Lacheng Ren

Update June 28, 2018

VOM contacts heard Lacheng Ren was released on bail in early 2017. However, "he rarely communicates with anyone due to severe restraint and his hurt."

Please continue to pray for him.

Prisoner Details

Lacheng Ren, a Christian sponsoring a new Christian bookstore in Taiyuan, and Wenxi Li, a Christian bookstore employee, were arrested and sentenced to prison terms for their role in the Enyu Bookstore in Taiyuan. On June 17, 2013, Lacheng Ren was sentenced to five years in prison by the court of Xiaodian district of Taiyuan in central China.

In 2012, Wenxi Li, a book store worker in Beijing, traveled to Shanxi province to help local Christians there open a new book store in the capital city of Taiyuan. But police raided the new business, Enyu Bookstore, and confiscated hundreds of books that Wenxi had brought with him from Beijing.

According to the South China Morning Post, one security worker allegedly shouted at Wenxi and his co-workers, “Don’t you dare bring Christian culture here. This is our turf.”

On Dec. 19, 2012, Wenxi was asked to come to a police station to retrieve the $6,000 worth of books that police had seized. But when he arrived at the police station, he was immediately arrested and sent to prison. Police were quoted as saying Wenxi was denied bail because of the seriousness of his “crime.”

Shortly after Wenxi was arrested, in an apparently coordinated move, Lancheng Ren was also arrested at his home. Lancheng Ren is not an employee of the bookstore, but is one of the founders.