Angelica family church interfered for two days in a row: interrogation to inquire Pastor Zhang Dalai Lama, young believers are accused of singing praises

On September 19, China Aid (ChinaAid) revealed that from September 16 to 17, local faithful gatherings were suspended, several believers' mobile phones were checked, two female missionaries were interrogated to the mission; during the interrogation, police officers repeatedly questioned the situation of their brother and sister Zhang, who currently resides in New Jersey, and is engaged in pastoral work in Chinese churches.

The peculiarity of the incident is not only that a family church gathering was interrogated, but that law enforcement interrogations extended from on-site religious activities to the party’s relatives and religious ties to pastors abroad.ChinaAid believes that this reflects the administrative pressure faced by some independent Christian groups, which is overlapping with the censorship of “external connections.”

Fujitsu posted on September 19 on the X platform on-site videos and disclosed the incident to the outside through ChinaAid. Video and press releases constitute the most direct public material at present; focus on China has not yet caught up with the Qingdao County public security or the local government to publish public explanations about the specific events of September 16-17.

Approximately 30 policemen and cadres entered the party site.

According to ChinaAid, citing local Christians and acquaintances, on September 16, Wang Ziyang, director of the Kinshasa County Post Shop and Country Mission, led about 30 police and local officials into a family church gathering site, asking people to stop the activity. Believers said that staff removed and inspected mobile phones, deleted photos and videos of some of the process, and multiple participants could not leave freely at once.

In order to protect the identity of the party, ChinaAid has referred to the two as “Evangelist A” and “Evangelist B”.Evangelist B said that she was tortured in the hand during the forced removal. The injury is currently not supported by public materials from hospitals, public security or other independent sources, so it is still mainly based on the statements of the parties.

Later that day, delegations and local officials who attended the gathering arrived and continued to take some of the believers back to their homes.ChinaAid said the persons involved were released until late at night.

Question focus to U.S. pastors with overseas contacts

Two missionaries later said that the public security questioning was not limited to the gathering on the same day, but repeatedly asked about their brother Zhang Long, including his current activities in the United States, pastoral situation and contact methods. Zhang Long now resides in New Jersey, the United States, engaged in Chinese church pastoral work; and the questioning also asked about the situation of another sister Zhang Wei in Qingdao and Guangzhou participating in Christian service.

ChinaAid has stated in its 2025 Annual Report that the links between religious groups in China and overseas institutions, pastors and resources have been increasingly restricted in recent years. The U.S. International Commission for Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2026 Annual Report also lists unregistered family churches as one of its concerns and criticizes China’s religious management system for its highly institutionalized demands on religious organization political loyalty and affiliation.

On September 17, the intervention was not over.ChinaAid said Liu Qing, the official in charge of religious affairs in Qingdao County, was leading more than a dozen local cadres to take action again, and that for most of the day the freedom of person was restricted.A few young Christians were practicing instruments at the time, and no formal religious gathering was held, according to local sources.

Religious officials have been asked not to play or sing songs containing the words “Lord,” “Jesus,” “God,” and have been asked to recite songs praising the Communist Party of China. The officials have been allegedly said that they will continue to look at Predicator B in the future and attribute the request to the “Central Surveillance Group” opinion. ChinaAid said it continues to verify the accurate wording of these words and their so-called policy grounds.

“Religious Chineseization” enters the real boundaries of grassroots governance

On the one hand, the current Regulations on Religious Affairs of China clearly stipulate that citizens have freedom of religious belief, and no organization or individual may force citizens to believe or not; on the other hand, a broad administrative framework is set for religious activities through religious groups, places of religious activity, faculty staff, religious education and foreign-related activities.

During the 22nd collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on September 29, 2025, Xi Jinping called for the "systematic promotion of China's religion" and stressed that Party committees at all levels should strengthen leadership in religious work and guide religious people and religious masses with the core values of socialism.

Unlike official policy statements, the USCIRF in its 2026 Annual Report argues that China's "Religious Chinaization" policy has been used to expand the state's political control of religious life and continuously affect unregistered Protestant family churches. ChinaAid has long regarded similar actions as cases of religious freedom being suppressed. Both are under the assessment of external agencies of China's religious policy and its implementation effects.

What is most concerned at the moment is not the abstract slogans, but what is happening specifically in grassroots enforcement: if believers’ mobile phones are confiscated and images deleted, preachers are restricted without public legal documents, and young Christians are banned from singing poems because of the words “Jesus” or “God,” then these practices are markedly tensed between the protection of religious freedom in Chinese legal texts. If interrogations on overseas relatives and their church activities become the focus, it also shows that religious administration may overlap with the security scrutiny of cross-border connections.

In a statement, Fujitsu criticized the practice, arguing that asking Christians to replace worship songs with political party songs is bringing demands for political loyalty into the realm of personal belief. He also said that a Chinese Christian should not be questioned and monitored by public security just because of his relatives in the American pastorate.

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At the time of the announcement, China has not yet found a public response to the incidents from the public security, military or religious affairs departments of Qingdao County, and has not yet been able to independently verify all the details on the scene in ChinaAid materials. It can be confirmed that China's officials continue to strengthen "religious Chineseization" and grassroots religious governance, and agencies including ChinaAid and USCIRF believe that this policy environment is further compromising the space for activities for unregistered religious groups.