(Minghui.org)
Name: Wang ShuzhiChinese Name: 王淑芝Gender: FemaleAge: 59City: JixiProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: N/ADate of Death: July 19, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 22, 2025Most Recent Place of Detention: Jixi City Detention Center
A Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province resident died at the Jixi City Detention Center on July 19, 2025, less than two months after she was arrested for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She was 59.
Ms. Wang Shuzhi’s death is a result of the intensified persecution of local Falun Gong practitioners by the Jixi City government, Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and 610 Office since early 2025. They selected Hengshan District as a pilot location and instructed law enforcement to closely monitor practitioners living in the district starting in April 2025. The police also posted rewards for the locals to report on the practitioners. More than ten practitioners were harassed and had their Falun Gong books confiscated. Three practitioners were detained and fined.
Ms. Wang was arrested on May 22, 2025 and taken to the Jixi City Detention Center, which initially refused to admit her due to her poor health. The Hengshan District Police Department held her at an unknown location and successfully had the detention center admit her a week later.
Ms. Wang held a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary detention and was force-fed. She became seriously ill and was taken to the Jixi City People’s Hospital for treatment on July 13, 2025. As soon as she recovered a little, she was brought back to the detention center on July 17, only to die there at 3 a.m. on July 19.
After the onset of the persecution, Ms. Wang was repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith. She was arrested on May 16, 2008 at a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Jiguan District, after being reported for making deposits with bills printed with information about Falun Gong. Officers from the Hongxing Village Police Station ransacked her home in the afternoon and confiscated two Falun Gong books.
Ms. Wang’s family went to the police station to demand her release, but got no useful information from the staff there. They later found out that she had been transferred to a labor camp in Harbin City to serve a term of unknown length.
Ms. Wang was arrested again on November 9, 2018, while visiting her sister. She was held at the Jiguan District Police Department overnight and taken to the Jiguan District Detention Center the next day. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released on November 20, 2018.
Ms. Wang’s next arrest was on August 3, 2019, when she was mailing letters with information about Falun Gong at the Diangong Road Post Office. The police searched her and took away the 500 yuan in cash that she had. She held a hunger strike while being held at the Jixi City Lockup and was released on August 8, 2019.
To avoid the persecution, Ms. Wang moved to the Hengshan District, only to be arrested on May 22, 2025 and persecuted to death in custody in less than two months.
Ms. Wang, the youngest of three sisters, was not the only one persecuted for their shared faith in Falun Gong. Her two siblings were also repeatedly targeted.
Oldest Sister Ms. Wang Shugui
The oldest sister, Ms. Wang Shugui, was arrested on November 9, 2018. The police raided her home and confiscated many of her belongings.
The Jixi City Police Department later submitted Ms. Wang’s case to the Mishan City Procuratorate, which indicted her on July 17, 2019. Her elderly mother, Ms. Teng Guilan, went to various agencies to seek her release, but to no avail.
The Mishan City Court held three hearings of Ms. Wang’s case and sentenced her to nineteen months with a 10,000-yuan fine on October 23, 2020.
Second Sister Ms. Wang Shuxiang
The middle sister, Ms. Wang Shuxiang, was arrested on April 6, 2018, after being reported to the police for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was detained for 15 days and then released on bail.
Ms. Wang was arrested again on October 21, 2019, and taken to the Jixi City First Detention Center. She held a hunger strike and was released days later on October 29, 2019. To avoid being arrested again, she lived away from home and was put on the police’s wanted list.
On February 11, 2025, after nearly six years of displacement, Ms. Wang was arrested and indicted soon after. She appeared in the Jidong County Court on June 9, 2025 and was sentenced to two years with a 10,000-yuan fine on July 3, 2025, two weeks before her younger sister’s death.