Is History Repeating Itself In China?

In July 1958 a campaign was launched to make the city of Wenzhou, China, the nation’s first “religion-free” zone. Christians in Pingyang County were required to implement the “Three Offerings and One Withdrawal”: to give up church buildings, to give up Bibles, to give up all religious materials, and to withdraw from church life (ChinaSource). The campaign was launched during the Great Leap Forward. Widespread closure of churches and religious meeting places took place. Pressure was placed on believers to abandon religious practices and to participate in socialist production and political campaigns. Efforts were made by local authorities to demonstrate that entire communities had become free of religious belief. There was suppression of both local church activities and of broader religious expressions. Local accounts later referred to the campaign as miejiao (the "extermination of religion"). 

Wenzhou was specifically targeted because by the 1950s it had one of the largest Christian populations in China and was an important centre of Protestant activity. Local officials regarded religion, especially Christianity, as a significant political and social issue, therefore they sought to solve what they called the “religious problem.” An “experimental struggle against religion” was launched. In September 1958, Wenzhou authorities hosted a conference to promote this so-called “experiment,” attended by provincial officials and the head of the State Religious Affairs Bureau. Wenzhou was thus a national pilot project for eliminating religion. The aim seems to have been, once the crackdown was successful, to export the model nationwide. 
In the short run, the campaign appeared highly successful from the government's perspective: most visible church activity ceased. Public worship was largely eliminated in affected areas. Wenzhou gained a reputation as a “religion-free” or “no-religion” zone. 

Actually, the campaign was in part responsible for the growth of Christianity in Wenzhou. Christians shifted from formal church buildings to house meetings and underground networks. The house church structures thus created survived the Mao era and later expanded. After religious restrictions eased in the reform era beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wenzhou experienced notable Christian revival. The city eventually became famous as “China's Jerusalem” because of its unusually large Christian population and active church life. 

Is the same process taking place today? Recently In Yayang Church in Taishun County authorities carried out mass detentions, heavy police deployments and moves against the local church building. Between mid-December 2025 and early January 2026, reports say more than 100 believers were detained, with at least 24 still in custody by early January. Authorities also surrounded the church with hundreds of armed and special police and later brought in cranes and bulldozers to begin dismantling or demolishing parts of the church building. Reports suggest this was part of a broader campaign of tightening control over unregistered Protestant churches aimed at forcing them to conform to state religious policy. The events did not look like an isolated local dispute. Human rights and religious freedom groups describe it as part of an escalating nationwide crackdown on underground Protestant churches, including raids, arrests, online restrictions, and destruction of church property. The Wenzhou events once again resemble a classic pattern of wider state pressure on the church.

Pray that history will repeat itself and that the clampdown on Wenzhou churches will lead to significant growth of the church.

Pray for wisdom for church leaders in Wenzhou.

Pray for all Chinese Christians who are currently in prison for their faith.