(Nanjing, Jiangsu Province – April 24, 2024) It is reported that Pastor Shen Shaochun of the “Living Water Fellowship” in Huaiyuan County, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, who went to Wa State, Myanmar to teach and founded the “Living Water Elementary School”, was charged with “organizing illegal border crossing” in 2018 and eventually sentenced to seven years in prison. Before his imprisonment, Pastor Shen was in good health. After more than five years in prison, his health has significantly declined. He has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and needs to take blood pressure medication every day. His teeth also often ache. Before his imprisonment, Pastor Shen had an eye disease in his left eye. Due to his busy service, he delayed treatment, and later his left eye became completely blind, and he could only use his right eye. After being imprisoned, due to engaging in work that is particularly taxing on the eyes in prison, Pastor Shen’s right eye vision has also significantly declined. This is the first time the outside world has learned an update about him in the five and a half years since Pastor Shen Shaochun was imprisoned.
Pastor Shen Shaochun was born in Huaiyuan County in 1966. Both of his parents are preachers. He began receiving training in seminary in the early 1990s. After graduation, he worked part-time farming and part-time serving in the local seminary. He was invited by seminaries in various places to teach, mainly teaching “Biblical Hermeneutics”. In 2006, he was called to serve full-time. Starting in 2016, like Pastor John Cao, Pastor Shen Shaochun went to Wa State, Myanmar to teach and founded the “Living Water Elementary School” there. In 2018, four theology students who were attending the “Living Water Elementary School” were arrested by the Myanmar police and handed over to the Chinese police. The police traced the case back to Pastor Shen. Pastor Shen was arrested on September 30, 2018, and later brought to court for trial. In court, Pastor Shen rejected the lawyer’s suggestion and was unwilling to identify anyone. He only hoped that the police would release the four theology students. He fully admitted guilt and accepted punishment. He was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison for “organizing others to illegally cross the border”. His sentence will last until September 2025.
Pastor Shen and his wife Pu Chunmei have a 36-year-old son who is married. Their son and daughter-in-law are both Christians, and they also have a 6-year-old son. Pu Chunmei has also received theological training and has been involved in church service. She currently lives in Nanjing with her son and daughter-in-law. Pu Chunmei helps take care of her grandson and manages household affairs.
Pastor Shen Shaochun is the only son in his family. His parents are both house church preachers who went from Bengbu City, Anhui province to evangelize and establish churches in Nanjing, Jiangsu province more than 20 years ago. They established and shepherded four churches successively. In July of last year, Pastor Shen’s 83-year-old father passed away. The old man’s regret was that he could not wait for his son to be released from prison. Pastor Shen’s mother is 79 years old this year. Pastor Shen has four younger sisters, all of whom are Christians. One of his sisters’ daughter and son-in-law serve in the church established by Pastor Shen’s parents.
Under normal circumstances, Pu Chunmei can have one phone call opportunity with Pastor Shen every month. There is very little correspondence between them. Pu Chunmei visits Pastor Shen in Xishuangbanna Prison every few months.
On November 21, 2021, after the Sunday worship service ended, Preacher An Yankui and co-worker Zhang Chenghao were criminally detained by the Fenyang City Public Security Bureau of Shanxi Province on suspicion of “illegally crossing the border”. They were detained in the Fangshan County Detention Center and Xiaoyi Detention Center respectively. On December 28 of the same year, they were arrested by the Fenyang City Public Security Bureau. On the morning of August 5, 2022, the Fenyang Court heard the case of An Yankui and Zhang Chenghao suspected of “illegally crossing the border”. It was not until November 7, 2022 that An Yankui’s wife Yao Congya and Zhang Chenghao’s wife Guo Juan learned of their husbands’ criminal sentencing results: An Yankui was sentenced to one year in prison for “illegally crossing the border” and fined ￥5,000 yuan; Zhang Chenghao was sentenced to one year in prison for the same crime and fined ￥4,000 yuan.
In recent years, the crime of ” illegally crossing the border” has become a charge that has been used repeatedly by the Chinese government to persecute Christianity.
In 2018, Pastor John Cao was sentenced by the Chinese government for entering the poverty-stricken areas on the China-Myanmar border to evangelize, provide charitable relief, and promote education. For many years, Pastor John Cao worked tirelessly traveling between Yunnan, China and northern Wa State, Myanmar. He founded 16 schools, bringing textbooks, pencils, and Bibles to the children there, benefiting more than 2,000 local students. In March 2017, he returned to Yunnan, China from Myanmar. For the convenience of travel, he used the waterways commonly used by local border residents. On the way, he was intercepted by border armed police. A year later, the Yunnan local court sentenced him to seven years in prison for “organizing others to illegally cross the border”. This charge usually involves human trafficking. Pastor John Cao was released from prison in March of this year.
On July 28, 2021, five co-workers of the Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church, Zhang Ligong, Wang Runyun, Wang Shiqiang, Zhang Yaowen, and Song Shoushan, were criminally detained by the local public security bureau under the charge of “illegally crossing the border”. The reason was that in early 2020, they had gone to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend the “2020 Gospel and Culture Conference”. At that time, these five co-workers were all legally entering and exiting customs with passports issued by the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China. A year and a half later, they were inexplicably labeled with the crime of “illegally crossing the border”. These five co-workers were subsequently arrested and sentenced respectively. On January 7, 2022, Zhang Ligong, Wang Runyun, Wang Shiqiang, Zhang Yaowen, and Song Shoushan were sentenced to 6 months, 7 months (two people), and 8 months (two people) in prison respectively by the Fenyang City People’s Court of Shanxi Province for “illegally crossing the border”. Preacher An Yankui and co-worker Zhang Chenghao, who went to Malaysia with them to attend the Gospel Conference, were criminally detained by the Fenyang City Public Security Bureau of Shanxi Province on suspicion of “illegally crossing the border” after the Sunday worship service ended on November 21, 2021. On August 5, 2022, the Fenyang Court heard the case of An Yankui and Zhang Chenghao suspected of “illegally crossing the border”. The sentencing result was: An Yankui was sentenced to one year in prison for “illegally crossing the border” and fined ￥5,000 yuan; Zhang Chenghao was sentenced to one year in prison for the same crime and fined ￥4,000 yuan.
These several cases of “illegally crossing the border” show that the Chinese government is willing to make the judicial system appear brutal, unreasonable, and absurd at all costs in order to persecute Christianity.