Pastor Yang Rongli is co-founder of Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in China’s Shanxi province with her husband Pastor Wang Xiaoguang and is head pastor of the 50,000-member Linfen House Church Network. She is serving a 15-year prison sentence for “fraud” (a common charge against pastors of unregistered churches) and is not due for release until 2036; her husband is serving a sentence of nine years and seven months. Golden Lampstand is a large unregistered church that has suffered severe persecution for many years including previous prison sentences of seven years for Pastor Yang and three years for Pastor Wang. The authorities demolished the church building in 2018.
LATEST NEWS (AUGUST 2025): On 15 August Linfen Intermediate People’s Court rejected Pastor Yang’s appeal.
Pastor Yang Rongli (69) is co-founder of Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in Fushan county, Shanxi province with her husband Pastor Wang Xiaoguang. Under the couple’s leadership since the 1990s it has grown into a network of unregistered house churches with over 50,000 members in at least thirty fellowships in Linfen city and its surrounding villages and its members have suffered severe persecution for over twenty years.
Pastor Yang is serving a prison sentence of 15 years, Pastor Wang is serving a sentence of nine years and seven months, and they are not due for release until 2036 and 2031 respectively. Both were convicted of “fraud” for collecting church offerings, which is a common charge against pastors of unregistered churches. Pastor Yang, who is head pastor of the Linfen House Church Network, was previously imprisoned for seven years and Pastor Wang for three years, with other co-workers serving various sentences.
Golden Lampstand Church has consistently refused to join the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement and register with the Religious Affairs Bureau, and in July 2021 Linfen city authorities launched a massive investigation to identify key members of the church. Local Christians and preachers who had visited from other regions were detained and subjected to prolonged interrogation in an attempt to identify leaders in the network.
On 7 August 2021 Pastor Yang, Pastor Wang and ten co-workers were detained and on 27 September the pastors and five co-workers were formally arrested on “fraud” charges – the authorities alleged that the acceptance of donations constituted illegal activity – and transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution on 27 December. Five other co-workers were released on bail to await trial.
The case entered the trial phase in March 2023 but the court postponed hearings three times and made no progress until April 2025.
Trial and sentencing
On 5 March 2025 Linfen’s Yaodu District Court decided to try Yang Rongli and Wang Xiaoguang separately to their ten co-workers. The trial for the co-workers began on 8 April and from the previous day the area around the court was heavily guarded, with police at every intersection on local roads. A large number of traffic police and special police gathered outside the courthouse, guarding each entrance and preventing family members and other Christians from approaching. The trial ran until 14 April.
China Aid reported that the court “was surrounded by layers of armed police, like forming a fortress, heartlessly blocking out anxious families and fellow Christians” and added that “martial law operations began even the night before. Drones were circling overhead for surveillance. Many church members of the Golden Lampstand Church had already received warnings and were strictly forbidden from going near the courthouse.”
Hearings for Pastor Yang and Pastor Wang were postponed many times and when their case eventually went to trial on 17 April the court did not allow defence lawyers to bring computers and phones into the courtroom because, according to the court, it was a “major sensitive case”. Since all case files and software were on their computers, the lawyers could not defend without them and in the end they were unable to enter the courtroom.
Lawyer Zhang Kai posted on his WeChat Moments that they would livestream their defence outside the court, but when the lawyers reached the court entrance they found numerous special police vehicles in place. They left by taxi but Zhang Kai reported that police vehicles pursued them with their sirens on and intercepted their taxi on an overpass, where dozens of police surrounded them and forced them into a special police vehicle before escorting them to the railway station to leave Linfen.
The court decided to try the two pastors separately, with Pastor Wang’s case heard first, on 18 April, and Pastor Yang’s on 28 April. The court did not issue an immediate verdict, but on 20 June 2025 Pastor Yang was informed that she had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for “fraud”. Her husband (whose verdict was not announced until later) was sentenced to nine years and seven months in prison. They were fined 500,000 yuan (approximately €60,000) and 100,000 yuan (€12,000) respectively.
Their co-workers were given heavy sentences, with the longest (nine years and two months) for Li Shuangping, who pastored the church during the previous imprisonment of Pastors Yang and Wang, and continued to co-manage the church with them after they were released.
Deputy Presiding Judge Xie Binghua had visited the detention centre many times in an attempt to pressurise the co-workers to dismiss their Christian lawyers, but some who did dismiss them and hired local lawyers were still given sentences of over five years because they refused to plead guilty. Those with leading financial roles were given harsher sentences.
The court also authorised the seizure of around €2 million-worth of church and personal assets to cover “fraudulent offerings”, citing concealment of illegal status and clerical impersonation (relating to the fact that the church is unregistered). The court confiscated all church funds, vehicles, equipment and supplies (including sound systems, computers, books and teaching materials) and 18 bank accounts were frozen. In its judgment the court concluded that the church constituted a criminal group and that the defendants participated in an “illegal religious entity”.
Appeals
Pastors Yang and Wang and their co-workers appealed their sentences and on 14 August 2025 defence lawyers submitted a written request to Linfen Intermediate People’s Court inquiring about progress in the appeal case but were told no plans were in place.
Just one day later, however, the court announced the verdict in a closed session, notifying the lawyers only minutes before it was announced: it had rejected the pastors’ and co-workers’ appeals, upholding the original verdicts and sentences. The court did not identify any victims, making its ruling on the basis that donations to the church constituted “illegal fundraising” or “fraud”.
Pastor Yang suffers from diabetes and has been denied adequate medical care in prison. She and her husband are being held in Yaodu District Detention Centre.
Background
Yang Rongli comes from Huozhou city in Linfen municipality and graduated from the Chinese department of Shanxi Normal University in 1982. Because of her excellent academic record the college retained her to teach and work in the editorial department. After graduating she met and married Wang Xiaoguang and they settled in Linfen, where he worked in the teaching materials office at Shanxi Normal University.
Both come from Christian families and the couple attended the Linfen Church, which dates back to 1878 and was established by British missionary Hudson Taylor who founded the China Inland Mission. The church had long ties to Pastor Wang’s family and was under the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement following a government takeover of the church and its affiliated hospital in the 1950s.
In 1992 the two pastors decided to leave the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in a bid for greater autonomy and founded the Linfen Christian Church as a house church. Nearly all the 1,000 church members followed them. Pastor Yang became highly respected as a preacher among house churches in the Linfen area, and Pastor Wang became known as a writer of theology books.
They took early retirement in 1998 to devote themselves to the rapidly-growing church, with the support of co-workers including Yang Rongli’s younger brother Yang Xuan. The church experienced such huge growth that many fellowships were established throughout the city and in 2009 the magnificent Golden Lampstand Church building was constructed, at a cost of 17 million yuan (over €2 million), contributed by members.
Linfen Church had grown from 26 members to more than 50,000 in just over twenty years, and from the early 2000s it endured constant harassment from the authorities, including raids and water and power cuts because it refused to join the Three-Self Patriotic Church and register with the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau.
2009: Raids, arrests, imprisonment
In 2009 the authorities tried to force Golden Lampstand Church to sell its valuable land, but the church refused and the government threatened to demolish its new building. On 13 September 2009 over five hundred police officers and government officials raided one of the churches in the network, Linfen Fushan Church, and its Gospel Shoe Factory where the local congregation was meeting while a new church building was constructed. The mob brutally beat the Christians, injuring over one hundred, and local authorities sent bulldozers to destroy the church building.
Pastor Yang and her colleagues organised a huge prayer rally next day and on 25 September they set out for Shanxi’s provincial capital Taiyuan to lodge a complaint. Police intercepted them on the way and detained them. Pastor Yang’s home was searched and she and her husband and co-workers were placed under criminal detention on charges of “illegal occupation of farmland” and “gathering a mob to create public disturbance of order” because of the prayer rally they had held.
In November 2009 the Yaodu District People’s Court tried the Christians and gave seven- and three-year sentences respectively to Pastor Yang and her husband and various sentences to their eight co-workers. After that, over thirty meeting sites used by the Golden Lampstand network were shut down.
Pastor Yang was released from prison in October 2016 – her husband had been released in 2012 – and officials from the local religious affairs bureau demanded that the church join the Three-Self Patriotic Association but Pastor Yang repeatedly refused, resulting in the loss of her pension and medical benefits. In January 2018 the authorities demolished the Golden Lampstand Church building.
Family
Yang Rongli and Wang Xiaoguang have a son, Wang Yunxiang, who is married with a son Ya Lun (Aaron). Wang Yunxiang struggled in his early years when his parents were busy leading the church but he later came to personal faith.
TIMELINE
1992 Pastor Yang Rongli and her husband Pastor Wang Xiaoguang left the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement and founded an unregistered house church in Linfen.
1998 The pastors took early retirement to devote themselves to the rapidly-growing church.
2009 The Golden Lampstand Church building was constructed. The authorities tried to force the church to sell its land and, when the church refused, threatened to demolish the new building.
13 September 2009 Over five hundred police and government officials raided one of the churches in the network, Linfen Fushan Church and its Gospel Shoe Factory, where members were staying. Over one hundred Christians were injured in the raid.
15 September 2009 Pastor Yang and her colleagues organised a huge prayer rally.
23 September 2009 Armed police surrounded the main Golden Lampstand Church building.
25 September 2009 Pastor Yang and her colleagues set out for Shanxi’s provincial capital Taiyuan to lodge a complaint. Police intercepted and detained them.
25 November 2009 The Yaodu District People’s Court tried and sentenced the church leaders, giving seven- and three-year sentences respectively to Pastor Yang and Pastor Wang. After that, over thirty meeting sites used by the Golden Lampstand network were shut down.
10 October 2016 Pastor Yang was released from prison; her husband had been released in 2012.
9 January 2018 The authorities demolished the Golden Lampstand Church building.
July 2021 Linfen city authorities launched a massive investigation to identify key members of the church.
7 August 2021 Pastor Yang, Pastor Wang and ten co-workers were detained.
27 September 2021 Pastors Yang and Wang and five co-workers were formally arrested on “fraud” charges and transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution on 27 December.
March 2023 The case entered the trial phase but the court postponed hearings three times and made no progress for two years.
5 March 2025 Linfen’s Yaodu District Court decided to try Yang Rongli and Wang Xiaoguang separately to their ten co-workers.
8 April 2025 The trial of the co-workers began, running until 14 April. They were given sentences of various lengths.
28 April 2025 Pastor Yang’s trial took place, having been postponed many times. Her husband’s trial had taken place on 18 April, after the court separated their cases.
20 June 2025 Pastor Yang was informed that she had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for “fraud”. Pastor Wang (whose verdict was not announced until later) was sentenced to nine years and seven months in prison and they and their co-workers appealed.
15 August 2025 Linfen Intermediate People’s Court rejected the pastors’ and co-workers’ appeals.
Read more about the persecution of Christians in China.
(Sources: Bitter Winter, China Aid, Congressional-Executive Commission on China, USCIRF Prisoners of Conscience, Weiquanwang/Association for the Defence of Human Rights and Religious Freedom)
Photo: China Aid