1958 - Shen Duocai & Family

November 26, 1958

Prison, Qinghai

Shen Duocai.

The Shen family of Shanghai were one of the most prominent Catholic families in the city during the 1950s. Although none of them ever became priests or nuns, as lay Christians they exerted a tremendous influence in their communities and were to be respected by many people. Shen Duocai was the father of the family. His wife, whose family name was Zhu, was “the daughter of a distinguished family and a model wife and mother. Her love of God and neighbour was well known to everyone in her vicinity.”[1] Together, Shen and Zhu brought four sons and a daughter into the world, all of whom became devoted followers of Christ.

Shen Duocai was a manager at the Shanghai Public Waterworks company. He was skilled and dependable in his job, but his after-hours involvement in church activities marked him as a threat to the Communist regime. One account said Shen “served the church with a commendable degree of enthusiasm and positive interest. And thus, he became a thorn in the flesh of the Bureau of Religion.”[2]

On April 12, 1958, the Shens were relaxing at home when officers scaled the walls surrounding their home and forced their way inside. Each member of the Shen family was roughly dragged into the living room and an interrogation session commenced. The whole family was ordered to attend ‘re-education classes’ which were, in effect, brainwashing sessions. When they steadfastly refused, the officers arrested Shen Duocai and took him into custody. As they dragged him away into the back of a waiting vehicle, Shen’s wife shouted out, “Duocai, be brave!” It was to be the final communication between the loving couple in this life.

After being beaten and interrogated some more, Shen was sent across country to the remote northwest province of Qinghai, to serve at the Delingha State Farm Prison Labour Camp. His job was to render manual labour at a coal mine. Even though the summer was approaching the temperature was still bitterly cold and he struggled to breathe. A few months after arriving in Qinghai he fell ill and was confined to bed. The prison medical clinic was unable to help him, so he was transferred to a nearby hospital.

As condemned prisoners were not allowed to ride in ambulances, Shen was thrown into a coal cart. By the time he reached the hospital he had been so jolted by the rough journey that he had fallen unconscious. The doctors inspected his emaciated body and knew that he did not have long to live. They fed him glucose water through an intravenous drip to improve his appearance, but the Almighty God did not want his servant to suffer any more in this cruel world, and on November 26, 1958, he called him up to heaven to be with him. The official death certificate stated that Shen had perished from acute lobal pneumonia.

Shen Duocai had graduated from his earthly struggle, but the other members of his family continued to suffer for many years. Shen’s wife Zhu saw three of her sons and only daughter arrested and sent to prison in various parts of the country. A summary of their experiences stated:

“Her eldest son was sent to Jiangxi, and the two others were sent to Anhui; and her only daughter was also sent to Qinghai to undertake labour re-education. In her family the only child who remained had still not reached the age of adulthood…. The burden was surely not a light one! On account of her love for Christ, she willingly carried her cross right up until she breathed her last. Mr. Shen’s family of seven in all, apart from their youngest child, had all of them suffered bitterly because of their religious belief. They either died a martyr’s death in jail or were so harshly treated that they finally died in a hospital, all this deserves and calls for our universal acclaim, for they were truly a heroic family in the annals of the Chinese Church.”[3]

1. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 114.
2. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 113.
3. September 8th Editorial Board, Blessings of the Divine Bounty, 114.