Mom, let's make soup balls when we finish the dumplings.
Okay. Yangyang loves those.
Chief Wang, please come in.
Please, have a seat.
Li Ming'ai, what have you been up to lately?
Any meetings recently?
Last time you were arrested, attending a meeting.
You shouldn't believe in God.
Here's some water.
You should know the CCP is an atheist party.
We don't allow any belief in God.
Whoever believes in God will be arrested and punished.
That's just the policy.
I'm here with a warning.
If you're arrested again, it'll be more than just a fine. Got it?
Chief Wang, I'm not a believer,
but I do know many countries have religious freedom.
Doesn't our Constitution say something similar?
They can believe in God, without breaking the law.
Then why does our government have such a problem with believers?
Chief Wang,
my belief means I read the word of God and seek truth.
Nothing I've done breaks the law, and nothing I've done is a crime.
You don't just arrest me;
you take our money and harass and threaten us.
How can this be legal?
Aren't you supposed to be the people's police?
Do you even know what the law is?
It's just the policy of our Party!
The government has released another document to rectify religion,
requiring more force in attacking belief
and calling for the elimination of house churches.
Li Ming'ai, I'm warning you:
The next time you're arrested, you'll serve at least eight to ten years,
and then, your whole family will suffer too.
But I haven't broken the law.
It's not enough to persecute me, you even go after my family.
Is there any justice in this? (Shut up!)
You're not supposed to believe in God, but you still do.
Why is that?
Yang Tao, keep an eye on your wife.
If she continues to believe, she'll be arrested, sentenced severely,
and you'll be in trouble too.
Can't say I didn't warn you.
Otherwise, it's both your faults.
Yes, all right.
Let's go.
Chief Wang, take care.
Oh, one more thing.
You should report anyone believing in God or preaching.
You'll be rewarded by the government.
Yang Tao, I've said what I can.
Watch your wife carefully.
I understand, sir. Take care.
You're still going to the meetings! Aren't you afraid of going to jail?
How could you be this way?
Take this! Take this!
Stop it, just listen to me! (Daddy, stop it!)
Don't hit Mama! Stop!
Yang Tao! What's wrong with you?
Have you gone insane?
I didn't raise you this way!
Mom! What am I supposed to do with her?
The village leader warned me again
that if she goes on believing, she'll get arrested again,
and then I'll stop getting electrical work!
They'll even take away our family pond.
That's no reason to go hitting her!
You … from now on, you can only stay home.
You can't go anywhere.
One more meeting, I break your legs!
Sit down, right now! I mean it!
Ming'ai, let's talk about it.
Ming'ai, maybe it's for the family's sake that he doesn't want you to believe.
Please don't believe in God.
Listen to him. Okay?
But—if you wanted to act for the good of our family,
you wouldn't follow the Communist Party.
You'd let me believe in God.
Have you already forgotten?
Once I believed, our family received such grace and blessing.
I got cancer several years ago.
Doctors said I couldn't be cured.
The only reason I'm alive is because God cured my disease.
If not, where would I be? And what about our Yangyang?
They do everything they can
to stop belief in God or accepting His salvation.
That's opposing God.
They'll be punished!
You shouldn't side with the Communist Party
or stop my belief in God!
Ming'ai, it's good to believe in God.
That's not the problem.
But can't you just secretly believe at home?
Don't do that either!
Did you hear what Chief Wang said?
The Party wants to ban all house churches,
and they won't spare any believers.
They'll be all wiped out.
If … if you keep believing, you'll be lucky to survive.
The government says you can't, so you can't!
Accepting the judgment and chastisement of God's words
is His love and salvation for us …
Hello? Police?
I'm reporting believers in God.
Where's Li Ming'ai?
Out shopping.
Go look!
What's going on? (Out of the way!)
Hey, stop! (Is this even legal?)
You, shut up!
We're gonna catch Li Ming'ai today!
Ming'ai.
Hey, what's up?
Ming'ai.
Sister Gao, everything okay?
Listen.
Chief Wang brought the police to search your home.
They're now coming after you.
You need to go and hide!
But then, what about my child?
Don't go home. The police will take you away.
You couldn't care for him then.
Go to Longbu, find my sister. She's also a Christian.
Here's her address, and some money.
Take it.
Sister Gao, I can't accept this.
Take it and go, hurry.
If they see you now, you can't get away.
Pray to God often and rely on Him.
Hurry, go. (Sister Gao …)
Thanks, ma'am.
Of course.
Get it! Kick it!
Oh, got that time!
Nice!
Ming'ai?
Ming'ai!
Hey, you're here.
What's on your mind? Was it your son?
Yes.
It's been two years since I've seen him.
Sister Wang, let's leave soon.
Don't make anyone worry.
Okay.
Captain, target acquired. Corner of Quanbei and Zhongguan.
Good. Move!
Police! Stand down!
What are you doing? What's going on?
You're believers and you preach.
We've been watching you. Let's go!
We're not breaking any laws. What is this?
Shut up! Get in the car.
Wangshui, huh?
Call their police station.
Ask them about her.
I'm on it.
So … when did you come to Longbu to preach?
Who brought you?
Who's heard you spread the gospel?
Don't you know it's against the law to believe in God?
I thought that the Constitution gives religious freedom.
My belief in God is legal.
What law gives you the right to arrest me like this?
I came here to spread the gospel and tell people the work of God.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Why has this become illegal in China?
God created the heavens and the earth and the entire human race.
No matter where people live, they should all worship God.
Why do you want to stop people from believing in God?
It's really you obstructing justice and breaking the law.
Why must you interrogate me?
Why? Do you really not know?
China is under the Communist Party.
The Communist Party's policy is to suppress and ban religious faith,
and ban all house churches,
to make China an atheist country.
How can they permit you to believe and spread the gospel?
You testify Almighty God appears and works to save man,
and would turn the human race into people who worship God.
That's at odds with the policy of the Party.
The Communist Party does not care about what is sacred.
If you violate CCP policy,
you will be banned and suppressed!
The Communist Party, in this world, must have complete control.
One day, they will rule the whole world.
You spread the words of Almighty God everywhere.
That's acting at odds with the Party.
What you're doing is illegal preaching, disrupting order,
and that means jail time.
Understand?
This is just a guess, but do you have young kids?
You tell us everything now,
write a statement and stop believing in God,
and we won't look into your past preaching problems.
We'll let you go. That sound good?
Belief in God and spreading the gospel are proper things.
Why should I stop?
Today, humanity is corrupted by Satan,
and the world is becoming more evil.
The human race longs for God's coming and salvation.
Almighty God does the judgment work of the last days,
to purify and save people and bring humans to the beautiful destination.
Every day we read God's word, know the truth,
and live according to God's word.
We live more humanely;
we're at peace and have happiness.
We bear witness for the truths expressed by Almighty God
to let people accept God's salvation.
It brings joy to the people, social stability, and benefits the entire human race.
This does not break the law.
How can you say that bearing witness for God is illegal preaching,
and disrupts the social order?
You're just throwing accusations—(Shut up!)
Look at where you are right now.
You dare still preach the gospel.
You have a lot of nerve!
You go around, spreading the gospel all day long,
bearing witness for the book expressed by Almighty God, The Word Appears in the Flesh,
which has made many believe in God, instead of the Communist Party.
So, shouldn't the Party declare you guilty and arrest you?
If you were smart,
you would quickly tell us everything you know about the church.
If you do not,
you will suffer.
Come on.
That woman you spoke with, is she a leader?
Tell us her name, and where she lives.
Also, the church's assets, where are they kept?
Tell us now!
That's the private business of our church.
Why would I reveal that to you?
The church's money is donated by God's chosen people.
No one else has the right to inquire about it.
Why are you asking me this?
What is the purpose? (Damn it!)
We're asking the questions!
Looks like we'll have to speak to you in a different way.
Chief, we looked into her story.
Excellent.
Bloody hell. You're gonna pay for that!
Tell us! Who's the one calling you?
Damn it!
You won't talk? Take her!
Tell us! You gonna talk? Spill!
Tell us what you know!
Spill it!
Come on. Speak!
Talk! Who are all your contacts at the church?
Who are the leaders?
Come on!
Get up!
Tell us! If not, you get this again.
Damn!
Get up.
I said up!
Stop playing dead.
Get up! Get up!
You can't fool us. Come on! (Enough.)
This isn't working. We can't beat her to death.
Almighty God, I don't know how they will torture me next.
My heart is weak.
Oh God, please give me confidence and strength.
God, I want to follow the example of Job and Peter,
and put myself completely in Your hands.
I don't care whether I live or die.
No matter what hardship I have to bear,
I will stand witness and put Satan to shame.
Have you ever figured out Li Ming'ai's situation?
Yes, we have.
In '06, she was arrested for believing in Jesus.
In '09, we got a tip: She started following Eastern Lightning,
but the station did not catch her then.
Then what?
Since then, she dared not return home.
Two years ago, she snuck home to see her child.
Even though the police rushed over as soon as they heard, she'd already gotten away.
Local police spent the last few years trying to catch her.
What's her family's situation?
Her husband works far from home …
Are you Li Ming'ai?
Though this is the first time you and I have met,
I already know quite a bit about you, your family's situation.
Your husband works away from home,
leaving two seniors alone with a child.
Your child is so very young,
yet you, his mother, are not with him, caring for him.
Wouldn't you say this is heartless?
Are you behaving the way a mother should?
What do you wish to gain through belief in God?
Aren't you able to see how well off some people who don't believe in God are?
Their homes are peaceful, the whole family is together and happy;
how practical it is!
Then look at you,
captured for belief in God, can't return to your home, cut off from family.
There's no one to help the child and seniors.
It's all unnecessary!
Think about this now.
With the CCP in power, Christians may never be able to live in peace here.
I urge you to do your best to cooperate with us
by telling us all about the church.
Then we will take you home to be with your family.
I'll contact your local police station and
tell them to give you no more grief.
This way, you won't have to hide place to place, always in flight.
How does that sound?
Who made it like this, that I can't go home and can't be with my family?
Who made me have to hide, always in flight, always running and running?
It's all caused by the Communist Party's persecution of Christians!
The CCP goes against Heaven in its wild persecution of believers.
In acting this way—(That's enough!)
The captain offers to show you kindness, but you have no gratitude;
you even answer back!
Don't do this the hard way!
Perhaps I have gone soft.
I can't bear to see women being tortured.
I will give you ten minutes.
Don't bother!
If I understand right, aren't you asking me to betray God and my brothers and sisters?
Then I'll tell you quite plainly,
I simply will not do anything that goes against conscience and morals.
So don't waste your time and tire your tongues on account of me.
Listen to me,
you must stop being so stubborn and foolish.
You should appreciate our kindness in "guiding" you.
You should do what's best for you!
Did you know, if we opt to hand you over to the judiciary,
then a charge of "using a cult organization to undermine implementation of law"
brings a sentence of eight to ten years?
Then it will be far too late to repent.
When I was caught and brought here,
I did not expect to get out alive!
Damn you!
You refuse to accept our kindness, now see what jail is like!
Now listen up, all of you!
This woman believes in God.
She even abandons her family to go off preaching!
Why don't you all "straighten her out" some? Get the picture?
We got it.
Ma! Ma!
Ma!
Ma! Ma!
What's wrong my dear? (There, there, it's okay.)
We're right here.
Grandpa, Grandma, I saw a bunch of thugs beating Mommy.
It's okay, dear, don't cry.
You just had a nightmare.
Grandma, when will Mommy come back home?
Is it true Mommy doesn't really want us?
Don't you listen to them.
What they say is nonsense.
It's those bad cops' fault.
They make it impossible for her to come back home.
Then when will Mommy be able to come home?
Yangyang, listen to Grannie.
Your mother loves you most of all.
When you're grown up, your mother will come back.
Be good now and go to sleep. We're both close by.
You deserve worse.
How could you choose God over your family!
Who says I don't want my family?
If it weren't for the CCP government's persecution— (Shut up!)
No one wants to hear anything you have to say.
What the government says goes.
We do as they tell us!
Go to sleep!
Ming'ai, the police found out you've come home, they'll arrest you again.
You better leave!
Ma, don't go!
Ma! …
All your dishes are here. Enjoy.
Let's dig in then.
Li Ming'ai won't respond,
not if you're soft and not if you're rough.
She is just way too godized. Not an easy case.
Captain Liu, what should we do next?
What's worked for you?
Even the godized ones have their weak points.
Yes, she has a son. He's most likely her weak point.
I see that from our most recent interrogation.
There are ruthless children in this world, but I've never seen ruthless parents.
If we want to force her to talk,
we must exploit family affection.
She has not been home for a few years, I recall.
I'm sure she's dying to see her family.
We will fulfill her wishes!
Your trick's brilliant! Great!
Come! Let's toast! (Cheers!)
The captain's here!
Hello, Captain Liu! (Chief Wang.)
How's it going?
Has the plan for Li Ming'ai's family been completed?
Captain, please relax. Everything has been arranged.
I guess news of Li Ming'ai's return has already spread throughout the village.
That's good.
Take her into the village.
Go!
Hey, look! Isn't that the Yang family's daughter-in-law?
Yeah, look at her.
I have long dreamed of seeing my family again,
but I never imagined I would under these circumstances.
Grannie, wrap them faster.
OK.
Walk slower.
This is your "big return home," right?
Let your neighbors get a really good look at you.
What a pity!
She hid for so many years just to end up in the hands of the police.
Why bother being a believer when the government prohibits it!
What a shame.
She was known as such a nice daughter-in-law.
All she did was believe in God, she didn't do any evil,
but the CCP has to arrest her!
Li Ming'ai is too stubborn.
She decided to believe in God and refused to quit.
Did you expect that they'd let her be?
Move along. Let's see what happens. Keep walking.
Yangyang, take the garlic. (Okay.)
Mom!
Yangyang!
Mom!
You missed your mom?
Yes. I have missed you so much.
Your mom also missed you.
Ming'ai, you've returned.
Father! Mother!
Ming'ai.
You've suffered so.
Ma, please don't be sad.
Take care of yourself!
Are you and Father all right?
We're doing just fine.
Yangyang has grown up.
But with you away, he often has had bad dreams and cries for Mommy.
And Yang Tao? He's not back from work yet?
No, he's on his way home now,
he'll be back this evening.
Let's go in and talk.
Captain, this way.
This is Captain Liu of Longbu County's National Security Brigade.
Today we've made a special trip
to bring your daughter-in-law from the detention center to see you.
This is a kind gesture on the part of Captain Liu.
You should thank the Party
and acknowledge just how much the Party cares for you!
The rules state that since her case isn't closed,
she shouldn't be allowed to return home.
This daughter-in-law of yours is so stubborn. She refuses to even budge.
She won't release a speck of information.
We really have no way out of this.
We heard she hasn't been home in two years,
so we decided to break the rules for her and bring her here to see you.
So please try your best to persuade her to tell us the information she knows.
Then your family can be reunited.
Wouldn't you say this shows the Party's and the national government's concern for you?
Yes, yes.
Captain Liu, please sit.
Hear me out,
I ask you to consider that your husband is seldom home,
that your mother-in-law and your father-in-law are elderly and your son's young.
How will this family survive with no one to care for it?
You should show concern for your family even if you don't for yourself!
True.
See how your faith in God has cost your family;
you don't even tend to your own child.
How can you justify this?
You say my faith cost me my family and I don't care for my child.
Are those words really true?
What was once a perfectly healthy family has been torn limb from limb.
And who brought this devastation about?
Has my faith in God broken any law?
The CCP caused my husband to lose his job
and seized our family fishpond,
which took away all our family's subsistence
and forced my husband to work far from home.
The Communist Party came time after time to arrest me.
If not for the Party's persecution,
would I ever abandon my seniors and child?
If not for the Communist Party, would I have suffered so much?
The year before last,
I snuck home to see my child and just missed being caught by you.
Luckily word got to me just in time for me to escape.
For two long years, I have been running and running,
missing home all the while but not daring to step foot in my own home.
I wanted to at least call but couldn't.
I wasn't able to care for my family.
The Communist Party caused all of this!
One, believers in God haven't broken the law.
Two, we've committed no crimes.
Three, we aren't involved in politics at all.
We read the word of God, pursue truth,
and walk the right path of life according to His word.
Yet the Communist Party arrests and persecutes us.
It treats us Christians as most-wanted criminals,
forcing us Christians to leave our homes,
dismantling families, and destroying lives.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party spreads false rumors about us
that we forsake family for our beliefs.
Isn't this distorting facts, confounding black and white?
It's actually the Chinese Communist government that destroys families;
they're the ringleaders who ruin Christian families! (Shut up!)
You dare disobey us, then justify believing in God?
Ming'ai is right.
Her heart's not made of stone.
If not for police coming to arrest her,
how could she bear to leave her home and child!
It's true. There's always people watching her house.
How could she dare come back?
Keep quiet if you know what's good for you.
Ming'ai, let's not bring up the past, okay?
As Chief Wang said,
you just have to tell the government who the church leaders are, where the money is,
and you can come home.
Chief Wang also said,
if you don't cooperate, they will make a call to Yangyang's school,
and he won't be allowed to study anymore.
If he can't go to school and get an education,
he will endure a lifetime of hardship.
Ming'ai, for the child and for this family,
please heed this advice of ours,
and tell the government everything that they wish to know.
Then, we can live happily and securely as a family again, okay?
Father, Mother, you've both seen first hand
how the Communist Party has persecuted me and our family for my belief in God.
I can't betray the brothers and sisters just so I can live a smooth and steady life,
and let them get arrested and tortured the way I was.
Li Ming'ai,
have you considered
that if you refuse to talk, your son will be banned from school?
If that happened, he couldn't be a soldier, civil servant,
he couldn't even be hired as a security guard.
Do you want to be the reason
your son can only hope for hard labor when he grows up and a life of poverty?
What's more,
if you serve a term of eight to ten years,
your son may never be able to find a wife when he grows up.
Who'd let their daughter marry the son of a convicted prisoner?
I ask again, have you considered all this?
Whether you can come home and be with family
and whether your child has any sort of future,
all depends on you giving up your faith and telling us everything you know.
I sincerely doubt you could bear to destroy your child's entire future!
You violate the Constitution and imprison believers in God as you please.
You defy human and divine law.
Why must you persecute my family?
Why must you strip them of their right to survive?
By doing this, aren't you forcing Christians into a blind alley?
Doesn't the Communist Party fear retribution for doing such evil?
The Communist Party brings catastrophe to the families of Christians,
then turns around and says we brought it upon ourselves.
Isn't this an undeniable distortion of facts?
It is. Yes. She's right.
All these evil things you do are immoral and unjust and against the law.
An international court would declare the Communist Party guilty—(Shut up!)
You've gone way too far.
The Party is not done talking!
Li Ming'ai, you don't appreciate favors!
I decided we would bring you home to give you one last chance to be smart.
Because you are clearly reckless, we simply can't help you.
Take her away!
Get up!
Mom! Mom!
Mom! … (Yangyang! …)
Let me go! Let me go!
Yangyang! (Mom!)
Yangyang! …
Mom!
All she did was believe in God. She never once broke a single law.
Why must they arrest her then?
It seems so excessive!
Shut up! That's enough.
You'd better mind the Party, all of you!
If you believe in God, this is what happens.
In China, if you want to survive, obey the CCP!