The persecution of Falun Gong targeted 100 million people in China, and decimated countless families and communities across China. Below, we offer a glimpse into the human cost of this persecution with up-close and personal stories of those who were killed, those who survived, and those struggling to the freedom of others. These are their stories…
The persecution of Falun Gong targeted 100 million people in China, and decimated countless families and communities across China. These are their stories…
Ms. Cong Peishan is 87 years old. Ms. Li Xianghong is 63. After years of imprisonment and persecution for practicing Falun Gong, both women have effectively been left without income.
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.
A 90-year-old resident of Jinan City, Shandong Province, has been sentenced to two years in prison for speaking about Falun Gong on a public bus, according to a series of reports first published by Minghui.org on March 10, followed by Weiquanwang on March 11, and later by Bitter Winter on March 19. The case underscores persistent concerns about religious freedom and the treatment of elderly practitioners in China.
Mr. Chen Yang and his wife Cao Zhimin, both from Changsha, were arrested in November 2020 simply for studying Falun Gong teachings and reading Falun Gong books at the home of practitioner Li Zhigang. In January 2022, Chen Yang was illegally sentenced to four years in prison and fined 15,000 yuan, while Cao Zhimin was sentenced to three years and ten months and fined 10,000 yuan. Chen Yang was taken to Wangling Prison in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, while Cao Zhimin was imprisoned in the Hunan Women’s Prison.
Ms. Wang Guirong, a 72-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Shouguang, Shandong Province, has been sentenced to two years in prison for her faith. On Feb. 5, 2026, she was transferred to Shandong Province Women’s Prison to serve what authorities characterized as a criminal sentence. Her family was reportedly afforded no meaningful legal recourse.
Persecution cases against Falun Gong practitioners continue to be reported almost daily across China. In late December 2025, a mother and son in Linghai City, Liaoning Province, were each sentenced to six years in prison solely for practicing Falun Gong. The case was reported on Jan. 21, 2026, by Weiquanwang, a website aggregating grassroots accounts of human rights abuses in China, and by Minghui.org. In early Febunary, Bitter Winter, an Italy-based online magazine focused on religious persecution, independently confirmed this case once again highlighting how Chinese security forces target not only individual practitioners but entire families for their beliefs.
Ms. Kuang Deying (况德英), a 64-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, has been illegally sentenced to four years in prison by the Wuhua District Court of Kunming. She was arrested on August 3, 2025, when police raided her home and confiscated personal property, according to Weiquanwang, a website aggregating grassroots accounts of human rights abuses in China.
In 2025, at least 124 Falun Gong practitioners in China were reported to have died as a result of the ongoing persecution, according to information compiled by Minghui.org.
An 81-year-old Falun Gong practitioner in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, died under suspicious circumstances after being illegally detained for less than 20 days, raising serious concerns about the treatment of elderly prisoners of conscience in China.
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