Chengdu police hold Early Rain elderly members after teahouse study
On the afternoon of September 11, 2026, officers from Chengdu’s Hongpailou police station took roughly ten or more mostly elderly Early Rain Covenant Church members from a hotel teahouse where they were reading, according to Rights Movement (chinahrc). As of about 7:50 a.m. Beijing time September 12 they had not been released; police told a relative release would be within 24 hours and cited a “cult” investigation, the outlet reported. An ambulance was seen at the station overnight. This brief records those claims; English wire confirmation was thin at filing.
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Rights Movement (chinahrc) reported that after about 3 p.m. on September 11, 2026, officers from Chengdu’s Hongpailou police station in Wuhou District took roughly ten or more Early Rain Covenant Church members from a hotel teahouse where they were reading. Most were over 60; a few were in their 70s, and two were in their 50s, the outlet said. As of about 7:50 a.m. Beijing time on September 12 they had not been released. A relative who called the station was told release would be within 24 hours and that police were investigating a “cult.” Church members waiting outside around 2 a.m. said they saw a 120 ambulance at the station near midnight.
Among those held, Rights Movement named He Futao, 73, a woman who had undergone lung-cancer surgery and had recently been taken to an emergency room after collapsing. A church member got two pieces of clothing into the station around 7:20 a.m. on September 12, the outlet said.
Early Rain has faced sustained pressure since a December 2018 Chengdu crackdown that included pastor Wang Yi. This brief records Rights Movement’s September 12 Chinese-language account. It is not an English-wire confirmation, and it does not restate later 2026 raids as this incident.
Sources
Rights Movement: 紧急关注：秋雨圣约教会再遭冲击 十余位老年会友被警方带走 (Sep 12, 2026)
https://www.chinahrc.org/content/43163/
Corrections and updates
- Update, September 14, 2026: Brief prepared from Rights Movement (chinahrc) Chinese report dated September 12. The count is “several or more than ten,” mostly over 60. He Futao is named there as a 73-year-old woman. English-language wire confirmation was thin at filing. Other Chinese advocacy posts later that day differed on the date and on whether some members had been released; this brief stays with the named source’s 7:50 a.m. Beijing-time account and does not treat those later posts as independent confirmation. June 2026 Jiangyou coverage is background in the source, not restated here. Wayback Save Page Now returned 500 and archive.today rate-limited; the live page was opened.