Wife of Taiwanese Citizen Dies After 16 Years of Incarceration and Torture for Her Faith
(Minghui.org)
Name: Xiang LijieChinese Name: 项利杰Gender: FemaleAge: 60City: LiaoyuanProvince: JilinOccupation: N/ADate of Death: September 20, 2025Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 24, 2017Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin Province Women’s Prison
A woman in Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, passed away on September 20, 2025, after suffering two decades of persecution for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Xiang Lijie
Ms. Xiang Lijie moved to Taiwan after she married Mr. Yang Jingyi, a Taiwanese, in August 1994. When the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she returned to China to raise awareness about the persecution, only to be repeatedly arrested and sentenced. She was never allowed to return to Taiwan.
Ms. Xiang served two forced labor camp terms and two prison terms, totaling over 16 years. She was subjected to brutal torture in custody and her right arm became disabled. She died about four and a half years after she finished serving the last prison term. She was 60.
Two Labor Camp Terms
Ms. Xiang went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 1999 and was sent to a forced labor camp for an unknown amount of time. While serving time at the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp, she was severely tortured and forced to renounce Falun Gong against her will. After she was released, she demanded to return to Taiwan, but the Liaoyuan City 610 Office and Jilin Provincial Public Security Bureau refused to allow her to leave. The police also harassed her frequently and she was forced to live away from home to avoid being arrested.
Ms. Xiang was arrested again on December 5, 2001, for distributing Falun Gong flyers. She was first taken to the Xiancheng Police Station and then to the Liaoyuan City Detention Center. She was later given a three-year term at the Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp.
To protest the persecution, she held a hunger strike in the labor camp and was force-fed. Due to her severe heart and stomach conditions, she became emaciated and incapacitated. She was released on medical parole on August 5, 2003.
Ms. Xiang’s husband contacted the Taiwan Legislative Yuan and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, seeking their help to secure Ms. Xiang’s return to Taiwan. But the police in Liaoyuan continued to denying their requests. When Ms. Xiang applied for a visa to return to Taiwan in 2004, Li Bin, the head of the Liaoyuan City Domestic Security Office, slapped her in the face in front of her family members.
Sentenced to 11 Years, Arm Disabled from Stretching Torture
Ms. Xiang’s next arrest was on April 25, 2006, for raising awareness about the persecution. She was sentenced to 11 years on December 15, 2006, and admitted to the Heizuizi Women’s Prison.
In prison, Ms. Xiang was often subjected to the stretching torture between two bunk beds for long hours. She was made to either lie down or stand up with her limbs tied up and stretched in different directions. Sometimes, her back was elevated with boards or bricks to increase the pain.
While Ms. Xiang was being stretched in different directions, the guards or inmates often deliberately pulled on her arms and legs. When she screamed in pain, they stuffed her mouth with dirty rags and beat her.
Ms. Xiang’s right shoulder became dislocated after two weeks of this torture, but the guards continued to stretch her daily. Two inmates even stomped on that shoulder.
The guards turned to other forms of torture after using the stretching torture on her for six months. Knowing that Ms. Xiang’s right arm had been disabled, they still forced her to lift her arms up high for extended periods of time.
They also made her stand still for 19 hours a day for weeks on end. Another time, a guard forced her to do hard labor for over 20 days with her disabled arm.
When Ms. Xiang was finally taken to a hospital for surgery in May 2012, the doctors removed a good bone from her right arm without her or her family’s consent. The prison guards ordered her family to pay 2,000 yuan of the medical expenses. Her conditions worsened after the surgery; she was in more pain and also suffered from numbness.
Illustrations of some of the ways that Ms. Xiang was tortured
Second Prison Sentence of Three and a Half Years
When Ms. Xiang was released in April 2017, the authorities took her straight to a brainwashing center and held her there for an unknown period of time.
Ms. Xiang was arrested again on October 24, 2017, after the police found Falun Gong items in her bag when she was purchasing a public transportation ticket. The police promised to release her in three days, only to keep her in custody when the time was up. She was held at the Liaoyuan City Detention Center and sentenced to three and a half years by the Longshan District Court on March 20, 2018. She served time in the Jilin Province Women’s Prison. She passed away on September 20, 2025. Information about her final years aren’t clear.
Related Reports:
Ms. Xiang Lijie Sentenced to 11 Years and Brutally Tortured in Prison
Xiang Lijie Disabled from Torture at Jilin Province Women's Prison – Current Whereabouts Unknown
Nine Practitioners in Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province, Were Illegally Sentenced
Urgent Appeal to Rescue Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Xiang Lijie, Wife of a Taiwanese Resident