- Status: Serving a prison sentence (as of August 2026)
- Location: Shayang Fanjiatai Prison, Hubei Province (reported)
- Born: July 28, 1957 — Xiangyang (formerly Xiangfan), Hubei Province
Who he is
Cheng Xiaobao, born July 28, 1957, is a native of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province (formerly Xiangfan). He was formerly a water and electricity worker for the Xiangfan Railway Branch of the Zhengzhou Railway Bureau and is a practitioner of Falun Gong, which he began practicing in 1998. After July 1999 he was detained and imprisoned multiple times for continuing to practice, accumulating five years of prior imprisonment and re-education-through-labor sentences. In 2015 he was detained again; years later it emerged that he had been sentenced to twelve years in prison. He is currently serving that sentence.
Case history
Early detentions
Cheng Xiaobao began practicing Falun Gong in 1998. After the practice was suppressed in July 1999, he continued to practice and was repeatedly detained and imprisoned. Across those years he served a cumulative five years of criminal sentences and re-education-through-labor terms, according to the case record compiled in the CHRD Prisoners of Conscience Database.
2015 detention and disappearance
On the morning of September 17, 2015, Cheng Xiaobao and other Falun Gong practitioners were detained by local police-station officers in Xiangyang. He was held in an administrative detention facility. After that, no further information about him reached the outside world for years.
Twelve-year sentence revealed (2024)
In July 2024 it became known that Cheng Xiaobao had been sentenced years earlier by a local court to twelve years in prison; the offense of conviction has not been publicly reported. The recorded end of his term is September 2027 (the 16th or 17th — sources differ; see the Media Profile & Archive caveat).
Reported conditions in custody
Cheng Xiaobao was transferred to Shayang Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei, where he is reported to be held in the Fifth Ward. According to the CHRD case record, he has long refused to wear a prison badge and refused to perform forced prison labor, and in response prison authorities have denied him rest, reduced his food, subjected him to prolonged standing and other physical punishment, and forbidden him from speaking with others.
Status
Sentenced. In custody. As of the Rights Defense Network’s August 2026 monthly roster of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, Cheng Xiaobao remains in custody, listed among those sentenced to twelve years. His reported term ends in September 2027.
Sources and further documentation are preserved in the companion Media Profile & Archive.