(Minghui.org) A 56-year-old Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, resident has been admitted to the Hohhot First Prison in the same province on March 22, 2025, to serve a three-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhang Wanbo, born on December 18, 1968, used to work at the Hulunbuir Special Education Center as a teacher. She was arrested on May 22, 2024, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Hulun Police Station raided her home around 1 a.m. and confiscated her Falun Gong books and her family's computer and printer. She was then taken to the Hulunbuir City Lockup for a 14-day administrative detention.
When Ms. Zhang’s family went to pick her up 14 days later, the lockup guards told them that officers from the Domestic Security Division had already taken her away. But when the family went to the Domestic Security Division to look for her, the officers denied that they had picked her up.
After asking around for a day, Ms. Zhang’s family confirmed that she had been put in criminal detention and transferred to the Hulunbuir City Detention Center. The family was kept in the dark about her case status. They managed to confirm her prison sentence and admission in late March 2025, but details about her indictment, trial, and sentencing are still unclear.
Ms. Zhang took up Falun Gong in 1997 at the age of 29. Her severe rheumatoid arthritis soon disappeared, and she tries her best to treat others well, by living by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she was repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
Ms. Zhang was first arrested at work in December 1999 by Qu Shulin, an agent of the Ministry of State Security, and Fang Hang of the Hailar District Domestic Security Division. She was detained for two weeks and then transferred to a brainwashing center for an unknown period.
Ms. Zhang was arrested again on December 10, 2009, during a police sweep. The police tried to deceive her into opening the door by claiming that they were there to conduct a census. As she refused to open the door, they tried to pry it open. When that failed, they found a firefighter ladder and tried to smash her window, but still failed. They shut down her power supply before finally breaking in. Her Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, computer, printer and scanner were confiscated.
Ms. Zhang was arrested another time in May 2012 by officers of the Hulunbuir City 610 Office.
Her next arrest was on July 8, 2017, after she was followed by officers from the Hailar New District Police Department while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police raided her home and later released her on bail. She was tried by the Hailar District Court on May 29, 2018, and sentenced to three years with a four-year probation and a 5,000-yuan fine around January 29, 2019. She appealed to the Hulunbuir City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict without having a hearing.
The police and local residential committee staffers harassed Ms. Zhang again during the “Zero-out” campaign in November 2020.