A Place Darker Than Prison: Report on Pastor Gong Shengliang Remaining Under Surveillance After Completing His Sentence

（Report by the Information Center of China Human Rights Defenders）On June 28, 2026, this outlet learned that someone was being held in the backyard of a private residence in Xuzhai Village, Yangdang Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province. Later inquiries revealed that it was Pastor Gong Shengliang, who had believed in the Lord since childhood. It is said that his family had believed in the Lord since the time of his maternal grandmother, and that he began preaching after he grew up.

Beginning on October 12, 2024, he was held in the “family-planning office” opposite the police office. A SWAT vehicle was parked outside the gate, with SWAT personnel standing guard, while more than a dozen people guarded the inside. In addition, four or five high-definition surveillance cameras kept watch day and night. It was later learned that he had already spent more than 20 years in prison before being released and returning to the area. Judging from this situation, it is even harsher than imprisonment. There is an inn near the western end of the police office, where a family member waiting for him is also staying. Government personnel specifically went to notify the family member on September 4, and the person came on the appointed date, only to find the situation as it is today.

Pastor Gong Shengliang stayed in the “family-planning office” for more than three months. That is, on January 21, 2025, relevant government personnel built a small bungalow for him in the backyard of a private residence. After he was moved there, five people were assigned to guard him. Entering the backyard required passing through two rolling gates. The first rolling gate at the front led into the building where the guards lived; the second rolling gate at the back led into the backyard. There was a side entrance in the backyard with a sheet-metal gate for vehicles to enter and leave. Later, it was sealed shut with cement and bricks. The walls of the courtyard were raised and sealed off, and the upper part of the wall was enclosed with black cloth. Because the enclosure was too high, it could not withstand the wind and rain; when it collapsed, it was rebuilt, and when it collapsed again…… After this happened several times, a steel mesh was welded on, making it completely secure.

To guard the place more securely, 14 high-definition surveillance cameras were added at various junctions. Including those inside the courtyard and at the main gate, a total of 19 or 20 surveillance cameras were installed.

Not long ago, on the early morning of January 2, 2026, Pastor Gong Shengliang said that his head was feeling very uncomfortable and requested to go to the hospital. Cao, one of the guards, said: “Have the doctor come.” The health clinic was very close. He called for help at 7 a.m., and at 8:30 a doctor came to measure his blood pressure: the systolic pressure was 220 and the diastolic pressure was 130. The doctor hurriedly left. At 9:30 another doctor came to measure his blood pressure, which was still high and had not fallen. The doctor instructed him to take antihypertensive medication and then never asked about or dealt with the matter again. On March 15, the person assigned to care for Pastor Gong Shengliang asked a doctor what should be done about Pastor Gong Shengliang’s condition. On the way, a cadre suggested giving him sleeping pills so that he would sleep more. The person caring for him was a Christian and asked: “How could that be done? What if something goes wrong from taking them?” The cadre said: “Everyone dies sooner or later. The sooner he dies, the sooner he is free, and you and I will both be relieved..... ” From these words, it was learned that they wanted him dead. Around noon, two of Pastor Gong Shengliang’s younger sisters bought high-blood-pressure medication and also brought rice, flour and other items. The guards never opened the door, ignored them and would not allow them to see him. They waited for several hours and left disappointed in the afternoon. In the evening, the guards told the person caring for Pastor Gong Shengliang: “You are not allowed to go out to buy vegetables. Someone is assigned to buy them.” The person caring for Pastor Gong Shengliang developed damp-related sores all over the body. The newly built room was small and damp, and a pig farm stood on the other side of the wall, with the surrounding area filled with the stench of manure and wastewater. The harsh environment was too much for a physically weak person to bear, let alone Pastor Gong Shengliang, who is elderly and has aftereffects from a cerebral infarction and cannot care for himself. When they moved into the newly built room, they were also forced to sign a rental agreement stating that the guards would bear no responsibility if anything happened to them in the house.

The person assigned to care for Pastor Gong Shengliang suffered from severe damp-related sores continuously from early spring through winter, enduring great discomfort, and requested injections and medication. After the agreement was provided to them, a guard accompanied the person to receive an injection on January 17 and buy vegetables at the same time. On January 19, the person requested to buy vegetables, but Cao said no. On January 21, the person again requested to buy vegetables, and Cao again said no. The person sought help from Community Secretary Yu, who agreed over the telephone. They waited afterward, but there was no word. When they called again, no one answered. On January 23, Pastor Gong Shengliang’s elder sister and her daughter brought vegetables, but were not allowed to see him. After repeatedly and carefully rummaging through the vegetables they had brought, the guards carried them into their room. People outside the door knocked and asked why, and they said they still had to inspect them. As noon approached, Pastor Gong Shengliang’s 85-year-old elder sister was sitting in the snow outside. They quickly cooked some rice porridge and brought it over so the elderly woman could warm herself, then told them to go home. But the guards never opened the door and would not allow anyone to intervene. The woman in her 80s had been transported there by her daughter on a three-wheeled vehicle; the trip from the city took two hours, and she had already been chilled through. They were not even allowed to give her some hot porridge. Is there any humanity left in this? Pastor Gong Shengliang asked them: “Were you raised by your mother?” They ignored him all the same.

In a regular prison, family members are allowed to visit once a month, and there are also family meals. This place is even more frightening than a regular prison. They are not provided with food or lodging and are not allowed to see their relatives. What kind of place is this?

In addition, two people are assigned to come each month to provide legal and ideological education, attempting to force him to admit that he is a member of a cult. In recent months, they have demanded that he write a statement withdrawing from the South China Church (SCC).

A person who had completed his sentence and should have been released and regained his freedom is now being secretly detained in a place darker than prison, with freedom still nowhere in sight!

Appendix: Gong Shengliang: Born on May 27, 1952; a native of Zaoyang City, Hubei Province; formerly named Gong Dali; a Christian; a farmer from Group Four, Gongying Village, Xuzhai Township, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province; founder of the South China Church (SCC); chief pastor of a house-church fellowship; and a Chinese prisoner of conscience.

Because he and his family firmly believed in Christ and devoted themselves to establishing the Christian house church—the South China Church (SCC)—which came to have more than 50,000 believers in several provinces in southern China, and because the church had considerable influence and strength while refusing to accept the Chinese Communist authorities’ autocratic management of religious belief and instead operated, spread and developed in the form of a house church, it consequently aroused extreme fear and dissatisfaction among the authorities. On August 8, 2001, he was arrested by police in Jingmen City, Hubei Province, on the grounds that he was the “principal offender in the South China case.” On August 12, he was placed under residential surveillance on suspicion of “organizing and using a cult organization to undermine the enforcement of the law.” He was formally arrested on September 10 of the same year. On December 25, 2001, the Intermediate People’s Court of Jingmen City, Hubei Province, sentenced him to death and deprivation of political rights for life on four charges: “using a cult to undermine the enforcement of state laws,” “intentionally destroying property,” “intentional injury” and “rape.” He appealed because he disagreed with the judgment. Later, under pressure from international public opinion, the Hubei Provincial High Court was forced, in a rare move, to remand the case for retrial on the grounds that “the facts established in the original ruling were insufficient and the procedures violated the law.” On October 10, 2002, following a hasty second-instance judgment by the Intermediate People’s Court of Jingmen City, Hubei Province, he was again sentenced, this time to life imprisonment for “rape.” It is reported that, in order to force him to abandon his religious beliefs, prison authorities subjected him to long-term torture. Repeated beatings damaged his internal organs, caused him to bleed during urination and defecation, left one ear deaf and left him bedridden and unable to get up because of his serious injuries. Prison authorities nevertheless ignored his condition and did nothing, leaving his life in danger. He served sentences in Hubei Jingzhou Prison and Wuhan Hongshan Prison.

It was learned in April 2025 that he had been released from prison in October 2024 but was immediately and secretly placed in a private residence somewhere in Zaoyang City, Hubei Province, where people were assigned to guard him, he was prohibited from going out or receiving visitors, and he has not been allowed to return home to this day.