Members of Zion Church formally arrested in Guangxi
As of November 19, 2025, 18 pastors and church workers from Zion Church had been formally arrested in Beihai on suspicion of “illegal use of information networks.” They include Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), Gao Yingjia (高颖佳), Wang Lin (王林), Yin Huibin (尹会彬), Liu Zhenbin (刘桢彬), Lin Shucheng (林书铖), Wang Cong (王聪), Sun Cong (孙聪), Wang Zhong (汪中), Liu Jiang (刘江), Wei Yunfei (魏云斐), Li Shengjuan (李盛娟), Wu Qiuyu (吴秋雨), Zhan Ge (战歌), Zhu Mingli (朱明立), An Mei (安梅), Mei Zi (梅子), Hu Yanzi (胡燕子), and a member only known as “sister M.”
Meanwhile, eight others have been released on bail, and three have been freed.
Zhang Zhan Jailed Again in Shanghai
Zhang Zhan (张展) was again sentenced on September 19, 2025 — one year and four months after her last prison release — by the Pudong Xin District People’s Court in Shanghai in a closed trial to four years in prison for the same crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
Her case stemmed from her continued citizen-journalism activities, including assisting young activists, and posting commentary online, which authorities say are seriously damaging the national image.” She was detained on August 28, 2024 after traveling to her hometown in Shaanxi. She was then formally arrested on 18 November 2024. While held at the Pudong Detention Centre, she began a hunger strike in January 2025 and was force-fed.
Zhang previously served a four-year prison term from May 2020 to May 2024. That conviction stemmed from her independent reporting from Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. During her first imprisonment, she carried out long hunger strikes, was repeatedly force-fed, and her health declined dramatically before her release in May 2024.
Although she filed for appeal in October, Zhang’s lawyer Gao Chengcai reported in November that he was unable to visit her at the Pudong District Detention Center. Her family later reported that Zhang has been transferred to an “educational facility” for political prisoners and will be admitted to the Shanghai Women’s Prison. It is unclear if or when the appellate trial took place.
Appeal Rejected in Journalist Espionage Case
The appeal of Dong Yuyu (董郁玉) against his seven-year espionage sentence was rejected, with Beijing’s High Court upholding its original judgment. The court reportedly offered no new reasoning for the decision. Dong, a veteran journalist and former deputy editor at Guangming Daily, was arrested in February 2022 while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat and later convicted of espionage in November 2024.
Yu’s family strongly denies the charges, calling them politically motivated, and argues there was no credible evidence to support the espionage conviction.
House church pastor Jailed for “Organizing Illegal Border Crossing” in Gansu
In November, pastor Sun Chenghao (孙承浩) was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment, plus a fine of RMB 10,000, by Gansu’s People’s Court of Ganzhou District for “organizing others to illegally cross the border.”
Sun is a Chinese of Korean ethnicity and a pastor of a house church in Zhangye, Gansu. The case dates back to August 2023, when Sun and several friends legally traveled to Jeju Island in South Korea as tourists, using valid passports and visas. Jeju allows visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, and the group returned to China normally at the end of the trip. To prepare for the visit, Sun created a WeChat group called “Jeju Island Self-Guided Travel” to make organizing and communication easier among his fellow travelers.
On December 15, 2023, Chinese police detained Sun on the charge of organizing others to illegally cross the border. His wife reports that several church members were warned and isolated from her by authorities. Although Sun did not break Korean law during the trip — in fact, he was even invited to a graduation ceremony on Jeju — critics say Chinese authorities stretched domestic law to make his normal travel appear illegal. Observers say the case raises serious concerns about how vaguely worded statutes can be used in politically or religiously sensitive ways, potentially criminalizing normal tourist travel.
Sun’s sentence ends on June 15,2028.
Three Leaders of Xi’an Church of Abundance Re-Arrested in November
On November 2, 2025, Pastor Lian Xuliang (廉旭亮), Pastor Lian Changnian (廉长年), and minister Fu Juan (付娟) of Xi’an’s Church of Abundance (丰盛教会) were re-arrested by the Xi’an Public Security Bureau, again charged with “fraud.” Their November arrest follows their earlier arrest in August 2022 on the same allegations. After being released on bail in April 2025, the three were reportedly immediately placed under residential surveillance at a designated location, a restriction that remained in place until their re-arrest in November.
Renowned photojournalist detained again in Beijing
Du Bin (杜斌) — a well-known human-rights photographer, documentary filmmaker, and former journalist — was taken from his Beijing home on October 15, 2025, a day before he was scheduled to fly to Japan. He was detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge frequently used against critics and dissidents, after authorities reportedly took issue with a book he had written that was viewed as “attacking state leadership.” He had also been briefly detained in both 2013 and 2020 for his prior work.
Du is currently being held at the Beijing Shunyi Detention Center. Lawyer’s attempts to visit were denied on the ground of “involving state secrets.”
Du had worked at Chinese official media outlets and contributed to mainstream Western media outlets such as The New York Times, The Times, and The Guardian. He is noted for his 2013 documentary focusing on the harsh treatment of female inmates in a detention center in Liaoning Province.