On 13 September 2005, Mao and her husband, Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟), were both reportedly beaten by police when they gathered with over a hundred other petitioners at Putuo District Court in Shanghai.
On 29 September 2005 she was again placed under house arrest; an official told her that this would continue until the end of the fifth plenary session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party on 11 October 2005.