Former Tax Bureau Director Falls into Coma Due to Hunger Strike, Detained Incommunicado for Months

(Minghui.org) A deputy tax bureau director in Guan County, Shandong Province, fell into a coma after he held a hunger strike to protest his arbitrary arrest for his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Zhou Chunbao was later taken to the hospital for treatment and denied family visitation. Now nearly seven months have passed, and his family hasn’t heard any update about his condition. His wife and two children worry about him day and night.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhou, 48, was arrested on May 15, 2022. Many of his Falun Gong materials and his private car were confiscated. He was interrogated and deprived of sleep for three days. He held a hunger strike and fell into a coma. He was first taken to the Huamei Hospital in the nearby Linqing City and then to the Guan County Chinese Medicine Hospital, which is used by the authorities to persecute detained practitioners. His family hasn’t been given any update about him since.

Mr. Zhou’s arrest dealt a heavy blow to his daughter, and she almost dropped out of college as a result. His four-year-old son also cries every day and asks for his dad. His wife, a teacher, struggled to balance her job and care for the family. She also faces constant harassment by the police and lives under tremendous pressure.

The police claimed that Mr. Zhou’s case was major and reported it to the Public Security Bureau. A special task force was formed to handle his case.

On June 11, one month after Mr. Zhou’s arrest, Chen Yong, the head of Guan County Domestic Security Office, led a group officers to Fengcheng City, Liaoning Province, and arrested Mr. Zhou’s mother Ms. Xu Jimei, and his sister Ms. Zhou Chunling. Ms. Zhou later escaped from custody and has been forced to live away from home. Ms. Xu, on the other hand, has been sentenced to 15 months.

Family’s Ordeal

The family’s ordeal provided a glimpse into the lives of countless other practitioners in the past three decades, from how they benefited from practicing Falun Gong to how they were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party for upholding their faith.

The family’s patriarch, Mr. Zhou Ziming, was a well-known doctor of Chinese medicine in town. He and Ms. Xu had two sons and a daughter. Despite being a doctor himself, Mr. Zhou couldn’t cure his severe heart condition, myocardial infarction, swelling in the leg and varicose veins.

Ms. Xu struggled with deficiency of blood glucose and malnutrition. Her hands were always cold and she had to receive regular glucose injections. Later, she developed cervical vertebra hyperplasia, which caused inadequate blood and oxygen supply in her brain and the subsequent necrosis of some brain cells.

In the spring of 1995, the couple was introduced to Falun Gong. In a few days, their ailments disappeared. Mr. Zhou’s gray hair turned black. The swelling in his legs was gone, and he was no longer out of breath while walking. Ms. Xu was filled with energy and she no longer had to take breaks while climbing the stairs to their home on the fourth floor.

Their changes prompted their son Mr. Zhou Chunbao and daughter Ms. Zhou Chunling to take up the practice as well.

After the younger Mr. Zhou graduated from college, he began to work in the government. For all the years he was employed at the Guan County Tax Bureau, he was given many awards for his excellent performance.

But after the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, the family’s peaceful life was shattered. The elderly parents suffered over twenty home raids. They were fined by the police six times and also faced constant harassment.

The elder Mr. Zhou fell ill again, after eight detentions at a brainwashing center and two incarcerations at a detention center. He passed away from a severe heart problem in 2005. He was 63.

For raising awareness about the persecution, Ms. Xu was arrested four times and given both forced labor camp and prison terms.

The younger Mr. Zhou wasn’t spared in the persecution, either. The police ransacked his home in 2010, shortly after arresting his mother. His laptop, a portable drive and some Falun Gong books were confiscated. He was fired by the tax bureau shortly after his latest arrest.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Zhang Zhigang (张志刚), mayor of Guanxian CountyZhang Wenhong (张文宏), secretary of Guanxian County Party Committee: [phone]Li Changfeng (李长峰), head of Guanxian County Police Department: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related report:

Family Tragedy: Father Dies, Mother Sentenced, Son Tortured and Daughter Forced into Displacement