Ming Zhang

Name:    Ming Zhang   

Country/Area of Origin: Kuandian, Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China  

Background: Male, 60 years old, worked at Bank of China in Donggang City before the persecution on Falun Gong began. Mr. Zhang has been repeatedly arrested for his faith in Falun Gong.

Reason for Arrest:

On June 29, 2018, Ming Zhang and Quanchen Li were arrested by officers from Kuandian Country Domestic Security Division for having Falun Gong-related materials in their vehicle and were taken to the Kuandian Detention Center. Their houses were raided afterward. On July 13, 2018, both were officially arrested.

Local police and prosecutors in Kuandian repeatedly interrogated Mr. Zhang, and exerted a lot of pressure to force him to renounce his faith in Falun Gong. According to a lawyer, Mr. Zhang’s blood pressure was at a life-threatening 200/140 due to persecution he suffered while detained.

Kuandian Domestic Security harassed Mr. Zhang’s relatives after the arrest. Mr. Zhang’s father, who is in his 90s, was interrogated as to whether he practices Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhang’s wife, Jinqiu Xiu, was tortured to death due to her belief in Falun Gong on November 28, 2013, only three months after her arrest.

Mr. Zhang and Mr. Li’s arrests were included in the annual report by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) published on October 10, 2018.

Latest Updates:

  • In January 2020, Mr. Zhang’s daughter published an open letter stating the following:
    • “I am writing to ask for your help in rescuing my father. My father Ming Zhang (张明) lives in Dandong City in China’s Liaoning province. He was illegally detained by the local police on June 29, 2018 for trying to tell people not to discriminate against Falun Gong. The news of my father’s arrest has weighed heavily on my mind, because my family and I have not been able to communicate with him. I am again reminded of the final days of my mother’s life, the suffering she went through, before finally succumbing to death. Just this past year, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) has uncovered more credible evidence that the crime of live organ harvesting is still taking place in China. Over the past 19 yers of China’s cruel persecution against Falun Gong, Liaoning province had been the center of some of the most egregious torture and abuse. Thus, I’m extremely worried and fear for my father’s life. I have already lost my mother to this inhumane persecution, simply because she refused to give up her faith in something that is truly good. I ask for your help to free my father from the safe fate. I beseech you to contact the Chinese consulate to voice your concern on behalf of my father Ming Zhang, as well as the countless other Falun Gong practitioners who currently languish in Chinese prisons. I know your voice will have an impact and help to free them. Thank you for reading this letter, and I thank you for my father and my fellow practitioners for your righteous and kind act.”
  • According to a call on March 17, 2019 with Mr. Zhang’s daughter, Hongyu Zhang, who currently lives in New York, the court in Dandong originally called and told their family that the trial would be held on March 12, 2019, however, when their relatives got there, the court told them it was canceled. The court and local police have not actively provided any information regarding Mr. Zhang’s detention to his family since June 2018. His daughter, Ms. Zhang, learned from her relatives that the hearing will be held on March 18, 2019 at Dandong Zhen An Court.
  • According a message from Mr. Zhang’s daughter on March 18, 2019, the trial was held. Mr. Zhang’s lawyer defended him as not guilty. The prosecutor made sentencing allegation toward Mr. Zhang and Mr. Li, who was arrested on the same day as Mr. Zhang. The court hasn’t made its decision yet.