Update on the Yayang Church Case in Taishun County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang
(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On July 26, 2026, this website learned that at least 20 Christians are currently being detained in Taishun County, Wenzhou. The main reasons behind the case are that in 2014 they opposed the forced demolition of crosses and petitioned the authorities, and refused the forced installation of national flags in the middle of the night, among other things.
The charges currently brought against them include the crime of assembling a crowd to disrupt social order, the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, the crime of obstructing official duties, the crime of forced transactions, and concealing or intentionally destroying accounting books, among others. Almost all of the church workers have been accused of forming a criminal group; even Christians who cooked meals and stood watch at the church have been transferred for review and prosecution.
Previously, after the church objected to the forced demolition carried out by the Natural Resources Administration and hired a lawyer to participate in an administrative hearing, the lawyer was beaten at a hotel on the eve of the hearing.
In May 2026, their church, which had received legal approval, was also razed to the ground. The practice of defining a church as a criminal group and fabricating multiple charges against it has rarely been seen before.
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