(Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China — April 10, 2025) It has recently come to light that nine Christians, including Wang Honglan in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, were convicted on charges of “illegal business operations.” The court handed down prison sentences ranging from one year to four years and ten months, along with fines ranging from 5,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. Wang Honglan is expected to be the last released, with her release date set for February 14, 2026.
Although the verdict was actually issued on November 20, 2024, it was not publicly announced until recently. The detailed sentences are as follows:
- Wang Honglan: 4 years and 10 months, fined 1,000,000 yuan; to be released on February 14, 2026.
- Wang Jiale: 4 years and 6 months, fined 200,000 yuan; to be released on October 14, 2025.
- Liu Minna: 4 years and 6 months, fined 200,000 yuan; to be released on October 14, 2025.
- Yang Zhijun: 4 years and 3 months, fined 150,000 yuan; to be released on July 19, 2025.
- Ji Heying: 3 years, fined 20,000 yuan.
- Ji Guolong: 3 years, fined 20,000 yuan.
- Zhang Wang: 3 years, fined 20,000 yuan.
- Liu Wei: 3 years, fined 20,000 yuan.
(The above four were released in 2024, with prison terms ending on April 14, 2024.)
- Li Chao: 1 year, fined 5,000 yuan; released on April 14, 2022, after being granted bail in 2022.
Their mission
The nine Christians, led by Wang Honglan, acted out of love and funded the purchase of Bibles from their own pockets. Wang Honglan used the profits from her business to legally purchase Bibles from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Church and resold them at a low price to fellow believers—without any intent to profit, purely to help others. They also printed gospel booklets titled “The Best Portion.”
The Arrest
As a result, authorities charged them as an “organized criminal group,” naming Wang Honglan as the group’s “ringleader,” and identifying Wang Jiale, Liu Minna, and Yang Zhijun as “key members” of the alleged criminal organization.
On April 15, 2021, Wang Honglan was arrested, along with her 73-year-old husband Ji Heying, her son Ji Guolong, her nephew Wang Jiale, and co-workers Liu Wei, Liu Minna, and others—nine individuals in total were detained on the same day. While in detention, all of them suffered varying degrees of torture and forced confessions.
On November 22, 2021, the case was prosecuted by the Huimin District Procuratorate in Inner Mongolia. The trial began on November 20, 2023, in the Huimin District Court and lasted nearly 50 days, concluding in early January 2024. Throughout the proceedings, the Christians’ testimonies of faith were a source of deep encouragement—not only for their legal counsel and fellow believers in the audience, but even for those involved in the trial.
The repeated delays of sentencing
The original sentencing was scheduled for December 5, 2024, but was canceled last minute due to the presiding judge falling ill. On November 28, 2024, the defense attorney received a court notice that the verdict would be issued on December 5. Yet again, on the day before, families were informed of another cancellation. A new sentencing date was scheduled for March 27, 2025, but this too was called off without explanation. It was not until recently that the court announced the verdict had, in fact, been finalized back in November 2024.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Ningmeng of ChinaAid)
