(Minghui.org) A 70-year-old woman in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, is facing indictment because she practices Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhang Yuemei was arrested on June 3, 2025 by officers from the Zhugou Town Police Station because she talked to people about Falun Gong. She was taken to the Pudong Detention Center in Jimo City that day and has been held there since. The police submitted her case to the local procuratorate on August 26, 2025. Another practitioner, Ms. Yu Xiuzhi, 70, who was arrested with Ms. Zhang, also faces indictment.
Ms. Zhang, an elementary school teacher, began practicing Falun Gong in the winter of 1996. Her many ailments, such as depression, tracheitis, and liver disease, soon disappeared. Since the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she has been repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith. Between 1999 and 2017, the police extorted nearly 30,000 yuan from her and her family. Many of her valuables, such as TV, VCD player, and music player, were confiscated. The police used the money extorted from Ms. Zhang and other local Falun Gong practitioners to eat fancy meals or go on vacations.
When Ms. Zhang was detained, her husband was under so much pressure that he suffered severe insomnia and smoked heavily. The pressure took a toll on his health. He became ill and passed away in April 2012.
Below is a recap of Ms. Zhang’s persecution over the years.
Multiple Arrests and Extortion
On July 20, 1999, the day the persecution started, Ms. Zhang and other practitioners in Zhugou Town were taken to the village committee office and forced to watch videos smearing Falun Gong. She was detained for an unknown length of time and extorted 2,000 yuan.
Ms. Zhang was arrested again on October 13, 2000 by the Zhugou Town Party Committee. She was detained for four days and extorted 3,000 yuan.
For talking to people about Falun Gong at a community fair, Ms. Zhang was seized by Jiao Hengyu and other officers one spring day in 2003. After taking her to the Zhugou Town Police Station, the officers dragged her by her hair back and forth on the ground. They also stomped on her right foot, which was so swollen that she was unable to wear a shoe. She was released in the evening after her husband paid the police 3,000 yuan.
Tortured in the Brainwashing Center
After she was arrested at home in the summer of 2004, Ms. Zhang was taken straight to the Pingdu City Brainwashing Center. She held a hunger strike in protest and demanded to be released. The guards force-fed her, causing severe injuries to her stomach. As she remained firm in practicing Falun Gong, the guards often beat and kicked her. Guard Fu Hai once beat her on the head and didn’t stop until she collapsed to the ground and fainted.
The guards often smeared Falun Gong and its founder in front of Ms. Zhang. They also forbade her from using the restroom. She was once chained to a ring which was fixed to the ground and beaten, or forced to sit on a small stool with uneven surface and beaten whenever she moved a little.
Ms. Zhang’s mother struggled with poor health and relied on her for care. She and Ms. Zhang’s two teenager daughters, brother, sister-in-law and other relatives went to the brainwashing center to demand her release, but they were denied.
Ms. Zhang was detained for nearly six months. The Pingdu City 610 Office finally released her after extorting 6,000 yuan from her husband.
Serving a One-Year Labor Camp Term
Ms. Zhang, then 52, and two other Falun Gong practitioners were followed by chief Zhao Hongwu of the Zhugou Town Police Station, when they went to Guojia Village in Yunshan Town for a community fair on June 30, 2007. When they went there again in the early morning hours of July 5, the plainclothes officers who followed them beat them with thick clubs on the street, and accused them of being scammers. Many passersby condemned the police for beating them so hard.
After the beating, the police took the three practitioners to the Yunshan Police Station. Liu Jie, the director of Pingdu City Domestic Security Office, soon came. He grabbed Ms. Zhang by her hair and beat her. The police didn’t provide the three practitioners with any food during the day and took them to the Pingdu City Lockup that evening.
Around noon that day, the police went to Ms. Zhang’s home, smashed the lock to break in and confiscated all her Falun Gong materials.
An insider later told her family that the Zhugou Town Police Station officers wanted to arrest them for a long time. But because they talked to many villagers in Zhugou Town and the locals knew they were good people, the police planned the arrests in the nearby Guojia Village in Yunshan Town.
Guards at the Pingdu City Lockup deceived the practitioners’ family members into believing that as long as they paid the fine, the practitioners would be released in two weeks. Ms. Zhang’s family paid 260 yuan, only to see her being taken to the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp to serve a one-year term 13 days later.
Whenever Ms. Zhang’s family traveled to the labor camp to visit her, they had to obtain approval from the Pingdu City 610 Office and local police. Once Ms. Zhang’s younger daughter was denied the visitation to her because she forgot to bring her ID. She missed her mother so much that she cried.
Three More Arrests
Ms. Zhang was arrested again at the community fair on July 21, 2009. Liu Jie, the director of Pingdu City Domestic Security Office, and Liu Wei of the Zhugou Town Police Station extorted 5,000 yuan from her husband and took away the 120 yuan cash she had in her pocket.
Ms. Zhang’s next arrest was on February 11, 2012, by Guo Yucheng and other agents from the Pingdu City 610 Office. Her laptop, printer, Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, and several calendars with information about Falun Gong were confiscated. The couplets with the words “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” (main tenets of Falun Gong) were also torn from the door.
Ms. Zhang was arrested another time on June 8, 2017, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials and talking to people about Falun Gong. Guo raided her place at least twice and took away the 100 yuan cash in her purse.
Ms. Zhang was handcuffed to a chair overnight. She had trouble standing for a long time after that.
On the next day, the police took Ms. Zhang to an unknown place and also handcuffed her to a metal chair. After the police had lunch, they took her to the Pudong Detention Center. Due to her high blood pressure, the guards initially refused to admit her, but relented after being pressured by the police.
Ms. Zhang was released on a one-year bail on July 10, 2017. When she returned home, she was shocked to see that her home was in a mess. The keys to her two electric bikes were gone. Her handheld light, stapler, two media players, two card readers, a flash driver, a printer, a box of Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, as well as the decoration paintings on her walls and doors were all gone. The boxes she used to store wine, noodle maker, tea, and clothes were opened and searched. Her kitchen drawers were also open and cans were all over the place.
Ms. Zhang suffered frequent headaches and dizziness due to the one-month detention. Yet the police still harassed her on a regular basis and forcibly collected her blood sample and fingerprints, and took photos of her against her will.
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