Retired Beijing Teacher Dies in Custody During Third Imprisonment for Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Yu Zhanqin, a 68-year-old retired teacher from Huairou District, Beijing, died on March 17, while serving an 18-month prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong—her third term of imprisonment for her faith. Her death was reported by Minghui.org and Weiquanwang on March 30. Her husband, two daughters, and brother, who had kept vigil in the hospital lobby for two days, were denied access to her until after she had passed.

Three imprisonments with pension suspended

Ms. Yu was a retired elementary school teacher well regarded by students and parents alike for her dedication. Between 2021 and 2025, she was reported to police on four separate occasions for speaking publicly about Falun Gong. Three of those reports resulted in criminal charges and imprisonment.

On February 10, 2021, Ms. Yu was arrested and her home ransacked following a report to police. She was released the next day after the Shunyi District Detention Center declined to admit her on health grounds.

On September 19, 2021, a vendor reported Ms. Yu to police after she spoke to him about Falun Gong. She was subsequently arrested, detained, and sentenced to six months in prison. She was released on March 8, 2022.

On July 7, 2022, Ms. Yu was reported to police for a third time and arrested. She was sentenced to fifteen months in prison and held at Beijing Women’s Prison, where she was subjected to torture and psychological coercion in attempts to force her to renounce her faith.

Following her release on October 6, 2023, Ms. Yu’s pension was suspended without legal basis or explanation. Facing serious financial hardship, she appealed to the Huairou District Board of Education multiple times seeking reinstatement. Officials allegedly threatened her with re-imprisonment if she continued to pursue the matter.

On July 4, 2025, a couple recorded Ms. Yu speaking about Falun Gong in public and submitted the recording to police. That evening, she was arrested in a joint operation involving local police and the 610 Office—an extralegal body established in June 1999 specifically to oversee the suppression of Falun Gong—and her home was searched. Her family later learned she had been sentenced to eighteen months in February 2026, though they were not informed of the indictment, the trial date, or the sentencing proceedings. Ms. Yu remained held at the Shunyi District Detention Center until her health deteriorated sharply around March 15, 2026.

Following two emergency hospital transfers, Ms. Yu died at 2:15 p.m. on March 17. Her family, who had been waiting in the hospital lobby, were not permitted to see her until after her death.

Deadly custody in China

Ms. Yu’s case is one of a documented pattern of Falun Gong practitioners dying while held in China’s detention centers and prisons. In many such cases, family members are denied access to the dying person until after death — a practice widely believed to serve the purpose of suppressing testimony that might expose abuse, torture, withheld medical care, or other mistreatment within these facilities.

The lethal consequences of the Chinese Communisty Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in custody have been documented by human rights organizations and government bodies, including Freedom House and the UK Home Office. As of April 2026, Minghui.org has verified 5,334 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners attributable to the ongoing persecution in China, with at least 164 recorded in 2024 and 124 in 2025. More than two-thirds of the 2025 cases involved women, and more than four-fifths involved individuals aged 60 or older—both categories that describe Ms. Yu. Many of these victims, like Ms. Yu, died in custody.

Together with the recently reported case of a 90-year-old man sentenced to two years in prison on March 20, Ms. Yu’s case reflects an ongoing trend in which Falun Gong practitioners are imprisoned despite conditions that make incarceration wholly impractical. Elderly practitioners and women appear to be especially targeted in this ongoing campaign of persecution by the CCP.