Zhang Ping (张萍) — Lanzhou
Zhang Ping is a Falun Gong practitioner from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, who was reported in April 2023 to have been sentenced to five years in prison — her second five-year sentence for her religious practice. As of early 2026 she was reported to be held at the Gansu Provincial Women’s Prison, where her family says she has been subjected to sustained abuse.
Background
According to Minghui.org, a Falun Gong-affiliated monitoring outlet, Ms. Zhang was 54 years old at the time of her 2023 sentencing and formerly worked in the securities department of the Gansu Trust and Investment Company, now Hualong Securities. A 2022 notice from the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, also a Falun Gong-affiliated organization, identifies her as a resident of Chengguan District, Lanzhou.
Arrest and sentencing
Minghui reports that Ms. Zhang was seized by Lanzhou police on May 9, 2022 — tracked by drone to a bus station — after which her home was raided. A formal arrest warrant was issued on May 24, and she was moved to the Lanzhou City First Detention Center. The Chengguan District Procuratorate indicted her and forwarded her case to the Chengguan District Court on August 23, 2022. On April 7, 2023, three judges convicted her at the end of the hearing and sentenced her to five years in prison with a 20,000-yuan fine. The Lanzhou City Intermediate Court later rejected her appeal, her family learned in November 2023. These accounts come from Falun Gong-affiliated sources and have not been independently verified.
A repeat sentence
The 2023 term was Ms. Zhang’s second five-year prison sentence. Minghui reports that she served her first five-year term and was released on April 22, 2010, after which her employer, Hualong Securities, refused to reinstate her, citing the prison sentence. Her mother, Long Lianqiu, who also practiced Falun Gong, died in 2005 after repeated detentions, according to the outlet.
Reported treatment in custody
In a March 2026 notice, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong reported that Ms. Zhang was transferred to the Gansu Provincial Women’s Prison in late January 2024 and has since been subjected to insults, beatings, strict control, forced psychiatric medication, and forced labor. These claims come from the Falun Gong-affiliated organization and have not been independently verified.
Current status
维权网 (Rights Defense Network), a civil-society group that tracks reported political and conscience prisoners in mainland China, lists 张萍（兰州） in its August 31, 2026 monthly report in the group of prisoners reported as sentenced to five years, among individuals the report classifies as reported political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in custody. No official Chinese government statement or court record for this case has been located.
A separate person
A different Falun Gong practitioner also named 张萍, from Qingyang City, Gansu, was sentenced to six years in 2023 by the Zhenyuan County Court. The incompatible cities, courts, and sentences establish that this is a different person; the two cases must not be merged.
Media profile & archive: Zhang Ping (张萍), Lanzhou — Media Profile & Archive
Sources: Minghui.org, January 7, 2024; 追查迫害法轮功国际组织 (WOIPFG), September 18, 2022 and March 12, 2026; 维权网, Issue 131 monthly report, August 31, 2026.