(Minghui.org) A Dalian City, Liaoning Province, man detained for his faith in Falun Gong is on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.
Mr. Zhu Chengqian, a security guard in his 60s, was arrested at work at 2 a.m. on March 1, 2026, by six officers from the Jinzhou District Police Department. The arrest was led by an officer surnamed Tan.
The police raided Mr. Zhu’s home and confiscated two Falun Gong books and a tablet. They took him to the Jinzhou District Detention Center at 5 p.m. that day. It is unclear when he started the hunger strike.
Mr. Zhu used to work at the Pulandian Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision after he graduated from college. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and lives by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
After the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution in 1999, he persisted in raising awareness about it, only to be arrested and detained repeatedly. He spent the prime of his life behind bars. Between 2000 and 2009, he was given three labor camp terms totaling seven years. In 2012, he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.
Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong
On July 20, 1999, the day the persecution began, Mr. Zhu went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was arrested, escorted back to Dalian, and held in the Pulandian Lockup for eight months.
Three Labor Camp Terms
Mr. Zhu went to Beijing to appeal again in October 2000 and was given two years of forced labor by the Pulandian 610 Office. In the Dalian Forced Labor Camp, he was subjected to strict management and ordered to renounce Falun Gong. He developed scabies, but the guards still forced him to do slave labor. He was released in October 2002.
Mr. Zhu was arrested again in March 2003 for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. He served three years in the Dalian Forced Labor Camp and was released on March 15, 2006.
Mr. Zhu found a job and was ready to rebuild his life. But the police and 610 Office agents kept harassing him and attempted to force him to give up Falun Gong.
On January 23, 2007, He Xiubing, an officer with the Dalianwan Frontier Defense Police Station, and Dong Shiguo, the deputy captain of the Ganjingzi District Domestic Security Division, arrested Mr. Zhu while he was at work. He was given another two-year labor camp term.
When Mr. Zhu was released from the Dalian Forced Labor Camp on January 22, 2009, a guard commented, “This lad is [pretty tough]. After three labor camp terms, he still doesn’t ‘transform.’”
Sentenced to Prison
On July 6, 2012, Mr. Zhu was again arrested near his place of work and later sentenced to five years and nine months.
While serving time in the Shenyang City First Prison, he still refused to renounce Falun Gong and was tortured. The guards once restrained him on a tiger bench for 12 hours.
Mr. Zhu’s older brother and his family visited him on December 28, 2016. Despite their adamant protest, the guards only gave them 15 minutes. The family was devastated to see that Mr. Zhu had been reduced to skin and bones; he was so weak that he struggled to lift his head or even talk. He told them that he had been on a hunger strike for over 40 days and had been force-fed six times. But he still expressed his firm determination to uphold his faith, no matter how badly he was tortured.
Mr. Zhu was released on April 6, 2018.