Mother of Simon Zhang

(Pictured: Simon with his mother in China, undated.)

Case Summary

Yunzhi Ji / 季云芝 – Gender: Female

Current status: Ji died on March 21, 2022.

Reason for Detention: Arrested on February 1, Chinese New Year; in September 2021 police ransacked home and found over 100 Falun Gong related publications and 40 related USBs.

Past Detentions: She became disabled during forced labor terms in 2001 and 2008.

Current location: Inner Mongolia, China

Family Residence: New York City

Personal Background

Ms. Yunzhi Ji was married to Mr. Zhang. They had two sons and daughters-in-law who emigrated to the United States. Because her eldest grandson was too young, her son left the child with her in China.

When the boy turned six, Ms. Ji wanted to take him to the U.S. and went to apply for a passport in 2017. The police first told her that the application was approved and sent her home, but immigration officer called later and told her that the passport could not be issued due to technical problems.

Later, Ms. Ji’s younger son asked her to come to the U.S. for the birth of his child. She went to the police department several times to apply for a passport but was never allowed to meet with any of the officers.

One of her sons, Mr. Simon Zhang, is currently an architect in New York.

Timeline

2001: First Sentence
Ms. Ji was arrested on June 24, 2001, and taken to Zuoqi Public Security Bureau, where she was not allowed to sleep for two nights. The police handcuffed Ms. Ji to a chair for a night before taking her to Chifeng City the next day. She was then forced to walk, beaten, and again not allowed to sleep. Ms. Ji was later transferred to the Yuanlinlu Detention Center. She was given corn cakes for almost every meal and was forced to do hard labor for over 10 hours every day. If she refused to cooperate, she would be hung up and handcuffed tightly.
When Ms. Ji was handcuffed, the guards slapped her mouth. She was later given three years of forced labor. When she refused to sign the paperwork, the guards grabbed her hand and pressed her thumbprint on the document.
In Tumuji Forced Labor Camp, Ms. Ji and other practitioners were prohibited from crossing their legs, interacting with anyone, or using the bathroom as needed. They were verbally abused by guards and sometimes beaten by inmates. On October 13, 2001, Ms. Ji and other practitioners went on a strike and refused to work to protest the persecution. When Ms. Ji tried to explain to the labor camp management why they were striking, she was taken to a room and shocked on her face with electric batons. Ms. Ji became incontinent and passed out after two hours of this.
2007: Police Convinced Husband into Brainwashing Wife
The Political and Legal Affairs Committee deceived Ms. Ji’s husband into cooperating with them in brainwashing her. They found a former practitioner who had renounced Falun Gong and ordered her husband to take the person home to “transform” Ms. Ji. She refused to comply. Later, the manager where Ms. Ji worked told her to come in for a meeting. Her children told her that the authorities were trying to take her to the local brainwashing center. She tried to escape, but her relatives stopped her. When the police came and attempted to arrest her, she suffered another seizure. Her family took her to the hospital, and the police followed.
2008: Second Sentence
On April 25, 2008, eight police officers arrested Ms. Ji while she was on her way home from her mother-in-law’s home. She suffered a heart attack from the harassment, which triggered a seizure, and she lost consciousness. The officers confiscated her cell phone and Falun Gong books before taking her to the local detention center. The detention center doctor used acupuncture to jab the top of her head and the soles of her feet until she bled. Ms. Ji continued to experience spasms after her treatment. The doctor accused her of faking the condition. Ms. Ji’s spasms lasted the entire night, but no one took care of her. When the police later interrogated her, the spasms made her to hit her head against the wall. The officers responded by grabbing her hair and smashing her head against the wall.
Ms. Ji was in the detention center for six days. She did not drink or eat anything. The police force-fed her until she choked and threw up everything she had eaten. She was covered with bruises and scars, which didn’t go away until a month later. In April 30, 2008, Ms. Ji was taken to the Hohhot Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She had a seizure when the doctor hit her. The guards then told an inmate to douse Ms. Ji repeatedly with cold water, almost suffocating her.
The guards ordered an inmate to mix an unknown drug into Ms. Ji’s food. Ms. Ji had two heart attacks and was rushed to the Hohhot City First Hospital each time. The guards told the inmates to force-feed and torture Ms. Ji. Later, when the doctor could no longer detect her blood pressure, he told the guards that Ms. Ji was dying. Because she spat out everything she ate, three inmates forced her to eat. If she refused, they sat on her and force-fed her, which made her faint.
Seeing the disinterest from the guards, her fellow inmates became more brazen about torturing Ms. Ji, pushing her to the brink of death many times. She was diagnosed with heart disease, gallbladder disease, and other illnesses. When she was at death’s door, the authorities called her family to pick her up from the hospital. Her family was forced to pay all of her medical bills.
September 2021: Home Ransacked
Lindong Town Police Station officers ransacked Ms. Ji’s home. They confiscated a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, more than 100 Falun Gong books, multiple media players, one MP3 player, some stickers, some paper bills with the facts about Falun Gong printed on them (as a creative way to overcome the strict information censorship in China), about 1,000 yuan in cash, more than 40 USB drives, and a safe.
Ms. Ji’s ID card, her husband’s salary card, six bank books with about 28,000 yuan recorded in them, more than 10,000 yuan in cash, Hong Kong reunification commemorative coins, and a necklace that her son sent her from overseas were also confiscated.
Unable to withstand the shock, Ms. Ji suffered another seizure and couldn’t talk. She tried to stop the police from ransacking her home but wasn’t able to. The police also videotaped her and submitted the recording to the police station.
March 2022: Mother Dies
After being arrested again in February, she was in critical condition several times during detention. But Xu Jianfeng, captain of Domestic Security Office (a unit within the police department) still refused to release her. During her 11-day detention, she went on a hunger strike to protest, and they responded with torture, forced-feeding, and humiliation. She lost consciousness and was sent to hospital and detained there for her final 39 days, handcuffed to the bed.
There were iron fetters on her ankles, and a rubber tube in her nose. Police watched her around the clock. On March 20th, the police told her husband that she was in the ICU. He went there, only to be told by the doctor that there was no hope. He asked to bring his wife home, but the police refused. The next day, Ms. Ji passed away. Her husband is demanding an explanation from the police. At the crematorium, 40 policemen were dispatched to guard her body.

News & Action

February 2022: Son Campaigned in U.S. for Mom’s Release
Ms. Ji Yunzhi was arrested on Chinese New Year’s Day, February 1, 2022. Her son campaigned to American lawmakers like Senator Rick Scott for her immediate release. “[The treatment of Ji] is gross and deserves the scorn of every freedom-loving nation. The fact that the International Olympic Committee remains silent makes it complicit in the human rights abuses the Chinese people experience every day at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” Senator Scott responded, adding that “every freedom-loving nation must speak clearly” and hold the CCP accountable for its human rights crimes.
March 29, 2022: U.S. Senator Condemned CCP for Her Death
After hearing about her sudden death, U.S. Senator Rick Scott issued a formal statement on March 29 declaring, “Beijing’s gross campaign against Falun Gong practitioners has gone on for far too long, and its latest victim is an innocent woman who was simply living out her beliefs in the face of Communist China’s oppressive authoritarian regime. My heart breaks for Simon and his father dealing with this tragic and senseless loss.”
March 30, 2022: Simon Spoke at a China Roundtable

April 25, 2022: Simon Meets with International Religious Freedom Ambassador-at-Large Rashad Hussain at the State Department
Simon Zhang was one of six representatives of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong that met U.S. State Department officials on April 25 for an update on the decades-long ongoing persecution in China.

May 9, 2022: Simon Features on “Pandemic, Persecution, Pandemic” Webinar Panel Hosted by Falun Dafa Information Center
Featuring a distinguished panel of experts and eyewitnesses, the webinar discussed recent updates to this human rights crisis, how it is reaching beyond China’s borders, and what the United States government and others can do to end the atrocities and secure a more free and just China.

February 1, 2023: Simon Speaks at the International Religious Freedom Summit 2023 with human rights experts like Nina Shea and Katrina Lantos Swett
On Chinese New Year (three days before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics’ Opening Ceremony), police arrested and detained Simon’s mother, Ms. Yunzhi Ji. Authorities attempted to silence her because she was previously found with paper notes, stickers, and materials printed with Falun Gong information in her home. After two weeks in detention, she fell into a coma due to the abuse and passed away 49 days after her initial arrest.

Family Rescue