Four Christian businessmen in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China have been given prison sentences for selling audio Bibles.
The four, from Life Tree Culture Communication, were tried on 9 December 2020 and then convicted on 16 July 2021 of “conducting illegal business operations”.
Audio Bible players are small electronic devices that play pre-loaded digital audio files. These players are particularly useful to elderly Christians [Image credit: China Christian Daily]
Fu Xuanjuan, the company’s legal representative, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 yuan (£22,200; $30,900; €26,300).
Deng Tianyong, in charge of managing the audio Bible content, was handed a three-year prison sentence and 50,000 yuan fine; Feng Qunhao, a technician, a two-and-a-half year sentence and 30,000 yuan fine; and Han Li, responsible for logistics, a 15-month sentence and 10,000 yuan fine.
Six different types of audio players, and company computers, were also confiscated.
The four men, who were first arrested in July 2020, maintained that they had been producing audio Bibles for many years and had never been told that this activity was illegal.
The news comes as China continues its crackdown on Christian social media content and as the government seeks to align church teaching with its own communist values.
