(Minghui.org)
Name: Sun XiuhuaChinese Name: 孙秀华Gender: FemaleAge: 64City: ShulanProvince: JilinOccupation: Wedding hostDate of Death: March 2026Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 17, 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown prison
Ms. Sun Xiuhua and her husband were well-known wedding hosts in Baiqi Town, Shulan City, Jilin Province. They ran a successful business and enjoyed a well-to-do life. But after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered the persecution of their shared faith, Falun Gong, in 1999, the couple’s business fell apart, and they were repeatedly arrested and detained. Ms. Sun’s health deteriorated over the years. She passed away in early March 2026. She was 64.
Shortly after the persecution began in July 1999, Ms. Sun went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested on November 17, 1999, and held at the Shulan City Police Department for 15 days. Because she remained firm in her faith, she was transferred to a brainwashing session at the Baiqi Town Senior Center, where she was detained for 13 days before being moved to a local lockup facility.
On December 27, 1999, Ms. Sun was transferred to a detention center to serve one month of criminal detention. After that, she was given a one-year labor camp term and transferred to the Heizuizi Women’s Forced Labor Camp in February 2000. She and other wrongfully detained practitioners recited Falun Gong’s teaching to protest. The guards tied them up and taped their mouths. When Ms. Sun’s term expired, the guards detained her for an additional 12 days before releasing her.
Ms. Sun was arrested on July 9, 2003, by Li Zhuo of the Shulan City Domestic Security Office and Liu Xuebing of the Fate Town Police Station. They took her to the Baiqi Town Police Station and beat her until she lost consciousness. When she came to, she noticed a large area of blood on the floor and that several of her front teeth were loose.
Ms. Sun was transferred to the Shulan City Police Department in the afternoon. Trying to escape, she jumped off from the third floor and suffered multiple fractures. She stayed in an intensive care unit for seven days before her condition stabilized.
Harassment During the Political Meetings
During the CCP’s annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in March 2004, the local government in Baiqi Town arranged for one official to monitor each local Falun Gong practitioner, in order to prevent them from going to Beijing to appeal. If they couldn’t find the practitioners, they harassed their families instead.
Ma Chuanzhi, the chief of Baiqi Town Police Station, twice went to Ms. Sun’s home on March 4, 2004. When her family refused to open the door, the police smashed the windows and broke in. As Ms. Sun’s husband, Mr. Xu Hongyu, wasn’t home, the police continued to search for him. They eventually arrested Mr. Xu at another practitioner’s home. They took him to the Baiqi Town Police Station for interrogation and released him in the evening.
Husband’s Forced Labor Term
Ms. Sun and Mr. Xu later relocated to Meishan City, Sichuan Province, trying to restart their personal business, only to be arrested on November 18, 2004. Ms. Sun was held at the Renshou County Detention Center for one month of criminal detention, and Mr. Xu was given three years of forced labor.
While transferring Mr. Xu from the Meishan City Detention Center to the Xinhua Forced Labor Camp, the police threatened him, “Are you still holding firm to Falun Gong? I will bankrupt you, ruin your reputation, and ensure you live a miserable life.”
At the labor camp, Mr. Xu was constantly tortured for not renouncing Falun Gong, including sleep deprivation, restricted restroom use, long hours of standing, and intensive brainwashing.
Because Mr. Xu shouted “Falun Dafa is good” on October 1, 2006, the guards shocked him with over ten electric batons for more than 40 minutes. They then restrained him in a metal chair and deprived him of sleep for over a month. They also extended his term by three months.
Continued Harassment and Husband’s Prison Sentence
After the couple moved back to Shulan City, they faced continued harassment by the local police. Officers of the Fate Town Police Station harassed Ms. Sun at home on August 16, 2017, and took photos of her without her permission.
Dong Qiming and Zhang Xuetao, directors of the Shulan City Domestic Security Office, led a group officers to arrest local practitioners and raid their homes on the evening of July 18, 2018. At least 13 practitioners were targeted, including Mr. Xu.
Mr. Xu was later sentenced to two years and ten months, with a 3,000-yuan fine. While he was serving time at the Gongzhuling Prison, the guards shocked him on the face and neck with electric batons. His face and neck became swollen as a result. The guards also forced him to wear a straitjacket for hours on end, nearly suffocating him.
Ms. Sun’s last arrest was on July 17, 2020, when she was in Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, to visit her son and newborn grandson. Zhang Xuetao, the deputy director of the Shulan City Domestic Security Office, police chief Yang, and a woman with unknown identity followed Ms. Sun there and they worked with the police in Heyuan in arresting her.
Ms. Sun was escorted back to Shulan and held at the Jilin City Detention Center. She was later sentenced to two years in prison. While serving time at an unknown prison, she was subjected to intensive brainwashing and forced to renounce Falun Gong against her will. When she was released, she was in a delirious state.
Upon returning home, Ms. Sun struggled to recover while facing a tremendous financial predicament. Her health kept deteriorating, and she was briefly hospitalized in January 2026. She never recovered and passed away in early March 2026.