Profile
Zhang Xiulan (张秀兰) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jiaozhou City, Qingdao, Shandong Province. According to reports by Minghui, she began practicing Falun Gong in 1996 together with her husband, Liu Fuxi. On August 23, 2022, the Huangdao District Court in Qingdao sentenced her to eight years in prison in connection with her practice of Falun Gong; her family was not permitted to attend the trial. She is serving the sentence at the Shandong Province Women’s Prison.
Current detention status
Currently imprisoned. The Rights Defense Network (维权网) monthly report on political prisoners in custody (August 31, 2026) lists Zhang Xiulan among prisoners sentenced to eight years. The Prisoners of Conscience database records a sentence-end date of December 15, 2029. A September 2025 Minghui report documented her continued detention in the Shandong Province Women’s Prison, including a family visit in June 2024.
Key events
- 1996: Zhang Xiulan and her husband Liu Fuxi begin practicing Falun Gong, according to Minghui.
- After July 1999: Following the start of the campaign against Falun Gong, the couple is forced to live away from home for about five years to avoid police harassment, according to Minghui.
- August 2016: Zhang is detained after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials, then released under residential surveillance; police search the family home on August 28. Her husband, by then bedridden, dies less than three weeks later at age 59, according to Minghui.
- December 16, 2021: Officers of the Zhongyun Police Station in Jiaozhou arrest Zhang at her daughter’s home after gaining entry by posing as property-management staff, according to Minghui. Her mother, who was staying with them, dies the next day, according to the same report.
- August 23, 2022: The Huangdao District Court tries Zhang and sentences her to eight years; no family member is allowed to attend, according to Minghui. The Prisoners of Conscience database records the charge as unknown and the detention location at that time as unknown.
- October 2022: During a family visit at the Pudong No. 3 Detention Center, Zhang is described as emaciated and shaking; the family’s application for medical parole is denied, according to Minghui.
- 2022 (after sentencing): Zhang is transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison to serve the eight-year term, according to Minghui.
- June 2024: During a family visit, Zhang is in poor health and uses a wheelchair; medical parole is again refused, according to Minghui.
Media & Sources
Coverage of Zhang Xiulan’s case is preserved in the companion Media Profile & Archive. Principal sources: Minghui (Chinese and English editions), the Prisoners of Conscience database of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, and the Rights Defense Network monthly prisoner report.
Source notes and caveats
- Zhang’s age and the formal criminal charge are not publicly documented; the Prisoners of Conscience database records both as unknown.
- Accounts of her detention conditions, health, and the circumstances of her arrest and trial come from Minghui, a Falun Gong-affiliated outlet, and from informants cited by it; they are presented here as reported, not as independently verified findings.
- A different prisoner named Zhang Xiulan — from Xining City, Qinghai, sentenced to four years in September 2024 — is a separate person and must not be confused with this case.