Li Mingxia (李明霞), born in 1971, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Zhucheng City in Weifang, Shandong Province, where she worked as an accountant for the State Grid’s Zhucheng power supply company. She is serving a five-year prison sentence after a second conviction tied to her practice, a term recorded as running to April 18, 2029.
Coming to Falun Gong
According to a 2025 case report, Li began practicing Falun Gong in 2009 after years of unsuccessful treatment for a uterine condition, when her doctor had recommended a hysterectomy. The report describes her health improving afterward, and her telling others about the practice.
First conviction: two years (2017–2019)
In May 2015, Li filed a real-name criminal complaint against former leader Jiang Zemin over the persecution of Falun Gong. In March 2016, she was harassed by domestic-security police and left home, unable to work normally. On September 23, 2017, she was detained in Yantai while speaking with people about Falun Gong, then transferred back to Weifang on October 31. On July 31, 2018, the Fangzi District Court in Weifang sentenced her to two years in prison. Her appeal was rejected by the Weifang Intermediate Court. She was taken to the Shandong Provincial Women’s Prison in late January 2019 and released on October 30, 2019, at the end of that term.
The 2022 detention and reported abuse
On March 3, 2022, domestic-security police in Zhucheng detained Li along with five other practitioners — Li Yeshu, Luo Bingxin, Xu Huancui, Li Hongmei, and Zheng Zhimei — and took them to a brainwashing facility in Zhujie Town, where the report says they were subjected to coercive interrogation. The account describes Li being slapped by an officer surnamed Song, her face swelling and her mouth bleeding, and being confined to an iron chair with handcuffs and shackles — once for twenty-three consecutive days and nights, once for seven — leaving her legs and feet severely swollen. On April 19, 2022, the six were released on bail; all but Li Yeshu were required to pay 20,000 yuan as a deposit. The case report characterizes these accounts of mistreatment as the practitioner’s account, which has not been independently verified.
In October 2023 the Zhucheng court tried the six; Li, who had left home to avoid detention, did not appear, and the court said it was suspending proceedings against her. On November 2, 2023, the court sentenced the other five to suspended terms of three to five years with combined fines of 80,000 yuan.
Second conviction: five years (2025)
On the afternoon of April 19, 2024, Li was detained by domestic-security police at a rental home in Dagaolebu Village, Zhucheng. On December 30, 2024, the Zhucheng Court tried her; her lawyers and a family defender entered not-guilty pleas. On January 23, 2025, the court sentenced her to five years in prison and fined her 20,000 yuan; the formal charge and her detention location were not stated in the available record. Li appealed. On March 20, 2025, the Weifang Intermediate Court upheld the verdict. The five-year term is recorded as running to April 18, 2029.
Current status
Li Mingxia is currently imprisoned, serving a five-year sentence expected to run to April 18, 2029. She was listed among those in custody in the mainland political-prisoner roster covering the current period. No official court verdict or state-media coverage of her case has been located; the case record rests on the CHRD Prisoners of Conscience database entry and the practitioner-community case report, both of which agree on her identity, the sentence, and the dates.