Zhang Yutang (张玉堂)
Mr. Zhang Yutang (张玉堂), a man about 70, is a Falun Gong practitioner and carpenter from Tiexi Village, Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, China. He began practicing Falun Gong in September 1998 and has been repeatedly targeted for his faith: two years of forced labor in 1999, three years in prison in 2003, five months in 2012, and five and a half years in 2014. On April 21, 2023, he was arrested while visiting his daughter. The Mishan City Court tried his case on October 12, 2023, and convicted him on October 18, 2023, sentencing him to four years in prison with a 10,000-yuan fine. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists him as a current in-custody political prisoner in its four-year sentence group.
Background
Falun Gong (法轮功), also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline combining meditation exercises with moral teachings centered on truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It has been suppressed in China since July 1999. Practitioners detained for their faith are commonly prosecuted under the charge of “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement.”
The 2023 case
According to Minghui.org, a Falun Gong community publication, Mr. Zhang went to visit his daughter on the afternoon of April 21, 2023, and was arrested by officers from the Mishan City Domestic Security Office as soon as he left her home close to 6 p.m. Police split into two groups — one taking Mr. Zhang to their office, the other heading to his home, where they used the key confiscated from him to open the door when his wife refused to let them in. The local grid manager, Gao Yuan, accompanied the police. They spent nearly an hour searching the home, confiscating three copies of Zhuan Falun (Falun Gong’s main teaching), three loudspeakers, around 20 envelopes, flash drives, and other personal belongings, without giving his wife a chance to tally the items or producing a confiscated-items list. Mr. Zhang was placed under criminal detention the next day and taken to the Mishan City Detention Center; the Mishan City Procuratorate soon indicted him.
The Mishan City Court held a hearing on October 12, 2023. Judge Ling Zuobin presided, with judges Lin Chunhong and Lan Xinling and clerk Liu Yang also present. Prosecutor Li Lanlan said the police-supplied evidence included surveillance videos showing someone who looked like Mr. Zhang mailing out letters at three local post offices; the seized letters were determined to contain Falun Gong information. Postal workers Ma Zhanxin, Ji Xiuhong, and Liu Guihong, along with the grid manager Gao, were listed as prosecution witnesses, though none appeared in court for cross-examination. Mr. Zhang’s lawyer argued the videos should be inadmissible because there was no concrete evidence the man in them was his client. Mr. Zhang testified against the police and the procuratorate for arresting and indicting him without legal basis. Judge Ling convicted Mr. Zhang on October 18, 2023. It is unclear when he was transferred to prison.
Earlier persecution
Minghui’s 2021 report on Mr. Zhang recounts his earlier encounters. After the persecution began in 1999, he was given two years of forced labor in December 1999, sentenced to three years in prison in April 2002, and sent to a brainwashing center on August 12, 2011, for requesting the release of his nephew’s wife. Arrested again in April 2014, he went through six hearings — at one, he appeared confused ten minutes after drinking a glass of water given to him by the presiding judge — and was sentenced to five and a half years on February 13, 2015. He served time in Mudanjiang Prison, Tailai Prison, and Qiqihar Prison, where he was beaten and abused, and was released on October 1, 2019. After his release, local authorities installed surveillance cameras around his apartment building and repeatedly harassed him and his family, including attempts in December 2020 and May 2021 to force him to renounce his faith.
Current status
The Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 monthly report (August 31, 2026), which lists 1,638 reported current-custody political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, places 张玉堂 in its 判刑4年，171人 (sentenced to 4 years, 171 people) group. No update on his condition or detention location after the October 2023 conviction has been found.
A note on sources
The case chronology above draws on Minghui.org, a Falun Gong community publication. Minghui’s reporting is partisan: it presents detentions as persecution and reflects the Falun Gong community’s perspective. Factual claims — dates, courts, officials, and the evidence described at trial — are recorded here as reported by that publication; no court document, state-media account, or independent international-media reporting on his case was found. The four-year sentence and current-custody listing are independently corroborated by the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 roster (August 31, 2026).
Sources
- Minghui.org, “After Nearly 11 Years of Incarceration, 70-Year-Old Man Gets Another 4 Years for Practicing Falun Gong,” November 8, 2023
- Minghui.org, “Heilongjiang Man Continuously Harassed After Serving 5.5 Years in Prison for His Faith,” July 10, 2021
- 维权网 (Rights Defense Network), “维权网：中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）,” August 31, 2026 (Chinese edition; 张玉堂 in the 判刑4年，171人 group)
- 维权网 (Rights Defense Network), English edition of the same report (“Sentenced to 4 years, 171 people: … Zhang Yutang …”), August 31, 2026
Media profile & archive: Zhang Yutang (张玉堂) — Media Profile & Archive