That China engages in organized, severe persecution of religious activity is confirmed by the U.S. State Department's 2000 Report on International Religious Freedom. It states that in some regions, officials "imposed tight regulations, closed houses of worship, and actively persecuted members of some unregistered religious groups."
This is consistent with the reports of The Bible League, a world-wide ministry that is a leading supplier of Bibles to the house churches of China, almost all of which are unregistered.
The Rev. Dennis Mulder, president of The Bible League, says, "We have one of the most extensive network of contacts with house churches. We have worked with trusted and committed partners in this ministry who have been imprisoned, beaten, fined, harassed, and even tortured by Chinese government officials. As the State Department shows, these events have increased, rather than decreased, in the past two years.