Hunan Accountant Repeatedly Arrested For Her Faith Since 1999

Falun Gong is a spiritual meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Gong Xianghui is a 49 year old resident of Changsha City, Hunan Province. She was sentenced to prison for three years and four months for practicing Falun Gong by the Liuyang City Court on December 7, 2021. In July 2022, Gong was transferred to the Hunan Province Women’s Prison for her sentence.

Prior to this, Gong had been arrested at least six times and held at a brainwashing center for nearly three years, lost three jobs, and was forced to have an abortion at 24 weeks.

On October 27, 2020, Gong and her husband, Mr. Lu Congying, were seized by police during a police arrest. Gong remained detained at the Changsha City No. 4 Detention Center, while Lu was released nine days later.

However, in November and December 2020, authorities forced Lu to provide information regarding other practitioners of Falun Gong with threats of arresting his son or beating him to death. Terrified, Lu fell ill and became bedridden. Now, he relies on his parents, who are in their 80s, to take care of him.

Finding Faith

Prior to the persecution, Gong was an accountant. In the 90s, she had an eye condition as well as rheumatism. However, her ailments disappeared shortly after taking up the practice of Falun Gong in 1996. 

Gong’s relationship with her parents-in-law, who were also Falun Gong practitioners, also improved. Impressed by the changes in his wife and parents brought about by the practice, Lu started to practice in 2011.

Past Persecution: 1999-Present

Through the days of July 19 to July 22 in 1999, when the communist regime officially ordered the crackdown of Falun Gong, Gong was held at her workplace and was ordered to renounce her faith. During this time, she was pregnant with her first child.

A few days later, a group of practitioners, including Gong and her mother-in-law, were taken to an auditorium and forced to watch defamation videos of Falun Gong. All attendees were held hostage and they weren’t allowed to go home unless they wrote statements promising to stop practicing Falun Gong.

During this time, Gong’s bedridden grandmother, who relied on her care, was left in a dire situation. Under tremendous pressure, Gong resigned from her job and all belongings she had related to Falun Gong were confiscated.

May 2000: Gong was arrested and detained for two days. This left her five month old son in destitute.

January 18, 2001: Gong was arrested and taken to the local brainwashing center alongside her one-year-old son and parents-in-law where they were monitored 24/7. There, the family was made to stay in dark rooms void of sunlight.

While the officials threatened to kill her son, he was sent to his maternal grandparents. Gong’s parents-in-law were held at the brainwashing center for two years and three months before their release in April 2003.

At the time, she was six months pregnant with her second child. But because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was forced to have an abortion. Not only this, the staff tortured her by pulling her hair, twisting her arms, and removing her fingernails. Other physical abuses included stomping and kicking while verbally abusing her.

March 8, 2004: Six months after her release, Gong was arrested again while visiting a friend. This time she was detained for 15 days after the police conducted a body search and confiscated Falun Gong materials. This occurrence led to the insurance company she was working for at the time to fire her.

February 2005: Gong was fired from her job at a local kindergarten after she refused to sign a statement promising that she and her family would not participate in any Falun Gong related activities.

August 1, 2010: She was arrested and subject to physical and verbal abuse: police would slap her in the face and berate her for several hours as she was chained to a chair. Her wrists became swollen as a result. After 16 days of detention, Gong was transferred to the Laodaohe Brainwashing Center where she was monitored by two people around the clock. Her monitors constantly threatened to shock her with electric batons and ordered her to give up her faith.

August 15-31, 2010: Staff members at the Laodaohe Brainwashing Center sexually assaulted her. Despite Gong’s strong protest, none of the perpetrators were held accountable.

September 2011: When Gong’s husband, Lu, started to practice Falun Gong due to the positive impact it had on his family relations, he was arrested and detained for a day.

2012-2014: Mr. Lu was fired from his job. While he found another job shortly after, he was arrested while on his way to work on August 12, 2014. He was held at the Laodaohe Brainwashing Center for nearly a month, and his absence caused tremendous loss to his workplace.

Based on an original Minghui article.