(Linfen, Shanxi Province – February 14, 2025) On January 16, 2025, the 89-year-old mother of Li Shuangping, a Christian from Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi, passed away due to illness. Li Shuangping, who has been imprisoned for over three years due to his Christian faith, was unable to bid farewell to his mother. Lawyers have requested bail from judicial authorities to allow him to attend his mother’s funeral on January 20, but have yet to receive a response.
Li Shuangping, a key member of Linfen Golden Lampstand Church, was arrested on August 7, 2021, along with 12 other church co-workers including Preacher Yang Rongli and Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, on “suspected fraud” charges by local police. The case has not gone to trial in over three years. During this time, relatives of two detained Christians have passed away – besides Li Shuangping’s mother, Zhao Aiguo’s husband died on December 3, 2023, and in both cases, lawyers’ requests for bail were denied.
The Linfen Golden Lampstand Church is a large house church that has faced repeated persecution and suppression for maintaining its house church position and refusing to join the Three-Self Patriotic Church. On November 25, 2009, the Yaodu District Court in Linfen sentenced Preacher Yang Rongli to seven years in prison with a fine of 30,000 yuan, Wang Xiaoguang to three years with a fine of 10,000 yuan, Yang Xuan to three and a half years with a fine of 20,000 yuan, Cui Jiaxing to five and a half years with a fine of 50,000 yuan, and Zhang Huamei to four years on charges of “illegal occupation of farmland” and “gathering crowds to disturb traffic order.”
On November 30 of the same year, Li Shuangping and his wife, along with five other church leaders, were sentenced to two years of re-education through labor. Subsequently, all thirty-plus meeting venues of the church were sealed, and the church building, constructed with 17 million yuan in donations from church members, was forcibly demolished by the government on January 9, 2018. Pastor Wang Xiaoguang was released in 2012, and Sister Yang Rongli was released in 2016.
On August 7, 2021, Yang Rongli, Wang Xiaoguang, and 12 other Christians were arrested again. Six were later released on bail, while Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, Yang Rongli, Li Shuangping, Dong Yongyong, Zhao Guoai, and Huo Zhuangping have been detained in custody for over three years.
During these three years, pre-trial meetings for the case were scheduled three times. The first was decided by the prosecutor but was canceled when a chief prosecutor was arrested for suspected corruption. The second was internally determined by the Shanxi Public Security Department and signed by the Political and Legal Affairs Commission secretary, demanding life sentences for Yang Rongli, Li Shuangping, and others. This was canceled when a deputy police chief in charge of the case was arrested. The third trial was originally scheduled for October 22, 2024, but was suddenly canceled, with no new trial date announced.
Li Shuangping’s mother fell and fractured a bone on the morning of December 28, 2024. Due to her age, surgery was not possible. Her condition worsened on December 31, and she was admitted to intensive care.
Lawyers’ requests for Li Shuangping’s bail were denied. Li Shuangping has been detained in custody since his arrest and hadn’t seen his mother for three and a half years. His elderly mother had been hoping to see her son one last time, and lawyers repeatedly requested the Yaodu District Court to grant Li Shuangping bail to fulfill his filial duties and care for his elderly mother on her sickbed. However, until his mother’s death, the lawyers’ requests were not approved.
Since Li Shuangping’s mother fell seriously ill, Christians from the Wucun Township House Church in Linfen have faced widespread threats from national security agents, including Li Shuangping’s family members.
On the morning of his mother’s death, between 10:30 AM and 11:00 AM, police from the Yaodu District National Security Brigade came to the home of Li Shuangping’s mother and brother, loudly questioning his sister-in-law about why she was still checking in for Bible reading in the church’s online group. When his sister-in-law asked them to lower their voices because of the sick elderly mother in the house, the national security agent said, “What does it matter to me if the old person lives or dies!” and continued arguing with Li’s family. Shortly after they left, at 12:10 PM, the elderly mother passed away.
In recent years, several church pastors and co-workers who were arrested for their faith were unable to bid farewell to their mothers who passed away while they were in prison:
- On August 3, 2022, at dawn, Deyang Qingcaodi Church’s Elder Hao Ming’s mother Yin Zhixiu passed away. Elder Hao Ming, detained in prison, neither knew about his mother’s death nor could bid her farewell.
- During the 2024 Spring Festival, Bengbu Cornerstone Reformed Church’s Elder Xue Shaoqiang’s mother died of illness. Elder Xue, charged with “suspected fraud” due to his Christian faith and detained in Bengbu Detention Center, could not bid farewell to his mother. His mother passed away with regret, unable to fulfill her last wish of seeing her son.
- On March 15, 2024, the 79-year-old mother of three siblings – Zhu Longfei, Zhu Longjiang, and Zhu Qiaoling from Guangdong Shengjia Church – died of illness. The three siblings, all detained in custody, could neither make a final farewell at the hospital before their mother’s death nor attend her funeral, leaving them with lifelong regret.
- In September 2024, Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church’s Elder Zhang Chunlei’s mother Zhou Qiurong from suddenly passed away. Elder Zhang Chunlei, serving his sentence, could not bid final farewell to his mother before her death.
Being unable to fulfill one’s duties as a son or daughter before and after a mother’s death is a regrettable life event. This is the price preachers and believers of this era pay to maintain their faith.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Ningmeng for ChinaAid)
