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The Cult Dossier · No. 075 · Apocalyptic / Doomsday

Church of Almighty God

Eastern Lightning; Quannengshen

1991 – present · Henan province, China; now largely in exile (South Korea, USA, Europe)

VIII. THE 1990s — THE MILLENNIUM APPROACHES

Fully religious — Christian-derived Chinese new religion

Who led it

ZHAO WEISHAN (b. 1951), a former physics teacher and the organisational founder, and YANG XIANGBIN (b. 1973), whose utterances are held to be those of CHRIST RETURNED IN FEMALE FORM — Almighty God, or the Female Christ. Both entered the United States on 6 September 2000 and were granted asylum the following year.

What it worshipped and taught

A three-age scheme: the Age of Law (Jehovah), the Age of Grace (Jesus), and the Age of Kingdom, in which Christ has returned as a Chinese woman. Her utterances, collected in The Word Appears in the Flesh, supersede the Bible. The Chinese Communist Party is identified as the GREAT RED DRAGON of Revelation. Recruitment has historically been aggressive and deceptive, including infiltration of house churches, and Chinese sources allege coercion, kidnapping and blackmail of targets — allegations the group denies and which are difficult to verify given the state's control of information.

Who was in it

Zhao Weishan; Yang Xiangbin; ZHANG FAN and ZHANG LIDONG, convicted of the McDonald's murder; the victim WU SHUOYAN; the scholars Massimo Introvigne and Emily Dunn, who have studied the group from opposing viewpoints.

How it ended, or where it stands

Banned in China, active in exile.

The dead

1 confirmed murder attributed by Chinese courts

Of note

Assessment is genuinely obstructed. The Chinese state's designation of xie jiao is applied to any unregistered religion and its evidence is not independently verifiable; equally, the group's own account is self-serving. Massimo Introvigne argues it is a persecuted religion; Chinese authorities and some former members describe systematic coercion. The Zhaoyuan killing is the one hard fact on the record.

SEE 150. The 1995 XIE JIAO designation criminalises the movement itself, which is why the arrests here run into the thousands while the group’s one undisputed atrocity — the 2014 McDonald’s murder — produced exactly two convictions, on conduct, like any other homicide.

Its timeline

  1. 1991 Founded in Henan following Zhao Weishan's break with the Shouters movement.
  2. 1995 Designated a xie jiao (heterodox teaching) and banned in China.
  3. 2000 Zhao and Yang flee to the United States.
  4. 2012 Widespread predictions of the world's end on 21 December 2012 lead to mass proselytising and thousands of arrests in China.
  5. 28 MAY 2014 THE ZHAOYUAN McDONALD'S MURDER. Six people, including Zhang Lidong and his daughter Zhang Fan, beat WU SHUOYAN — 37 by the court's account, 35 by the police's — to death in a McDonald's in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, after she refused to give them her phone number for recruitment. The killing is filmed by bystanders and provokes national outrage. Five adults are convicted; Zhang Lidong and Zhang Fan are executed in 2015. The group denies the killers were members; Chinese courts found they were.
  6. 2014 onward Mass arrests in China; large numbers of members seek asylum in South Korea, where an ongoing extradition dispute continues.
  7. 2019 A DISTINCT AND UNCOMFORTABLE FINDING: some hardline South Korean Christian clergy are reported to have COOPERATED WITH BEIJING to press for the deportation of Church of Almighty God asylum seekers who had fled to Korea.
  8. 2019–2026 ASYLUM CLAIMS ARE ROUTINELY REFUSED in South Korea and elsewhere, on the reasoning that applicants cannot show they were PERSONALLY persecuted. Scholars of religion counter that the documented persecution of their co-religionists and family members is itself sufficient to establish a well-founded fear. The dispute is unresolved and is now the movement's central legal battleground outside China.
  9. 2018–present Estimated three to four million adherents in China; extensive video and film production arm.

Its people

Zhao Weishan

Xu Wenshan

Organisational founder, Church of Almighty God · born 1951 · active 1991–present

A former physics teacher from Heilongjiang who broke from the Shouters movement and founded the Church of Almighty God in 1991, then identified a young woman, Yang Xiangbin, as Christ returned in female form. He runs the organisation; she is its object of worship. Both fled to the United States in 2000 and were granted asylum. The group claims three to four million adherents and is banned in China as a xie jiao.

Before the law. NEVER CONVICTED OF ANYTHING, IN ANY JURISDICTION, AND THAT IS NOT A TECHNICALITY. He left China in 2000, before the mass prosecutions of his own followers, and was granted asylum in the United States. CHINA TREATS HIM AS A FUGITIVE FROM A XIE JIAO OFFENCE THAT HE HAS PLACED HIMSELF BEYOND THE REACH OF; the United States has never charged him. The convictions in 075 fell on members who stayed.

Where things stand. Living in the United States.

  1. 1991 Founds the church in Henan after breaking with the Shouters.
  2. 1993 Identifies Yang Xiangbin as Almighty God.
  3. 1995 The group is banned in China.
  4. 2000 Flees with Yang to the United States; both granted asylum.
  5. 2014 The Zhaoyuan McDonald's murder; the church denies the killers were members, Chinese courts found they were.

Checked 2026-09-06 · living: health details are kept at home

Yang Xiangbin

Almighty God; the Female Christ; Lightning Deng

Object of worship, Church of Almighty God · born 1973 · active 1991–present

A woman from Henan, said to have been a failed university entrance candidate, whose utterances — collected as The Word Appears in the Flesh — are held by three to four million people to supersede the Bible, on the doctrine that Christ has returned in female Chinese form to inaugurate the Age of Kingdom. She has essentially no public presence: she does not preach publicly, give interviews or appear at events. Zhao Weishan runs everything. Her file is an unusual inversion — the deity of a large modern religion who is almost entirely invisible.

Before the law. Wanted in China. No charges elsewhere.

Where things stand. Living in the United States, out of public view.

  1. 1991–93 Identified by Zhao Weishan as Christ returned.
  2. 1990s Her utterances are collected and circulated as scripture.
  3. 6 SEPTEMBER 2000 Enters the United States with Zhao; asylum granted the following year.
  4. Present Lives privately in the United States; almost never seen publicly.

Checked 2026-09-25 · living: health details are kept at home

Wu Shuoyan

—

Killed in the Zhaoyuan McDonald's attack · 1979 – 28 May 2014 · active 2014

A woman eating in a McDonald's — aged 37 by the court's account and 35 by the police's — in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, who was approached by a group seeking her mobile number for recruitment. She refused. Six people, including a father and daughter, beat her to death with a mop handle and chairs in front of other customers, some of whom filmed it. The footage caused national outrage in China. The killers were identified by the courts as Church of Almighty God members, which the church denies. Two were executed in February 2015. She had a young son.

Before the law. Two killers executed; others imprisoned. The Church of Almighty God denies the killers were members; Chinese courts found they were.

Where things stand. Deceased 28 May 2014; her age is given as 37 by the court and 35 by the police.

  1. 28 MAY 2014 Approached in a Zhaoyuan McDonald's and asked for her phone number; she refuses and is beaten to death.
  2. 2014 The attack, filmed by bystanders, causes national outrage; a mass crackdown follows.
  3. 2 FEBRUARY 2015 Zhang Lidong and Zhang Fan executed for her murder.

Checked 2026-09-25

Massimo Introvigne

—

Sociologist; founder of CESNUR; editor of Bitter Winter · born 14 June 1955 · active 1988–present

An Italian sociologist who founded CESNUR and edits Bitter Winter, and who is the most prominent academic defender of new religious movements against state persecution — particularly of the Church of Almighty God and Falun Gong in China, where his work documents real and severe repression. He is also sharply criticised for what detractors call systematic minimisation of abuse allegations, and CESNUR's funding and its closeness to the groups it studies are contested. Both readings are represented in this dossier: his China reporting is cited, and his characterisations are flagged as contested where they appear.

Before the law. Academic; expert witness, generally for the movements.

Where things stand. LIVING AND ACTIVE — confirmed August 2026. He directs CESNUR and edits BITTER WINTER, and was still publishing in 2026, including a MARCH 2026 CESNUR PAPER attacking Steven Hassan’s BITE model as pseudoscience. THIS FILE CITES HIM FOR FACTUAL REPORTING ON RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN CHINA, WHERE HIS WORK IS VALUABLE, AND FLAGS HIS CHARACTERISATIONS WHERE THEY ARE CONTESTED — he is widely criticised for a consistently sympathetic reading of groups others classify as harmful. HE IS ALSO A PARTY TO A DISPUTE INSIDE THIS DOSSIER: see STEVEN HASSAN (L210), whose model he has published against. Both men are cited here; neither is disinterested.

  1. 1988 Founds CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions).
  2. 1990s–2000s Becomes the leading academic critic of European anti-cult legislation.
  3. 2018 Launches Bitter Winter, documenting religious persecution in China.
  4. 2020s Publishes extensively on the Church of Almighty God and on Konstantin Rudnev's prosecution.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

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