(Minghui.org)
Name: Cao ShengxiangChinese Name: 曹生祥Gender: MaleAge: 69City: XiningProvince: QinghaiOccupation: Head of Logistics DepartmentDate of Death: September 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 29, 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Menyuan Prison
Mr. Cao Shengxiang was in serious condition when he completed a five-year prison term in late June 2025 for his faith in Falun Gong. Due to the abuses he suffered in custody, he died three months later. He was 69.
Mr. Cao of Xining City, Qinghai Province, was arrested at home on June 29, 2020. His Falun Gong books were confiscated. Due to his health, he remained bedridden for over a year in the detention center. The authorities later secretly sentenced him to five years.
Mr. Cao was taken to the Menyuan Prison and put under strict management. He was denied family visits and barred from writing or calling them. The guards barely gave him barely enough to eat and didn’t let him buy extra food either.
In addition to the strict management and poor living conditions, Mr. Cao was forced to do slave labor. The authorities played audio programs slandering Falun Gong through a loudspeaker every day and sometimes held the practitioners in solitary confinement, causing tremendous mental pressure for those who refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. Cao was released in late June 2025. But due to the abuses he suffered in custody, he struggled to recover and died three months later.
Prior to his latest sentencing, Mr. Cao, the former Director of the Logistics Department of Xining Jiaotong Hospital, was repeatedly targeted for his faith.
He was given one year of forced labor in 2001 for printing and distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
He was arrested again on October 23, 2011, while on his way to help a relative prepare for a wedding. He was taken to a brainwashing session and held there until December 4, 2011. The brainwashing session was hosted by the Xining City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and each practitioner was monitored by two people.
Mr. Cao was seized by the police while walking on the street on June 23, 2012. Over ten officers raided his home in the afternoon and confiscated his Falun Gong books and other personal items. He was taken to the Ershilipu Detention Center and his family was kept in the dark of his case status. They went to the detention center many times to visit him, but were always turned away.
The Chengbei District Court tried Mr. Cao secretly in the second half of 2013 and sentenced him to five years. When his family found out about the trial, they asked the Chengbei District Procuratorate why they didn’t inform them of his indictment or trial. The prosecutor responded, “Cao is an adult. There was no need to inform the family.” It wasn’t until January 2014 that the detention center notified the family of his prison term. They contacted the court for a copy of the verdict, but the court refused to provide it.
Mr. Cao was admitted to the Menyuan Prison on February 24, 2014. His family was allowed to visit him in March 2014. But they could only talk to him for a few minutes and the entire conversation was videotaped, with guards standing on the side, watching closely. As soon as Mr. Cao’s family mentioned their intention to appeal the verdict on his behalf, the guards ended their visit.
Mr. Cao was released in 2017, only to be arrested again in June 2020 and sentenced to another five years.
Qinghai Man Secretly Sentenced to Second Prison Term for His Faith