Zhang Jian (章建) — Retired Teacher from Xianning, Hubei
Zhang Jian (章建) is a retired teacher from Xianning City, Hubei Province. Born in 1953, he was a first-class chemistry teacher at Yong’an Middle School in Xian’an District, Xianning, before retirement. He began practicing Falun Gong in June 1996.
According to a Minghui report dated April 1, 2025, Zhang was detained repeatedly after July 1999: his home was searched at least nine times, and he was held in detention centers and so-called legal-education/brainwashing sessions on multiple occasions, including 31 days in Wuhan’s Tangxun Lake facility in 2004, 41 days in 2006, and 10 days in a Xianning facility in 2012. In September 2022, police entered the Yong’an Middle School dormitory compound and detained him for seven days in Tongshan County detention center. These accounts come from Minghui, a Falun Gong-run outlet, and could not be independently verified.
On the morning of September 22, 2023, Zhang was detained by plainclothes police near Nanshan in Xian’an District while talking to passersby about Falun Gong, according to the same report. He was first held in a detention facility and, after about a month, transferred to Xianning City No. 1 Detention Center. He was later sentenced to three years in prison; the charge was not specified in the available sources. His stated sentence term ran to September 21, 2026.
The Prisoners of Conscience database of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) lists Zhang Jian (章建) with a three-year sentence and the same detention location, consistent with the Minghui account.
As of October 2026, his current whereabouts and status are unconfirmed. His nominal sentence term ended on September 21, 2026; whether he has been released is not documented in the sources consulted.