Zhao Lihua (赵丽华)
Ms. Zhao Lihua (赵丽华), a Falun Gong practitioner from Hulan District in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is serving a seven-year-and-five-month prison sentence at the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison, imposed by the Daqing Ranghulu District Court on November 17, 2021. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists her in its seven-year-and-five-month-sentence band, confirming she remains in custody serving her term as of that date.
The case
Ms. Zhao was arrested on April 8, 2020 in Harbin — at the intersection of Gongbin Road and Nanzhi Road — by officers of the Daqing City Ranghulu District Longnan police, acting across regional jurisdiction. She was one of seven practitioners — with Li Lizhuang, Tang Zhuyin, Huo Xiaohui, Ding Yan, Jiao Qihua and Li Yanqing — accused of making “counter-propaganda” telephone calls. The group was held in the Duerbote (Taikang County) Detention Center, approved for arrest, and indicted to the Ranghulu District Procuratorate, which filed the case with the Ranghulu District Court.
The proceedings were protracted. A December 29, 2020 hearing was adjourned; the court held a video hearing on June 22, 2021; a scheduled September 23, 2021 hearing was postponed. On November 17, 2021, the Ranghulu District Court sentenced Ms. Zhao to seven years and five months with a 40,000-yuan fine. The Daqing Intermediate Court upheld the verdicts on December 10, 2021. On January 7, 2022 she was transferred to the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison. Her term is documented as running to September 7, 2027.
Earlier targeting
This was not her first encounter with the authorities. She traveled to Beijing to petition in April and June 2000 and was detained; she was given one year of labor re-education in July 2001, held at the Wanjia facility; and in September 2002 she was seized while visiting another practitioner’s home and given two years of labor re-education at Wanjia Labor Camp.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 report lists Ms. Zhao in its seven-year-and-five-month-sentence band with an in-custody classification. No release date beyond the documented term end of September 7, 2027 has been stated; none is given here. All case details come from Falun Gong-affiliated sources and the Chinese Human Rights Defenders Prisoners of Conscience database, and have not been independently corroborated; no court judgment text or state-media account has been located. The formal charge is recorded as unknown. The name 赵丽华 is common — this profile is anchored to the Daqing April-2020 group case, the seven-year-five-month sentence, and the Heilongjiang Provincial Women’s Prison placement, and does not merge Ms. Zhao with any other person of the same name.
Media Profile & Archive: Zhao Lihua 赵丽华 — Media Profile & Archive