Wenzhou's removal of crosses and actions elsewhere may signal wider crackdown

Because he was a Christian, the man from Wenzhou in Zhejiang province was criticised at mass rallies, thrown into jail and sent to the countryside for hard labour during the Cultural Revolution.

During that tumultuous political movement, he and fellow Christians continued to meet in clandestine Bible studies and worship in small groups.

The man, a part-time lay preacher in his 70s who asked to be identified as Zheng, said he never dreamed that in his lifetime he would again witness persecution of Christians.

Since late last year, the local government has ordered many state-sanctioned Protestant churches across Wenzhou and elsewhere in Zhejiang to remove crosses from their church spires. Officials say the destruction is part of a provincial programme to raze illegal buildings.

By early August, crosses on at least 229 churches across Zhejiang had been taken down, according to Zheng Leguo , a Christian preacher from Wenzhou living in the United States who has followed the crackdown. In the past month, crosses on about a dozen additional churches were dismantled, local Christians said.

Several congregations complied with the orders, but many tried to resist, leading to sometimes violent clashes with the authorities.

"I have not seen a crackdown as comprehensive as this before," said Zheng, the elderly Wenzhou preacher who requested anonymity out of concern for his safety. "Mobilising masses of paramilitary police and guards to deal with Christians? This is completely irrational."