Five house church leaders from the "Born Again" movement of Xu Yongze were arrested at their homes in China's southern Henan province on December 27, 1999. Each was sentenced in February to two years hard labor, according to reliable sources inside the province. Another full-time evangelist -- not with the same movement -- was arrested in Guiyang and also given two years hard labor. Relatives asked that the names of those sentenced be withheld.

Chinese evangelist Li Dexian has been sentenced to 15 days in prison following his arrest on Tuesday for holding an unauthorized religious meeting, according to the Christian advocacy organization Voice of the Marytrs Australia.

Totals for the number of Christians in China leaked from two Chinese government bodies reveal far larger estimates of the number of Protestants than official church leaders have previously admitted.