Reported in March 2025: Thirteen Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution

(Minghui.org) The cases of thirteen Falun Gong practitioners who lost their lives due to the persecution were reported in March 2025.

The thirteen newly-reported deaths include one each that took place in 2019, 2020, and 2023, three in 2024, and seven in 2025. Except for one practitioner whose gender and age were unknown, the other twelve deceased practitioners, nine female and three male, were between the ages of 52 and 92 at the time of their passings, including two in their 50s, five in their 70s, three in their 80s, and two in their 90s.

The thirteen practitioners came from nine provinces. Hubei recorded the most cases of three, followed by two in both Liaoning and Heilongjiang, and the remaining six regions, including Guangdong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, and Sichuan, each had one case.

Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strict information censorship, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners cannot always be reported on time, nor is all the information readily available.

The thirteen deceased practitioners all passed away after suffering decades of persecution for upholding their faith. Two women, 85 and 52, died hours and weeks, respectively, after the police last harassed them. Two other practitioners, a 92-year-old woman and an 84-year-old man, passed away shortly after they finished serving wrongful terms.

A woman died after she was forced to live away from home for 17 years to hide from the police. And a retired engineer in her 90s died a few months after being forced to move to a senior center and not allowed to leave there.

Below are select death cases. A list of the deceased practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).

Deaths Shortly After Wrongful Prison Sentences

92-Year-Old Jiangxi Woman Dies Months After Re-serving a Six-month Prison Term

Ms. Yu Fangzhuang, of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, died on February 9, 2025, merely months after she completed a six-month term for practicing Falun Gong. She was 92 years old.

Ms. Yu was initially arrested on January 25, 2020, and released on bail hours later. She was sentenced to six months in prison on January 18, 2021. Due to her advanced age, the court allowed her to serve time outside of prison.

The police notified Ms. Yu on November 14, 2023, that she needed to have a physical exam. Her son accompanied her to the hospital. A week later on November 21, the police seized her from home and put her in the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison, even though she had already served her six-month term outside the prison, per the court order. It is unclear why the court ordered her to re-serve the prison sentence.

When Ms. Yu’s term ended on May 20, 2024, officers from the Nanchang City Justice Bureau, along with local police, attempted to take Ms. Yu away, but relented at her son’s adamant protest.

Ms. Yu later recounted her abuse in prison. The inmates assigned to monitor her once shackled her for three days straight. Another time they poured boiling water over her head while she was taking a bath. Already 91 at the time, the guards made her sleep on the top bunk of a bed. She struggled to climb up and down every day. There was not enough food to go around at mealtimes, and she often had nothing to eat.

The abuse severely damaged Ms. Yu’s health. Her condition continuted to worsen after she returned home. She often became unconscious, and gradually lost her ability to recognize people, even her own son. She also had widespread pain. She struggled to keep her balance while walking, and fell easily. She died early in the morning on February 9, 2025.

84-Year-Old Man Dies Shortly After Serving Second Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong

After the Chinese communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Zhou Xiancheng, of Macheng City, Hubei Province, was arrested at least nine times, the last two of which were followed by prison sentences.

His second to last arrest took place on March 15, 2015, when he was 75 years old. The Xinzhou District Court sentenced him to a three-year prison term on July 20, 2015. He was beaten by the inmates and hospitalized, while serving time in Fanjiatai Prison.

Mr. Zhou was released on March 5, 2018, only to be arrested again on March 28, 2021. Despite the fact that his wife had Alzheimer’s disease and all of their children were working out of town, the police nonetheless forced the detention center to admit him, after they initially rejected his admission due to his advanced age.

Mr. Zhou was later secretly sentenced to an unknown prison term and taken to the Fanjiatai Prison to serve time. He passed away on January 25, 2025, shortly after he was released. He was 84.

75-Year-Old Man Dies Five Years After Serving A Wrongful Prison Term

Mr. Wang Yuansheng, a Hengshui City, Hebei Province, resident, had a stroke and became incapacitated six months before he finished serving a three-year term in 2019. He continued to suffer declining health after his release and eventually passed away on November 10, 2024. He was 75.

Mr. Wang’s death capped his decades of persecution for practicing Falun Gong. Prior to his last three-year sentence, he also served a one-year labor camp term and another three-year prison term. He was brutally tortured each time he was incarcerated.

Mr. Wang took up Falun Gong in 1997 and credited the practice for changing his hot temper and improving his health. He was detained for two weeks for doing the Falun Gong exercises in a public area shortly after the persecution started in 1999. He was arrested again in 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was given one year at the Shijiazhuang City Labor Camp, where he was subjected to brutal torture for refusing to renounce his faith.

In one of the torture methods, the inmates stripped off Mr. Wang’s clothes, wrapped two steel clotheslines around his arms, and handcuffed his hands behind his back, as directed by the prison guards. They pushed his body forward, causing the steel wires to cut deeply into his flesh. Blood dripped from the wounds. Some practitioners were tortured like this for over half an hour.

After this abuse, Mr. Wang was unable to raise one of his arms. His fingers remained curled, and he couldn’t make a fist. It was difficult for him to eat. When he was released, he still couldn’t control his arms, and his vision was impaired.

Mr. Wang was arrested again for telling the public the facts about Falun Gong in June 2006. His home was ransacked. In the local detention center, he shared a cell with an inmate who had been sentenced to death but was later reprieved. The inmate took Mr. Wang’s food and put him in a chokehold during the night. His voice remained hoarse for several months.

Mr. Wang was later sentenced to three years by the Jizhou District Court. Even though he was in critical condition, the police still took him to the Jidong Prison. When the guards refused to admit him, the police left without taking him away. Mr. Wang served the full term and was released in 2009.

Mr. Wang’s last arrest was on October 20, 2016, after being reported for hanging up banners with messages about Falun Gong. The authorities approved his arrest in ten days. By the time his family hired a lawyer for him on November 15, he had already been indicted and was facing trial.

Shortly after Mr. Wang’s lawyer visited him, the police interrogated him, tortured him using a tiger bench, and shocked him with electric batons.

The Jizhou District Court sentenced Mr. Wang to a three-year prison term with a 5,000-yuan fine on April 27, 2017. In his late 60s, he was admitted to the Jidong Prison. He was often beaten by the guards in their early 20s. His family wasn’t allowed to visit him.

Mr. Wang suffered a stroke in April 2019, and became incapacitated. The prison didn’t inform his family of his condition. It took the family much effort to get updates about him, and permission to visit him. According to the family, Mr. Wang was emaciated; he couldn’t walk on his own and had to use a wheelchair to get around. Mr. Wang also told them that although the prison arranged an inmate to care for him, the inmate often abused him, including starving him in order to prevent him from using the restroom, and pinching him. He had many bruises on his body.

Mr. Wang was in very low spirits given the tremendous physical suffering when he was released on October 19, 2019. His health continued to decline over the years, and he died five years later.

73-Year-Old Liaoning Woman Dies in Early 2020, Three Years After Serving a 7.5-Year Term

Ms. Wang Hongbing, a 73-year-old resident of Fushun City, Liaoning Province, died in early 2020, barely three years after she completed a 7.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Wang was arrested during a police sweep on April 18, 2009, and later sentenced to prison. Upon her arrival at the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on November 28, 2009, the team lead in charge of her instructed two inmates to monitor her around the clock and try to transform her. The team lead threatened to withhold food and drink if she refused to renounce Falun Gong. The inmates often hit her about the head, and forced her to stand all day long.

It was the dead of winter, yet the guards stripped Ms. Wang to her undergarments. When the guard and inmates beat her, they ordered her to not stare at them, saying, “Who did you see beat you?” She condemned them for shirking responsibility, and they gave her even more beatings. She couldn’t even pull herself up from the ground, yet they still ordered her to remain standing.

The beatings lasted six days straight. The inmates then ordered Ms. Wang to write statements renouncing Falun Gong, but she refused. They wrote one themselves and grabbed her hands to fingerprint the document. They then submitted it to the guards as proof that they had done their job “transforming” Ms. Wang.

That was not the end of the persecution that Ms. Wang endured. She and other jailed practitioners were subjected to constant re-examination to see if they were still firm in their faith. Whenever the results were deemed “unsatisfactory,” the guards barred them from eating or drinking and ordered the inmates to beat them about the head. They were also forced to stand from morning to night. In order to further instigate hatred towards the practitioners, the guards also had the inmates each do two-hour night shifts, during which time they had to remain standing. The inmates in turn lashed out at the practitioners, and abused them even more.

By the time Ms. Wang was released in October 2016, she was dazed, and walked with a limp. She also learned that her pension had been suspended starting in June 2016, and her requests to have her pension reinstated were repeatedly rejected. Furthermore, the local social security bureau ordered her to return all the pension benefits that had been issued during her prison term. She and her husband had long since divorced before her prison admission and she had no other income source.

Ms. Wang later moved to her younger sister’s place, who often saw her sitting in one spot for long hours with a blank look on her face. Ms. Wang suffered a stroke in the fall of 2018 and went into a vegetative state. She died in early 2020.

Deaths After Police Harassment

85-Year-Old Sichuan Woman Dies Hours After Being Harassed by Police

Ms. Wang Zhongqiong, of Shifang City, Sichuan Province, died on either March 8 or 9, 2025, hours after she was harassed by police for her faith in Falun Gong. She was 85 years old.

Ms. Wang Zhongqiong

The passing of Ms. Wang, a retired hospital worker and pharmacist, capped decades of persecution for her refusal to renounce her belief in Falun Gong. She and her husband were repeatedly arrested and had their home raided after the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999. They were both taken to a local brainwashing center on June 6, 2005 and held there for more than three months. They were denied family visits, and ordered to watch TV programs slandering Falun Gong at maximum volume. Ms. Wang had a mental breakdown and developed blood in her urine. She also developed high blood pressure and insomnia. The guards there ordered her to renounce Falun Gong all day long and even pressured her to “kill herself” if she still held firm to her faith.

The months-long brainwashing caused irreparable damage to Ms. Wang. She still trembled in fear years later when this experience was brought up.

After another arrest on October 12, 2007, Ms. Wang was sentenced to four years in prison. She and her husband were last arrested in November 2021. The Shifang City Court sentenced them on July 8, 2022, giving Ms. Wang one and a half years of probation with an 8,000-yuan fine, and her husband one-year of probation with a 5,000-yuan fine. They were allowed to go home after receiving the verdicts.

The police harassed the couple at home every month. Ms. Wang’s pension was suspended in March 2024, and she submitted a request to reinstate the pension the following month. Only a day later, she suddenly had severe symptoms, unable to eat or sleep, and had to halt her pension appeal.

Ms. Wang didn’t recover, and died on either March 8 or 9, 2025. The morning of her passing, the police still harassed her at home.

In addition to Ms. Wang and her husband’s ordeal, their daughter, Ms. Gong Xingcan, an economist, has been repeatedly arrested and detained, also for practicing Falun Gong. She was given two forced labor camp terms and held in a brainwashing center three times. Her legs became disabled as a result of torture.

52-Year-Old Jilin Woman Dies Weeks After Latest Police Harassment

Ms. Wang Hongyan, a Daan City, Jilin Province resident, passed away on February 9, 2025, weeks after she was harassed again for her faith in Falun Gong. She was 52 years old.

Ms. Wang Hongyan

Ms. Wang had been struggling with poor health and a severe liver condition after she finished serving a four-year term for practicing Falun Gong in 2021. The latest harassment in early 2025 further aggravated her condition and led to her death just weeks later.

Ms. Wang was first arrested on January 31, 2013, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in the countryside. She developed high blood pressure in detention and fell into a coma. The Daan City Domestic Security Division released her on bail after forcing her to pay 10,000 yuan. The police later came to her home several times, attempting to arrest and sentence her. She was forced to live away from home and go into hiding.

Ms. Wang was arrested again on the afternoon of October 9, 2017, while visiting her mother, Ms. Zhang Fengling, also a Falun Gong practitioner. The police raided Ms. Zhang’s home and confiscated her computer, printer, and other personal belongings.

Despite the fact that Ms. Wang was found to have high blood pressure, the police took her to the detention center along with Ms. Zhang. Ms. Zhang, in her late 60s, developed serious symptoms in custody and frequently fainted. The authorities didn’t inform her family of her condition, but demanded that they make a cash deposit for her, and took her to the hospital for treatment. She was taken back to the detention center after she made some recovery.

The Taonan City Court held a hearing of the mother and daughter’s case on May 15, 2018. The presiding judge didn’t inform the family of the hearing until the day before. They also forbade the family from hiring lawyers themselves, and appointed a lawyer to enter a guilty plea for them. Ms. Wang was sentenced to four years and fined 5,000 yuan. Ms. Zhang was given two years with a two-year probation and a 5,000-yuan fine.

Ms. Zhang’s husband was devastated by his wife’s and daughter’s arrests, and passed away soon after.

Ms. Wang was emaciated when she was released from the Jilin Province Women’s Prison in 2021. Her skin was dark and bruised, her lower abdomen was bloated, and her legs were swollen. She went to the hospital and was found to have cirrhosis and ascites.

Despite her condition, the police continued to harass her by taking her photo and ordering her to sign statements renouncing Falun Gong. She was dealt another blow when her mother, Ms. Zhang, was arrested again in July 2022 and sentenced to ten months around late 2022. She fell into a coma and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor issued a critical condition notice for her. Although Ms. Wang survived, the non-stop police harassment still left her living in fear.

The police showed up at Ms. Wang’s home again in early 2025 and took photos around her home. Her ascites recurred shortly after and her body was severely swollen. She died several weeks later, on February 9, 2025.

Frequently Harassed While on Bail, 77-Year-Old Man Dies Shortly After

Mr. Lan Wenbin, a Wuhan City, Hubei Province, resident, lived in fear due to frequent police harassment after he was released on bail following an arrest in April 2024. His health quickly deteriorated, and he passed away on January 11, 2025. He was 77 years old.

Mr. Lan, a retired executive of a consulting company in Beijing, was arrested in April 2024, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police pushed him to the ground while arresting him, then took him back home for a raid. His Falun Gong books, photo of Falun Gong’s founder, informational materials, printer, computer, and MP3 audio player were confiscated.

After taking Mr. Lan to the police station, the officers kept him handcuffed for a day and didn’t give him any food or water. He asked to use the restroom several times that evening but was denied each time. The police also verbally abused him. He was left sitting on a bench overnight. The police interrogated him several times during that time. He acknowledged that the items confiscated from him were his personal belongings, but he refused to sign any paperwork.

The police took Mr. Lan to the hospital the next day for a physical exam. He was found to have a 4.8-cm (1.9 inch) tumor in his abdomen. The police released him, telling his family that he didn’t have many days left. Details about his prognosis weren’t clear. The police also forced his family to turn in their real estate deed for his bail bond.

After Mr. Lan returned home, officers from three police stations took turns harassing him and videorecording him. He died on January 11, 2025.

86-Year-Old Guangdong Woman Dies One Year After Court Hearing and Frequent Police Harassment

Ms. Liao Yuying, an 86-year-old woman in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, died in December 2024, while awaiting a verdict in her trial for practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Liao Yuying

After the communist regime launched the nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Liao was repeatedly arrested over the years, and served two years of forced labor (November 2000 – November 2002).

Following her last arrest on April 21, 2022, while the police released her on bail hours later due to her poor health, they kept harassing her in an attempt to take her back into custody. They took her for physical examinations on multiple occasions, but she was always found to be in poor health and unfit for detention. She was most recently taken for a physical examination on August 15, 2023, and the results still showed she had high blood pressure.

Ms. Liao was taken to the Maonan District Court for a hearing on December 25, 2023. Her family was not allowed to attend the session. Her two lawyers argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as being a cult. Ms. Liao’s practice of Falun Gong caused no harm to any individual, or society at large, much less undermined law enforcement. The lawyers demanded her acquittal.

The judges adjourned the hearing and allowed Ms. Liao to go home. She never recovered from her poor health and died in December 2024, while still awaiting a verdict.

Stripped of Personal Freedom and Livelihood

Retired Engineer Forced to Stay in Senior Center, Dies Months Later

Ms. Wu Chunru, a retired engineer of the Pukou District Construction Bureau in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, was forced to move to a senior center in late 2023. She wasn’t allowed to go home, and died four months later. She was in her 90s.

Ms. Wu was reported and harassed by the police in 2023, for giving out a flash-drive with information about Falun Gong in her neighborhood. Under pressure from the Pukou District Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Pukou District 610 Office, Pukou District Police Department, and Pukou District Construction Bureau, Ms. Wu’s children were forced to send her to a senior center in late 2023. She asked to go home, but the senior center didn’t allow her to leave. Due to the mental distress, she soon passed away, in April 2024.

Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Wu had been repeatedly targeted during the past two decades for upholding her faith.

Heilongjiang Woman Dies After 17 Years of Displacement to Avoid Persecution

After serving a three-year prison term in 2008 for her faith in Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang Qinghua was forced to live away from home to avoid further persecution. The hardship of life took a toll on her health. She passed away on February 9, 2025. She was 57 years old.

Ms. Zhang Qinghua

Ms. Zhang, a former accountant with the Jiayin Farm in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was stopped by the police while passing Boli County in the same province on the evening of April 30, 2000. The police ordered her to insult and step on the photo of the founder of Falun Gong. She refused to comply and was given a two-year term at the Heilongjiang Province Forced Labor Camp in the capital city of Harbin.

Since 2005, the local police had instigated the security officer in Ms. Zhang’s residential area, Yang Bin, to follow her when she went out.

Officers from the Shunhe Police Station broke into Ms. Zhang’s home at 3 p.m. on May 19, 2005. They raided the place and took her to the Jiamusi City Detention Center. For the next four months, the police stayed at Ms. Zhang’s home and arrested Ms. Ji Yingping, also a Falun Gong practitioner, when she came to visit Ms. Zhang.

Ms. Zhang’s home after the police raid

Ms. Zhang stood trial at the Qianjin District Court on December 7, 2005. She was later sentenced to a three-year prison term, and served time in the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison.

After Ms. Zhang was released in 2008, she was forced to live away from home to hide from the police. She moved from place to place and lived a hard life. She eventually passed away on February 9, 2025.

Related Reports:

Reported in February 2025: Eight Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution

Reported in January 2025: 13 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution