This archive collects media and organizational reporting on the case of Chen Xiaobin (陈晓彬), a Falun Gong practitioner from Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, who was arrested in the May 2017 “WeChat case,” sentenced to two and a half years in 2019, released in November 2019, and died on May 1, 2023. Note: the Chinese name is 陈晓彬 — the third character is 彬 (refined), not 斌.
Case chronology (as documented by the case reports)
- 1999: Chen’s husband Wu Meiping travels to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong; he is beaten by police and disabled, later recovers by doing the Falun Gong exercises in detention, and is transferred to the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp for an unknown term. (Minghui)
- November 2002: Chen and her husband are arrested and taken to a local brainwashing center; their three children, the oldest seven, are left unattended. (Minghui)
- 2003: The couple are arrested again and held at a local lockup. (Minghui)
- May 22, 2017: Wu Chunxiong, Wu Xuqin, and Ms. Manqi are arrested at their workplace by officers from the Dongsheng Police Station; later the same day police arrest Chen Xiaobin (Wu Xuqin’s mother), Ms. Lu Wanyuan, Ms. Shaona, Ms. Lin Hua, and Mr. Yunchang. Police had been monitoring Wu Chunxiong’s company after finding Falun Gong-related material on its WeChat account. Chen’s home is ransacked and sealed. (Minghui)
- January 29, 2019: The Rongcheng District Procuratorate indicts five practitioners: Wu Chunxiong, Wu Xuqin, Tang Jianqun, Chen Xiaobin, and Cai Linhua. (Minghui)
- March 19, 2019: The five are tried by the Rongcheng District Court. (Minghui)
- Mid-May 2019: Sentencing — Wu Chunxiong 8.5 years, Tang Jianqun 8 years, Wu Xuqin 7.5 years, Chen Xiaobin 2.5 years, Cai Linhua 2.5 years. Chen and Cai are also fined. (Minghui; daiphap.org 2019 sentencing list)
- Late October 2019: The Jieyang City Intermediate Court upholds all five verdicts. Wu Chunxiong and Wu Xuqin are taken to Sihui Prison; Tang Jianqun to Guangdong Province Women’s Prison. (Minghui)
- November 21, 2019: Chen and Cai Linhua, having completed their terms at the Jieyang City Detention Center, are released. (Minghui)
- June 14, 2023: Minghui reports that Chen Xiaobin (陈晓彬), 48, of Jieyang, died on May 1, 2023, after years of poor health following her release; her son was still serving his sentence. (Minghui)
- August 31, 2026: 维权网 Issue 131 lists 陈晓彬 among 1,638 reported current-custody cases — treated as a likely stale carry-over and cited here as a conflicting source only. (chinatruth.net mirror)
Source record
- Minghui (English edition), June 14, 2023 — “Guangdong Woman Dies 3.5 Years After Serving 2.5 Years for Practicing Falun Gong”: prints the Chinese name 陈晓彬; reports the date of death (May 1, 2023), the 2.5-year term, and the November 2019 release. Full report
- Minghui (English edition), June 3, 2019 — “Five Guangdong Residents Sentenced to Prison for Raising Awareness about the Persecution of Their Faith”: the 2017 arrest and case background. Full report
- Minghui (English edition), July 1, 2019 — “60 Falun Gong Practitioners in China Sentenced to Prison in May 2019 for Refusing to Renounce Their Faith”: the mid-May 2019 sentences. Full report
- Minghui (English edition), January 1, 2020 — “Mr. Wu Chunxiong and Four Other Practitioners Sentenced to Prison”: the appeal outcome and the November 21, 2019 release. Full report
- Minghui (English edition), June 13, 2017 — “Eight Practitioners Arrested” (Additional Persecution News): the May 22, 2017 arrests. Full report
- daiphap.org — “774 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith in 2019” (sentencing list, PDF): prints 陈晓彬 Chen Xiaobin, Guangdong Jieyang, 2.5 years, May 2019 — corroboration for the core identity facts. Sentencing list (PDF)
- 维权网 Issue 131 current-custody roster, August 31, 2026 (cited via chinatruth.net mirror): the roster’s own Chinese list prints 陈晓彬 — cited as a conflicting, likely stale listing only. Roster mirror
Evidentiary limitations
- Custody-status conflict (preserved, not resolved): 维权网 Issue 131 (August 31, 2026) lists 陈晓彬 as currently in custody; Minghui (June 14, 2023) reports she died on May 1, 2023 after completing her sentence in November 2019. No evidence of any re-arrest after November 2019 was found. The best available interpretation is that the roster entry is a stale carry-over; her status follows the death report. She is not presented here as currently in custody.
- Fine amounts differ slightly between reports (10,000 yuan per the death report’s detailed case recap vs. other recaps) — fines are not asserted precisely.
- Her exact birth year is not stated; no years are asserted for her lifespan.
- Source provenance: Minghui.org is Falun Gong-affiliated; its reports are specific (dates, court names, fines, prison destinations) and mutually consistent across the five reports. The daiphap.org sentencing list corroborates the core identity facts. No official court documents or mainland media corroboration were located.
See also
The profile page for Chen Xiaobin (陈晓彬) gathers her biography, the case narrative, and the status note in full.