; Whereas Freedom House has labeled persecution of Christians in the People’s Republic of China as high on its spectrum of religious persecution; Whereas there are nearly 90,000,000 Christians in the People’s Republic of China and the country is anticipated to have the largest group of Christians in the world by the year 2030; Whereas in 2015 China Aid reported an 11-percent increase in persecution cases from 2014 and a 709-percent increase from 2008; Whereas Chinese state officials have attempted to require that churches must be state-approved Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches which must submit all sermons for government approval, and whose religious services must be monitored by the government’s department of religion; Whereas churches not designated as TSPM churches may be designated as an evil cult by the Chinese government which maintains unmitigated powers to imprison and physically interrogate any person found associated with a group or church designated as an evil cult ; Whereas the Chinese government arrested over 300 human rights lawyers in 2015, subjecting many to months or years of detention; Whereas 40 Christian parishioners of the Shuangmiao Christian Church in China’s Henan province were forcibly removed from their house of worship and dragged into the street on May 5, 2017, and forced to watch as nearly 300 police officers and public officials razed the church building; Whereas dozens of these parishioners were beaten and arrested by public officials; Whereas public officials branded the building an illegal structure ; Whereas public officials confiscated parishioner’s phones, laptops, money, jewelry, and other personal property, and stole money found in the churches locked offering box