Early Rain Church preacher Dai Zhichao has been detained for four months; lawyer still unable to meet with him

(China Human Rights Information Center report) On May 17, 2026, this outlet learned that Dai Zhichao, a preacher at Chengdu Early Rain Church, has been detained for four months and his lawyer is still unable to meet with him.

Dai Zhichao’s wife, Lu Lingzhi, reported today that Dai Zhichao has been detained for four months and that his lawyer is still unable to meet with him. Lu Lingzhi is 29 weeks pregnant and has officially entered the third trimester. She is carrying their third child and must also care for their two other children by herself.

Dai Zhichao: Born in 1990, a native of Chengdu, Sichuan Province; a Christian; a preacher at Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church; a victim of the “Early Rain Covenant Church case”; and a Chinese prisoner of conscience.

He believed in Jesus Christ from his youth. After graduating from university, he first sought employment in Chongqing, but soon afterward, in 2013, entered the advanced study program of Liren University, headquartered in Beijing (Liren University, or Lida, is a private university in mainland China), and took part in a one-week course on “Christianity and Political Philosophy” in Chengdu, Sichuan, becoming a student of Pastor Wang Yi. After completing the program, he returned to Chongqing to continue working, but soon afterward felt called and resolutely resigned from his job, undertaking full-time ministry at the local Bazhong Mount of Olives Reformed Church in Bazhong City. In August 2017, in order to better equip himself, with the support and encouragement of Mount of Olives Church, he began studying diligently at Huaxi Covenant Theological Seminary in Chengdu. However, in March 2021, Mount of Olives Reformed Church suffered a severe blow during the Chinese Communist authorities’ crackdown. Because it was banned by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, after graduating from the seminary he began serving full time at Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church as a preacher.

On December 9, 2018, the Early Rain Covenant Church case occurred. More than 100 church believers were arrested and summoned in a major police operation in Chengdu, and he was also criminally detained for bravely writing a prayer letter for the church. He was not granted release on bail pending trial for more than three months, and police then forcibly sent him to Liangping District, Chongqing, his wife’s hometown.

In July 2020, he returned to Chengdu with his wife and children. In the face of the church’s severe persecution by the authorities, he continued to bravely stand up and participate in church ministry, striving through his passionate writing, preaching, and experiences of suffering to inspire many people to learn about and accept the gospel that “Christ is Lord, and grace reigns.” However, precisely for this reason, beginning in September 2022, he was closely targeted by the Chengdu authorities and placed under long-term house arrest. He was stopped whenever he tried to leave the gate of his residential compound and was even slapped in the face.

On February 12, 2023, when he tried to leave home to attend a worship service, he was again watched and stopped by numerous residential-compound staff members downstairs, so he had to take part in online worship at home. But when police pounded on his door and attempted to speak with him, he clearly told them: “Use the power in your hands with caution and stop continuing to persecute the church,” and invited the police officers to watch the live-streamed Sunday worship service online with him. On December 9 of the same year, the fifth anniversary of the December 9 Early Rain Covenant Church case, in order to prevent the pastors, fellow workers, and believers of Early Rain Covenant Church from participating in an online event, the local authorities again used various forms of harassment and disruption, including telephone warnings, threats at his home, surveillance, summonses, and cutting off the electricity. They also criminally detained him on suspicion of “the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was not released on bail until one month later.

As the Chinese Communist authorities have intensified their nationwide campaign of persecution against house churches, on January 6, 2026, Early Rain Covenant Church once again suffered large-scale persecution across regions (Chengdu and Deyang). He and nine other pastors, fellow workers, and believers, including church elder Li Yingqiang, were arrested, lost contact, or had their freedom restricted. He had previously been notified not to leave the jurisdiction where he lived. On January 6, he was taken away from the church office, and his home was searched. He has been out of contact ever since. As of now, the specific charges against him and most of the other pastors and fellow workers remain unclear, and their families have not yet received legal documents, but it is known that lawyers have become involved.

He is currently detained at the Sichuan Province Deyang Detention Center.