Open Letter from Chinese Christian Lawyer Li Xiaoming

Dear family:

Peace. I have a matter to report to you in particular, and ask you to pray especially for it.

In late February 2026, I began the procedures to transfer to another law firm, preparing to move from a law firm in Shunyi District, Beijing, to one in Chaoyang District, Beijing. On March 9, 2026, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice issued the document “Decision of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice on Approving Li Xiaoming’s Change of Practice Institution (京司审〔2026〕2804号),” approving my transfer.

However, on March 19, 2026, I was informed that the law firm prepared to receive me had been summoned for talks by the Chaoyang District Bureau of Justice and was prohibited from accepting me; otherwise, the firm would fail all of its 2026 annual inspections. The authorities’ current actions have objectively created the effect of pressuring those around me, forcing me to voluntarily cancel my lawyer’s license.

On the evening of March 20, 2026, the director of the law firm sent me a notice of termination of my employment contract and required me to sign it.

Under these circumstances, I will not cooperate with the backroom operations of the Chaoyang District Bureau of Justice in Beijing, nor will I automatically cancel my license. I also condemn their blatant trampling of the Constitution and the rule of law and their arbitrary infringement of a lawyer’s basic right to subsistence. But my legal career has basically entered its countdown.

Why was I chosen? Because in the eleven years since I came to believe in the Lord, I have used my identity as a lawyer to publicly acknowledge the name of the Lord in China’s legal and public spheres, and have given Bibles to hundreds of fellow lawyers. Because I am a member of Zion Church and served as a preacher at Zion Church for nearly four years; because whenever churches in various places have been persecuted, I have continued to speak out. When Zion Church in Beijing and Early Rain Church in Chengdu were persecuted, in particular, I publicly wrote articles expressing solidarity and called on brothers and sisters to stand together with brothers and sisters who suffer for righteousness.

I dedicated my personal lawyer’s license to God many years ago. He gives, and He takes away; blessed be the name of God. Please continue to pray for China’s community of lawyers. As far as I know, the community of Christian lawyers in China has continued to grow. There are more than 700 Christian lawyers known to me.

Looking back on my legal career, I am grateful that in 2016, just after obtaining my formal practice license, I went to Taishun, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, to defend the brothers and sisters from Yayang Church who had been arrested for resisting the dismantling of the cross. At that time, through the united efforts of Christian lawyers from various places, the local procuratorate ultimately decided not to prosecute. Today, Yayang Church was again subjected to a large-scale crackdown on December 15, 2025. More than 20 brothers and sisters were arrested, the cross they had protected for more than a decade was ultimately dismantled, and the church was occupied by special police.

China’s community of Christian lawyers is also currently facing enormous pressure. I learned that, because of their representation in the Zion Church case investigated in Beihai, Guangxi, at least one Christian lawyer has had their license revoked, and at least six lawyers have been suspended from practice for six months. They are also under even greater pressure; many have been summoned for talks and told to transfer to another firm and leave their current firms. Whether they will encounter operations similar to those directed at me is also unknown. Most defense lawyers have already been summoned for “tea-drinking” talks and told to withdraw from the case. Three lawyers have had their accounts audited and investigated, while one lawyer was warned and required to change the name of his law firm, which contained Christian connotations. At the same time, Christian lawyers who are zealous in their faith are generally subjected to investigations, “tea-drinking” talks, and other disguised threats. As for me, I have been required to cancel my license myself.

The fact that an administrative licensing decision that has already been made cannot be implemented at the enforcement stage reflects, in itself, the absurdity of an era. Based on the signs described above, I believe that the situation I face is no longer merely a personal challenge, but a new wave. I deeply feel that I am a victim of the second Cultural Revolution. As a Christian lawyer who publicly acknowledges the name of the Lord Jesus, I have already been regarded as one of the “Black Five Categories.” China’s community of Christian lawyers is also facing the largest campaign of repression against lawyers since the Chinese government’s large-scale crackdown on the country’s lawyers in 2015, known as 709. The year 2026 is a year in which Chinese Christian lawyers, together with the Chinese church, take up the cross.

I began speaking out to defend my rights on March 19, 2026. Subsequently, one of my WeChat public accounts was permanently shut down, while another was blocked for two weeks. It can be said that for many years, my freedom of speech and freedom of religious belief have continually been trampled on by China’s atheist government. Because I publicly acknowledge the Lord’s name and insist on spreading the gospel, my space has continually been constricted.

Just days before the Zion Church case broke out on October 9, 2025, my WeChat video account, which had more than two million views, was permanently blocked. Through the Bureau of Justice, the authorities asked where I was, and repeatedly pressured law firms, demanding that I delete articles and change the name of my WeChat public account, removing the word “lawyer” from it. As a result, out of consideration for my colleagues’ feelings at the time, I changed the name of the public account from “Lawyer Li Xiaoming in Beijing” to “Reader Li Xiaoming.”

Such is our era. My heart mourns for China. We are witnessing darkness rise from the earth and cover the sky of light. Yet we believe: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

What has moved me and what I have received is: “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked.” (Proverbs 25:26)

In fact, my past compromises and retreats never brought respect. They brought only more severe trampling and attacks, so similar to the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).

May justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.

Let us pray together for peace in China and that the land of China may repent.

Lawyer Li Xiaoming

March 21, 2026