What is the punishment for practicing Christianity in China?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:As long as Christians don't meddle with the Government's Policies, & follow guidelines on practicing religion none, and this is true to all faiths not only Christianity

"The Beijing Haidian Christian Church was originally built in 1933 but the number of attendees has increased so dramatically that it was recently knocked down and a new, larger church was erected in its place. It opened its doors on May 31, 2007 in Zhongguancun, also known as China's Silicon Valley. Two of China's top universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University, are nearby the new church. "

"This design for the largest Christian church in China is characterized by a Chinese type of "triple p", ...."

Another answer:

Christians who are minding their own business are regularly persecuted, denied employment opportunities and imprisoned even though they are not at all meddling with the government and are in fact model citizens. The Christians are particularly careful not to do anything offensive, but the truth is that they are not free to practice their faith. It is in fact the oppressive Chinese Communist government which is meddling in the affairs of Christians.

The punishments referred to above can include imprisonment with hard labor, detention without trial, including beatings and torture. People can also be moved to another location away from family and friends and deprived of useful employment. These things are well known and documented. They continue to this present day.

The human rights abuses of the Chinese Government against a number of religions, including Christians, are documented by many agencies including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the individual organizations of the religions themselves. Punishments reported cover a wide range from surveillance to murder (the below link documents some of these punishments). There are some churches in China that the government allows to exist, on several conditions. They must preach ONLY what is allowed by the government. They must not preach about the second coming of Christ. They must not evangelize children. They must not preach any doctrine that the government of China perceives as being against the government or against communism. These churches are also not allowed to publish enough Bibles for everyone to have one. These churches are often the only ones that foreigners are allowed to visit when they go to China, and many foreigners are fooled by this, especially those who do not speak Chinese, into thinking that Christians in China have freedom. Some well-known ministers from the US such as Billy Graham have been taken to such churches, and fooled into thinking that the Chinese have religious freedom. But the true Christians usually do not attend these government-sponsored churches, because they know they will not hear the complete gospel in them. They instead attend house churches, and are heavily persecuted.

Answer 2

Many of China's largest cities have impressive churches that Christians openly attend, without any apparent fear. Being able to travel around cities on my own and without police surveilance, I have visited some of these and have observed Christians going about their worship in the same way as Buddhists would go about their worship in some of the many temples. I discussed missionary work with an American Christian missionary registering his residency at a Chinese police station (a requirement for foreigners). Recently, the Chinese press proudly announced the successful relocation of a brick church to allow for a motorway, without dismantling the church - a government initiative undertaken at considerable cost. Uninformed comments that Christians are punished for their faith do nothing to assist Chinese Christians.