Case profile: Chai Xiufang — Baoji Practitioner Serving Five Years at Shaanxi Women’s Prison
Source chronology for Chai Xiufang
This archive records the documented public record of Chai Xiufang’s cases, in chronological order. The principal sources are Minghui (reporting in English from 2006 through 2026) and the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG), an international investigative organization that opened a case file on the 2024 Baoji arrests in March 2026.
- September 4, 2006 — Earlier arrest. Chai Xiufang of Baoji was reported followed and arrested in Baoji City (Minghui, September 13, 2006 digest). No further details were given in the digest entry.
- September 1, 2007 — Xi’an arrest record. Minghui’s September 2007 digest reported that a “Ms. Chai Xiufang” was among six practitioners arrested in Xi’an City, Shaanxi, when police raided two materials-production centers and seized computers, printers, and Falun Gong materials. Whether this is the same woman as the Baoji practitioner is unverified (see provenance notes).
- November 22, 2012 — Arrest. Chai Xiufang was arrested in front of her home in the morning by officers who had been waiting for her; they seized her house key and confiscated her laptop computer and a set of hardback books (Minghui, December 2, 2012). The Shibahe Police Station was identified as handling the case.
- April 3, 2013 — Trial. Chai appeared in the Weibin District Court; her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea; the judge convicted her (term not reported). Before sentencing she had been taken at night to a detention facility inside the Lingyun Hotel, where she was subjected to torture on a “tiger bench” (Minghui, February 22, 2026).
- February 2016 — Release. Chai was released after completing her sentence from the 2013 conviction.
- April 11, 2024 — Arrest. Police from the Jintai District Domestic Security Division, Dongfeng Road and Weigong Road police stations, and the Weibin District Domestic Security Division carried out a coordinated sweep in Baoji, arresting Chai Xiufang, Wang Guaiyan, Liu Lingti, Gou Qiufang, and Xiao Bin. Chai was taken from her home in the evening; her son was briefly handcuffed for trying to stop the search and released around 2 a.m. (Minghui, May 3, 2024). The arrested practitioners were placed in detention — initially the Weibin District Detention Center on April 16, 2024; WOIPFG’s later account names the Baoji No. 2 Detention Center.
- 2025 — Five-year sentence. The Jintai District Court sentenced Chai Xiufang to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong (Minghui, February 22, 2026; exact date of the verdict unreported). She was transferred to the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison.
- December 18, 2025 — Co-arrestee Huo Guilan sentenced. A separate report (Minghui, January 5, 2026) documents Huo Guilan, 75, a fellow arrestee from the same April 11, 2024 sweep, sentenced to nine years and fined 36,000 yuan; the report names Chai Xiufang among the twelve practitioners arrested in the same sweep.
- Early February 2026 — Pension clawback. The local authorities, together with Chai’s former employer Yandi Garden, ordered her family to return 650,000 yuan in pension payments received over the prior ten years, claiming her prison sentence disqualified her from retirement benefits, and threatened to auction the family home (Minghui, February 22, 2026).
- March 2, 2026 — WOIPFG investigation. WOIPFG published a formal investigation notice (追查案) on the Baoji persecution of Chai Xiufang and other practitioners, naming responsible units and individuals in Baoji’s public security, procuratorate, and courts, and stating that Chai Xiufang, Qin Yi, and others were serving their terms at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison.
- August 31, 2026 — Roster listing. Rights Defense Network / 维权网’s Issue 131 current-custody roster lists Chai Xiufang among political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in custody.
Source provenance and evidentiary limitations
- Corroboration strength: HIGH on the core facts — identity (柴秀芳, female, 65, Baoji), the April 11, 2024 arrest, the five-year sentence, and current imprisonment at the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison — corroborated independently by Minghui (Feb 2026) and WOIPFG (Mar 2026), with consistent anchors (city, court, prison, family/employer details, pension-clawback figure).
- Exact sentencing date unknown: Minghui states the Jintai District Court sentenced her “sometime in 2025.” Do not publish a specific date.
- Detention-center variance: the 2024 Minghui report places her at the Weibin District Detention Center (from April 16, 2024); WOIPFG names the Baoji No. 2 Detention Center. Both are recorded; the record does not establish whether this reflects a transfer.
- 2007 Xi’an arrest — DO NOT MERGE: a “Ms. Chai Xiufang” was arrested in Xi’an in September 2007. Same name, same province, different city. Recorded here as an unresolved possible earlier record, not as an established fact about this Chai Xiufang.
- Source attribution: the accounts of the arrest, trial procedure, torture at the Lingyun Hotel facility, and the pension-clawback order are documented by Minghui and WOIPFG, organizations that campaign against the persecution of Falun Gong; their characterization of the legal process (“unjust,” “illegal”) reflects those organizations’ positions and is kept attributed to them, not asserted as independent fact.
- Not publishable: any stated end date for the five-year term (not given by sources); the precise day of the 2025 sentencing; her physical condition in prison; the whereabouts or status of her son.
Related coverage to link
- Rights Defense Network (维权网) Issue 131 roster — August 31, 2026 (source of the current-custody listing)
- World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong — investigation notice on the 2024 Baoji persecution, March 2, 2026
- Person profile: Chai Xiufang