In China, independent Christians persecuted despite close state surveillance

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Our Lady of Seven Sorrows is one of the few authorized Catholic pilgrimages in China. Every September 15, thousands of people gather there. France 2 tried to go there, but in the country, religion remains under close surveillance. The France Télévisions team was arrested then escorted outside before even taking the Stations of the Cross. It is impossible to film the sanctuary and its pagoda roof of Chinese architecture, a symbol of the control of the authorities who demolished the ancient place of worship decorated with crosses in 2018.

This is not the only example: in China, dozens of churches have been destroyed in recent years, such as Nandong in 2023, or the one built in 2013 with the money of parishioners in the province of Wenzhou, razed a year later. The rules are strict: each church must be registered, the state then monitors the sermons, imposes party allegiance and even chooses the bishops, which the Vatican then validates.

“The authorities do not understand Christianity”

While the country has 80 million Christians, the vast majority Protestants, those who oppose the official church are prosecuted. In the South, in Beihai, France Télévisions met Ren Zhong and his daughter. He is one of the rare victims to dare to speak out. In October, several police officers knocked on his door. “When they opened the door, one of them grabbed me by the collar very aggressively,” he said. They came to arrest his wife, a pastor in the Zion Church, prosecuted for tax evasion after collecting donations for her church. A pretext accusation, her husband suggests. "I don't think my wife did anything wrong. The authorities don't understand Christianity, or Jesus, or who we are. There are misunderstandings. I believe that Jesus is right," he says. Imprisoned pastor faces ten years in prison.

His church had relays in the United States, but American influence worries the Chinese power. “In American Christian fundamentalism, there is a whole political project of absolute freedom. And so in China today, where we know that the challenge from the United States is something very serious, we are worried that Christians are being used as a fifth column of influence by the United States,” explains Michel Chambon, specialist in Christianity in China. The authorities also fear that religion influences young people. Since 2025, minors are no longer allowed to go to church and online masses are prohibited.