Blind Falun Gong Practitioner Sentenced, Then Vanishes from Home in Yunnan

A blind woman from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, has disappeared under alarming circumstances, raising serious concerns about custodial enforcement against vulnerable Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Yang Xiaoming, born in 1969, was sentenced in 2023 to seven years in prison and fined 20,000 yuan for practicing Falun Gong. Due to her medical condition, she had been permitted to remain at home following sentencing. In late March 2026, however, a friend attempting to reach her grew concerned after receiving no response. Upon visiting Yang’s residence, the friend found the outer security door locked, the inner wooden door standing open, a chair overturned, and items strewn across a table. Yang, who lived alone, was nowhere to be found. Her friend believes she was taken into custody to begin serving her sentence.

The disappearance was first reported by Minghui.org on April 6, followed by Weiquanwang on April 8, and later by Bitter Winter on April 16.

Decades of persecution

Yang began practicing Falun Gong in the mid-1990s and credited the discipline with restoring her eyesight after years of eye disease. After the Chinese Communist Party launched a nationwide crackdown on the practice in July 1999, she became a repeated target of state persecution.

In the early years of the campaign, authorities went beyond detention, pressuring her then-husband — while she was employed at Kunming Medical College — to force her to undergo an abortion. He divorced her shortly after. Between 2001 and 2008, Yang served two terms in forced labor camps totaling five years, during which she endured beatings and other abuse that caused permanent damage to her vision. By the end of 2012, she had gone completely blind.

Her disability did not shield her from continued harassment. On May 28, 2022, police broke into her home and arrested her. She was held overnight under harsh conditions — reportedly restrained and denied food, water, and restroom access — before being transferred to a detention center, which refused to admit her on medical grounds. Released on bail, she remained under prosecution. In November 2022 she was summoned for further questioning, and in December received a formal indictment.

On February 1, 2023, police again forced open her door and escorted her to the Xishan District Court. On March 14, Judge Zhu Dandan sentenced her to seven years in prison. Given her blindness and deteriorating health, she was not immediately imprisoned and was allowed to remain at home.

Subsequent contact with judicial authorities offered little hope of relief. On June 1, 2023, officials from both the Xishan District Court and the Kunming City Intermediate Court visited her home. Yang maintained that practicing Falun Gong violated no law and demanded the return of confiscated belongings. Officials indicated the original verdict would likely stand and pressed her to pay the fine — which she refused, citing both her lack of income and her innocence. In the latter half of 2024, officers returned to threaten incarceration, but left without detaining her.

Vulnerable practitioners targeted

Yang’s disappearance appears to be part of a wider enforcement operation in Yunnan Province. According to insider accounts, directives issued after mid-2024 ordered the incarceration of practitioners who had been sentenced but remained at home due to age or illness. Reports indicate that multiple practitioners — including elderly and seriously ill individuals — were forcibly detained, subjected to medical examinations, and transferred to prison regardless of their health status. In several documented cases, families received critical condition notices shortly after their loved ones were imprisoned.

One such case involves Zhang Zhenyi, a 79-year-old former mathematics teacher, who was admitted to Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison on April 2, 2026, to serve a two-year sentence imposed in 2025 for practicing Falun Gong. Zhang had previously been deemed unfit for detention in multiple medical evaluations. Authorities persisted, and following a third examination on March 30, she was detained, transferred first to a detention center and then to a hospital, before being formally admitted to prison.

Yang Xiaoming’s case illustrates the continued use of custodial enforcement against Falun Gong practitioners in China — including those in the most vulnerable conditions. It raises urgent questions about due process, proportionality in sentencing, and the treatment of detainees with serious medical needs, particularly where prior state abuse has already resulted in permanent disability.