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Earlier this year Chinese pastor John Cao was
released after serving a seven-year sentence – but his
freedom of movement is still restricted. He recently
spoke about both his time behind bars and his
current circumstances
‘Why have I been put
in jail?’ That was
the question that
nagged at John
Cao after he was arrested by Chinese
officials in Yunnan province back in
March 2017.
Chinese-born John, who had lived
with his family for a number of years
in the US, had been running schools
for needy children in the northern
part of Myanmar. ‘People had no food
or clothes. Basically they were naked.
I brought clothes, food, medicine into
this place,’ he said.
He made no attempt to hide the fact
Chinese – which is also good for the
Chinese Government! So I often asked,
“What’s wrong? Why put me in jail for
seven years?”
‘But suddenly I understood. That was
the beginning of a movement by the
Chinese Communist Party to persecute
Chinese Christians – mainly those in
the underground house churches. That
is really the point. They didn’t just put
me in jail; that was the beginning of
persecution against the underground
house church movement. They have
put so many behind bars. That is an
antichrist movement.’
‘I baptised him with
rain water’
John spent the first two-and-a-half
years in a detention centre. Food
was sparse and he quickly lost 40
lbs in weight. Then, in 2019, he was
transferred to a prison. He found
that he was crossing the border from
China into Myanmar to resource
these schools. After his arrest his
family claimed that Chinese officials
were aware of his work and even
helped him cross the border on
occasions.
However, he was arrested and
charged with ‘organising illegal
border crossings’. The following year
he was sentenced to seven years’
imprisonment and fined 20,000 yuan
(about £2,250). A subsequent appeal
was postponed seven times, before
the sentence was upheld. ‘We set
up schools and actually taught them
10 10
HELPING
PRISONERS
OF FAITH
Poetic injustice:
jailed pastor expresses
faith through verse