Yang Caizhen, a Chinese Christian detained for organizing a prayer rally, was released from prison last February. With more than six months left in her sentence, Caizhen was given an early release due to poor health. She had been held at the Shanxi Women’s Prison in Taiyuan City for more than a year.
Relatives who had visited Caizhen said she did not look well. She was missing a front tooth, her hair had become very gray and her hands were swollen. Before her release on medical parole, Caizhen had been taken to the hospital for treatment several times during her imprisonment.
On Nov. 25, 2009, Caizhen was sentenced to two years of “re-education through labor” for organizing a prayer rally on Sept. 14, 2009, with the Linfen Church. The prayer rally was raided by 400 military police, who arrested Caizhen, her husband and three other pastors. They received sentences ranging from two years to seven years in prison.
Although the Linfen Church has 50,000 members, it is one of many unregistered house churches in China. Chinese house churches range in size from a handful of people meeting secretly in a home to large, public churches like Linfen that advertise and meet openly in a large church building. House churches operate independently from the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches and are therefore considered illegal. The TSPM is the only officially recognized Protestant church in China, with an estimated 20 million members. In comparison, there are an estimated 80 million to 120 million house church believers in China.
“Please remember [Chinese Christians] in your prayers, and appeal for them!” Caizhen’s daughter, Esther, wrote in a letter. “I call upon everyone to fight for religious freedom in China.” Esther also urges Christians to continue praying for her father and the other church leaders who remain in prison.
Sources: VOM Sources, Release International, China Aid Association
