1,500 members of Christian cult groups held in China

Chinese police have arrested about 1,500 members of Christian cult groups which emerged recently after a woman was beaten to death by followers of 'Almighty God' sect for allegedly refusing to give her phone number.
Police in Ningxia Hui Autonomous region said it had detained over 800 members of Quannengshen (Almighty God) and 580 of the Mentuhui cult (Disciples Sect) members since 2012.
About 1,200 cult members were given security administration punishments. 87 members of Quannengshen were indicted and 59 of them have been given prison terms, it said.
Police in Liaoning have arrested 113 key members of the Quannengshen cult in the province since 2013.

Of the total, 20 have been given prison terms and the rest are indicted or under trial, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Cults came into the spotlight when six Quannengshen members beat a woman to death at a McDonalds outlet in Zhaoyuan City in the eastern province of Shandong, after she refused to give her telephone number to the suspects, who were allegedly trying to recruit new members for their sect.

Appearing in the 1990's in central China's Henan Province, the Quannengshen group claims that Jesus has been resurrected as Yang Xiangbin, wife of the sect's founder Zhao Weishan, also known as Xu Wenshan.

The couple fled to the US in September 2000. The sect has been widely criticised for spreading rumours and coercing people to join the cult.
In late October and early November 1998, numerous robberies and assaults connected with the cult were reported over 12 days in Henan's Tanghe county, with victims' limbs broken and ears cut off, the state media said.