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Government Crackdown on House Church in Xinjiang
(Xinjiang – March 24, 2025) The Hotan municipal government in Xinjiang recently (March 24, 2025) imposed administrative penalties on the house church “Living Spring” and its leaders, Hou Zhecai and Xie Rongguang, completely banning their religious activities and issuing excessive fines. This incident once again highlights the Chinese authorities’ continued tightening of control over religion in the Xinjiang region, using the Regulations on Religious Affairs to systematically suppress house church faith groups.
Background of the Living Spring Church and Its Activities
Since June 2020, Hou Zhecai and Xie Rongguang have established the “Living Spring” church in Hotan and its surrounding areas. Church members gathered in residential communities, parks, and private homes to pray, study the Bible, and share the gospel through social media platforms. Although these activities align with citizens’ rights to freely express their religious beliefs, because the activities were not previously approved by officials, they were then classified as “illegal.” These activities evidently posed no substantial threat to public security and rather promoted religious diversity within the community. Nevertheless, authorities have taken punitive measures to force the church to cease its gatherings.
Government Response and Intensified Crackdown
In May 2024, law enforcement officers raided a Bible-sharing gathering at Yuquan Lake Park, arresting 14 Christians on-site and accusing them of participating in an “illegal religious assembly.” Recently, the Hotan municipal government further intensified its crackdown by imposing severe penalties on the “Living Spring” church, banning all its religious activities, freezing related assets, and imposing fines on Hou Zhecai and Xie Rongguang that far exceed the church’s income.
Legal and Human Rights Concerns
The government deemed the “Living Spring” church unregistered and declared its gatherings illegal, citing the use of non-designated religious venues. However, the fundamental human right to religious freedom should protect citizens’ ability to freely express their beliefs in any location, whether in public or private settings.
In China, house churches remain in a legal gray area due to their lack of registration within the official “Three-Self Patriotic Movement” system. Xinjiang, as a region under strict government control over religious affairs, subjects Christian faith activities to even more extreme scrutiny. According to the Regulations on Religious Affairs, all religious groups must operate within government-approved venues for religious activities and be subject to official oversight. However, this regulation effectively stifles spontaneous religious activities, placing unregistered religious groups at risk of being banned.
International Reactions and Calls for Religious Freedom
The government’s crackdown on the “Living Spring” church is a direct exemplification of this policy. Authorities accused the church of “illegal fundraising,” despite all donations being voluntary contributions from church members, with no evidence of involvement with fraud or harm to society. Additionally, hymns and religious content uploaded on social media were classified as “illegal dissemination of religious information,” further restricting the church members’ right to express their faith.
In recent years, Xinjiang’s religious policies have become increasingly stringent. The government has not only restricted Muslim religious activities but also intensified its supervision of Christianity. For house churches, the inability to register within the official system and the prohibition on freely holding gatherings create a “double bind,” leaving them effectively in a state of illegality. In this case, the authorities even used the participation of minors in gatherings as a pretext for intervention despite the absence of any evidence of coercion or harm to children. Moreover, there is no direct causal relationship between religious activities and public security disturbances.
Xinjiang’s religious policies continue to tighten, constantly squeezing the survival space of house churches. Amid global concerns over religious freedom in China, this incident undoubtedly deepens international worries about the government’s control over religion.
Religious freedom is a fundamental human right, and the Chinese government should safeguard citizens’ rights to faith and worship rather than use legal measures to restrict the expression of religion. The cases of Hou Zhecai and Xie Rongguang are not only acts of suppression against house churches but, even more so, a challenge to religious freedom across the country. ChinaAid calls on the Chinese authorities to stop the crackdown on house churches, respect citizens’ religious rights, and refrain from using claims of “public security” or “illegality” as a pretext to infringe upon religious freedom. ChinaAid condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Christian believers of the Hotan House church in Xinjiang and urges the international community to pressure the Xi Jinping administration and Xinjiang authorities to immediately cease the persecution and protect the religious freedom and rights of citizens, as granted by God and safeguarded by the Chinese Constitution and international human rights law.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai of ChinaAid)
