On 10 November Chinese authorities lifted bail restrictions on four members of Beijing Zion Church, although eight other church leaders and workers who have become known as the “Zion 8” remain in detention.
The four church members whose bail restrictions have been lifted – Yang Lijun, Sun Xue, Huang Chunzi and Tu Ya – are pictured with lawyers and supporters outside a case-handling centre in Beihai, a coastal city in southern China’s Guangxi region. They had been detained in a crackdown on the large, unregistered Zion Church network in October 2025 and were released on bail on 10 November 2025.
Church supporters welcomed the decision to lift bail restrictions, which means that the four are no longer subject to criminal compulsory measures, but have renewed their calls for the eight who are still in detention to be released. They face charges of “fraud” and “illegal business operations”, charges that Chinese authorities increasingly use against leaders of unregistered churches. In this case, the charges are based on church offerings and tuition fees collected for seminary training.
The “Zion 8”: trial faces delays
The eight Zion Church members who remain in detention in Beihai are, top row from left: Pastor Wang Lin, Pastor Gao Yingjia, Elder Wang Zhong and Pastor Yin Huibin; second row from left: Pastor Liu Zhenbin, Pastor Lin Shucheng, Pastor Wang Cong and Wu Qiuyu.
Prosecutors brought their case to court in July but proceedings were postponed, and in October prosecutors sought additional investigation, citing insufficient evidence. Families and lawyers criticised the prosecution for proceeding without adequately reviewing evidence or consulting defence lawyers and complain that the charges treat voluntary church offerings as fraud and religious instruction as illegal business operations.
On 22 October Pastor Wang Lin wrote a letter from detention in which he described severe overcrowding, inadequate medical care, poor food and psychological distress in Beihai’s Second Detention Centre.
Background
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri founded Zion Church in 2007 and it grew into one of China’s largest networks of unregistered house churches, with congregations in forty cities across China. The central Beijing church was shut down in 2018 after its leaders refused to install surveillance cameras, but members continued to hold small gatherings and online services.
In October 2025 authorities launched a series of coordinated raids on churches in eleven cities across the network and detained over thirty pastors and church workers. Eighteen were transferred to Beihai for prosecution, including Pastor Jin, but nine were released on bail on 18 June.
Pastor Jin was released in July and flown to the USA to join his family following diplomatic talks.
(China Aid)
Photo credits: Zion Church via China Aid