(Minghui.org) Two Jinan City, Shandong Province, residents were recently sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Cheng Shuxiang, 63, was sentenced to five years, and Ms. Zhou Dongdong, 64, was sentenced to 18 months.
Ms. Cheng, Ms. Zhou and her son, and an elderly practitioner whose name was unknown were arrested on July 25, 2022, when they distributed informational materials about Falun Gong. Ms. Zhou’s son and the elderly practitioner were released the next day; Ms. Zhou was detained for 37 days and released on bail; Ms. Cheng is detained at the Jinan City Detention Center.
Ms. Zhou was seized at home by officers from the Yaojie Police Station on the morning of February 13, 2025. The police told her, “We are already being nice to you to let you spend the Chinese New Year (January 29 – February 12, 2025) with your family.”
Ms. Zhou was taken to the Jinan City Detention Center on February 16. When her family went to visit her, the guards only allowed them to have a video call, and did not let them see her in person. In the video, she was laying in bed. She looked very weak and was unable to talk. The guards told her family that she also could not eat.
Ms. Zhou’s arrest was soon approved. Her family and Ms. Cheng’s recently confirmed their prison sentences by the Lixia District Court, but details about their prosecution aren’t clear.
Prior to their latest sentencing, both women were repeatedly arrested and detained for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Cheng served a labor camp term and three prison terms totaling 10.5 years; she was also fired by her workplace. Ms. Zhou was demoted at work and subjected to brutal torture while serving a two-year prison term.
Ms. Cheng was the director of the Quality Control Department of Hongjitang Pharmaceutical Company. She took up Falun Gong in 1997 and credits the practice for enabling her to recover from the allergic rhinitis.
On July 2, 2000, Ms. Cheng went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested and taken to the Jinan City Liaison Office in Beijing. After she was taken back to Jinan, she was given a 15-day administrative detention and put her on a one-year probationary review by her workplace. She was only given one-third of her salary during the period.
Ms. Cheng was arrested again in October 2000 when she went to work. After one week at the Jinan City Detention Center, she was transferred to a brainwashing center, where she was held for two weeks and extorted 1,500 yuan.
After yet another arrest on December 18, 2001 by officers of the Huangtai Police Station, Ms. Cheng was taken to the same brainwashing center. As she remained firm in her faith, she was given a two-year forced labor camp term and admitted to the Jinan Women’s Forced Labor Camp in March 2002. The guards deprived her of sleep for a consecutive 38 days. She was also forced to work at least 12 hours a day, and sometimes she was not allowed to go to bed until 2 a.m. She was released in March 2004.
In 2002, while she was serving the labor camp term, her workplace fired her.
Ms. Cheng was arrested again on April 25, 2007 after she was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was sentenced to four years by the Tianqiao District Court on September 28, 2007 and transferred from the Jinan City Detention Center to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison in Jinan.
A group of officers from the Daqiao Town Police Station broke into the home shared by Ms. Cheng and her son, Mr. Zhao Chengyao, around 10 p.m. on July 2, 2014. Ms. Cheng was held at the Dajiangou Brainwashing Center for over a month and released on August 8. Mr. Zhao was later sentenced to 3.5 years.
On August 14, 2014, only six days after her release, Ms. Cheng was arrested again for hanging up banners which had information about Falun Gong. She appeared in the Changqing District Court on January 13, 2015 and was later sentenced to one year. She served time at the Jinan City Detention Center and was released on August 13, 2015.
While visiting her son at the Shandong Province Prison in Jinan on September 26, 2017, Ms. Cheng was seized by the police and taken to the Jinan City Detention Center. She was given a third prison term of 3.5 years by the Huaiyin District Court on June 11, 2019 and taken to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison to serve time. She was released in March 2021.
Ms. Zhou was the discipline director of the Shandong Border Guard Corps. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was demoted and later discharged from the service.
Ms. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on October 5, 2000 and was arrested at Tiananmen Square. She was first taken to the Qianmen Police Station and then transferred to the Fangshan County Detention Center. She was taken to the Jinan City Liaison Office in Beijing the next morning and escorted back to Jinan in the afternoon. She was released after a 15-day detention.
In January 2001, Ms. Zhou’s workplace ordered her to write a statement, promising not to go to Beijing to appeal anymore. She refused to comply and was arrested on January 20, 2001. She held a hunger strike to protest and was released seven days later.
Ms. Zhou was arrested again on December 26, 2001 by staffers from her workplace. She was taken to the Jiangshuiquan Women’s Forced Labor Camp for a brainwashing session and released on March 20, 2002.
While studying the Falun Gong teachingss with other practitioners on October 10, 2009 at a private residence, Ms. Zhou was seized by the police who broke in. She held a hunger strike at the Jinan City Detention Center and was force-fed twice a day. The guards added unknown drugs into her food, causing her organs to fail. She was released on bail 30 days later.
Ms. Zhou was arrested on April 28, 2011, for hanging up Falun Gong banners two months before. Her home was raided and she was later released on bail.
Ms. Zhou was arrested again in February 2014 and detained for 15 days for passing out Falun Gong materials. Her next arrest was on January 13, 2015, for putting up Falun Gong posters. She was detained 10 days this time.
Ms. Zhou was reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials again on April 1, 2017 and was arrested. She was sentenced to two years by the Lixia District Court in October 2017.
While serving time at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison, she was constantly beaten. Inmate Lyu Yingchun broke her little finger and another inmate Fu Guiying broke her wrist after slamming it against the table. Other inmates said they could hear Fu yelling at her from a far distance. By the time Ms. Zhou was released on March 31, 2019, she was hunched over and her arm was disabled.
Previously Jailed for Their Faith, Two Shandong Women Arrested Again, One Still in Detention