Contact: Bob Fu, China Aid Association, Inc., 267-205-5210, [email protected]

MIDLAND, Texas, July 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- Rock the Desert is an outdoor Christian concert festival that is held annually in the west Texas community knows as the ‘Hometown of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush’.  Every year there is a ministry focus is displayed throughout the event.  This year the youth of Midland, will feature the lack of true religious freedom in China and growing persecution of House Churches there.

Rock the Desert is scheduled for July 27^th – 29^th and exhibits will be on site documenting China’s religious persecution and human rights abuses with a special presentation at 1:00 pm. on Saturday, July 29^th featuring a live reenactment of a church being bulldozed down with its worshipers being thrown out just minutes before.  Actual video footage of a church demolition in china will be shown just prior to the reenactment over a jumbo screen.

Several specific cases will be highlighted throughout the entirety of Rock the Desert.  Those cases are: 

• Zhao Yu who was a New York Times correspondent and is now imprisoned in China, and may not receive a fair trial. 
• Chen Guangcheng who is a blind rights activist and was detained Sept. 6^th, 2005 for exposing violence against women in the name of family planning policies.  His wife and mother were also kidnapped and their locations are still unknown. 
• Wu Hao was in the processes of making a documentary in China about the persecuted church and was thrown in jail for it.  He was just released on July 11, 2006.
• Jiang Zongxiu, who was martyred by beaten to death for carrying scripture.  Her family has not seen any justice as her remains are still in the hands of the government and her abusers are still free.
• Pastor Cai Zhuohua who is in Chinese prison today for being accused of printing Bibles.   Pastor Cai’s wife is also in prison while their 5 year old son is living with grandparents
• Pastor Zhang Rongliang was sentenced to 7 and a half years imprisonment on July 4, 2006 after he was arrested on December 1, 2004 for his leadership in the House Church movement

PrisonerAlert.com recently stated, “Religious persecution by the government appears to be increasing as the Olympics are approaching.”  Corporate sponsors for the Beijing 2008 Olympics will be recognized at Rock the Desert and attendees will be encouraged to write and express their concerns to these corporate sponsors urging them to use their influence abroad to pressure China to more religious freedoms and higher standards for human rights.

This year’s attendance is an expected 20,000 people with special honored guests being six North Korean refugees who are the first from North Korea that have been admitted into America since the Korean War.  These women and men are fully aware of the persecutions that occur under communism, and have amazing testimonies of trial and perseverance along their road to America through the New Underground Railroad.

CAA appeals to international community to particularly pay attention to the case of the blind human rights activist Mr. Chen Guangchen who is going to be formally tried at Linyi city, Shandong province on July 20. Express your concern to the General Secretary of the CCP of Linyi city Mr. LI Qun at +86-539-8312001; +86-539-8312004

     Issued by CAA on July 18, 2006