Christian preacher Sun Chao from Xuanwei County, Yunnan, placed under criminal detention

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On August 13, 2026, this website learned that Sun Chao, a Christian preacher from Xuanwei County, Yunnan, had been placed under criminal detention.

On July 25, 2026, Preacher Sun Chao was taken away by the Xuanwei Public Security Bureau in Yunnan and placed under administrative detention for 12 days for alleged “illegal proselytizing.” He was supposed to be released and return home on August 7, 2026. When his wife, Zhao Ying, brought their children to the Xuanwei Detention Center to pick him up, she was told that Sun Chao had been transferred to criminal detention on suspicion of “the crime of illegally organizing gatherings.”

Sun Chao was born in 1989 and was 37 years old in 2026. He suffers from epilepsy and needs to take medication on schedule to control his seizures. He converted to Christianity and began preaching in 2015. Sun Chao is married. His elder daughter is 10 years old this year, and his younger son is 6 years old this year. The son has congenital cataracts and has undergone surgery, but has not yet had an intraocular lens implanted and needs to go to Chongqing for regular follow-up examinations.

Sun Chao has been arrested twice for his Christian faith: in April 2024, he was placed under administrative detention in Kunming, Yunnan, and in June 2025, he was placed under administrative detention in Qujing, Yunnan. This is the third time he has been arrested. Sun Chao’s family normally lives in Qujing City, Yunnan Province.

This website will continue to follow Sun Chao’s situation.