09/14/2020 China (International Christian Concern) – According to Bitter Winter, Wenzhou province is known as “China’s Jerusalem” because of Christianity’s large presence. Many Christians are entrepreneurs who build churches and direct religious activities. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) targets these business owners, forcing them to resign in order to protect their businesses.

The CCP sees Christianity as a foreign national security threat because of ideological reasons. They pressure and manipulate churches to remove their religious symbols, including crosses, through the targeting of Christian businesses.

For example, on July 28^th state-approved Huai’en Church in Longgang (Wenzhou province) removed its cross for the second time in six years. “Since last September, the Longgang city government repeatedly exerted pressure on the church, demanding us to do away with the cross ourselves,” one church member reported.

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