Gansu Woman Faces Repeated Harassment After Serving 21 Years for Speaking Up for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) After serving 21 years in prison for raising awareness about the persecution of her faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang Rongjuan, a resident of Zhenyuan County, Gansu Province, faces non-stop harassment, even after she moved to Beijing.

Ms. Zhang was released on August 24, 2022, after her initial 20-year prison term was extended by one year. She found a job at a restaurant, yet the officers from the Zhenyuan County Police Station often came to harass her and ordered her to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong.

After the 2023 Chinese New Year, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to look for jobs. But the police from Zhenyuan followed her there and continued to harass her.

During the annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference held in Beijing in March 2025, officers from the Xincheng Police Station in Zhenyuan came to Beijing and demanded to meet with Ms. Zhang. When she refused to comply, they worked with the Beijing police to harass her.

In May 2025, officers from the Beijie Police Station in Dongcheng District, Beijing, went to Ms. Zhang’s employer’s home, where she worked as a domestic worker, and ordered her to quit the job right away. They also warned Ms. Zhang’s daughter and son-in-law to stop sharing their residence with her. If not, the officers would ransack the home of Ms. Zhang’s employer, a 90-year-old, and have his pension suspended.

Ms. Zhang has now lost her job and doesn’t have a place to live.

Over Two Decades Behind Bars

Ms. Zhang was first arrested in August 2000 and given one year of forced labor two months later. The guards frequently beat her, and the resulting pain in her legs and feet lasted for two months. She fainted five times due to the beatings. Despite her injuries, especially to her head, the guards still forced her to do unpaid labor. She was so weak that she passed out several times while working.

By the time she was released in August 2001, she had become homeless and her nine-year-old child had been sent to a relative’s home. To avoid further persecution, Ms. Zhang moved to nearby Qinghai Province.

Between August 17 and 19, 2002, practitioners in Qinghai intercepted a local TV signal and played video clips that debunked the communist regime’s propaganda against Falun Gong. Their courageous efforts infuriated the authorities, who ordered a massive arrest of everyone involved.

Ms. Zhang was arrested on August 24 and held at the Ershilipu Detention Center. She appeared in Xining City Intermediate Court on December 30, 2002 and was sentenced to 20 years.

While serving time at the Qinghai Province Women’s Prison, Ms. Zhang was held in solitary confinement 16 times. The guards hit her on the head with sticks or chairs, causing two major wounds on her head that required stitches. It was commonplace for them to pour boiling water over her. Before the old wounds healed, she would incur new ones. She also suffered leg fractures that caused permanent disability. When her family went to visit her, she had to be carried out by the inmates.

In 2021, just before her 20-year sentence was about to expire, the prison authorities added two more years to her term, which was later shortened to one year.

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A Brief Account of the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in Qinghai Province

14 Falun Gong Practitioners in Qingyang City, Gansu Province Still Detained for Their Faith