Who she is
Yang Xiuhua (杨秀华) is a woman from Sujiayao in Shuangcheng District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. She practices Falun Gong, the spiritual discipline that has been banned and suppressed in China since 1999. A monitoring report published August 31, 2026, lists her as in custody serving a three-year prison sentence.
First imprisonment (2002–2005)
According to Minghui, Ms. Yang began practicing Falun Gong years ago. In 2002, she was sentenced to three years by the Shuangcheng District Court for her adherence to Falun Gong. She served the sentence at the Heilongjiang Women's Prison, where, Minghui reports, she was subjected to injection with unknown drugs, beatings, force-feeding, freezing, hanging by handcuffs, prolonged solitary confinement, and other mistreatment.
The 2025 sentence
On the morning of November 10, 2024, Ms. Yang was seized by officers of the railway-station-front police station at Harbin railway station while traveling to visit relatives. She was placed under criminal detention and subsequently arrested and indicted. In March 2025, a local court sentenced her to three years in prison; the charge of record and her place of detention were not specified in the available sources. Her term runs to November 9, 2027.
Current status
As of the latest dated evidence (March 2025), Ms. Yang was serving a three-year sentence. The charge of record and her current place of detention are not publicly documented.
Do-not-merge note: Yang Xiuhua (杨秀华, Harbin — this person) is a different person from Yang Xiuhua (杨秀花, Qiqihar, born 1965, four-year sentence in a 2024 case) — different final character (华 vs 花), different case. The two records are archived separately.
Media profile and archive: Yang Xiuhua (杨秀华, Harbin) — Media Profile & Archive