Mainland China

Key issues in Chinese religious rights are taking a pivotal turn at year’s end as the beleaguered Shouwang house church in Beijing will celebrate its last outdoor service on Christmas Day, and “disappeared” human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has ostensibly resurfaced – in an undisclosed prison.

Denied access to a building they had purchased as a worship venue, the Shouwang church has been meeting outdoors – and facing weekly arrests – since April 10. A source in Beijing told Compass that next year church leaders will renew their fight to retain the venue the government had denied the congregation.

“Shouwang’s governing committee said that this coming Christmas, which fell on a Sunday this year, would see the last outdoor worship since it began on April 10,” the source said. “They said the church would actively pursue realizing the goal of returning to meet indoors after Christmas. And they still believe the best way to resolve the issue is that the government would permit the church to enter into the space it bought.” more >>

Actor Christian Bale made international headlines when he attempted to visit Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese human rights activist who has brought attention to massive forced abortions in his country, but was forced away by security officials, which was all caught on camera.  The “Batman” star insisted that he is not a hero, rather, the Chinese villagers fighting for Chen's release are the ones who deserve recognition.

Bale was in Beijing for the premier of “Flowers of War,” a film he is starring in about the 1937 Nanking massacre, said to be the most expensive movie production in Chinese history. But during the filming of the movie, Bale learned about Chen, a blind, self-taught human rights lawyer who is known for exposing the fact that government officials in Linyi County forced 130,000 abortions and sterilizations in 2005, according to Women's Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF).

In 2010, a local court sentenced Chen to a 4-year house arrest sentence for disrupting traffic during a protest. more >>

A loyal Chinese dog has kept watch over his owner’s grave in the south of Beijing for more than a week.

The local community of Panjiatun village has seen the dog’s devotion and it has touched them so much that they’ve made plans to build a kennel there for him.

Owner Lao Pan, a single man, died earlier this month at aged 68. After he died the dog disappeared, but he was later found at his master’s grave. He has now been there for more than a week and has refused to leave. more >>

Relativity Media is being criticized for its decision to film an upcoming movie in China in the same town where legal activist Chen Guangcheng was beaten and tortured, and is currently under illegal house arrest.

Chen has served jail time and is under constant watch by the government for exposing the fact that the town of Linyi had 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in 2005. Filming for the movie, 21 and Over, started in Linyi last Wednesday.

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers (WRWF), called for a boycott of the film. more >>

The Chinese toddler who was run over twice last week has died, reports have confirmed.

The girl, Yue Yue, was hit by two hit-and-run drivers on a narrow street in Foshan, a city in Southern China.

Eighteen people walked, cycled, or drove by the two-year-old as she lay wounded in a busy market. more >>

A two-year-old in China who was ran over twice last week has been declared clinically brain dead.

The child, Yue Yue, was hit by two hit-and-run drivers on a narrow street in Foshan, a city in Southern China.

Eighteen people walked, cycled, or drove by the baby as she lay wounded in a busy market. more >>