Yang Rongli (杨荣丽) — Media Profile & Archive
Person profile: Yang Rongli (杨荣丽) — Political Prisoner Profile
Yang Rongli (杨荣丽) is a pastor and co-founder of the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi Province. Sentenced to fifteen years in prison in June 2025 on a charge of “fraud” — the heaviest sentence among the church’s defendants — she is one of the most prominent house-church leaders currently imprisoned in China. This archive collects the documented reporting on her case in chronological order.
2009–2016: the first imprisonment
In September 2009, Yang and her husband, Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, were arrested while traveling to the provincial capital, Taiyuan, to protest the demolition of church property in Linfen. On September 13, 2009, hundreds of police raided the church’s grounds, seriously wounding dozens of believers and destroying church buildings, according to China Aid. The couple were convicted of “gathering a mob to disturb public order” for a prayer rally held the following day. Yang was sentenced to seven years and served the full term; she was released in October 2016, reportedly showing signs of the mistreatment she had endured in prison and suffering from untreated diabetes, high blood pressure, hepatitis, and kidney stones (China Aid; PrisonerAlert).
2021: the arrests
On August 7, 2021, twelve members of the Golden Lampstand Church’s pastoral staff and co-workers, including Yang and her husband, were arrested on charges of “fraud” — the charge authorities used to criminalize the church’s collection of tithes and offerings. Six of the twelve were later released on bail; Yang, Wang Xiaoguang, Li Shuangping, Dong Yongyong, Zhao Guo’ai, and Huo Zhuangping remained detained (ChinaAid, July 2025). The church had refused to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church; its large worship building had been demolished in January 2018 (Bitter Winter).
2025: separate trial, fifteen-year sentence
Yang’s case was separated from the other defendants’. On April 28, 2025, the Yaodu District People’s Court heard her case without issuing an immediate verdict. On June 20, 2025, a judge came to the Yaodu District Detention Center and informed her that she had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison (ChinaAid; Bitter Winter).
From the detention center she wrote a letter to her son, Wang Yunxiang, dated July 12, 2025, describing the verdict as “a great crown given to me by God” and saying “the sentence is too light.” She wrote that she had appealed but placed her hope not in the appeal but in “God’s greater work” (ChinaAid; Bitter Winter; Church in Chains).
The couple’s case was handled separately from the ten church members sentenced on June 20, 2025. Her husband, Wang Xiaoguang, received nine years and seven months, and church co-worker Li Shuangping nine years and two months (Chinese Human Rights Defenders, October 2025). CHRD reported that, according to court documents, the authorities characterized donations to the church as “fraud” and argued the donations were illegal because Yang and Wang lacked government-issued clergy certificates and the congregation was not registered with the Three-Self Church.
2026: continued attention
In January 2026, Human Rights Watch’s reporting on renewed arrests of underground-church members noted Yang’s fifteen-year sentence alongside her husband’s nine-year sentence. In September 2026, a Dallas prayer gathering for persecuted Chinese Christians specifically named her, describing her as “one of the Christian leaders with the heaviest sentence in recent house-church cases in China” (Bitter Winter).
Source notes and limitations
- A 2016 report on her release mistakenly places Linfen in “Shaanxi province”; the correct province is Shanxi, per all other sources.
- One monitor dates the sentence to July 26, 2025; her own letter, written July 12, 2025, reports the verdict delivered on June 20. The later date likely reflects when the news reached monitors.
- The outcome of her appeal and the prison to which she was transferred have not been publicly reported.
- Reporting on the health conditions she suffered during her earlier imprisonment comes from China Aid and PrisonerAlert and has not been independently verified.
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Related: Yang Rongli (杨荣丽) — Person Profile