In the end, the Chinese government didn’t even bother making a public case against him. On Monday, Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business activities” following closed-door proceedings.
Underground churches are “spreading like wildfire” in rural areas of China, he says. “[The Chinese government] is afraid that more people, including less educated people, are turning to the church for their spiritual needs and not to official nationalism and patriotism.”– more at Time