Li Qun (李群) is a member of the Century New City Church (世纪新城教会), a small unregistered Protestant congregation in Kunming, Yunnan province, made up of about thirty people, many of them long-term patients and others living through hardship.
The 2026 raid and arrests
On April 12, 2026, during a Sunday service, police raided the church’s gathering and took Li away along with the church’s preacher, Yu Shaolin (虞少林), and fellow member Luo Ping (罗平). More than a month later, on May 20, 2026, the Guandu branch of the Kunming Public Security Bureau served formal arrest notices on the three. They are suspected of “organizing illegal gatherings” (组织、资助非法聚集罪), a charge frequently used against unregistered house churches in China, and were held at the Guandu District Detention Center in Kunming.
Case proceedings
After the raid, church members issued an open letter asking for prayer and legal help, and the church began seeking legal representation for the three detained members. In late August 2026, Chinese rights-monitoring sources reported that the case had entered the trial phase, with a pretrial conference scheduled for September 2 and a trial for September 16, 2026. No verdict has been reported in the sources located as of October 10, 2026.
A note on a different person with the same name
A different person named 李群 — a woman from Yanshan county, Wenshan prefecture, Yunnan, a Falun Gong practitioner reported in January 2023 to have been sentenced to six years — is a separate individual. She is not connected to the Kunming case described on this page.
Sources
- 民生观察 (Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch), May 29, 2026 — “昆明世纪新城教案虞少林等三人被批捕”: Chinese-language report on the April 12 raid, Yu Shaolin and two co-workers taken, formal arrests on May 20 on suspicion of organizing illegal gatherings, detention at the Guandu District Detention Center; the congregation of about thirty; the church’s open letter and appeal for legal aid. Full report
- ChinaAid (对华援助协会), May 22, 2026 — “中国收紧宗教控制：云南一家庭教会传道人及信徒遭”非法聚集”罪名批捕”: first detailed report — the April 12 raid on Century New City Church; preacher Yu Shaolin and two members taken; formal arrest notices served May 20 by the Guandu branch of the Kunming Public Security Bureau; charge of organizing illegal gatherings; detention at the Guandu District Detention Center; Yu’s health condition and the police questioning of remaining believers. Source note: this report renders the co-detainee’s name as 李勤; two other independent sources use 李群 / Li Qun. Full report
- Bitter Winter, by Li Xiaosi — “Century New City Church, Kunming: Prayers Requested for Three Detained Christians”: English-language report — officers took “Pastor Yu Shaolin and co-workers Li Qun and Luo Ping” on April 12, 2026; formal arrest May 20 on the charge of organizing an illegal assembly; transfer to the Guandu District Detention Center. Full report
The church’s fellow detainees, Yu Shaolin and Luo Ping, have their own profiles on this site.
Further reading
The full documented case record for Li Qun is preserved in a companion media archive, which gathers the case chronology, cited sources, and evidentiary limitations in one place.