Cross of Anhui Century-old Megachurch Removed

The cross of a century-old church in Anhui’s capital city of Hefei was forcibly removed on the evening of April 27, 2020.

A local source said that Gulou Church had to pay 100,000 yuan for the removal.

Originally founded by the Church of Christ in China in 1896, it was the only Protestant church building in downtown Hefei. At the cost of 30 million yuan, the church began a renovation project in 2006 which it completed three years later. With an area of 2,211 square meters, the Gothic-style building has seven stories, including meeting rooms, a training center, an underground basement, and a bell tower. It is also where the office of Anhui Christian Council resides.

The cross removal campaign in the province started in early January, was suddenly interrupted due to the COVID-19 crisis, and then resumed in early March.

In mid-April, two crosses atop churches in China’s central Anhui Province were removed by local authorities.