Parents of Grace Chen

Mr. Yang Chen and Mrs. Zhimin Cao are Falun Gong practitioners from Hunan Province. The couple was detained by police on October 27, 2020 along with 19 other Falun Gong practitioners. Their teenage daughter Grace, who lives in New York, has been unable to contact them and lawyers have been pressured not to take their case. Chen and Cao have both been previously imprisoned for their faith. They were reportedly released in 2025.

(Pictured above (L) is mother Zhimin Cao with daughter Grace Chen in China, around 2010. (R) is a photo of Grace in New York, taken in December 2021.)

Updated: March 2026.

Case Summary

Yang Chen / 陈阳 – Gender: Male, Born: 1969

Zhimin Cao / 曹志敏 – Gender: Female, Born: 1974

Grace (Fayuan) Chen – Gender: Female, Born: February 10, 2005

Current status: Released in 2025. (Mr. Chen was at Wangling Prison; Mrs. Cao was released from Hunan Province Women’s Prison.)

Reason for Detention: Chen and Cao were detained as part of a mass-arrest of 21 Falun Gong practitioners in Changsha, while studying the teachings (akin to Bible study).

Past Detentions: Mr. Chen was previously sentenced to 4 years of prison for his activism. He was severely beaten and tortured, including being force-fed with bamboo tubes and beaten with electric batons. In 2010, Mrs. Cao was abducted by authorities along with Grace after picking her up from elementary school. Both Cao and Grace were taken to a brainwashing facility for an unspecified amount of time.

Current location (Updated Feb 2026): Changsha

U.S. Family Residence: New York

Personal Background

Mr. Yang Chen (53) was a computer engineer at a medical company in Hunan Province. He started practicing Falun Gong in October 1995. Through the practice’s mind and body meditation, his health improved and his chronic illness even disappeared. In November 1999, Chen petitioned the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. He was then sentenced to four years in prison.

Mr. Yang Chen’s wife, Zhimin Cao (49), worked for the human resources department at a state-owned car company. She began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. She was sentenced to three years in prison after she petitioned the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration with her husband in November 1999. Cao and her family were left without any money, a house, and have been stripped of all social resources.

Their daughter Grace Fayuan Chen (18) currently resides in New York. Two years ago, she left her home in Hunan Province to pursue her dream with the support of her parents. Grace hopes through playing the erhu—a two-stringed Chinese instrument— people around the world will discover the beauty of traditional Chinese culture. She currently attends a classic music high school in upstate New York. In her free time, Grace likes watching musical films and you can always find her humming a tune. Her favorite are Sunset Boulevard and Singin’ in the Rain.

Timeline

February 2026: Torture reported following release
After their release, documentation regarding Mr. Chen’s torture was published. For the first time, it was revealed that Chen Yang was sentenced to four years and his wife was sentenced to 48 months.
November 2022: Prison locations confirmed
Mr. Chen was recently confirmed to be held at Wangling Prison and Ms. Cao is at Hunan Province Women’s Prison. The terms of their sentences are unknown as of this date.
December 21, 2021: Faced trial at Liuyang City Court
Fifteen Changsha City, Hunan Province residents are facing trial by the Liuyang Court for their faith in Falun Gong. It was revealed that the court hearing is only a formality and some of their prison terms have already been determined by the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extrajudicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution.
December 5, 2020: Officially arrested
Changsha authorities approved the arrest in December.
October 27, 2020: Detained
Mr. Chen and his wife, Cao, were taken to detention on October 27, 2020 at around 10:30 p.m., by Hunan Province and Changsha City police while studying Falun Gong teachings together with six other practitioners. Their homes were ransacked that evening. Both were taken to local detention centers.
2010: Mother and Daughter Taken to Brainwashing Facility
Mrs. Cao Zhimin, who lives in a dormitory affiliated with the Changsha City Food and Drug Supervision and Management Bureau, was stopped by at least five unidentified men while she accompanied her daughter Grace to kindergarten at around 8 a.m. on July 5, 2010. The men dragged her and her daughter into a white, unmarked sedan and drove them away. Mrs. Cao shouted to passersby for help and her daughter cried. The men were later identified as officers from the Changsha City 610 Office and the Furong District 610 Office. They took Mrs. Cao and her daughter to the Laodaohe Brainwashing Center in Changsha City. Their family has been forbidden to visit them.
2003: Force-Fed
Mr. Chen Yang, 30, was detained at Chishan Prison in Hunan Province for 4 years. While in detainment, police and other prisoners beat Chen Yang, forcibly carried him to work and dragged and threw him on the concrete ground. In protest, Chen and others went on a hunger strike, which resulted in force-feeding. From April 6-9, 2003, the “educator” of the third prison district Wu Zhiguo used an electric baton to shock Chen Yang’s face, neck, and all inches of his body. Wu then ordered five prisoners to strip Chen and beat him with bamboo strips. The prisoners pushed him down on the ground and beat him. On May 8, guards He Zhongmou, Liu Xiao, and Qiu Biaohua from the prison political division beat Chen until his nose and legs were bleeding, and his teeth were knocked out.
October 1999: First Imprisoned
Cao was arbitrarily sentenced for petitioning at Beijing’s Central Office and the State Council’s Letters and Calls Bureau. The petition stated Falun Dafa is beneficial to the people’s physical and mental health. In prison, she was subject to forced brainwashing. She was forced to write a book called “三书” denouncing and slandering the practice.

News & Actions

Belated documentation of Mr. Chen’s torture in prison was published on February 24, 2026.
First reported by Minghui on October 30, 2020.
They were 2 of 1,077 Falun Gong practitioners reportedly arrested or harassed in October 2020.
Mr. Chen and Mrs. Cao were under long-term internet and telecommunication surveillance before their detention.
Mr. Chen was detained in the No. 2 Detention Center of Changsha City, but his current whereabouts are unknown from December 2020 onwards. Ms. Cao is detained in the No. 4 Detention Center.
Officially arrested on December 5, 2020.
The police refused to let their lawyers meet their clients.
Mei Guodong, deputy secretary of the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extrajudicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution, has already determined their prison terms and Liuyang Court would go through the court proceedings as a sheer formality. Lawyers were pressured by their law firms or local justice bureaus to withdraw from the case.
Their daughter Grace was interviewed by the Epoch Times on April 6, 2021.
Minuteman Militia and Minghui.org covered her speech at a rally on April 18, 2021. Grace called on Chinese authorities to release her parents and other Falun Gong practitioners. “I hope the CCP police can learn the facts and stop participating in the persecution so they can have a better future,” she said
Grace’s guardian in the U.S. set up a GoFundMe for her school tuition.

Grace spoke in Manhattan on April 18, 2021 to raise awareness about her parents’ detention.

Grace wrote an op-ed in the Australian Muslim Times newspaper on January 3, 2023 here.
On January 31 and February 1, 2023, Grace Chen spoke at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington DC. Watch her speech and read her story below.

Grace Chen Speech from IRF Summit 2023 Download

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