China Bans the Bible

Not content with having created the preferred model for a censored Internet, China's Leninist dictatorship shows that it's still willing to practice old-fashioned book banning as well. An article from today's Washington Times makes this abundantly clear:

Cai Zhuohua, 34, a Beijing underground church leader, was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for distributing Bibles and other Christian materials.

His wife, Xiao Yunfei, got two years, and her brother Xiao Gaowen was sentenced to 18 months by the Haidian Lower People's Court in Beijing.

They were arrested September 2004, said the China Aid Association of Midland, Texas. They were accused of distributing 200,000 Bibles and other materials as part of an unregistered house church Mr. Cai oversaw for 10 years.

It is the latest in a long string of escalating arrests and harassment Chinese Christians have undergone in recent years.


The Beijing dictatorship is not merely violating the rights of Christians to free speech and conscience. As the article points out, Tibetan Buddhists and followers of the Falun Gong belief system are also subject to brutal oppression. This is just one manifestation of China's broader crackdown on free speech and dissent.