Early Rain church members attend first service after China crackdown
- Christian family joins congregation in Taiwan amid uncertainty for the future
- Pastor Wang Yi remains detained in China
Seven months after authorities shut down his church on the Chinese mainland, Liao Qiang was able to worship publicly for the first time on Sunday when he joined the congregation at an unassuming church on the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
The 49-year-old arrived in Taiwan last week after fleeing the mainland with five family members. He and his 23-year-old daughter, Ren Ruiting, described living under constant surveillance for the past seven months after authorities detained them and dozens of other members of their prominent, but not government-sanctioned, church in December.
Beijing has carried out a widespread crackdown on all religious institutions in recent years, including bulldozing churches and mosques, barring Tibetan children from Buddhist religious studies and allegedly incarcerating more than a million members of Islamic ethnic minorities in what are termed “re-education centres.”
Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has ordered that all religions must “Sinicise” to rid them of foreign influences.
In contrast, Taiwan has long taken a hands-off approach to religion, making it a place where Christianity and other religions thrive.
