Japan's national seclusion policy was tightened and official persecution of Christianity continued until the 1850s.

For the Catholic Church, though, the continuing official persecution of Catholics in China has created special concerns.

His settlement in the French Concession allowed him to pursue his intellectual and scholarly interests free from official persecution.

While it is hard to gauge what role intimidation and nationalist sensibilities play, there is widespread denial of any official persecution.

But he underlined that there was no "official persecution," and that Hamas had not taken any land.

Though this term appears nowhere, it has been conjectured that a declaration of Christianity as illicita was the legal basis for official persecutions.

This marked the end of official persecution of Christians.

The official persecution was also, however, accompanied by much secret instructions that remained unofficial.

Despite official persecution, some local leaders and minority ethnic practices survived in remote regions.

But the majority don't want the government to know their background because of official persecution, so there are at least a million in the country.