Who is Chai Xiufang?
Chai Xiufang (柴秀芳), 65, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, serving a five-year prison sentence at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison.
She was arrested at her home on the evening of April 11, 2024, during a coordinated police sweep of local Falun Gong practitioners in Baoji. Officers from the Jintai District Domestic Security Division, the Dongfeng Road and Weigong Road police stations, and the Weibin District Domestic Security Division carried out the sweep; Chai was among those seized, and her home was ransacked. Her son tried to stop the police from searching their home; he was handcuffed, taken to the police station, and released around 2 a.m. the following morning. Chai’s husband, who had been left incapacitated by a stroke, had been relying on her for daily care.
The 2024 case
After her arrest, Chai was held in detention and her case was passed to the Jintai District Procuratorate and then the Jintai District Court. Sometime in 2025, the Jintai District Court sentenced her to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. The exact date of the sentencing has not been reported. She is currently serving her term at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison.
In early February 2026, while Chai was in prison, the local authorities — working with her former employer, the Yandi Garden tourist site — ordered her family to return the 650,000 yuan in pension payments she had received over the previous ten years. The authorities claimed that her prison sentence made her ineligible for retirement benefits, a claim her family’s account disputes as having no basis in China’s labor laws. Officials threatened to take over her family’s home and put it up for auction if the money was not returned.
An earlier imprisonment
This is the second time Chai has been sentenced to prison for her faith. On November 22, 2012, she was arrested in front of her home by officers who had been waiting for her; the police seized her house key, confiscated her laptop computer and a set of books. On April 3, 2013, she was tried at the Weibin District Court, where her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea; the court convicted her anyway (the term was not reported). She was released in February 2016.
Custody status
Chai Xiufang remains in prison, according to reports from February and March 2026 that document her imprisonment at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison and the pension-clawback action against her family. She appears on the Rights Defense Network / 维权网 Issue 131 roster of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in custody, dated August 31, 2026.
Key facts at a glance
- Name: Chai Xiufang (柴秀芳)
- Age: 65 (as of early 2026)
- Home: Baoji City, Shaanxi Province; former employee of Yandi Garden (tourist site)
- Faith: Falun Gong
- Arrested: April 11, 2024, at home in Baoji
- Sentenced: five years, Jintai District Court of Baoji, sometime in 2025 (exact date unreported)
- Prison: Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison
- Earlier case: arrested November 22, 2012; tried April 3, 2013, Weibin District Court; released February 2016
- Current custody: reported in prison as of March 2026 (WOIPFG, Minghui); listed on Issue 131 roster, August 31, 2026