Two members of the Church of the Church of the Sundawdyu were released after the expiry of their detention, and the Church stated that police summonses were continuing

The Church of the Sundh Autumn Church, U.S.S., and Brother Shen Xiaoqing, were released around 22 September, after 10 days of administrative detention. The release of the two persons was subsequently reported by Chinaaid, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Network. The common message reported by the three parties was that they had been processed at the police station of the Red House in the Chengdu Wu Parish for attending a church reading gathering.

11 persons taken away and 2 persons held in administrative detention

On 11 September, according to Chinaaid, the Church of the Autumn Rains and Covenants held a book gathering in Chengdu, attended by most of the followers over 60 years of age. The police then took 11 participants to the police station in the red-platform, of whom 9 were released earlier, and Wu and Shen Xiaoqing were sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention and fined $500 and $300, respectively.

The Church stated that the police had given the grounds for the suspicion of “unlawful organization of missionary activities”. No complete law enforcement circulars issued by the Chengdu public security organs on this administrative penalty have been found in public channels, so that the specific applicable legal provisions, factual findings and written decisions on punishment remain largely dependent on the person concerned and the church for their information.

Released without ending this round of police contacts

ChinaAid stated that while the two persons had completed their detention, other members of the Church of Covenant in the autumn rain continued to be summoned by the police. The Agency quoted the Church as saying that some of its friends had been asked to come to the police station for questioning after calling the Mayor of Chengdu hotline to reflect on the law enforcement problems at the police station in the red-platform.

It was also reported that Zhonghong, the Elder of the Church of Covenant in Autumn Rains, was again taken from his home on 20 September for questioning by officers of the police station in the Red House. The Church indicated that he had been taken away several times in the past month and was usually allowed to return home only at night. These details are currently provided mainly by churches and religious freedom organizations, without any public and itemized statements from the police.

From administrative punishment to continuous summonses, the core of the dispute remains the family church space

The Church of the Autumn Covenant is a Chengdu family church that is not part of the official “Thirty Self-Countain” system. At the end of 2018, the church had undergone a large-scale police operation and its pastor, Wang Yi, had been sentenced by the courts to nine years ' imprisonment for incitement to overthrow the State power and illegal business.

Since 2026, several more leaders and members of the Church of the Autumn Covenant have been subject to criminal or administrative measures. ChinaAid earlier this year reported that Lee Young-gang, Dai Chi Hoo and others had been involved in criminal cases and that others had been taken to take measures such as designated residences to monitor their residence. The legal facts of the different cases are not identical and it is not appropriate to regard the experiences of all church members as the same case, but they together show a marked increase in the frequency of clashes between the family church and the public security organs this year.

Information still to be made public

With regard to the book fair, the facts that were verified from outside were mainly focused on the time line of “11 taken, 9 released earlier, 2 detained for 10 days and released”. There is currently a lack of publicly available official material on whether the police have determined that the gathering constitutes an unauthorized religious activity, on what basis the administrative sanction is based, and whether there is a complete record of the law enforcement scene.

(a) The fact that, under the current religious management system in China, the assembly, mission and use of places by unregistered religious groups is under strict and permanent control; The family church, for its part, often advocates that its small private gatherings be part of religious practice. U.S. and Shen Xiaoqing have ended their administrative detention, but the border between summonses, criminal cases and religious activities around the same church continues.