transform his anxiety and self-pity into gratitude and concern for others.
Reflecting on his own struggles in his forties, Wang also draws parallels with three of his favorite classical Chinese poets: Li Bai, Bai Juyi, and Su Dongpo. All experienced major political setbacks during the same stage of life.
He finds further inspiration in Viktor Frankl, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, and Wang Mingdao, a Chinese Christian leader who endured lengthy imprisonment for refusing to submit his church to government control.
Wang also recalls older generations of Chinese preachers who faced repeated imprisonment during the 1980s and 1990s. Their experiences, he writes, help him view his own suffering within a longer history of Christian perseverance.
Beijing Zion Church, once one of China’s largest unregistered Protestant congregations, was officially banned in 2018 but continued worshiping through smaller gatherings and online services. Its founder, Pastor Ezra Jin, was released in July 2026 after nine months in detention, while Wang and seven others remain in custody.
In closing, Wang encourages Christians in China and abroad to remember that their hardships, however different, can strengthen their sense of shared faith and belonging.
“Let us not be deceived by the devil into thinking that we are facing this battle alone,” Wang writes. “May the comfort and strength I have received also comfort and encourage other family members and friends who are facing challenges and suffering.”
Gao Zhensai is a special correspondent for ChinaAid News. Founded in 2002, ChinaAid is an international Christian human rights organization committed to promoting religious freedom and the rule of law in China through advocacy, legal support, and international awareness campaigns.