HRIC Weekly Brief
October 14, 2025
Top News 头条
On October 9, 2025, Chinese authorities launched a coordinated nationwide crackdown against Zion Church (锡安教会), one of China’s most prominent unregistered “house churches.” Police in at least eight cities across the country detained or disappeared over 30 pastors, preachers, and congregants, searching homes and confiscating personal devices. Senior pastors Jin Mingri (金明日) and Yin Huibin (尹会彬) were arrested in Guangxi and have not been heard from since, while Wang Lin (王林) was taken at Shenzhen Bao’an Airport. Jin’s daughter and wife, based in the United States, have been unable to reach him since Friday. Authorities have accused the detainees of “illegal online religious activity” (非法互联网信息宗教传播罪), a charge increasingly used to punish those who hold Bible studies, prayer meetings, or livestreamed sermons outside state control. Urging China to release the church leaders, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that “this crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches”.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
China’s Prison Law Revision Criticized for Overlooking Women Prisoners’ Rights — Female Lawyer Urges Gender Equality Measures: Lu Miaoqing, a female lawyer originally from Guangdong, has submitted a formal proposal to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, urging lawmakers to incorporate gender sensitivity and substantive equality into the ongoing revision of the Prison Law of the People’s Republic of China.
Related: 监室之内：中国在押女子生态 [Inside the Cell: The Ecology of Chinese Women’s Prisons]. A review of the daily, real-life experiences of female prisoners that reveals the blind spots in the system’s operation, providing a more concrete basis for assessing whether existing provisions truly address the plights of China’s female prisoners.
Related: A UN Conference Can’t Hide China’s Discomfort With Women’s Rights.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Translations: As CAC Tackles “Malicious” Negativity Online, Popular Influencers Zhang Xuefeng, Hu Chenfeng, Lan Zhanfei Hit With Bans: Although there is no official explanation for the bans, the crackdown reflects the increasingly difficult task of navigating censorship-related “red lines.”
China using ChatGPT for ‘authoritarian abuses’, OpenAI claims: According to OpenAI’s latest threat report, several China-based accounts that appeared to be linked to Chinese government entities had “asked [ChatGPT] models to generate work proposals for large-scale systems designed to monitor social media conversations.”
Related: Cross-border repression | OpenAI confirms new cognitive warfare using ChatGPT to generate Cantonese content to smear Hong Kong social activists. Pro-establishment pages repost deepfakes of Hong Kong exiles. The same OpenAI threat report showed that ChatGPT had been used generate a large volume of Cantonese social media posts and comments, mainly targeting pro-democracy Hong Kong activists like Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai and Nathan Law, with the aim of discrediting and portraying them as criminals or traitors, and spreading messages supporting Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
專訪「李老師不是你老師」：從藝術留學生到跨國反共聯盟，只是為了「要回到一個正常人的生活」[Exclusive Interview: “Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher”: From International Art Student to Transnational Anti-Communist Alliance, All for “Returning to a Normal Life”]: Li Ying, also known as “Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher,” has over 2.11 million followers on social media platform X and has become an important window for overseas Chinese to understand the real situation in China. In this interview, Li discusses his motivations and describes the threats and harassment he experiences on a regular basis.
HRIC on X/Twitter: The status of international student Hu Yang, who was criminally detained by Zhengzhou police on July 26 on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” remains unclear. Hu had returned to Hunan to visit family but has been detained for nearly three months. Despite threats from the authorities, Hu’s mother has decided to speak out once again to draw attention to her son’s case.
Cross-border repression | Art activists rally in response to China’s censorship of a Thai art exhibition: In response to the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre’s censorship of an exhibition in August due to pressure from the Chinese authorities, a group of art activists from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Thailand re-created the censored artworks in restrooms and cubicles adjacent to the exhibition venue a week before the exhibition ended.
Struggle for Freedom: Protest in Amsterdam Against the 76th Anniversary of the Chinese State: A protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the 76th National Day of China sought to draw attention to the plight of groups such as Falun Gong, Chinese democrats, and Chinese Christian communities who have been subjected to the oppression of the Communist Party.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
人權律師盧思位被診斷患肺癌初期 妻盼丈夫能保外就醫團聚 [Human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer. His wife hopes he can be released on medical parole so they can reunite]: Lu, who is currently under police surveillance and restricted in his movements, has revealed that he was diagnosed with worsening lung cancer which may require surgery. Lu’s wife, Zhang Chunxiao, has called on the authorities to grant Lu Siwei permission to travel to the United States, where he would receive medical treatment under the care and supervision of his family.
Report on the Psychological Trauma of Children of Human Rights Defenders Under State Violence Released: On October 9, 2025, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders Families Network published a new report entitled “Collateral Childhoods: The Psychological Impact of State Violence on the Children of Human Rights Defenders,” revealing the situation and profound psychological trauma suffered by the children of human rights defenders in an environment of state violence.
Hong Kong is silencing and isolating political prisoners: Hong Kong activist Frances Hui describes the alarming situation of prisoners in Hong Kong, from the frequent use of punitive solitary confinement to forced participation in “deradicalization” programs.
Father of wanted activist Anna Kwok has case to answer over handling funds linked to ‘absconder,’ court hears: Kwok Yin-sang has been accused of attempting to deal with funds linked to his daughter Anna Kwok, who has been labelled an “absconder” by the Hong Kong authorities. Although the first two trial dates presented minimal evidence that Mr. Kwok ever interacted with his daughter over the policy, much less intended to provide her with any financial benefit, the judge has decided that the trial will proceed.
Elderly Hong Kong man granted bail after sedition arrest on China’s National Day: The 89-year-old man, known as Ng, had been detained at the Causeway Bay MTR station on October 1 for an unnamed “sedition offence” under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, more commonly known as Article 23.
Hong Kong court orders ex-protester who broke police officer’s finger to pay HK$150,000 in damages: To Kai-wa, who was 22 at the time of his offence, was ordered to pay police officer Leung Tsz-kin HK$152,000 in damages.
7 more incumbent Hong Kong lawmakers bow out of upcoming ‘patriots-only’ Legislative Council election: The December 7 polls will be the second LegCo elections since Beijing passed a resolution in 2021 to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system to ensure only “patriots” hold power in the legislature.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
A Media Scandal in Taiwan, Praising Xi Jinping to the Moon, and China’s App for Africa: A deal between the Ugandan government-controlled Vision Group and Beijing’s municipal television authority to distribute Chinese dramas included the distribution of Beijing-produced content through Scooper News, often used for top-down state efforts at external communication.
China issues bounty for Taiwan PsyOps unit for ‘separatism’: Chinese police named 18 people as alleged Taiwanese military psychological operations officers spreading “separatist” messages, a day after Taiwan pledged to boost its defenses.
China Intensifies Pressure to Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism: During the Politburo’s 22nd collective study meeting on September 29 to promote systematic sinicization of religions in China, Xi Jinping called for greater efforts to convert Tibetan Buddhist traditions to Chinese socialist society.
Hong Kong bars 13 films from screening on national security grounds since 2021 censorship law: According to the Hong Kong authorities, a total of 50 films have been required to be edited and 13 titles have not been approved for screening on national security grounds since Hong Kong amended the Film Censorship Ordinance in 2021.
International Responses 国际反应
EU parliament urges China to release Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, 10 years on: It has been a decade since Gui Minhai was taken from his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand, by unknown men. He was among four men who went missing but is the only one still detained.
China urged to drop charges against detained artist Gao Zhen: Human Rights Watch issued a call for Gao’s release. Gao was arrested in August 2024 in Hebei, where he was visiting family, on the charge of “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs” over years-old artworks critiquing the Cultural Revolution.
US FCC to vote to tighten restrictions on Chinese telecom equipment: On October 28, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to tighten restrictions on telecommunications equipment made by Chinese companies deemed to pose risks to U.S. national security.