MidJourney image re-creating scenes reported across China, where crosses are being torn down in the name of “Sinicization.
Around 2 AM on October 11, 2025, Chinese police stormed homes across Beijing and other cities. They handcuffed pastors and seized Bibles in a sweeping raid on the Zion Church network, one of the nation’s largest underground Protestant communities.
Founder Pastor Jin Mingri, known as Ezra Jin, was arrested at his residence in Beihai, Guangxi Province. He joined nearly 30 other leaders detained on charges of “illegal dissemination of religious content.”
The Roots of Repression
The roots of China’s religious repression trace back to the 1949 Communist revolution, when the Chinese Communist Party expelled foreign missionaries and forced churches into state-controlled “patriotic” associations like the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Underground “house churches” like Zion emerged as resilient alternatives, growing despite bans.
Since Xi’s rise in 2012—and his consolidation of power by 2015—the campaign has hardened into a systematic assault on faith itself
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