While on China: Hundreds of police took down a church's cross in eastern China early today amid a crackdown on church buildings in a coastal region where thousands of people are embracing Christianity.

Evangelist Qu Linuo, who belongs to another church, said hundreds of police showed up today at the Longgang Huai En Church in the city of Wenzhou and used a crane to remove the cross from its steeple.

Qu said he and about 200 others had flocked to the church a few hours earlier to protect the church but peacefully made way for the police.