4. Social and Economic Coercion

4.1 Documented Facts on the Persecution of Falun Gong Family Members

Case 1

Victims: Wang Yuxiang and Sun Shufeng. Both are Falun Gong practitioners.

Location of incident: Changchun City, Jilin Province

Description:

Wang Yuxiang and Sun Shufeng, are a married couple who went to Beijing to appeal in September. However, the police sent them back to Changchun before they could appeal. They were detained until October 8. On October 13, Wang Yuxiang was arrested again and was sentenced to one year of “labor education”. On October 15, Sun Shufeng was also arrested and received the same sentence. In Changchun City, the government is pressuring Falun Gong practitioners by appointing their family members as “guarantors”. Namely, if a practitioner goes to Beijing to appeal, his/her guarantor will lose their job or be expelled from school. For example, a practitioner’s relative who works at a police department was appointed as his guarantor. If this practitioner goes to Beijing to appeal, his relative will be dismissed from the police force. Another practitioner’s daughter, who is a second year high school student, was appointed as her mother’s guarantor. If her mother goes to Beijing to appeal, the daughter will lose all education and employment opportunities.

Case 2

Victim: Xiao Yuanguang, from Jiangxi College of Forestry Technology

Location of Incident: Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province

Personal Account:

Since April 25, 1999, local government and party officials such as the party secretary of my working unit, the head of the school, and the secretary of the local party chapter have been taking turns talking with me in order to persuade me to give up Falun Dafa and hand in all Falun Dafa materials. This continued until October. I told them that Falun Dafa makes people healthier. Moreover, the freedom of belief is the legal right of every citizen as guaranteed by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. However, they said that they were following instructions from the provincial and central authorities.

Because I have come to Beijing to appeal, the local policemen have been harassing my family continuously. They told my family to to tell me that I should report to them and make a confession upon returning home. Since I have done nothing wrong, I have nothing to confess. On the contrary, it is the government that is severely violating the constitution and human rights.

Case 3

Victim: Li Xiangdong (male), Falun Gong practition-Home Address: Yongxin Village of Hongqi, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province.

Location of incident: Beijing

Personal Account:

In September, I went to Beijing to appeal. I had to sleep on the street in Beijing because the government did not allow any hotels to accommodate Falun Gong practitioners. Police from Fuxin police station (in Beijing) arrested me. After they learned that I was a Falun Gong practitioner, they did not give me any food, nor did they allow me to use the restroom. Later they transferred me to the Heilongjiang province liaison office, in Beijing. In order to continue to appeal to the government, I escaped from the local police station by jumping out of the building at about midnight on September 21.

Because I came to Beijing to appeal, the local police in my hometown detained my father, who is not a Falun Gong practitioner, in order to press me home. At that time, my father was in poor health. He became ill at the detention center, so the local police had to release him.

Case 4

Message received on October 26, 1999

Victim: Sun Shihong (male)

Home address: Section 56-13, Gongnong District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang province.

Telephone: 0454-3341494

Location of incident: Gongnong District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province 

Personal Account:

My wife was arrested because of practicing Falun Dafa, and was escorted back home after 48 hours in custody. She was forced to write a pledge against her will. My 79-year old mother was so frightened and asked us not to study or practice any more, otherwise she would commit suicide. This event has brought a crisis to my family. I have no other choice but to go to Beijing to appeal.

4.2 Anti Falun Gong Notice from a Village Resident Committee

Since July, 1999, every Falun Gong practitioner has been facing the choice between practicing Falun Gong and keeping their job, financial and social status, educational opportunities, etc. er.

The following is an announcement posted by the Resident Committee of XiaoJia Village on December 18, 1999. (The picture of the original announcement is attached)

“Announcement to All Villagers”

Comrade Villagers,

The Falun Gong “organization” has been charged with the crime of “overturning the state power” by the authorities, and whoever refuses to give up Falun Gong will be deemed as a criminal. According to the principles set by the authorities, from now on, any Falun Gong practitioner who goes out of town to appeal to any governmental department at the township level and above and to make trouble will be fined 10,000 Yuan after being escorted back by the police. His/Her water supply, electricity and telephone will be cut off. All his/her certificates will be confiscated too. He/She will be severely punished by law.

All backbone members of Falun Gong must write a pledge of breaking up with XXX and Falun Gong, turn in their ID cards and pay a deposit of 5,000 Yuan. The township government will hold a class for those who refuse to break up with the Falun Gong “organization” until they write the pledge and pay the deposit in full.

If one refuses to break up with Falun Gong, the police department will confiscate all his/her certificates issued by the state. Moreover, the village will not issue any certificates to him/her, or provide any service. All his/her linear relatives will be expelled from school, kindergarten, or state-run workplace until he/she breaks up with Falun Gong.

Xiaojia Village Resident Committee

December 18, 1999

(With Official Seal)

Picture of the original copy of the announcement.

4.3 Illegal Financial Penalties

These days, it has become the most important political task for the local authorities to prevent practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal. All kinds of measures are being tried, including severe fines and other financial penalties.

Case 1

Arbitrary Confiscation

Message received on November 19, 1999

Victims: Hu Chunxiang and other Falun Gong practitioners

Location of incident: Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province

Description:

In Liaoyuan, Jilin Province, all detained Falun Gong practitioners are required to pay 3,000 Yuan. If one cannot afford it, the grain stock in one’s home will be seized.

Hu Chunxiang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Anxu Town of Dongliao County, claimed her cancer was cured after practicing Falun Gong. Because she does not want to give up Falun Gong, her grain stock was confiscated and her husband was detained.

The grain stock of Qu Hongmei, a practitioner from the Siyi Town of Dongliao County, was also confiscated.

In order to brainwash Falun Gong practitioners, the police officer of the detention center collected 60 Yuan from the family of each of the detained Falun Gong practitioners for the purpose of buying a color television. Up to now, four televisions have been bought.

In Liaoyuan City, nine family members of Falun Gong practitioner Sun Lizhu are being detained. To go to Beijing to appeal, they raised 7,000 Yuan by selling their personal property. They had stayed in Beijing for about 3 months. After Falun Gong was labeled an “evil religion”, they stood out to defend Falun Gong, thus they were thrown into the detention center. After 15 days of detention, they still refused to give up Falun Gong. Therefore, they were transferred to the local detention center for further detention.

Case 2

Detention or Fine?

Message received on January 22, 2000

Victims: Falun Gong Practitioners

Location of incident: Chengdu City, Sichuan Province

Description:

Three practitioners from Longquanyi District of Chengdu City, among them Cheng Zhan, who had been to Beijing to appeal before, were arrested and their homes were ransacked. Because their workplaces refused to pay the 350,000 Yuan penalty to the police department, they are now serving criminal detention
(i.e., detention while waiting for possible sentences). Recently, some other practitioners from Chengdu City including Li Xiaojun are also serving criminal detention.

They were released later after their workplaces or family members paid several thousand Yuan (this amounts to several months salary for an average employee in China). Many of them had bruises due to police torture as well as abuse from other criminals. Everyday, They were forced to do hard labor for 18 to 19 hours. There is not enough food for them. Currently, they are under intense surveillance by the security sections of their workplaces as well as the police station.

Case 3

Practitioners Threatened with Life Terms if Fail to Pay Penalty

Message received on January 24, 2000

Victim: Falun Gong practitioners in Hengyang City, Hunan Province

Location of incident: Hengyang City, Hunan Province

Description:

Because too many practitioners are being detained in the Hengyang detention center, some “stubborn” practitioners will be sent to Zhuzhou City. The police department demanded that these practitioners pay 30,000 Yuan (three years income for an average Chinese worker) and serve three years of forced labor. The police department threatened that if they refused to pay the 30,000Yuan, they would be jailed for life.

A practitioner went to Beijing to appeal. After he was arrested in Beijing and escorted back to his hometown, he was required to pay 3,000 Yuan (more than three-months salary for an average Chinese worker) to cover the transportation cost and other unspecified expenses. A practitioner from Changsha was escorted back from Beijing by air. In addition to the money for the airline tickets, he was asked to pay another 10,000 Yuan (about the annual salary for an average Chinese worker).

Case 4

Practitioner’s Home Robbed by Police

Message received on February 1, 2000

Victim: Liu Jie (male)

Location of incident: Heli Wujia Town of Laixi City, Shandong Province

Description:

Liu Jie was escorted back on November 23, 1999 and detained in the Heli Wujia Town of Laixi City, Shandong Province. He has been detained until now because he could not afford the penalty of 10,000 Yuan (about the annual income for an average Chinese worker). His home was ransacked under the excuse of searching his ID cards. The police seized 2,700 Yuan from his home and seized a farm vehicle (about 2,000 Yuan) without leaving any receipt.

4.4 Forced March and Public Humiliation of Practitioners

An extreme practice designed to further persecute Falun Gong practitioners is to forcibly march and humiliate practitioners in public. To date, two cases of Falun Gong practitioners being paraded in public have been reported. . This type of punishment is not uncommon in the remote, rural, areas of China.

Case 1

Victims: 15 Falun Gong practitioners

Location of incident: Pengjia Town of Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province

Description:

January 8, 2000 was the market day of Pengjia Town of Shuangliu County, Sichuan Province. On that day, the local police forcibly marched fifteen Falun Gong practitioners who had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong through the crowded streets, in the cold wind. These fifteen practitioners were all barefoot.

Case 2

Victims: 6 Falun Gong practitioners

Location of incident: Liqiaoxi Village, Guangrao County, Shangdong Province

Description:

During mid-December of 1999, six Falun Gong practitioners decided to go to Beijing to express their personal belief regarding Falun Gong to the central authority. Four of them were arrested and escorted back, however two returned to appeal again.

The county government of Guangrao decided to parade the six practitioners in the streets in order to dissuade other Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing. It is very cold in the early winter of Shangdong. From December 22 through 25,1999, the Guangrao county government paraded the four arrested practitioners through the streets for four days. From December 26 until 27, the government paraded the other two practitioners in the streets.

The so-called “parade” was led by five police cars, and followed by a police truck, hung with anti-Falun Gong banners. Falun Gong practitioners, wearing only thin, exercise clothing, stood on both sides of the truck, while the policemen, wearing warms winter coats stood in the middle of the truck. During the six days, parades were held throughout the towns and villages of Guangrao County. At the same time, many other Falun Gong practitioners were detained in the county government detention facility until January 11, 2000.

CHINA-RELIGION AUTHORITIES REVIVE CULTURAL REVOLUTION METHODS AGAINST FALUN GONG (from EFE News Service (U.S.); Source: World Reporter^TM )

Beijing, Jan 17 (EFE).- Chinese police have revived the humiliating public ridicule tactics of the Cultural Revolution in their campaign to stifle the Falun Gong meditation movement, dissidents told EFE Monday.

Six Falun Gong members were forced to parade in the town of Guangyao, in Shandong province, with large paper hats and signs that read “diabolic cult.” “This method of humiliation is extremely inhumane, since not only does it provoke ridicule before society, but it violates human rights and even Chinese law,” according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.

The Chinese government introduced the presumption of innocence in its legal code in 1997, which implies that all people are considered innocent until proven otherwise.

“With this punishment and public humiliation, the police are violating the constitution and China’s penal law,” the Hong Kong organization said. The six Falun Gong members who were forced to parade were arrested in Beijing last month after they protested the govern-ment’s ban and repression of the movement.

Reference: http://www.buhuo.net (01/19/99)

4.5 Other Kinds of Persecutions

Case 1

Forced from Their Homes

Message received on October 26, 1999

Victim: Xu Wenjun (female, 40), currently in Beijing, Falun Gong practitioner from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province.

Location of incident: Jiangxi provincial government

Personal Account:

On the afternoon of July 22, after I watched the TV program that slandered Master Li and Falun Dafa, I left for Beijing that night. On my way to Beijing, I was interrogated by the police. They said, “Those who practice Falun Gong are forbidden to go to Beijing.” Many practitioners were forced to get off the train.

In Beijing, the police did not allow us to appeal. While in the hotel, when the attendants knew we were Falun Gong practitioners, they would say, “Please leave. The police have ordered us not to accept any Falun Gong practitioners. We will be fined and our license will be suspended if they find out.” We had to sleep on the grass in the countryside. We could have been arrested at any-time. When it was cold, I tried to find a place to stay. When the landlord knew that I was a Falun Gong practitioner, he said, “Please go. Now in our village, we are given a quota of 600 practitioners that we need to arrest. If they find you, I will be fined 2,000 Yuan.”

Case 2

Police Surveillance and Others

Victim: Chen Shuxian (female, 61). Address: Judeli 1, West district, Beijing.

Location of incident: Beijing

Description:

September 21, 1999, when I was practicing at home, police broke into my home and confiscated my audio tapes and cassette players used for my practice. I was then questioned in the police station.

Case 3

Message received on October 26, 1999

Victim: Zhao, Xizen (male), currently in Beijing, Falun Gong practitioner. Address: Xinan District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province.

Location of incident: District conference room of Xinan District Government, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province

Personal Account:

On July 22, Xinan District government officials took me to the District conference room to watch TV programs against Falun Dafa, and commanded me to write a pledge not to practice Falun Dafa. They prevented me from saying anything good about Falun Dafa, and threatened me by saying that those who do not obey them would be fired from their working place and detained for fifteen days. I told them I wouldn’t give up my Falun Dafa practice. They sent me to the police station and detained me for 24 hours. Because of the threat from the government, my wife was facing unemployment and my elderly mother was so frightened that she became seriously ill and became bed-ridden. Because of this, I was forced to write a pledge against my will. After that, they sent me to the security office of my working unit, forced me to study materials defaming Falun Dafa, renounce my belief, and demanded that I speak out against Falun Dafa. I didn’t comply with them, so I was detained for another week. After that, they demanded that I report my whereabouts every morning to the security department of my working unit, and to hand in my “repenting report” every Saturday. A month later, as my mind was still not changed, my wife divorced me.

Case 4

Victim: Men Jiting (female)

Location of incident: Dalian City, Liaoning Province

Description:

All Men Jiting’s family members practice Falun Gong. From July 22 on, local policemen visited them on a daily basis. They called her, at times more than once a day, to ask the whereabouts of her daughter. The phone calls persisted even after 1 AM. Her family members have been under surveillance 24 hours a day.

On August 30, her son was arrested while practicing Falun Gong. The chief of police from the district visited the family home, removed cushions used during practice sessions and burnt them on a nearby roadside.

Case 5

Message received on September 22, 1999

Victims: Practitioners in Dongying, Shandong Province

Location of incident: Dongying City, Shandong Province

Description:

After July 20, in the city of Dongying, Shandong province, the Shengli Oil Field commenced the “oneteach-one” or “many-teach-one” program to “reeducate” Falun Gong practitioners. A “teacher” would be subject to a severe penalty if he/she failed in “transforming” practitioners.

Case 6

Confiscation of ID cards

Message received on November 6, 1999

Victims: Ms. Zhang Yulan and other Falun Gong practitioners

Location of incident: Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province

Description:

The Mishan City police department confiscated the Identification cards of many Falun Gong practitioners before October 1 to prevent practitioners traveling to Beijing to appeal. They also required Falun Gong practitioners to write a pledge that they would not practice Falun Gong and not go to Beijing to appeal. About twenty practitioners including Ms. Zhang Yulan, age 54, have been detained without any legal charges because they refused to turn in their Identification cards and to sign the pledge. If they want to get out, they must denounce Falun Gong and it’s teacher. They then must pay 3,000 Yuan as a deposit. Because these practitioners do not want to say things against their conscience, they have not been released until now. After October 25, three more practitioners were arrested because they refused to give up Falun Gong.

Case 7

Victim: Wang Yajuan (female, 34)

Address: Changchen Bldg 15, Room 703, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

Location of incident: Xiwan Hotel, Beijing

Personal Account:

At 6:00PM on July 23rd, when I was copying Falun Dafa materials in the Xiwan Hotel of Beijing, I was caught by a plain-clothes policeman and taken to the hotel basement. I was interrogated until 4:00AM the next morning. Later I was transferred to Shenzheng City Liaison Office in Beijing. On July 24, I was escorted back to the Huali detention center of Shenzhen. The police forced me to write a pledge to give up Falun Gong, etc. They also ransacked my home at night and took away all the Falun Dafa books and materials. The police went to my workplace many times to put pressure on my supervisors. My company had no choice but to suspend me from my job. The police and the residents committee often came to my home to disturb me. I have come to Beijing to peacefully appeal. My 9-year-old child has been left in the care of a friend.

Case 8

Various persecutions

Message received on February 5, 2000

Victims: Falun Gong practitioners in Sichun province

Location of incident: Sichuan Province

Description:

1. The Head of a Police Station Was Removed from His Post for Failing to Prevent Local Practitioners from Going to Beijing to Appeal

Several days ago, the police chief and the political instructor of the Niushikou police station of Chengdu City were removed from their posts. They will be punished by higher authorities because they failed to prevent local practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

According to sources, the authorities hope that pressuring different levels of government officials will enable them to intensify their campaign against Falun Gong.

2. Bonus Was Revoked, Family Members Were Threatened

All of the Falun Gong practitioners living close to Wuguiqiao of Chengdu City were required to attend a “transformation education” class held at the local police station. Practitioners were required to bring their personal effects with them and could not leave the police station. They have not seen their family members for many days now. A practitioner’s son-in-law, who is a soldier, was threatened by the police that if he could not make his mother-in-law give up Falun Gong, the police would ask the army authorities to discharge him and send him back to his hometown.

For all practitioners living close to Wuguiqiao who had gone to Beijing to appeal, their villages revoked the yearly bonus for their family members including their children and grandchildren.

3. Professor Hong Jirong Were Sentenced with Three Years of Forced Labor and Removed from Party

Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Hong Jirong, who was a professor of Sichuan University, was sentenced to three years of forced labor “education”, and was expelled from the party shortly afterwards.

4. Doctor Went to Appeal; Clinic was Confiscated

Falun Gong practitioner, Doctor Miao, is living close to Wuguiqiao. Her clinic was seized by the police department because she went to Beijing to appeal. She is now under criminal detention.

5. Reported By the Neighbor; Wife and Son Were Gone

Mr. Wang was living in the residential area of the “Factory of Seamless Steel Pipe of Chengdu”. After being reported to authorities by his neighbor, his son was sentenced to one and half years of forced “labor education” and his wife had to attend the “transformation class” held at the police station for several days. In order to avoid more trouble, he had to move far away from his workplace.

Part II

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