Pastor John Cao

RELEASED: 3 March 2024,
on completion of 7 year sentence.

Arrest and background

Seven years imprisonment (Sentenced March 2018)

The American-Chinese pastor, John Cao, who lived with his family in North Carolina, had made regular trips into Myanmar to visit the 16 schools he had set up there since 2014. Pastor John had also helped establish more than a dozen schools in China – and regularly brought volunteers from these institutions over to his schools in Myanmar.

Yet, on 5 March 2017, Chinese officials in Yunnan province detained John and his coworker, Jing Ruxia – and later charged them both with ‘organising illegal border crossings’. This charge is more usually made against human traffickers. Pastor John’s family say this was to be his last visit to China before he retired.

His relatives also say that John made no attempt to hide his border crossings, taking a raft across a river in broad daylight and sometimes with support from Chinese officials. ‘My father claims that the authorities were aware of their operation in Myanmar and even helped them cross the border on occasion,’ John’s son Ben told the media.

Pastor John was held for a year before he was charged in February 2018 and later sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He was also fined 20,000 yuan (about £2,250). Teacher Jing Ruxia was given a one-year sentence and a lesser fine: she has since been released.

Pastor John’s subsequent appeal hearing was postponed seven times before the courts confirmed that they would treat the appeal as a “trial session on paper only” instead of actually hearing his case. On 25th July 2019 the appeal process concluded and Pastor John’s seven-year sentence was upheld by the court. Only his elderly mother and his sister along with their lawyer were allowed to hear the verdict. Pastor John has since been moved to Kunming prison in Yunan Province.

During the COVID-19 pandemic visits from his mother and lawyer were restricted. However, on 7 February 2023 John’s elderly mother was able to visit the prison and see her son face to face for the first time in three years. She told him that many people around the world are thinking of him and are concerned about his health and freedom. John responded, “Please tell fellow brothers and sisters from all over the world that I am healthy. Please, don’t worry about me.”

Following a previous visit by his lawyer in 2021 John said that he was thankful for the prayers of Christians brothers and sisters and he reiterated his innocence.

During his time in prison Pastor Cao has written many poems, one of which entitled From Over the Mighty Waters includes the following verse:

Religious rights campaigners see Pastor John’s arrest as part of a Chinese Government crackdown on house churches and their members. In February 2018, new Regulations for Religious Affairs were introduced, further curtailing religious freedoms and limiting Chinese nationals’ opportunities to make faith-related trips outside the country without prior permission. It appears the Government is trying to restrict Chinese Christians’ ability to have contact with Western believers.

Pastor John became a Christian in his 20s through an American family whom he met in China. He studied for the ministry in New York and later married an American, Jamie; they have two sons, Ben and Amos.

John ministered to Chinese congregations in North Carolina before he felt God calling him to serve in his homeland. He went on to found more than a dozen schools in central and southern China.

Then, in 2014, he became involved in humanitarian aid work in neighbouring Myanmar focusing on ethnic minority groups in mountainous parts of the Wa region. He also set up schools serving 2,000 children, in an area where educational opportunities were severely limited.

Pastor John Cao was released from prison in Kunming in Yunnan province on 3 March 24 after finishing his seven year sentence.

Picture: John Cao after finishing his prison sentence (Credit: ChinaAid)

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Updated: March 2024