(Jinhua, Zhejiang Province – April 17, 2024) On April 4, 2024, Christian Chen Yu, who was sentenced to seven years in prison and heavily fined for “illegal business operations” for selling Christian books online, was granted parole from Jinhua Prison and returned his home in Linhai, 2 years and 5 months early. Because he is on parole, he is not allowed to leave his place of residence in Linhai after returning home. More than a dozen Christians from various places and Chen Yu’s mother, Zheng Jinmei, went to Jinhua together to pick up Chen Yu and bring him home.
Chen Yu, whose online name is Zhang Xiaomai, was convicted for operating an online bookstore called “Wheat Bookstore” and selling overseas Christian books. The books he sold were mainly genuine books from the “American Wheat Publishing House,” which is dedicated to translating Christian literature and serving Chinese readers. Chen Yu was arrested in September 2019. After Chen Yu’s arrest, the Ministry of Public Security issued a nationwide notice to strictly investigate the books sold by Wheat Bookstore. A large number of Christians were summoned for questioning, and those who refused to be summoned were pressured through their employer. They were also required to sign on the interrogation transcripts to serve as evidence against Wheat Bookstore. In particular, they were asked to hand over the book “The Gospel Coup – Reflections on religious transformation” written by Pastor Wang Yi, which they had purchased from Wheat Bookstore. Some police officers even directly entered Christians’ homes and took away books from their bookshelves.
On September 27, 2020, Linhai People’s Court sentenced Chen Yu to seven years in prison for “illegal business operations,” with a sentence running until September 12, 2026. At the same time, Chen Yu was fined ￥200,000 yuan (~$27,649 U.S. dollars), and all 12,864 books seized were ordered to be destroyed.
In recent years, China has strictly restricted the publication and sale of Christian books. The publication and distribution of unofficial Christian books are prohibited, and even all books approved by relevant government agencies are listed as banned. The sharing of e-books provided to readers for free download is also blocked. The “Wheat Bookstore Case” is a typical example of the Chinese government’s persecution of Christianity in recent years. Due to the Chinese government’s strict control over Christian books, Christians in China are unable to read new and good Christian books. After the first trial verdict, Chen Yu’s mother Zheng Jinmei wrote an article titled “Selling Books VS Prostitution,” angrily criticizing the court’s absurdity and the fact that the sentence for a Christian selling Christian books was more than 170 times heavier than that for prostitution.
After the first trial, Chen Yu quickly filed an application for a second trial through his lawyer. The defense lawyers and Chen Yu’s parents submitted sufficient evidence to prove that the first trial sentence was too heavy, and they initially had some optimism about the outcome of the second trial. However, at the end of June 2022, the result of Chen Yu’s second trial was still to uphold the original judgment.
During his imprisonment, Chen Yu’s father was diagnosed with cancer, but because of the care and love received from fellow Christians, he also became a Christian, and later his cancer was cured. Chen Yu and his mother Zheng Jinmei persisted in praying inside and outside the prison at five o’clock every afternoon. Chen Yu said that his mother’s faith and his own faith had become even stronger.
