A Chinese court has upheld a seven-year prison sentence for a businessman who was arrested and charged with “illegal business operation” for selling thousands of Bibles and Christian books.

Chen Yu, the owner of a Christian online bookstore, was sentenced in 2020 for selling more than 20,000 Bibles and Christian books – many of which were published in Taiwan and the United States, Bitter Winter reported. Law enforcement found more than 12,000 books on his premises and destroyed them.

An appeals court in recent days upheld that 2020 decision, Bitter Winter reported.

Chen had sold books to clients in Shandong, Henan and other provinces and was left “comparatively undisturbed” by authorities until 2019 when he was arrested, Bitter Winter said. The fact that he sold books by Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu may have led to his arrest. Wang himself is serving a prison term for operating an illegal house church and criticizing China’s persecution of house churches.

The prosecutor called Chen’s bookstore an “anti-Chinese conspiracy.”

Chen is an inmate in a detention center in Zhejiang province.

Gina Goh, International Christian Concern’s regional manager for Southeast Asia, said the seven-year sentence for Chen demonstrates “how the Chinese government is increasingly frightened by all things religious.”

“From religious symbols, Chinese couplets, to Christian books, anything that features religious elements is no longer tolerated by the Chinese Communist Party,” Goh said. “The disproportionate sentencing of Christians, such as Early Rain Covenant Church Pastor Wang Yi and Chen Yu, under the same charge implies that the crackdown against Christianity will only intensify. The US government and international community should continue to stand up to the tyranny in Beijing.”

Christians who bought the books from Chen could be in jeopardy.
“People who buy Christian books are practicing believers, so the government looks into them to determine how dangerous they are to the stability of their regime,” a house church pastor previously told Bitter Winter.

Photo courtesy: James Coleman/Unsplash

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Christianity is gaining popularity in the modern day China. Glory to God.
No nation of the world have succeeded in halting the spread of the gospel.

Even though I am a very religious person. But I am happy that I am a Christian who is so proud of my religion. Christianity had done so much to humanity than any religion on earth.

We are first humans before religion... No one should be persecuted for their religious belief in as much as they harm no one.

Good for the Chinese. They Japanese were smart to throw the Christians back in the same and crucify some them when they showed up on Japanese shores.

The destruction of Japanese culture and kidnapping that the Christians were doing were quickly curtailed by wise leaders who didn’t let the mental illness take hold of their people.

The Chinese need to make an example out of this one. Make it 12 years in jail.

The gate of hell cannot prevail against the church. God continue to strengthen the chineese Christians.

They're still learning the ropes where the Roman empire was, who despite all their best efforts to stop the church, failed woefully, as the more they tried, the more the church became more resolute, and grew not just numerically but also spiritually.

So let the Chinese also try their own luck to see how far they'd be able to go with this, but one thing is certain, they shall not be able to prevail against the true church.

God bless.

China is against Christianity and Islam!

Just that CAN no get branch for China. They would have blamed Muslims for their persecutions!

China again..... Always in the news for evil....