(Minghui.org)
Name: Zhao JianChinese Name: 赵健Gender: FemaleAge: 58City: ChangchunProvince: JilinOccupation: factory workerDate of Death: December 1, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 2015Most Recent Place of Detention: a detention center
A woman in Changchun City, Jilin Province, spent the last eight years of her life in displacement to avoid being arrested again for her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Zhao Jian’s death on December 1, 2025, capped her decades of suffering at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She was 58.
Ms. Zhao joined her husband in practicing Falun Gong in September 1996, after seeing how he had changed for the better and no longer wanted to divorce her. She held firm to her faith when the CCP launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999, and was repeatedly targeted by the authorities.
Four Trips to Beijing to Appeal for Falun Gong
Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in August 1999, and was arrested on Tiananmen Square. She was taken to the Changchun Liaison Office in Beijing, but managed to escape.
Three months later, Ms. Zhao returned to Beijing and was arrested again on Tiananmen Square and taken to the Changchun Liaison Office in Beijing. Two officers handcuffed her and took her to board a train to Changchun. After they arrived at the Changchun City Police Department, she escaped through a back door. Officer Zhao He from the Xijiao Road Police Station arrested her at home two days later and held her at the Daguang Lockup for seven days.
Ms. Zhao made a third trip to Beijing in November 2000, this time with over ten other Falun Gong practitioners. They unfurled banners on Tiananmen Square and were arrested.
While held at the Shunyi District Detention Center in Beijing, Ms. Zhao went on a hunger strike in protest and was taken to a hospital for force-feeding. Two officers held her down on the ground. One of them sat on her and inserted a thick feeding tube into her nose and mouth, back and forth more than ten more times, causing bleeding from her mouth and nose. They force fed her a large amount of highly salted cornmeal, which caused her stomach to swell, and she ended up throwing up everything. She also vomited blood.
In the next few days, Ms. Zhao experienced persistent chest pain and could not fall asleep. The police released her about one week later.
On New Year’s Day 2001, Ms. Zhao stood on Tiananmen Square a fourth time. She was arrested and taken to the Miyun District Police Station. When she refused to reveal her identity, two officers each inserted an electric baton into her clothes to shock her on the back, causing her to pass out. After she came to, she went on a hunger strike and demanded her unconditional release. Five days later, she was released when the police noted she had become dangerously weak from the hunger strike.
Sentenced to 15 Years in 2002
On March 5, 2002, a group of Falun Gong practitioners tapped into eight cable TV channels in Changchun City, and for fifty minutes, successfully broadcast programs exposing the persecution. A mass arrest ensued, with more than 5,000 practitioners in the Changchun region arrested within days. Seven were beaten to death in police custody.
Ms. Zhao was arrested by officers from the Changchun City Police Station. They covered her head with a cloth and took her to a hotel basement. Seven officers twisted her hands behind her back and with a nylon rope, they tied her hands to her legs, which were bent backwards. They lifted her up by the rope and dropped her to the ground. They did this repeatedly and her limbs became numb.
The police next sat Ms. Zhao on a bench with her legs tied to the bench. Four officers shocked her on the palms, chest, nipples, and legs with electric batons. The front of her body had numerous burn marks that turned black.
The police later covered her head with a black plastic bag so tightly that she almost suffocated. They removed the bag, only to put it back on after she recovered a little. They also put lighted cigarettes up to her face and blew smoke in her face, causing her to have a runny nose and teary eyes.
After four days on the bench without any sleep, Ms. Zhao was taken to the Changchun City Third Detention Center. By then she had become incapacitated.
On September 18, 2002, Ms. Zhao and 14 other practitioners who directly participated in the TV tapping, were given heavy sentences of up to 20 years. Ms. Zhao was given 15 years. See the related report (below) for details.
Right after the sentencing, each of the 15 practitioners was taken to a separate room and shocked with three or four electric batons simultaneously for at least 20 minutes.
Abused and Tortured in Prison
Ms. Zhao was admitted to the Heizuizi Women’s Prison in Changchun in October 2002. She was first held at the new-admits team before being assigned to Division 5. She refused to renounce her faith or sing pro-CCP songs.
The guards brought in a collaborator to defame Falun Gong. Ms. Zhao said to him, “Shut up!” She was forced to stand for a whole afternoon.
Captain Cao Hong ordered a new round of persecution against Ms. Zhao and three other practitioners in late 2006 upon discovering that they had managed to pass around articles written by the founder of Falun Gong. The four of them were each held in a solitary confinement cell with the curtains drawn.
The guards tied Ms. Zhao’s limbs to the four posts of a bed and suspended her in the air. The pain was unbearable, and every second felt like eternity. Her hands and feet turned purple and her winter jacket and cotton pants were soaked in sweat. Her hair was also wet from sweat.
Ms. Zhao was suspended like that for a whole night. The guards kept her tied up in a spread-eagle position after letting her down onto the bed. She was tied to the bed for two months, and had to relieve herself in the bed.
Forced into Displacement
After Ms. Zhao was released ahead of time in 2012, she learned that her mother-in-law had become so devastated by her imprisonment that she developed a serious illness. The older woman died three months after Ms. Zhao returned home.
In May 2015, Ms. Zhao filed a complaint against former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who launched the persecution of Falun Gong and directly ordered the mass arrest of Changchun practitioners in March 2002. Officers from the Yongji Police Station found out about the complaint and detained Ms. Zhao for ten days.
After she was released, Ms. Zhao found herself still under close surveillance and she continued to face frequent harassment and threats. The police attempted to arrest her at work one day and she escaped. After that, she quit her job at the Changchun City No. 2 Testing Machine Factory and went into hiding in 2017.
The police have been hunting Ms. Zhao for the past eight years. The persecution eventually claimed her life on December 1, 2025.
Related Report:
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