Zhou Songlin (周松林) — Media Profile & Archive
This archive preserves the source record behind the Zhou Songlin (周松林) profile: reporting on the November 2023 raid, the May 2024 fraud indictment, and the February 2026 verdict sentencing the pastor to four and a half years, with a material sentence-figure contradiction on a ChinaAid page and evidentiary limits noted. Sources are graded; allegations remain attributed rather than stated as fact.
Bitter Winter — “Hefei’s Ganquan Church: Pastor Zhou and Elder Ding Sentenced to 4.5 and 4 Years” (February 13, 2026)
(Opened and read in full: https://bitterwinter.org/hefeis-ganquan-church-pastor-zhou-and-elder-ding-sentenced-to-4-5-and-4-years/). The verdict report states that the Shushan District Court sentenced Zhou Songlin to four years and six months with a 30,000-yuan fine and Elder Ding Zhongfu to four years with a 28,000-yuan fine, and ordered confiscation of more than 366,000 yuan in “illegal income.” It also covers the raid, detention, and fraud-charge background. Source grade: religious-freedom news outlet; verified (opened and read).
ChinaAid — “Legal Analysis: Pastor Zhou Songlin and Ding Zhongfu’s unjust verdict” (July 1, 2024)
(Opened and read in full: https://chinaaid.org/news/legal-analysis-pastor-zhou-songlin-and-elder-ding-zhongfus-unjust-verdict/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legal-analysis-pastor-zhou-songlin-and-elder-ding-zhongfus-unjust-verdict). The full pre-trial record: the November 30, 2023 raid; the May 14, 2024 indictment (the 3.39-million-yuan allegation, Criminal Law Article 266); and the defense’s fraud-elements rebuttal. Source grade: Christian religious-freedom NGO; verified (opened and read).
ChinaAid — “Write Letters To Persecuted Christians in China” (current as of August 2026)
(Opened and read in full: https://chinaaid.org/write/). The prisoner-address page lists Zhou at the No. 1 Prison Area, Xuancheng Prison, Zhouwang Town, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City, Anhui 242061 — but gives the two men’s sentences transposed relative to the February 2026 verdict reporting (Zhou “four years,” Ding “four years and six months”). Source grade: Christian religious-freedom NGO advocacy page; verified (opened and read) — the address is useful, the figures are flagged as contradictory.
Human Rights Without Frontiers — “CHINA: Religious persecution and issues – Bimonthly Digest February 15-28” (February 2026)
(Search-verified excerpt: https://hrwf.eu/china-religious-persecution-and-issues-bimonthly-digest-february-15-28/). The digest mirrors the Bitter Winter verdict report (Zhou 4.5 years / Ding 4 years) in its February 16 digest entry. Page not opened — treated as a DUPLICATE of the Bitter Winter report. Source grade: human-rights monitoring NGO digest; search-verified excerpt only.
维权网 — August 2026 monthly report, Issue 131 (August 31, 2026)
维权网《中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）, mirrored in English and Chinese. Lists 周松林 / “Zhou Songlin” in the “Sentenced to 4 years and 6 months, 72 people” band. The report supplies no biographical detail beyond the sentence and custody status; it is the source for his classification as in custody as of August 2026. Source grade: monitoring organization; single-source roster fact.
Source conflicts and limitations
Bitter Winter, the Human Rights Without Frontiers digest, and the Issue 131 roster placement all give Zhou Songlin 4 years 6 months and Ding Zhongfu 4 years; ChinaAid’s address page (current as of August 2026) transposes the two figures — most likely a transcription error on the address page, but this cannot be confirmed, so the person profile attributes the 4.5-year figure to the February 2026 verdict reporting. The “May 7, 2026” date on the ChinaAid address page (29 months after the November 2023 raid) is unexplained — it may reflect a transfer or a page-update artifact rather than a new verdict; no retrial or appeal outcome has surfaced. All detailed case reporting comes from religious-freedom advocacy outlets (Bitter Winter, ChinaAid); no PRC official record (verdict text, court notice, or state-media report) surfaced, so the fraud charge, the 3.39-million-yuan allegation, and the lawyers’ rebuttal are reported positions, not independently verified facts. His birth year and age are unknown; the exact release date is unknown and is not computed from the sentence. No second “Zhou Songlin” prisoner record surfaced; the Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s 2024 gallery entry under Religion/Detained resolves to the same person, not a Falun Gong collision.
Person profile: Zhou Songlin (周松林)