中國婦權
Women’s Rights in China
November 8, 2026
——Editor： Yue Zhang
Xu Na, also known as Xu Na, a painter, participant in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, and Falun Gong practitioner who has been detained and sentenced three times, spent her 58th birthday in prison on November 8, 2026.
Xu Na was most recently arrested on July 19, 2020. She was prosecuted in connection with photographs documenting the COVID-19 outbreak in China, as well as her identity as a Falun Gong practitioner. Chinese authorities later sentenced her to eight years in prison on the charge of “using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law.” She is currently incarcerated at Beijing Women’s Prison.
Xu Na was born on November 8, 1968, in Changchun, Jilin Province. She is an independent painter, artist, and poet based in Beijing, a Falun Gong practitioner, and a participant in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. She studied at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, now known as the Communication University of China. During the 1989 movement, she took part in sit-ins and hunger strikes in Tiananmen Square and joined demonstrations with fellow students while holding banners calling for “freedom of the press” and “freedom of speech.”
In August 1999, Xu Na and her husband, Yu Zhou, were detained for more than 40 days after attending a gathering with fellow practitioners.
In July 2001, Xu Na was arrested again after providing accommodation to Falun Gong practitioners who had traveled to Beijing from other parts of China. She was later sentenced to five years in prison.
On January 26, 2008, Xu Na and her husband Yu Zhou were driving home after attending a concert when police stopped their vehicle. After police found Falun Gong books in the car, the couple was taken into custody. Eleven days later, Yu Zhou suddenly died while in detention at the age of 42. Authorities claimed that his death resulted from a hunger strike or diabetes, but the exact circumstances surrounding his death remain disputed.
Xu Na was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. During her second prison sentence, her husband died before he could ever see her released and reunited with him.
In 2022, Xu Na was sentenced to eight years in prison. On July 19, 2020, she and 12 other Falun Gong practitioners were arrested by Beijing police. She was accused of “using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law,” in a case involving photographs and information she had released about conditions during the COVID-19 outbreak.
On January 16, 2022, Beijing authorities sentenced Xu Na to eight years in prison on the same charge, deprived her of political rights for one year, and imposed a fine of RMB 20,000.
In late September 2023, Xu Na was transferred to Beijing Women’s Prison to serve her sentence. According to her family, repeated requests for prison visits have been denied, and they have still been unable to visit her normally.
Xu Na remains imprisoned at Beijing Women’s Prison.
From a young student in 1989 calling for freedom of the press and freedom of speech, to a woman who has now been sentenced to prison three times because of her beliefs and expression, Xu Na’s personal fate reflects the long-standing plight faced by political dissidents and religious communities in China.
All members of Women’s Rights in China wish Ms. Xu Na health and safety on her 58th birthday. We sincerely hope that she will regain her freedom soon and once again see the light of day.
Mailing Address for Xu Na:
Xu Na
Division 3
Beijing Women’s Prison
No. 3 Runhe Lane, Huifeng Street, Qingfeng Road, Tiantanghe, Daxing District
Beijing, China
Postal Code: 102609