Ms. Yang Meiying was 53 years old. She was a former employee of the Service Company in Linfen City, Shanxi Province. Since July 20, 1999, she had been arrested twice by Yaodu District Police Department, and had been sent to Linfen Detention Center for more than 60 days, during which time she held a hunger strike for 13 days. In December 2000 she went to Beijing twice to appeal, but she was beaten up by the police and sent to a detention center in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. She went on a hunger strike for 17 days; later she was taken back to Linfen City by Linfen police. Linfen City Judicial and Public Security Division tried to sentence her to jail and illegally ransacked her home many times. In August 2002, she was reported when she went to a friend's home, and was arrested by police from Xiangfen County Hongwei Police Station. Along with her, Falun Dafa practitioners Zhang Guifeng and Gao Ansheng were arrested as well. She was beaten for 6 or 7 hours while her hands were cuffed together and hung up. She was illegally detained at the Xiangfen Detention Center, where she went on a hunger strike of seven days. Her family members were extorted 3,000 Yuan to bail her out. Long-term persecution made her extremely weak, and she passed away in January 2003.