Zhang Shunxin / 张顺新
Zhang Shunxin (张顺新) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Zepu County in the Kashgar region of Xinjiang. Born in 1966, he has spent most of the past two decades in detention for his practice, serving a nine-year prison term beginning in 2002 and a twelve-year term beginning in 2019.
The first detention: nine years in Xinjiang No. 5 Prison
According to accounts preserved by Falun Gong reporting networks, Zhang was detained around 2001–2002 for practicing Falun Gong. A court sentenced him to nine years in prison. He served the term in Xinjiang No. 5 Prison, where the accounts describe prolonged sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, and confinement in a self-built dark cell after he refused to wear a prison uniform. He was released on February 2, 2011, and returned home to Zepu.
The 2017 detention
On the evening of May 2, 2017, Zhang was lured to a local police station by a community police officer from the Taxinan Petroleum Base Public Security Bureau, which operates under the Zepu County Public Security Bureau. Police then searched his home, seizing computers, printers, and Falun Gong materials, according to the family-linked account. On June 7, 2017, the Zepu County Procuratorate approved his arrest, and he was held in the Zepu County detention center. His family hired a lawyer, who met with Zhang in detention and submitted a written recommendation for his release.
Secret sentencing: twelve years
On February 1, 2019, a court sentenced Zhang to twelve years in prison. The sentencing was carried out in secret: neither his family nor his lawyer was present, and the family did not see the written verdict and was not told which judge tried the case, according to the family-linked account. The charge was not disclosed to the family. Kashgar regional police notified relatives on February 25, 2019, that Zhang was being held at the Gaimilike Prison in Tumxuk (Tumushuke) City, operated by the Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (农三师图木舒克市盖米里克监狱). His twelve-year term is recorded as running to May 1, 2029.
Current status
Zhang Shunxin is currently imprisoned, serving a twelve-year sentence expected to run to May 1, 2029. He appeared in the August 31, 2026 monthly roster of mainland political prisoners maintained by the Chinese-language rights monitoring network 维权网， which lists him among those sentenced to twelve years and reported in custody. No official court verdict or state-media coverage of his case has been located; the case record rests on the CHRD Prisoners of Conscience database entry and the Falun Gong–affiliated case archive.
Zhang Shunxin should not be confused with Zhang Xiaolian (张效廉), a different person in an unrelated case.
Related records: Zhang Shunxin / 张顺新 — Media Profile & Archive.