(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old woman in Gejiu City, Yunnan Province is facing indictment for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Shang Qin was arrested on May 12, 2026, while visiting a flower market in Kaiyuan City (also in Yunnan Province and about 30 miles away from Gejiu City). Her daughter drove to Kaiyuan that morning for a job interview, so she and her friend Dai Jinlan, also a Falun Gong practitioner, rode along.
While awaiting her daughter, Ms. Shang and Ms. Dai, 72, checked out the local flower market. They talked to the flower vendors about Falun Gong and also used banknotes printed with Falun Gong messages to pay for their purchases.
Someone reported the two women to the police, who soon arrived and seized them. Upon finding two banknotes in Ms. Dai’s pocket, they took her and Ms. Shang to a case processing center in the suburban area of Kaiyuan City.
The police got hold of Ms. Shang’s daughter that afternoon and searched her car. The younger woman explained how Falun Gong helped her mother recover from breast cancer, depression, and severe nasal allergies. She urged the police not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They ignored her and did not include her words in the interrogation record. She refused to sign the record.
The police raided Ms. Dai’s home that evening, after ordering her son to come and open the door. All of her Falun Gong books and DVDs containing Falun Gong information were confiscated.
Ms. Dai and Ms. Shang were then taken to a hospital for physical exams. Ms. Dai’s systolic blood pressure was over 200 mmHg (a normal range is 120 or lower). She was released the next day after her son signed her bail release form.
Ms. Shang was taken straight to the Honghe Prefecture Detention Center right after the physical exam on May 12. Her home was raided the next day. Her daughter received her detention notice that day, stating that she was put under criminal detention for “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Shang’s daughter delivered some Falun Gong informational materials to the Kaiyuan City Domestic Security Office on May 13 and urged the officers to drop the case. The police called her multiple times later on, attempting to make her provide evidence against her mother. She refused.
Six officers in two cars showed up outside Ms. Shang’s apartment building on the morning of May 26. Her daughter, who had just stepped outside after checking her mother’s home, was ordered to take the police to her own home. She refused, and four of them grabbed her arms. She managed to sit on the ground without moving. After over one hour of standoff, two officers jumped into their car and drove to her home. It’s unclear whether they searched her home that day.
The police notified Ms. Shang’s daughter on June 9 that they had submitted her mother’s case to the Kaiyuan City Procuratorate.
This is not the first time that Ms. Shang has been targeted for her faith. While still living in Maanshan City, Anhui Province, she served two prison terms totaling five years (May 2017 – November 2018 and April 2020 – October 2023). She moved to Yunnan Province after she finished her second prison sentence, only to face indictment for her faith again. See the related reports for details of her past persecution.
Imprisoned Woman Subjected to Forced Drug Administration and Denied Visitation
Anhui Woman Arrested for Her Faith, Daughter Implicated and Traumatized