Reported in 2025: 4,803 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith
(Minghui.org) Mr. Liu Xiangzhao, in his 80s, from Lyushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at a farmers’ market on April 24, 2025, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was held in a dark room in the police station and made to sit on the cold cement ground for hours. He shivered uncontrollably. The police forced him to take an unknown drug before they released him. Mr. Liu’s health steadily declined upon returning home, and he died on June 4, 2025.
Having spent 10.5 years behind bars, Ms. Lin Fuhua, a 56-year-old resident of Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province, was harassed again in June and August 2025. As she remained firm in her faith in Falun Gong, the police and local village officials approached her landlord, threatening him with fines if he continued to rent his property to Ms. Lin.
Amid persistent police harassment for his faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Zhao Changyou, in his 60s and from Anyang City, Henan Province, suffered a brain hemorrhage in May 2024 and fell into a vegetative state. Despite his condition, the police broke into Mr. Zhao’s home on December 2, 2025, and grabbed his hand to fingerprint a prepared document renouncing Falun Gong.
The above are just three examples of the 4,803 cases of arrest or harassment of Falun Gong practitioners that were newly reported in 2025. Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strict information censorship, which often prevents Minghui correspondents from collecting and reporting the persecution in a timely manner, some of the reported incidents actually took place prior to 2025.
These 4,803 cases break down into 2,348 arrests and 2,455 cases of harassment. Among them, 1,306 practitioners had their homes ransacked, 70 were taken to brainwashing centers, and 34 were forced to live away from home to avoid further persecution.
In addition to arrests and harassment cases, 124 persecution deaths and 751 sentencing cases were also confirmed in 2025.
Twenty-six years after launching the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP has shown no sign of letting up on this ongoing suppression of law-abiding citizens for their spiritual belief. Every aspect of Falun Gong practitioners’ right to live a normal life has been affected, from landing a job, to dealing with animosity and misunderstanding from their own family members who have been misled by the CCP propaganda, to facing the risk of having their organs harvested while in custody.
I. Overview
A. Persecution Cases All Across the Country
China has 22 provinces, four centrally controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and five autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Guangxi, Xinjiang, and Ningxia). Except for Tibet, all of the other 30 jurisdictions reported arrests and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners.
In particular, Hebei, a province encircling Beijing, reported the most cases, totaling 886 (arrests and harassment combined). The persecution in Shandong and Liaoning was also severe, with 652 and 512 cases reported, respectively. Seven other regions also registered three-digit numbers of cases, between 130 and 456. A total of sixteen regions had double-digit totals, ranging from 10 to 95. The remaining four regions registered cases in the single digits, between 1 and 5.
A police sweep took place in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, on May 10, 2025, with more than 20 practitioners arrested. All the practitioners’ homes were raided, and their Falun Gong books were confiscated. The police also seized other valuables, including heirlooms and designer clothes. Most of practitioners were interrogated, photographed, and had their fingerprints collected against their will. After a physical exam, those who were deemed not fit enough for detention were released on bail and placed under close surveillance, and the rest were taken to the local detention center.
It was learned that the police had been monitoring the targeted practitioners for a long time before the mass arrest. The police were able to provide details of the practitioners’ daily activities, including the color of the clothes they wore on a particular day, and what places they visited and when. None of the officers produced a search warrant or revealed their identities during the arrests. Some gave false names.
Following orders from the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau, the police in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, arrested at least 36 Falun Gong practitioners in Jinzhou and its subordinate counties on June 2 and 3, 2025. The police used various surveillance methods, including installing tracking devices on practitioners’ private cars and electric bikes, and following them to monitor their daily activities, before conducting the arrests. Most of the practitioners were arrested at home. The oldest practitioner was 88 years old at the time of arrest.
In Tangshan City, Hebei Province, the authorities created special task forces in several districts to persecute Falun Gong in early 2025, with Fengrun District listed as the key area. After Meng Xiangyin, the former Party secretary and director of the Tangshan City Industry and Information Technology Bureau, took office as the Party secretary of Fengrun District on September 8, 2025, he actively followed persecution policy and ordered the local police to follow practitioners who frequented community fairs to raise awareness about the persecution. This resulted a group arrest of six practitioners in Fengrun District on October 28, 2025.
Several group arrests took place in Shandong Province between August and November 2025, including over 10 practitioners arrested or harassed in late August in Shouguang City, nearly 40 arrested in Jinan on September 29, eight arrested in Qingzhou City in mid-October, and at least 11 arrested in Mengyin on November 20.
In northwest China, at least 32 practitioners in Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, were arrested on November 2 and 3, 2025. The police officers pried open some of the practitioners’ doors or broke in quietly to arrest them. Other practitioners were arrested outright on the street.
In addition to mass arrests and close surveillance, the authorities also held brainwashing sessions targeting Falun Gong practitioners. After holding a brainwashing session between June and July 2025, the authorities in Huainan City, Anhui Province, organized another session starting on November 3, 2025. The new session was held in the Donghua Yile Ecological Park, a venue that has a long-term partnership with the government. “Experts” recommended by the provincial government were hired to “work on” practitioners.
B. Arrests and Harassment Throughout the Year, Especially Around Politically Sensitive Days
The CCP is known to intensify its harassment of Falun Gong practitioners ahead of major political meetings, or anniversaries related to Falun Gong, as a way to threaten them not to use these events as opportunities to raise awareness about the persecution. The 2025 Chinese New Year in January, the CCP’s annual political meetings in March, and the massive military parade in September have been no exception.
1) Harassment around the Chinese New Year
Ms. Yuan Hongying and her family, from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, went to Harbin City in the same province on a Chinese New Year (January 29) holiday vacation. As they were waiting for their return train in Harbin on February 5, 2025, the police searched Ms. Yuan’s luggage, interrogated her and her daughter, and raided their respective homes in Qiqihar.
In Chongqing, Ms. Li Yunhui found herself being followed on January 15, 2025, when she went grocery shopping for the upcoming Chinese New Year. The same person followed her again for the next two days when she went to visit her family. One of the persons following her said that she just wanted to earn some money by doing this “monitoring” job. The police later installed surveillance cameras facing Ms. Li’s home—which she shared with her daughter Ms. Zhao Li, as well as her daughter’s tailor shop.
2) Harassment During the “Two Sessions”
Prior to the “Two Sessions,” the annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in Beijing on March 5-11, 2025, practitioners in Beijing and Shanghai were monitored around the clock for weeks.
On the evening of February 14, 2025, a group of officers showed up at Mr. Wang Yu’s home in Beijing. As he wasn’t in, the police talked to his 93-year-old grandmother, also a Falun Gong practitioner, who was living with him. The police returned on February 17 and talked to Mr. Wang and his wife.
Ms. Cong Peixi, of Shanghai, reported that she was monitored around the clock between January 13 and 18, 2025. Only weeks later, the local police received another order to monitor her between February 5 and 14, 2025, while the 2025 Asian Winter Games were taking place in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province (nearly 1,500 miles from Shanghai). The authorities began to monitor Ms. Cong again shortly before the “Two Sessions” commenced on March 5.
Ms. Zhang Rongjuan, a native of Zhenyuan County, Gansu Province, moved to Beijing to work as a domestic aide in early 2023, a few months after she finished serving 21 years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. During the “Two Sessions,” the Zhenyuan police traveled nearly 800 miles to Beijing and worked with the local police to harass her employer, a man in his 90s. Ms. Zhang lost her job as a result and had no place to live.
3) Arrests and Harassment Before the CCP’s Military Parade
Ahead of the CCP’s military parade on September 3, 2025, Falun Gong practitioners across China faced intensified arrests and harassment.
In late August 2025, Ms. Deng (first name unknown) of Beijing, 85, found herself being followed by two security officers whenever she went out. She said to them, “The communist regime has guns, cannon, and an army. Why are you afraid of an 85-year-old woman like me?” The officers remained silent.
Other practitioners in Beijing also reported being harassed at home and videotaped by the police. Some residential committee staffers warned the practitioners not read uncensored news online.
Starting on August 26, 2025, the police and/or residential staff members in Shanghai began to monitor targeted practitioners around the clock. They said the surveillance would last nine days until the military parade concluded on September 3. The police even became very nervous when these practitioners’ family members went out.
In Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, Ms. Li Huihui and her grandmother, Ms. Qiu Zhiyun, 82, were arrested on August 6, 2025. The police searched their shared residence and confiscated a number of personal belongings. When Ms. Li said to the police that she wasn’t their enemy, the police responded, “You are the enemy.”
Also in Heilongjiang Province, nine practitioners in Bin County were detained, arrested, or harassed on August 18, 2025. Ten days later, between 30 and 40 practitioners in Dehui City, Jilin Province, were arrested or harassed on August 28, 2025.
In Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, the arrests continued even long after the military parade ended, with 43 practitioners seized in August and September 2025. According to insiders, the Liaoning Province Public Security Bureau directed the operation, with various police departments and police stations participating. The police wore civilian clothes during the arrests and raided the practitioners’ homes without search warrants.
In Gansu Province, the Jinchang City Police Department directed its subordinate police stations to collect local Falun Gong practitioners’ fingerprints and blood samples between late August and early September 2025.
4) Additional Harassment Cases
In addition to the military parade, practitioners were also targeted around other “sensitive dates.” A police officer in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, told a practitioner when he arrested her before the National Day (October 1), that they arrested her simply to meet the quota. Numerous practitioners were detained for weeks after their arrests.
There are also cases of practitioners in Shanghai; Chongqing; Shiyan City, Hubei Province; and Jinan City, Shandong Province, who were arrested before the Fourth Plenum of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP, which was held on October 20-23, 2025.
C. Practitioners of All Ages and From All Walks of Life Targeted
Information on the ages of 1,053 of the 4,803 targeted practitioners was available. Among this group one practitioner was in her teens, one in her 20s, three in their 30s, 19 in their 40s, 82 in their 50s, 287 in their 60s, 416 in their 70s, 236 in their 80s, and eight in their 90s.
Mr. Liang Guimin, in his 40s and the vice president of Jiaoshi Technology Group in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was arrested at work on October 20, 2025. After his arrest, Mr. Liang’s wife, a stay-at-home mom, struggled to provide for their two young children.
Mr. Xing Jiaqiu, 50, and his wife, Ms. Zhang Xiuying, 47, both farmers in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, were arrested on June 9, 2025, after the police suspected them of defacing a bulletin board that displayed information slandering Falun Gong. Mr. Liu Yan, another practitioner who happened to be visiting the couple, was also arrested after he answered “Yes,” when the police asked him if Falun Gong is good.
Ms. Han Jianying, a 52-year-old physician in Luoyang City, Henan Province, was arrested in early September 2025, and has been held at a local detention center since.
Vocational school teacher Mr. Liang Jianjun, 53, and his wife, Ms. Cao Liping, 49, both of Lechang City, Guangdong Province, were arrested in mid-July 2025. This is not the first time that the couple have been targeted for their faith. Mr. Liang was previously sentenced to five years in prison on November 7, 2018. Ms. Cao was taken to a brainwashing center for seeking her husband’s release. Their then 11-year-old daughter was taken to Ms. Gao’s hometown in Yizhang County, Hunan Province.
When Ms. Qian Youyun’s family went to the local lockup to pick her up on her scheduled date of release, November 15, 2025, they were shocked to learn that she had been transferred to another detention facility to face prosecution. Ms. Qian, a 60-year-old former grain bureau employee in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, has been previously incarcerated for her faith, having served three prison terms and a forced labor camp term, totaling 10.5 years.
Ms. Liu Juhua, 78, the former Director of the Teaching and Research Department of the Chibi Education Group of the Huangzhou District in Huanggang City, Hubei Province, was arrested on August 25, 2025. She was put in criminal detention the next day and is now facing indictment. Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Liu was arrested at least seven other times. She served two labor camp terms and a prison term, totaling 9.5 years. She was also subjected to financial persecution by having her pension suspended.
Mr. Wang Chuanwen, 89 and of Jinan City, Shandong Province, was arrested at home on August 20, 2025. The police targeted him after receiving a tip that he talked to people about Falun Gong on a bus days prior. They showed him the surveillance video from the bus while they interrogated him at the police station. Mr. Wang acknowledged that he was the man in the video, but he refused to answer their questions. He was later denied admission by the local detention center due to extremely high blood pressure. Mr. Wang was harassed again on September 17, 2025, by staffers from the local procuratorate. He is now facing indictment.
II. Comprehensive Persecution Policy to Eradicate the Faith Group
After Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese communist regime, ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, he mobilized the entire country, including law enforcement, procuratorates, courts, detention facilities, schools, and businesses, to carry out his eradication policy of Falun Gong practitioners: “Destroy them physically, ruin their reputation, and bankrupt them.”
Jiang set up the extralegal organization, the 610 Office, to work in tandem with the already-existing Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC—also an extrajudicial agency) to implement his persecution policy. Both agencies were given the power to override the judicial system, and they resorted to excessive measures to ensure that the persecution penetrates all levels of government.
Over the past 26 years, Falun Gong practitioners have faced a full spectrum of persecution tactics, from intensive harassment, to long-term incarceration, and even death. The CCP has pushed the entire society against the Falun Gong community, inciting hatred and discrimination, making every aspect of their lives difficult.
A. Outright Arrests
1) After 11.5 Years of Incarceration, 73-Year-Old Woman Arrested Again
Ms. Xia Yilin finished serving a 4.5-year prison term on December 22, 2024, only to be arrested again on March 19, 2025, after the police saw the solemn declaration she published on Minghui.org to nullify a statement renouncing Falun Gong she made under pressure during a previous detention. The 73-year-old Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, resident was admitted to a detention center despite her elevated blood pressure. Prior to this latest round of persecution, Ms. Xia had served three prison terms totaling 11.5 years.
2) After Eight Years of Incarceration and Losing Three Family Members, Ningxia Woman Arrested for the 7th Time for Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Zhang Lifang, 65, from Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, was arrested in Yinchuan City, the capital of Ningxia, on March 29, 2025, while visiting her daughter. This is the seventh time Ms. Zhang has been arrested since the onset of the persecution. She previously served three forced labor camp terms for a total of five years, and a three-year prison term.
In addition to Ms. Zhang’s ordeal, her three sisters and a niece were also targeted for practicing Falun Gong. Her oldest sister, Ms. Zhang Yufang, was tortured into disability in a labor camp and remains bedridden to this day. Ms. Zhang Yufang’s husband, Mr. Xu Yaozhen, died as a result of the persecution. Their daughter, Ms. Xu Yan, was sentenced to three years in prison. Ms. Zhang Lifang’s two other sisters, Ms. Zhang Shufang and Ms. Zhang Lanfang, also lost their lives to the persecution.
3) Arrested Together, Mother Forced to Take Blood Pressure Pills, Daughter Fired by Her Workplace
Police in Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province arrested Ms. Liu Ying and her daughter, Ms. Wang Jing, on January 20, 2025. As Ms. Liu was found to have high blood pressure, the police forced her to take various medicines, and her blood pressure continued to rise. Ms. Liu later found out that the reason the police were so eager to have her detained was because their supervisor threatened to deny all of their reimbursement requests for work-related expenses if they failed to detain her. When the mother and daughter were released after ten days of detention, Ms. Wang was dismayed to hear that her employer had fired her.
4) Violent Home Break-in
When the police in Longkou City, Shandong Province, tried to break into 76-year-old Mr. Yi Xiangyang’s home on March 5, 2025, they had a locksmith remove the peephole from the door and then insert a long metal stick through the opening. Mr. Yi and his wife were terrified, thinking it was a home intrusion by buglers. After a brief standoff, the police forcibly removed the lock and barged in. They searched every inch of the home, including the closets and drawers. Some of Mr. Yi’s Falun Gong informational materials and his three media players were confiscated. Several weeks later, Mr. Yi was sentenced to 5.5 years.
5) Retired Accountant Arrested for Reading Falun Gong Books
Ms. Guo Danxia, 79, a retired accountant in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, was reading the Falun Gong teachings with Ms. Zhang Lanhui at the latter’s home on May 16, 2025, when the police suddenly broke in and seized her. They said a surveillance camera recorded her distributing Falun Gong informational materials. This is Ms. Guo’s 11th arrest for her faith. She previously served three years and two months between March 18, 2020, and May 17, 2023. Before her prison sentence, she was sent to a psychiatric hospital in June 2020 and forced to take psychiatric drugs even though she was not mentally ill. Ms. Guo experienced shortness of breath and insomnia afterwards, and was often in a delirious state.
6) 89-Year-Old Woman Arrested While Grocery Shopping
Ms. Wang Suqing, an 89-year-old Chengdu City, Sichuan Province resident, was arrested on July 31, 2025, while she was buying groceries at a farmers’ market. The officer first took her to the police station and then brought her back to her home for a raid. More than 50 Falun Gong books, a computer, three DVD burners, six printers, and 10,000 yuan in cash were confiscated. Ms. Wang was released shortly after.
7) Liaoning Police Cover Car License Plates with Face Masks
The police in Panjin City, Liaoning Province, arrested several local Falun Gong practitioners on June 3, 2025. To hide their identities, they covered the license plates of the cruisers with face masks.
When the police went to Mr. Wang Jianquan’s home to arrest him, he wasn’t in. They searched his place and confiscated his Falun Gong books and informational materials. They tracked Mr. Wang’s location through his cell phone and arrested him at his workplace. He was detained for five days.
8) Woman Hit by a Car; Police Detain Her Instead of the Driver
Ms. Yuan Chunni, of Macheng City, Hubei Province, was hit by a car in mid-July 2025. The young driver, a food delivery worker, begged her not to report the accident. She comforted him and told him that she practices Falun Gong and wouldn’t seek compensation from him. Yet their conversation and her giving the young man a Falun Gong flyer was recorded by a surveillance camera. Instead of investigating the accident, the police arrested Ms. Yuan and detained her for a week.
9) Two Chongqing Residents Arrested While Visiting a Patient
Two Chongqing residents, Mr. Yang Dingchan, in his 60s, and Mr. Li Chunyuan, 77, went together to the Changshou District Chinese Medicine Hospital on July 21, 2025, to visit a neighbor, Ms. Chen Xiaoli, in her 60s, who had suffered a stroke not long before. Shortly after they arrived at the hospital, the police showed up and arrested them.
Ms. Chen’s husband demanded that the police release their two visitors. Yet the police attempted to force Ms. Chen’s son to provide information against them. The police raided Mr. Yang and Mr. Li’s homes in the evening and took them to a local detention center.
10) Hebei Woman Arrested After 13 Years of Displacement
Ms. Wang Zhixin, 43, of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, was arrested on July 16, 2025, after spending 13 years on the run to avoid the police. She is now held in the Tangshan City First Detention Center and her arrest was approved on August 1.
Ms. Wang’s ordeal began on May 12, 2010, when the police suspected her of posting the communist regime’s internal guideline on the persecution on the internet. She was detained for eight months and released on January 27, 2011. The police later submitted her case to the procuratorate. To avoid being sentenced to prison, Ms. Wang lived away from home and was put on the wanted list.
Unable to find her, the police frequently harassed her family and friends. They also plastered her photos in the village and used the village loudspeaker to broadcast news of a reward for reporting Ms. Wang’s whereabouts.
B. Physical Health and/or Life in Danger
1) Abused in Custody Despite Disability, Woman Arrested Again for Filing Complaints Against Police
Ms. Li Chunhua, a 61-year-old disabled woman in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on October 25, 2025, for filing complaints against those who tortured her during an earlier detention weeks prior.
Ms. Li’s ordeal began with her arrest on August 21, 2025, for writing information about Falun Gong in public places. She was restrained in a metal chair for more than 30 hours. The prolonged sitting aggravated an injury to her lower back, sustained years before during another arrest. During the interrogation, the police poured water over her head and into her clothes and blew cold air into her face. When taking her to the detention center the next day, the police said to the doctor in charge of examining all incoming inmates, “She is very healthy. There is no need to exam her.”
On August 29, 2025, the police ordered two inmates, who were also made to wear handcuffs, to drag Ms. Li up and down the stairs for “additional interrogation.” Because their wrists hurt from the handcuffs, they yanked Ms. Li up and down, straining the muscles in her left shoulder and chest. The pain in her ribs was so intense she couldn’t remain standing, so they put her in a wheelchair. When the detention center doctor examined Ms. Li, he poked her legs and the soles of her feet with an awl and saw that she had no feeling in them.
For the next two weeks, Ms. Li was bedridden. The pain kept her awake at night. She was dizzy and had ringing in her ears and bloodshot eyes. Her organs were failing, and her abdomen was sunken. She couldn’t keep food down and vomited everything she ate. Her vomit was dark green. She had a burning sensation in her chest, and she was very thirsty, craving ice water. Unable to walk on her own, Ms. Li had to be carried to the restroom when she needed to use the toilet.
Ms. Li was released on September 8, 2025, only to be taken back into custody on October 25, 2025, for filing complaints against the police. They refused to tell her family where she was being detained and threatened to put her in jail without trial.
2) 68-Year-Old Woman Subjected to Involuntary Drug Administration, Force-feeding, and Gang Beating While Detained
Ms. Wang Shuhua, a 68-year-old former middle school assistant principal in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on August 23, 2025, for talking to someone about Falun Gong. When she was taken to the hospital for a physical exam the next day, her systolic blood pressure registered 210 mmHg (a normal range is 120 or lower). The police, however, made the doctor record a reading of 194 mmHg on her exam report and drove her to the Shenyang City First Detention Center. While en-route there, an officer shoved a hypertension pill into Ms. Wang’s mouth. She spat it out.
After she was admitted to the detention center, the guards forced Ms. Wang to take hypertension pills. She felt drowsy and also suffered memory decline, severe insomnia, and anxiety. She went on a hunger strike in protest on September 6, 2025, and was force-fed and beaten by the inmates. One inmate sat on her legs while the others punched and kicked her. They also hit her on the head with bottles filled with water. She had multiple egg-sized bumps on her head, stretching from the crown of her head to her temples.
3) Hebei Man Beaten Unconscious by Police
Mr. Ma Yongxiao, a 42-year-old resident of Handan City, Hebei Province, was not feeling well on February 19, 2025, and went to bed early. He was sound asleep at 11 p.m. when he felt someone roughly yanking his arms. Still recovering from an injury to his left arm, he screamed in pain. It turned out that more than 20 police officers had broken into his home. They pushed Mr. Ma to the ground, handcuffed him, and punched and kicked him until he went limp.
The police beat Mr. Ma again after ransacking his home and stuffing him into a cruiser. He had already lost consciousness at that point. When he came to, he found himself in an elevator with his face covered. The police beat him again. He passed out again. After he came to, he found himself handcuffed and shackled in a room in which there were instruments of torture. It was cold, but he was still in his thin pajamas with no shoes. He was confused and lost coordination of his limbs. He began to talk nonsense and exhibited symptoms of a seizure. Without allowing him any medical treatment, the police took Mr. Ma to a detention center. The handcuffs were so tight that the cuffs cut into his flesh, and his wounds oozed blood and pus. He was released on bail around May 2, 2025.
4) 73-Year-Old Disabled Widow Experiences High Blood Pressure and Chest Tightness After Violent Arrest
Ms. Song Huilan, a 73-year-old Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province resident, was reading in bed when more than ten officers broke into her home with a master key on January 16, 2025. None of them produced IDs or a search warrant. Without allowing the disabled woman to put on her prosthesis, jacket, or shoes, the police dragged her downstairs. Her shirt and bra were pulled up during the process, exposing her chest and back. Her pants were also pulled down to her thighs.
The police threw Ms. Song into their cruiser without allowing her to adjust her clothing. Due to the freezing weather, she shivered non-stop, and the female officer in the car refused to help her pull her top down or her pants up. Upon arriving at the police station, she requested to use the restroom, but the police refused to help her, despite the fact that she was unable to walk on her own. She wet her pants as a result, yet the police still turned a blind eye to her plight.
When Ms. Song was denied admission to the local detention center due to dangerously high blood pressure, the doctor there injected her with an unknown medicine, which caused her to feel weak and experience tightness in her chest. She was released around 7 p.m., covered with bruises.
5) 89-Year-Old Heilongjiang Man Remains Hospitalized After Violent Arrest
Mr. Chen Hongrui, an 89-year-old resident of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, was deceived into opening his door for the police in late May 2025. Despite his advanced age and lack of mobility due to an injury to his left femur, the police dragged Mr. Chen to the police car, causing sharp pain in his chest and back. After his release, he checked into a hospital and was found to have fractures in his spine.
6) 79-Year-Old Woman’s Abdominopelvic Cyst Relapses
Ms. Chi Fengying, a 79-year-old Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, resident, was arrested on October 22, 2024. The police made three attempts to detain her at a detention center, but failed each time due to her poor health. On December 26, 2024, the local procuratorate indicted Ms. Chi and moved her case to a court. The mental pressure from the persecution caused Ms. Chi’s abdominopelvic cyst to relapse. Her legs were also swollen and she had trouble eating or using the restroom. Despite her condition, the police not only continued to harass her, but also targeted her family as well.
Ms. Chi Fengying receiving an examination at the hospital
7) Heilongjiang Woman Suffers Stroke in Custody, Faces Trial
Ms. Fu Yunping, a native of Longjiang County, Heilongjiang Province, moved to Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, for work in 2024. She was arrested there on April 7, 2025, after being reported for talking to someone about Falun Gong. To collect more “evidence” against her, the police interrogated all of Ms. Fu’s coworkers at a hotel and demanded to know whether she had said anything about Falun Gong to them.
The local detention center called Ms. Fu’s family on June 19, saying that she’d had a stroke and was undergoing emergency treatment at the hospital. When her family visited Ms. Fu, she was unable to move one side of her body or talk. She was tied up in the bed, but seemed to have a clear mind. The local court refused to released Ms. Fu on bail and is proceeding with her prosecution.
8) Liaoning Woman Interrogated with Torture
Someone knocked on Ms. Li Zhuoqing’s door on August 26, 2025, claiming to be from the property management office. When she opened the door, a group of police officers barged in. The 52-year-old resident of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was taken to the police station for interrogation. As she refused to comply with the interrogation, the police covered her head with a black hood and kept her restrained in a metal chair overnight, and did not allow her to sleep. They also placed a photo of Falun Gong’s founder under her feet and ordered her to step on it. She refused. The police later forcibly collected a blood sample from Ms. Li. She also had blood in her urine and was found to have a urinary tract infection.
9) Hebei Man Beaten After Arrest, Teeth Loosened
Mr. Xi Zhaojun, a middle school teacher in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, was arrested on July 8, 2025, while on his way to Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia. He was first held at a lockup in Shangdu and then transferred to a detention center in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia, on July 24.
On the way there, three officers kept slapping Mr. Xi in the face. His face became swollen and bled. They also inserted the buckle of the safety belt into his mouth to pry his teeth apart. When he tried to resist, they stabbed his eyes with the buckle and threatened to put him in a psychiatric hospital. When Mr. Xi’s lawyer visited him eight days later, his face was still swollen and his mouth continued bleeding. Several of his teeth had become loose and he also had a mouth ulcer.
C. Close Surveillance
1) Shanghai Resident Closely Followed for Three Days
After Ms. Li Hong, a Shanghai resident, completed a one-year prison term on September 8, 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, she was place under close surveillance by the local police.
Between July 20 and 22, 2025, two people monitored Ms. Li and followed her everywhere when she went out. They took photos of her and reported her activities to the authorities. When she urged these people not to participate in the persecution, they told her that they were earning 300 yuan a day for doing the job.
2) Liaoning Couple’s Driving Recorder Tracked by the Police
A married couple in Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province, were arrested at home around 10 p.m. on July 21, 2025. The police raided their place and took Mr. Chen Guicun to the Dashagou Detention Center and his wife Ms. Chen Ji’e to the Nangou Detention Center.
During the raid, it was apparent that the police knew the home’s layout clearly and they went straight to the attic to find the couple’s Falun Gong books. The couple’s driving recorder was also tracked by the police. The couple suspected that the police had been monitoring their phone calls and recording them with surveillance cameras for some time.
D. Financial Devastation and Freezing Assets
In addition to arrests, detention, and torture, Falun Gong practitioners have also faced financial persecution. On top of the more common confiscation of personal items, and fines, some practitioners have had their salaries, pensions, stipends, or bonuses suspended. Some reported having their bank accounts or other private assets, such as residential property, frozen. Many were demoted or fired from their workplaces, or had their years of service wiped off the record in their pension calculations. Some small business owners faced the risk of having their business licenses revoked or being unable to renew leases.
1) Pension Suspension
Ms. Zhao Yan, a 79-year-old retired hospital worker in Suining City, Sichuan Province, received a phone call from the human resources department at her former workplace, the Suining City Third Hospital, on July 22, 2025. The caller said the Chuanshan District Social Security Bureau notified the hospital that she should not have been issued retirement benefits during her six-month imprisonment (July-December 2024) and that she needed to return the funds, adding that she was only eligible for 40% of her previous pension now. As Ms. Zhao refused to return the funds, the Social Security Bureau stopped her pension in August 2025.
Having had his pension suspended since early 2020 after serving a six-year prison term, Mr. Wang Xingkai, a 76-year-old former vocational school teacher in Chongqing, was dealt another blow when a group of officers broke into his home on November 5, 2025 and seized his only savings, a little over 4,000 yuan in cash.
In Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, Ms. Zhu Ruimin, an 83-year-old retired elementary school teacher, has had her pension suspended since October 2014. As she was receiving 4,700 yuan every month before the suspension, the total loss is over 600,000 yuan, not including the annual cost-of-living increase of her pension.
Ms. Lin Guichen, a 64-year-old retired employee of the Fujian Province Farming Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has not received any retirement benefits since completing a four-year prison sentence in July 2024. She was ordered to return the over 180,000 yuan in pension payments issued to her during her prison term. The social security center also notified Ms. Lin that she will no longer qualify for her nearly 7,000-yuan monthly benefits even after she paid off her “pension debt” and that she would only receive a 2,100-yuan monthly stipend instead.
Ms. Wu Xiulan, a retired environmental engineer in her 80s, hasn’t received a penny of her pension since April 2016. With no other source of income, she couldn’t afford to repair her broken windows or heater, or the leaking sink and balcony. Her home is freezing cold in the winter. She now makes a meager living by collecting and reselling scrap recycling materials from trash bins.
2) Low-Income Subsidy Application Denied
After Ms. Zhang Lingge, 57, from Changsha City, Hunan Province, finished serving a four-year prison term in November 2024, she was devastated to discover that the court that sentenced her had garnished 15,000 yuan from her bank account to pay her court fine. Unable to pay rent, Ms. Zhang was evicted from her home. She applied for a low-income subsidy through the residential committee, but was ordered to write a statement to “follow the laws and be a law-abiding citizen” (that is, not to practice Falun Gong). She argued that she had always been a law-abiding citizen and that the communist regime was persecuting her because of her faith. Because she refused to write the statement, her application was denied.
Meanwhile, the authorities followed Ms. Zhang wherever she went. When she moved in with her mother, there were police cars parked outside around the clock. Sometimes the police shone bright lights into the home at midnight.
3) Valuables Confiscated During Home Raids
Over 20 officers showed up at Ms. Du Likun’s home in Handan City, Hebei Province, around 11 p.m. on February 19, 2025. They broke in with the help of a locksmith. The police filled their cruiser with items confiscated from Ms. Du’s home, including a computer, a printer, two boxes of cash, one box of jewelry, and a Certificate of Deposit for 230,000 yuan. They also confiscated two cars, and returned again on February 21 and seized a bike.
4) Music Teacher’s Bonus Withheld
On January 6, 2025, Ms. He Yan, a music teacher in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, received a warning from her school leadership that she probably wouldn’t receive any bonus for the last quarter of 2024, because of her practicing Falun Gong, as well as her filing complaints against the police for arresting her and raiding her home in March 2023. Ms. He refused to withdraw her complaint despite pressure from the police, school leadership, and the education bureau. In retaliation, the school withheld her 20,000-yuan quarterly bonus on January 9, 2025, and later, they withheld her scheduled pay raise on June 12, 2025.
5) Teachers Not Allowed to Teach
Also in Hubei Province, three practitioners working at Hubei University of Science and Technology, including Mr. Li Mincai, Mr. Zheng Shuanghua and Ms. Yan Qin, haven’t been allowed to teach classes since the 2025 spring semester.
6) Bank Account Frozen
When Ms. Tan Guangming, a 71-year-old resident of Hanzhong City, Shaaxi Province, returned home on January 22, 2025, after completing a six-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong, she found that her bank account was still frozen by the trial court that convicted her. The crops she harvested before her arrest in January 2019 were covered with mold and the canola oil she’d extracted had long since gone rancid. Ms. Tan now struggles to make a living.
E. Persecution Extended to Family Members
With the all-encompassing nature of the persecution, practitioners’ family members are also subjected to the same pressures and sometimes become targets themselves.
1) 86-Year-Old Mother Dies Due to Grief Over Daughter’s Arrest for Her Faith
Ms. Duan Xiaorong, a 61-year-old retired teacher in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, took her 86-year-old mother, Ms. Ding Cuiying, out for a walk in the courtyard of her apartment complex on June 24, 2025. While her mother stayed in the courtyard to enjoy the sun, Ms. Duan left briefly to do some grocery shopping, only to be arrested by the police. They ignored her plea that she needed to go back and take her mother home. Ms. Duan had to call her daughter to help pick up her mother. Ms. Ding was so devastated by Ms. Duan’s arrest that she fell ill and passed away in late September. Ms. Duan was later sentenced to seven years and fined 60,000 yuan.
2) Sole Caregiver of Disabled Husband and Daughter Detained
Ms. Zhao Caixia, 73, was approached by the police and had her luggage searched while she and her sister were waiting to board a train at the Harbin City Train Station on April 25, 2025. Upon discovering paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong, the police arrested the sisters and took them to a police station. The police also raided both sisters’ homes and seized their Falun Gong books, informational materials, and portraits of Falun Gong’s founder.
Ms. Zhao’s husband has a lumbar disc herniation, gout, and a parasitic brain infection; he is bedridden most of the time and unable to take care of himself. Their daughter has a mental illness and needs supervision all the time. With Ms. Zhao’s detention, they are now in a very difficult situation.
3) 80-Year-Old Mother Arrested, Mentally Disabled Son Terrified
To avoid being persecuted for practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Su Changqin, 80, from Kaiyuan City, Liaoning Province, was forced to live away from home in 2023, along with her son who is mentally disabled. Ms. Su was arrested by the Kaiyuan police at her rental place in Shenyang City in the same province on September 4, 2025. Her son is currently with his sister-in-law; he was so traumatized by his mother’s arrest that he refused to eat and often went out to look for her.
4) Mother Forced to Go into Hiding; Police Arrest Her Daughter Instead
When the police in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, attempted to arrest Ms. Zhao Xihua on December 23, 2024, her daughter, Ms. Xuan Shaojing, stood in front of the door and refused to let them in. The police then forced Ms. Zhao’s husband, who had been held at the police station for six hours, to talk to his daughter on the phone. She still refused to budge, even after one of the officers pointed a gun at her forehead. The police left, only to arrest Ms. Xuan at work five days later and detain her with the charge of “obstructing enforcement of the law.” Ms. Zhao was forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution.
5) Mother and Daughter Arrested While on Vacation
Over the past 26 years, Ms. Lin Jinli, 48, of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, has been repeatedly targeted for her faith in Falun Gong. She was arrested in 2019 while taking her 15-year-old daughter to school and sentenced to four years. During her detention, her husband struggled with doing his full time job and caring for their daughter. The girl often cried, missing her mother.
Ms. Lin took her daughter to Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, for a vacation in August 2025. Because she brought a cell phone that she used to send text messages about Falun Gong, the Yangzhou police tracked her down and arrested her on August 10. They also went to Harbin to search her home. Her daughter was released after four days, but Ms. Lin remained detained in Yangzhou and was subjected to brainwashing.
6) Grandfather Drugged in Prison and Denied Parole, Granddaughter Expelled from School for Telling Roommates About His Ordeal
Ms. Hou Tianran, a 17-year-old boarding school student in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, told her roommates about her grandfather being forced to take hypertension medication,while he is serving a 7.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong. After one of the roommates repeated the story to their homeroom teacher, the teacher pretended to be interested in learning more about Falun Gong and asked the teen if she had any Falun Gong books. The girl sent her an electronic version of Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong, along with some pictures of her grandfather in prison. Two days later, on September 18, 2025, the teen was summoned to the vice dean’s office two days later and ordered to “voluntarily” drop out of school. She was escorted home by four teachers.
F. Marginalized by Society and Family Members
After 26 years of persecution, the demonizing propaganda against Falun Gong has penetrated every corner of Chinese society, and hatred and resentment are deeply embedded in many people’s minds. While some practitioners’ families still support them in upholding their faith, some practitioners’ own children have turned against them.
1) Shanghai Woman Forced to Divorce and Distanced by Daughter
After serving two prison terms totaling seven years and having her pension suspended, Ms. Xu Nixia, a 68-year-old Shanghai resident, was arrested again on May 13, 2025. After the persecution began, Ms. Xu had been sentenced to four years and three years in 2006 and 2018, respectively. When she wasn’t detained, the police frequently harassed her and sometimes monitored her around the clock.
Distraught by the persecution, Ms. Xu’s husband divorced her shortly after another home raid in April 2015. Her daughter also had a very bad attitude towards her. After Ms. Xu moved out of their home, the police kept harassing her and forced her to move several times. Even the landlord of the apartment that her father rented in 2014 evicted him due to pressure from the residential committee.
2) Misled by Hate Propaganda, Sons Send Mother to Senior Center After Her 7-Year Imprisonment and Threatens to Stop Covering the Cost
Influenced by the CCP’s hateful propaganda against Falun Gong, Ms. Fan Shufen’s children strongly opposed her practicing. One of her sons tried to choke her, and his wife also threatened to divorce him if his mother kept practicing Falun Gong. He and his brother all blamed Ms. Fan for “bringing shame” to them. They often called her an “old political inmate” and beat her. After Ms. Fan was released in September 2024 after serving a seven-year term, her two sons sent her to a senior center and told the senior center’s owner to prevent Ms. Fan from meeting with other Falun Gong practitioners. They threatened to stop paying her expenses if she continued to practice Falun Gong.
3) 78-Year-Old Mother Imprisoned by Her Two Sons
A 78-year-old widowed mother in Rushan City, Shandong Province, was held in a secret location by her two sons around October 2024 and her communication with the outside world was cut off. Ms. Xun Peiying’s sons did so because they worried that her practicing of Falun Gong would affect one of their own sons’ application to the police academy. They also destroyed Ms. Xun’s copy of Zhuan Falun.
4) Persecution of Falun Gong Turns 90-Year-Old Woman’s Children Against Her, Leaving Her in a Psychiatric Hospital Despite Having No Mental Illness
Ms. Xu Deyu, a 90-year-old resident of Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, was committed to a psychiatric hospital in June 2025 by her own children, simply because they feared being implicated because of her faith in Falun Gong. Her son in particular lost his job at least twice after she refused to renounce her faith. The Jiangyou City Third People’s Hospital housed Ms. Xu with three male patients in the same ward, which had only one bathroom. The male patients ate their own excreta after bowel movements. Two of them later died and two new patients were brought in. The hospital refused to discharge Ms. Xu unless her son gave permission. They even ignored her local street committee and police department’s request to free her.
Related Reports:
Reported in July and August 2025: 937 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith
Reported in March and April 2025: 772 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith