1998 - Li Huliu

September 30, 1998

Honghe, Yunnan

Honghe (‘Red River’) County is located in the southern part of China’s Yunnan Province. The Honghe valley is a beautiful verdant land surrounded by imposing mountains where several distinct ethnic minority groups live. The tranquillity of such a picturesque place was disturbed when the Honghe County Newspaper of June 30, 1998, announced that strong measures had been taken to break up unregistered religious groups. Most churches in Honghe remained unregistered simply because the local officials ignored their applications to register. The article went on to say that Christians in 22 villages were attacked at two o’clock in the morning of June 13th. The attackers, totalling 98 men, “separated into three groups and boldly and powerfully launched their attack, rushing towards their prearranged objectives.”[1]

Dozens of Christians were rounded up and taken away for questioning, while Bibles and other literature were confiscated as “evidence” against the believers. For a 23-year-old man, Li Huliu, the consequences of the police attack were much worse. When the men burst into Li’s home at two o’clock in the morning he thought he was being robbed and immediately grabbed a knife to defend himself. Moments later the officers

“knocked him to the floor. Although by this time he had dropped his knife and was not resisting them, they continued to beat him, savagely kicking him in the groin. Later that morning, a badly beaten Mr. Li was placed in prison. In spite of his injuries, he was not offered any medical care. While in prison, Mr. Li was repeatedly beaten by the officers.”[2]

The authorities had been seeking to arrest Li’s father, who was a pastor of the local house church. He was away from home visiting friends at the time. Li managed to send a message to his father, warning him not to return home otherwise he would be arrested and beaten to death. Three-and-a-half months passed since Li Huliu’s arrest. His health deteriorated, and constant beatings added to his injuries. Unable to bear any more punishment,

Li died on the evening of September 30, 1998. His family was notified the next day and told the cause of death was “sickness.” When they asked for an autopsy to be conducted they were told it was too late as the body had already been cremated. Li’s father remained in hiding for years, fleeing from one place to another as the authorities pursued him.

1. Luke Wesley, The Church in China: Persecuted, Pentecostal, and Powerful (Baguio, Philippines: AJPS Books, 2004), 28.
2. Luke Wesley, Stories From China: Fried Rice for the Soul (Waynesboro, Ga.: Authentic, 2005), 122.