Open Letter from Chinese Christian Lawyer Li Xiaoming

Dear brothers and sisters:

Peace. I am writing to inform you of a matter 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 transfer from a law firm in Beijing’s Shunyi District to one in Beijing’s Chaoyang District. 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 Organization (京司审〔2026〕2804号),” approving my transfer procedure.

However, on March 19, 2026, I was notified that the law firm accepting me had been summoned for a meeting by the Chaoyang District Bureau of Justice and was prohibited from accepting me; otherwise, the firm would not pass any 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 demanded that I sign it to terminate the contract.

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

Why was I singled out? Because over 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, and because whenever churches in various places have been persecuted, I have continued to speak out. When Beijing Zion Church and Chengdu Early Rain Church were persecuted, I wrote public articles in support of them and called on brothers and sisters to stand together with brothers and sisters suffering for righteousness.

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

Looking back on my legal career, I am grateful that in 2016, immediately after obtaining my formal practice license, I went to Taishun, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, to defend brothers and sisters arrested while fighting against the demolition of the cross at Yayang Church. At the time, through the concerted efforts of Christian lawyers from various places, the local procuratorate issued decisions not to prosecute in all the cases. 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 defended for more than ten years was ultimately removed, and the church was occupied by special police.

The community of Christian lawyers in China is also currently under enormous pressure. I learned that this is because of their representation in the case involving the Zion Church investigated in Beihai, Guangxi. At least one Christian lawyer has already had their license revoked, and at least six lawyers have been suspended from practice for six months. Moreover, they are under even greater pressure. Many are also being summoned for talks and ordered to transfer away from their original law firms, and it is not known whether they will face operations similar to those used against me. Most defense lawyers have already been summoned for “tea-drinking” talks and told to withdraw from the case. Three lawyers have been subjected to an audit investigation, one lawyer has been warned and required to change the name of his law firm, which had Christian connotations. At the same time, Christian lawyers who are enthusiastic about their faith have generally been subjected to investigations, “tea-drinking” talks, and other disguised threats. I, meanwhile, 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.” The community of Christian lawyers in China is also facing the largest crackdown on lawyers since the Chinese government’s large-scale suppression of the legal community in 2015, known as 709. 2026 is a year in which Chinese Christian lawyers, together with the Chinese church, are taking 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 expression and freedom of religious belief have continuously been trampled by China’s atheist government. Because I publicly acknowledged the Lord’s name and insisted on spreading the gospel, my space has continually been squeezed.

Just days before the Zion Church case erupted on October 9, 2025, my WeChat Channels account, which had more than two million views, was permanently banned. The authorities asked where I was through the Bureau of Justice and repeatedly pressured law firms, demanding that I delete articles and change the name of my public account, removing the two characters meaning “lawyer.” 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 are the times. My heart mourns for China. We are witnessing darkness rising from the earth and covering the sky of light. Yet we believe: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

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

In fact, my compromises and retreats in the past never brought respect; they brought only more severe trampling and attacks. How similar this is to the Cultural Revolution of that time (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 may the land of China repent.

Lawyer Li Xiaoming

March 21, 2026