HEBEI, China — Chinese police detained house church leader Zhang Mingxuan — along with his wife, Xie Fenlang, and co-pastor, Wu Jiang He — at a police station in Hebei after a British Broadcasting Corporation journalist attempted to interview him Aug. 4.
International affairs journalist John Simpson phoned Zhang to request an interview, as required in a handbook given to journalists reporting on the Olympic Games in Beijing. Zhang agreed to the interview, but as Simpson traveled to meet him, police seized Zhang and his companions and moved them to a local police station.
Public Security Bureau officials had banished Zhang and his wife from Beijing for the duration of the games, fearing they would try to meet with visiting foreign officials. On July 18, after forcing Zhang and Xie to leave their home, police entered a guesthouse where the couple were staying and drove them to Yanjiao in neighboring Hebei province.
Zhang and Xie had moved to another, more remote town to await the completion of the games.
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