(Minghui.org) The number of signatures calling for a Hebei farmer's release has doubled since December 2013, when he was sentenced to three years.
Fellow villagers have continued in their efforts to rescue Mr. Xin Tingchao (信廷超), a Falun Gong practitioner imprisoned for offering people a DVD of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a dance and music performance that features traditional culture and contains information about the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong.
Facing threats from local representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the villagers gave a straightforward answer:
“Xin is such an honest and good man, but he was put in jail simply because he gave someone a DVD. How can his wife handle all the farm work in the busy season? How can she take care of their fields? Who will look after the elderly and the young in his family if you keep him in jail? This is why we signed the petition. We just want him to come back home soon!”
The CCP representatives held meetings to discuss “signature containment” strategies. To encourage the village cadres to attend the meeting, they spread the word that every attendee would be paid 50 yuan for their attendance.
They also tried to convince the villagers to sign a document that says, “We were deceived [into signing the petition].”
However, the villagers refused, and reiterated that they simply wanted their neighbor home.
Five batches of signed petitions, totaling 6,368, have been passed to the local authorities. Out of these, 3,530 were signed between December 2013 and September 2014. Some signatures included fingerprints, which is a traditional Chinese way of making a strong statement or pledge.
Mr. Xin was arrested in Beijing in June 2013 when he held a job at a construction site. The supervisor wrote a letter to the Beijing Police Department vouching for his release shortly after his arrest. The village committee of Mr. Xin's hometown also issued an official letter stating that he was a good man and pleading for his release.
He was sent to the Tianhe Prison in Daxing, Beijing in March 2014. His family found out on August 15 that he had been transferred out. With much effort and inquiries to various prisons, the family finally located him at the Tangshan Prison in Hebei Province.
Mr. Xin's wife and daughter were arrested on August 26, at a highway exit near the Tangshan Prison and were detained more than 10 days.
The fifth batch of fingerprints on petitions calling for Mr. Xin's release
Support from the Community
Many people in the neighborhood gave heartfelt comments when signing the petition for Mr. Xin's release.
One local villager said, “Our whole family signed the petition to help Xin Tingchao. Everyone in our village knows he is a very good man.”
“I'll sign, we'll all sign. I'll get my married daughter back home to sign the petition too,” said another villager.
Mr. Xin Tingchao is known in the local area for his kindness. For years, he and his wife went out of their way to care for the elderly and the disabled in the village, who had no one else to look after them. They fetched water for them and even helped bathe them. In winter, they climbed up their roofs to clear away the snow.
When an old man from Baoding City learned about Falun Gong and the brutal persecution from a practitioner, he became very angry with the CCP and quit the Party on the spot. He signed the petitions using his real name to support Mr. Xin. He also signed the petition against the crimes of organ harvesting.
“Falun Gong people are good people. Our society would be so much better if people conducted themselves by the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” he said, “But the evil party cannot tolerate good people, and they even harvest people's organs! I support you to get good people out of jail as soon as possible!” He told practitioners to include him if they needed signatures for any other petitions in the future.
Another villager said, “I'll sign the petition. The Communist Party is finished. It ignores people committing terrible crimes; instead, it put a good person in jail just for giving someone a DVD. The Party is so ridiculous!”
A lady in her 80s said, “We should all sign (the petition). Everybody should sign. We must help rescue good people!”
“I'll sign. I can't let them persecute good people,” echoed another man.
One police officer signed the petition and expressed his gratitude, “I trust Falun Gong practitioners. They told me the truth and helped me quit the CCP. They also told me that if I believe in and recite 'Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' is good, I would be kept away from danger and harm. This has proven to be true a number of times.”
