Lu Suping and Jiang Nan were again sentenced together for the same spiritual practice that once healed their lives.
by Yang Feng
A winter verdict came long after the snow had settled. Relatives of Lu Suping and her son Jiang Nan learned at the end of January that both had received lengthy prison sentences for the same reason they were targeted over a decade ago: they practice Falun Gong. The official notice was brief, but the human story behind it is far more complex.
The Linghai City Court in Liaoning province handed down identical six-year sentences on December 26, 2026. The ruling also included a fine of 15,000 yuan for each, with their sentences running until June 1, 2031. This adds a final layer of cruelty to a process already marked by secrecy and intimidation.
Lu Suping is 69, a former employee of the Linghai Real Estate Company, and a long-time Falun Gong practitioner. Her son, Jiang Nan, 45, graduated from Northeast Normal University and built a quiet career as a private tutor. He was known among parents for his patience and dedication. Their lives were unremarkable in the best way—steady, hardworking, and peaceful—until the state decided their spiritual practice made them enemies.
Their latest ordeal began on June 2, 2025, when Jiang opened the door to their shared home at 1:40 p.m. Three plainclothes officers rushed in, pushed him to the ground, and handcuffed him. They shouted “freeze” at his mother and two visiting practitioners, Wang Yanjie and Niu Fang. While one officer watched over the three women, others began ransacking the home. More than ten agents eventually joined the raid, two of them wearing bodycams to record everything.
They confiscated Falun Gong books, a portrait of the practice’s founder, two mobile phones, and other valuables before taking all four to the Linghai City Detention Center for questioning. The next day, they were taken to Jinzhou City Third Hospital for physical exams. Wang and Niu were sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention. Lu was transferred to the Jinzhou Detention Center; Jiang was transferred to the Linghai Detention Center.
On July 3, 2025, the Linghai Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants. Jiang managed to hire a lawyer, but prosecutor Li Feng threatened him for daring to represent a Falun Gong practitioner. It remains unclear whether Lu could secure legal help at all. By September 2, the police had submitted the case for prosecution, and by late October, the indictment was confirmed.
Their trial occurred on December 22, 2025, and four days later, the verdict was issued. However, their family—already traumatized by years of persecution—remained in the dark until the end of January 2026.
This was not their first experience in prison. In 2013, both were secretly sentenced—Lu to three and a half years, and Jiang to three—after a December 2012 arrest. Lu went to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison while Jiang was held in Jinzhou Prison and later transferred to Shenyang First Prison. Before that, in 2002, Lu was arrested, beaten by seven male officers, and left with a swollen, deformed face. She was forced to pay 5,000 yuan for her release, money she did not recover until 2005.
What makes this case especially painful is the bond between mother and son. They were arrested together, tried together, and sentenced together. Their shared suffering is significant. The repression of Falun Gong in Liaoning and throughout China aims not only to punish individuals but to break families and turn private life into a battlefield.
Yet the story of Lu and Jiang also shows resilience. Lu credits Falun Gong with restoring her health and mending a once-strained relationship with her mother-in-law. Jiang, despite repeated arrests, continued teaching and earned the respect of students and parents alike. Their lives reflect the quiet dignity of people who refuse to abandon their beliefs, even when that means spending years behind bars.
Yang Feng uses a pseudonym for security reasons.
