Chinese authorities carried out a two-day operation against an underground house church in Jinzhai County, western Anhui Province, on September 16–17, 2026 — confiscating believers’ phones, forcibly taking two female preachers for questioning, and ordering young Christians to replace hymns with songs praising the Chinese Communist Party, according to ChinaAid reporting published September 22 and re-reported by Voice of the Martyrs Australia.
VERIFIED FACT: ChinaAid, a U.S.-based Christian human rights organization founded in 2002, published its report on the operation on September 22, 2026, including a video screengrab of the September 16 raid. Voice of the Martyrs Australia published an account based on the ChinaAid report on September 23, 2026.
SOURCE CLAIMS (ChinaAid sources, granted anonymity for security reasons):
On September 16, Wang Xianjie, identified as head of the Youfangdian Police Station in Jinzhai County, led about 30 police officers and local officials in a raid on the church’s gathering site. Believers had their movements restricted, and some were denied restroom access, according to the sources. Phones were confiscated and footage of the operation was deleted.
Two female preachers were forcibly taken to the police station for questioning. A deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the Jinzhai County Party Committee also participated in the questioning, ChinaAid’s sources said. An informed source said one of the women suffered a hand injury while being transported to the police station.
The questioning focused on two relatives of the preachers: Pastor Zhang Yuanlai, who ministers in New Jersey, and Pastor Zhang Huijun, who has served in Jinzhai, Guangzhou and elsewhere. Police repeatedly asked about Zhang Yuanlai’s activities in the United States and his contact information, according to the sources. One of the preachers, Zhang Yuanfeng, had been confined to her home for four days as of September 20, ChinaAid reported.
On September 17, Liu Qingzheng, a religious affairs official in Gubei Town, led a second operation. Officials found several young Christians practicing musical instruments for future worship services and prohibited them from performing or singing songs containing the words “Jesus,” “God” or “Lord,” the sources said. Officials reportedly told the young believers to sing songs praising the Chinese Communist Party instead.
Officials claimed the orders came from a “Central Inspection Team” and were intended to shut down local house church activities, according to the sources. An official also reportedly threatened that the preachers involved would face daily surveillance.
“When government officials begin deciding whom Christians may worship and what they may sing, so-called ‘Chinafication of religion’ has already become a political tool for forcing churches to submit to Communist Party ideology,” said Dr. Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid.
The church is part of a network of independent congregations in the Dabie Mountains. The network traces its origins to Zhang Yongsheng, a preacher who began evangelizing remote mountain villages after becoming a Christian in 1981. Local believers called him the “Paul of the Dabie Mountains.” Zhang established hundreds of underground meeting sites, according to his son, Zhang Yuanlai. He died in a traffic accident in 2014. All five of his children entered ministry, with four daughters continuing his work in China and one son pastoring in the United States.
Believers in the area have faced serious persecution before. According to ChinaAid’s records, local officials and armed personnel raided a meeting site in August 1993. One believer was killed while protecting others, while another was stabbed and suffered an eye injury that caused permanent blindness. Authorities also expelled some students from school or publicly punished them because of their faith, according to those records.
ChinaAid called on authorities to stop harassing and monitoring believers and their families, investigate the reported use of violence by law enforcement, and protect the freedom of religious belief guaranteed by China’s Constitution. As of publication, the Jinzhai County government and the Youfangdian Police Station had not responded to the reported incident.
UNCONFIRMED: the total number of believers restricted or detained beyond the two named preachers; whether either preacher faces formal charges; and whether the reported “Central Inspection Team” order exists.
The raid came one week before Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s September 24 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington — continuing a pattern of pressure on unregistered churches ahead of high-level diplomatic events. Beijing’s reported detentions of Jiaquan Church pastors and workers (September 21) and the taking of Xi’an pastor Jiao Yong (September 21) preceded the same summit.
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- Beijing Jiaquan Church Pastors and Workers Reported Detained Days Before Xi’s Washington Visit
- Xi’an Light of Zion Pastor Jiao Yong Taken in Shanghai by Xi’an Police; Whereabouts Unknown
- Fortify Rights: Eight Zion Church Pastors and Leaders Remain Detained Awaiting Trial; Nine More Out on Bail Still Face Charges
Sources
- ChinaAid, “Chinese officials raid house church, ban Christian hymns in central China,” September 22, 2026
- Voice of the Martyrs Australia, “CHINA: House Church Christians Pressured to Stop Worshipping,” September 23, 2026
- ChinaAid video, “Jinzhai Police Raid House Church; Officials Prohibit Songs Naming Jesus”