(Minghui.org) A 63-year-old schoolteacher in Tianjin was admitted to the Tianjin Women’ Prison in July 2025 to serve a five-year term for practicing Falun Gong. This is the second time that Ms. Zhao Fei has been incarcerated since the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Ms. Zhao was arrested on October 2, 2024, by deputy chief Jia Dapeng of the Shigezhuang Town Police Station and several officers from the Wuqing District Domestic Security Office. They targeted her after surveillance cameras recorded her distributing Falun Gong materials outside a noodle restaurant.
The police raided Ms. Zhao’s home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, informational materials, computer, and flash drives. She was held in the Wuqing District Detention Center and issued a formal arrest warrant on October 17.
The police submitted Ms. Zhao’s case to the Wuqing District Procuratorate, which returned the case, citing insufficient evidence. Prosecutor Yan Fuqiang accepted the case when the police resubmitted it a month later. He indicted Ms. Zhao and forwarded her case to the Wuqing District Court. She was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong in China.
Ms. Zhao stood trial on February 17, 2025. Her lawyer entered a not guilty for her. He also called out the prosecutor for adding new evidence to the case without his knowledge, which was a violation of legal procedure.
Ms. Zhao’s family learned about her five-year sentence on March 20, 2025. She appealed with the Tianjin First Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in March 2000. She was arrested and taken back to Tianjin. The police and government officials shocked her with electric batons, severely burning her hands and feet. They also slapped her in the face. At night they cuffed her to a tricycle outside to expose her to the elements. During the day they handcuffed her to a utility pole to humiliate her. Police officer Zhang Qingxiang threatened to whip her at one point.
Ms. Zhao was forced to pull weeds and do janitorial chores at the township government during the day and then go home at night. Her salary was suspended for six months and she was demoted from the middle school to the elementary school.
In early April 2008, Du Xuemin, the newly appointed deputy manager of Shigezhuang Town, instructed the school district superintendent to have someone park outside Ms. Zhao’s apartment building to monitor her around the clock. They prevented her from going outside for three days.
Ms. Zhao reasoned with the superintendent and the person assigned to monitor her. The superintendent reported her to Du and asked the latter to “discipline” her. Du, in turn, reported Ms. Zhao to the Wuqing District Police Department, saying she barred her students from singing pro-CCP songs during flag-raising ceremonies and urged them to practice Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhao was arrested on April 7, 2008, and taken to the Wuqing District Detention Center. She held a hunger strike to protest and was released 19 days later when she was in critical condition. The police seized her again at her sister’s home on July 9, 2008. She had a heart attack and fainted, but the police still carried her into their cruiser.
Ms. Zhao was sentenced to five and a half years by the Wuqing District Court on October 28, 2008. When the police took her to the Tianjin Women’s Prison in November 2008, she was found to have a rapid heart rate during the required physical exam and denied admission. She was then taken back to the Wuqing District Detention Center.
The police eventually got Ms. Zhao admitted to prison on January 17, 2009. She was forced to work over 12 hours a day without pay and sit on a small stool motionlessly for long hours. The guards arranged for inmates to monitor her around the clock. The inmates beat and verbally abused her at will. She was also deprived of sleep, given limited amounts of water or food, and denied the use of the restroom. She survived the physical and mental abuse and was released on December 20, 2013.
Related Reports:
Former Middle School Teacher Given Second Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong
Once Jailed for 5 Years, 63-Year-Old Tianjin Teacher Stands Trial Again for Practicing Falun Gong
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