Hebei Man Dies After Enduring Over Two Decades of Persecution for Upholding His Faith

(Minghui.org)

Name: Zhang LiancunChinese Name: 张连存Gender: MaleAge: 60City: SanheProvince: HebeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: November 9, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 20, 2006Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison

A man in Sanhe City, Hebei Province passed away on November 9, 2025, after suffering decades of persecution for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He was 60.

Mr. Zhang Liancun took up Falun Gong in 1996, after which his eye problem and bronchitis soon disappeared. After the persecution started in 1999, he was arrested five times and harassed countless times by the authorities. He served a three-year prison sentence between 2006 and 2008 and barely survived the torture in custody. The mental and physical trauma continued to haunt him after he was released, eventually claiming his life.

Mr. Zhang wasn’t the only one in his family that was persecuted for practicing Falun Gong. His father was repeatedly harassed and intimidated by the authorities. The younger Mr. Zhang’s repeated arrests further devastated him. After living in fear for several years, he died in June 2003.

Mr. Zhang’s mother, Ms. Chen Shulan, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was once hung up by the wrists with her feet off the ground for nine hours while detained for her faith. She passed away on May 13, 2021.

Mr. Zhang’s son and daughter were also traumatized by his arrest on July 20, 2006, especially after witnessing the police handcuffing their father and pushing him into the police car. Both of them dropped out of school soon after.

Mr. Zhang’s brother-in-law, Mr. Zhang Xuefu, was arrested on July 14, 2023 and later sentenced to three years and two months. He is currently serving time at the Jidong Prison.

Below are excerpts from Mr. Zhang Liancun’s criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong. The excerpts provide some detail of the persecution he experienced.

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Four Arrests

Shortly after the persecution started, I was arrested by officers from the Yanjiao Police Station and held in a small room. A few days later, they tied me to a utility pole in the morning and left me outside until 10 p.m., before transferring me to a detention center. There, I was made to sleep on the humid concrete ground and forced to take cold showers. When I was sleeping, the inmates put instant noodle seasoning powder into my nose and I almost suffocated. I was only given two to three minutes to use the restroom. The food was extremely poor. I was released after seven days.

Another time, the village secretary Yang Chunping led Tian Shuguang and two other officers to my home. Yang ordered me to denounce Falun Gong and its founder. I refused to comply. They dragged me out and took me to the Yanjiao Police Station, without allowing me to put on my shoes. I was handcuffed to the heating pipes. One of my relatives later treated the police to a meal in exchange for my release.

I went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in early 2000 and was arrested and beaten on Tiananmen Square. I was later taken back by the Yanjiao Township government officials. I held a hunger strike to protest and was released after a few days.

I was doing business in Shunyi District, Beijing, in November 2001, when my local police came to arrest me. While I escaped, I lost a pager and cell phone that cost me several thousand yuan. To hide from the police, I was forced to live away from home and the financial loss was significant.

I returned home one night, only to be reported by a neighbor the next day. A group of officers scaled the fence and broke into my home. I ran out and they still captured me. I was handcuffed behind my back, stuffed into the police van and taken to a brainwashing session in a hotel. Police watched me around the clock and forced me to read propaganda materials smearing Falun Gong. I withstood the pressure and refused to renounce my faith. I was released after a few days.

Sentenced to Three Years After the Fifth Arrest

I was arrested again in Shunyi by the police from Sanhe on July 20, 2006. After a few days at the Sanhe City Detention Center, I was transferred to the Langfang City Brainwashing Center. The Yanjiao Township government arranged two people to watch me around the clock. I wasn’t allowed to leave the room, take showers or do laundry.

To force me to renounce Falun Gong, Han Zhiguang and Zhao Lihua of the 610 Office intimidated me and forced me to watch TV programs defaming Falun Gong. They also laced my food with unknown drugs. I felt dizzy, saw stars and had loose bowels. In a room near me, I heard heartbreaking screams from a woman at night; this lasted for a few days. A guard appeared to be scared himself and said I shouldn’t come back here again.

Fifteen days later, I was taken back to the Sanhe City Detention Center. Just 10 minutes after I was back, I was surrounded by the inmates and beaten. At night, an inmate kicked me down from behind. I was also forced to wipe clean the concrete floor in the cell with a towel, repeatedly, over 100 times.

The detention center director Yang later moved me from a regular cell to the death-row prisoners’ cell. I was forced to do heavy labor without pay. I couldn’t go to bed without finishing the work quota.

The cell was filthy and we weren’t allowed to do laundry very often. Many of us developed extremely itchy scabies. Sometimes I was only given one minute when I needed to have a bowel movement. One night, as soon as I fell asleep, the inmates stepped on my ear, which remained swollen for years.

As a result of the long-term abuse, I developed an inguinal hernia and suffered intensive pain. The guards took me to the hospital. Only three days after having surgery, I was taken back to the detention center, even though I was still in pain.

The food in the detention center was extremely poor. Yet I couldn’t afford to buy any extra food, as the cash my family deposited for me was used by the inmates.

After over a year at the detention center, I was sentenced to three years and transferred to the 2nd Branch of Jidong Prison. Four inmates followed me and watched me around the clock. I had no freedom or privacy. Due to the mental and physical abuse, my blood pressure remained dangerously high. My term was extended by over a year. When I was released, the police refused to return the van impounded from me.