(Minghui.org) A Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, resident was arrested at a farmers’ market on September 8, 2025 when she talked to shoppers about the persecution of her faith, Falun Gong.
Ms. Song Ruixiang, in her 70s, is now held at the Daqing City Second Detention Center. It’s not clear whether the police plan to prosecute her.
Ms. Song took up Falun Gong in 1998. Her many ailments, including lumbar disc herniation, stomach disease, and uterine fibroids, soon disappeared. After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, she was arrested at least five times and tortured while in custody. Her husband and younger brother, who also practiced Falun Gong, both passed away as a result of the persecution.
First Arrest
Ms. Song, her brother Mr. Song Ruiyi and daughter Ms. Ma Lili went to Beijing in January 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. They were arrested and held at the Yilan County Liaison Office in Beijing. After seven days, they were escorted back to Heilongjiang and held at the Yilan County Detention Center.
More than 100 Falun Gong practitioners were detained at the Yilan County Detention Center back then. Most of them were arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Ms. Song shared a cell with 19 other practitioners. More practitioners were brought to the detention center every day. When practitioners recited Falun Gong’s teachings the guards played loud pop music to drown them out.
Because practitioners refused to stop reciting the Falun Gong teachings during the visit by a prosecutor, the guards retaliated by making them stand outdoors in the freezing cold wind. They also poured water on them. Ms. Song and her daughter were restrained in metal chairs and tortured.
Ms. Song and her daughter were also forced to work nearly 12 hours every day without pay. They were detained for five months and extorted 1,500 yuan, before they were released.
Second Arrest
On January 23, 2001, the eve of the Chinese New Year, Ms. Song was arrested again while working at her family’s greenhouse. She was taken to the Yilan County Detention Center.
Ms. Song held a hunger strike on the 7th day. After six days, the guards began force-feeding her. Zheng Jun, the detention center’s deputy director, and guard Lin Zhong instigated four male inmates to hold her arms and legs. They inserted a feeding tube into her stomach and poured in four bottles of concentrated saline. Her clothing was covered in salt when the solution dried. Her stomach hurt so badly that she rolled on the ground. When the guards took her to the hospital for emergency treatment the doctor criticized Zheng for persecuting her so hard.
After she returned from the hospital Ms. Song began to vomit blood and she was unable to eat anything. By the 9th day of her hunger strike, she was on the verge of death. Fearing that she might die while in custody the guards released her.
Third Arrest
Ms. Song was arrested together with her husband, Mr. Ma Xicheng, in September 2001, after they were reported for putting up banners along a road. After two weeks at the Yilan County Detention Center, they were each given a two-year labor camp term. Ms. Song was taken to the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp and Mr. Ma was taken to the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp.
At the Wanjia Forced Labor Camp, Ms. Song had to squat for long hours without moving. After she squatted for three days the guards hung her up by her wrists with her toes barely touching the ground. When she still refused to renounce Falun Gong after six hours, three guards poured water over her and then shocked her with electric batons. Her knees and hair were severely burned. As she remained firm in her faith, they hung her up even higher and continued the electric shocks.
After the hanging torture, Ms. Song was unable to lift her arms for more than two months. Many practitioners became disabled as a result of this torture.
Fourth Arrest
Ms. Song was arrested again on July 5, 2006 with her husband, after they were reported for putting up Falun Gong materials. Ms. Song began a hunger strike the next day at the Yilan County Detention Center. Because she was on the verge of death she was released on the 13th day. Mr. Ma, however, was given another two-year term at the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp.
Fifth Arrest
Ms. Song was arrested for the fifth time on the evening of May 14, 2013, when she was reading the Falun Gong teachings with other practitioners. She refused to cooperate with the interrogation later that night. The police handcuffed her tightly.
Due to Ms. Song’s extremely high blood pressure, the Daqing City First Detention Center refused to admit her. The police forced the guards to take her and detained her for nine days. Because her blood pressure remained very high, the guards released her on residential surveillance.
Mr. Ma suffered tracheitis and leg vein inflammation. His condition completely went away after he began practicing Falun Gong in 1998.
After the persecution started in 1999, Mr. Ma went to Beijing to appeal, only to be arrested and given a one-year labor camp term.
Mr. Ma, Mr. Song (Ms. Song’s brother), and another practitioner went to Beijing to appeal again in October 2000. They were arrested at Tiananmen Square and detained in the Yilan County Detention Center. Both he and Mr. Song were taken to the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp to serve time.
After Mr. Ma and Ms. Song were arrested in September 2001 and given forced labor camp terms, their two daughters lived with their grandmother who was in her 70s.
The couple were arrested together again in July 2006 for distributing Falun Gong materials. Mr. Ma was very weak due to the force feeding in the detention center, but the police still took him to the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year term.
Mr. Ma developed tuberculous pleurisy at the labor camp in February 2008. When the guards released him on March 1, 2008, he was emaciated and could not hear. He was also very weak and couldn’t eat much. He was only 58 years old when he died on December 14, 2008.
Mr. Song began to practice Falun Gong in March 1998. His lumbar disc herniation soon disappeared. He quit smoking and drinking and no longer had a hot temper.
Mr. Song went to Beijing to appeal in January 2000 with his sister and was arrested. While he was detained in the Yilan County Second Detention Center, he was forced to stand. He was beaten and deprived of sleep. The guards also shoved his head into the toilet. Officer Lin Zhong strangled his neck with a towel, gagged him with a piece of cloth, hung him up, and beat him. They didn’t stop until he fainted. He was later released after being extorted 6,900 yuan.
Mr. Song went to Beijing to appeal again in October 2000 and was arrested. After a brief detention at the Yilan County Second Detention Center, he was given one year at the Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp.
Mr. Song, his wife Ms. Jing Honghua and seven practitioners went to the countryside to distribute Falun Gong materials on November 29, 2001. After they were arrested, the police tortured them for 36 hours non-stop. Mr. Song was handcuffed behind his back, with one hand pulled over from the shoulder and the other hand pulled up from his lower back.
He held a hunger strike after he was taken to the Yilan County Second Detention Center. Three days later, the guards began to force feed him with saline. His stomach was severely damaged and he was dying when he was released.
Mr. Song and his wife were forced to live away from home after they escaped an arrest on December 29, 2001. As he was still recovering from the injuries sustained in the detention center, he was unable to eat. The mental pressure from the persecution further took a toll on his health. He soon became incapacitated. He was only 48 years old when he died on November 3, 2002.