| Part II | Previous | Next |
9. Schools Not Spared
9.1 Persecutions against Falun Gong Practitioners in Tsinghua University, One of the Most Prestigious Universities in China
Victims:
Name (Gender), Occupation/Field of Study
Chu Tong (female) a faculty member of Microelectronic Institute, Tsinghua University
Li Yixiang (unknown) a Ph.D. student of Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Yao Yue (female) a Master-degree Student of Microelectronic Institute, Tsinghua University
Wang Jiuchun (female) a faculty member of Dept. of Technology Development, Tsinghua University
Liu Wenyu (male) a Ph.D. student of Dept. of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University
Zhang Zhigang (male) a graduate student of Dept. of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering, Tsinghua University
Yu Jinmei (female) a graduate Student of Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Li Chunyan (female) a student of Dept. of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University
Ma Yan (female) a student of School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
Liu Zhimei (female) a student of Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Li Xiaodan (unknown) a student of Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Qin Peng (male) a student of School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
Lin Yang (unknown) a student of Dept. of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering, Tsinghua University
Pan Yidong (male) a student of Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Wang Xin (unknown) a Ph.D. student of Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology, Tsinghua University
Jiang Yuxia (female) a student of the Dept. of Water Conservancy in Tsinghua University
Zhang Cunman (male) a student of Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology, Tsinghua University
Wang Weiyu (male) a Ph.D. student of Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology, Tsinghua University
Huang Kui (male) a Ph.D. student of Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology, Tsinghua University
Meng Jun (male) a faculty member of Dept. of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University
Li Min (unknown) working in affiliated business group of Tsinghua University
Yu Jia (female) a teacher in School of Business Administration, Tsinghua University...and many more.
Location of incident: Tsinghua University, Beijing
Description:
Tsinghua University, one of the most prominent universities in China, became one of Chinese government’s focal points in its campaign against Falun Gong. Under the pressure from the Communist Central Committee, Tsinghua University got very tough on its faculty members and students, most of whom are outstanding scholars and scientists.
On October 21, 1999, the police took 14 students away when they were attending a Falun Gong experience-sharing conference on the campus. They were handcuffed, beaten up and tortured physically. Because the students refused to write a statement to promise to give up practicing Falun Gong, some were forced to fill out an application for withdrawing from school. A Ph.D. student who was suspected to be an “organizer” was detained for 30 days.
After Oct. 25, 1999, about 25 students including 10 undergraduate students, 7 Ph.D. candidates, 7 Master-degree students and 1 MBA student were suspended from the school. These students and a young faculty member were sent home under the escorts of their parents. Two graduate students had to withdraw from the Communist Party and give up their memberships under a great deal of pressure.
At the beginning of December 1999, the university asked those students on suspension to write confessions. The confessions had to meet certain requirements including admitting that Falun Gong is an “evil cult”. If the university was not satisfied with the written confessions, it would not allow the students to return to school for that semester. Only when the university was satisfied with the confession, could the student resume his/her study.
The university even transferred the files of the students who insisted on practicing Falun Gong to the local public security department so that they could be put under surveillance at all times. Some of the students who followed the instructions and wrote the proper confessions were permitted to resume their study at the school. Others still remained on suspension.
Below are some details about the students and faculty members who were persecuted.
Chu Tong was charged with the criminal offence of illegal demonstration and was sentenced to 18 months in jail because she and another 16 practitioners opened a Falun Dafa banner on the rostrum of Tiananmen Square. She is the mother of a 1-year-old boy.
Li Yixiang became the target of the public security department after he posted his article entitled “Declaration on Giving up Communist Party Membership” on the Internet. He got detained when he was attending an experience-sharing conference on Oct. 21, 1999. It was said he had been forced fed when he was on a hunger strike in prison. He was isolated for “reeducation” at “200#” (a base of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology of Tsinghua University located in a rural area.) after he was released from prison. A group of over twenty teachers kept working on “re-educating” him every day. The vice-chairman of Tsinghua Communist Party Committee, Zaixing Zhang, was the leader of the team. Mr. Li’s mother and brother also joined in the persuasion. In the course of “re-education”, he was compelled to write some stuff against his own will. His “successful transformation” was used as model propaganda material by the Chinese official media. People’s Daily, a popular state-run newspaper, subsequently published his article criticizing Falun Gong. The article seems a mixture of Mr. Li’s words and official statements produced to serve the purpose of propaganda.
Another student named Yao Yue continued to practice Falun Gong. The university had been trying to kick her out. She eventually had to give up her Communist Party membership and her student status under pressure from the school.
At present, the university is running a “transforming class” to brainwash four people: Wang Jiuchun, Liu Wenyu, Zhang Zhigang and Yu Jinmei. Ms. Wang Jiuchun was allowed to go home in the evening and attend the classes during the day while the other three students were confined in an isolated place. They were forced to learn the defamation materials against Falun Gong, to discuss with the team leader and write confessions. The “transforming class” lasted 20 days. They had to write articles on their personal experience. Once something that could be utilized for defaming Falun Gong was found in their articles, a transformation report would be pieced together. It was said that Mr. Li Yixing’s propaganda was produced using the same trick. The three students might be expelled from school if they don’t change their mind by the end of the “class”.
The following students have still not been allowed to resume their study at school. They either refused to write confessions, or could not pass the assessment. They are Li Chunyan, Ma Yan, Liu Zhimei, Li Xiaodan, Qin Peng, Lin Yang, Pan Yidong, Wang Xin, Jiang Yuxia, etc.
Jiang Yuxia went back to school once without the university’s prior permission and, as a result, her identity card was taken away by the local public security department so as to restrain her outings. She could not get her ID card back until she met the university’s “requirements”, or else she would be terminated from school. The local public security department threatened that she would be arrested or sent to a labor camp unless she gave up her belief in Falun Gong.
Zhang Cunman, Wang Weiyu, and Huang Kui - these 3 students had unwillingly written the so-called “acknowledgement”, but still were required to go through “study class”, and therefore, were not able continue their normal coursework.
Meng Jun, a teacher at Tsinghua, was not allowed to work, and will probably be fired by the university in the next school term, because his “confession” could not meet the requirements of the university.
Li Min was sent home accompanied by his/her father, as his/her confession on his/her return did not include any condemnation, his/her communist Party Membership would probably be seized.
Yu Jia was detained with the charge of “criminal offence” because she opened a banner with a Dafa emblem on Golden Water Bridge on the Chinese lunar New Year’s Eve. She wrote a letter to her colleagues from the detention center, which is included in Attachment 2. Because this letter was published on the a Falun Gong website, 4 police officers from Branch 14 of Beijing police department, and from the Tsinghua University ransacked her home on February 12, 2000. The police officers seized all of her Falun Dafa materials. Her brother was beaten up for protecting those materials.
Wang Dazhong, President of Tsinghua University, says that the fight against Falun Gong in Tsinghua is a long-term duty. The official announcement of Tsinghua University’s views on handling Falun Gong practitioners is included in Attachment 1.
Attachment 1
Tsinghua University’s Views on How to Treat Students Who Insist on Practicing Falun Gong
Recently, according to the gist of higher authorities, the university has adopted some measures on a few students who practice Falun Gong. These measures include asking them to go back home with their parents and be introspective for some time. Some students have changed their opinions to different extents. Now after some discussion, Tsinghua University authority has the following views about the treatment of those students’ status at school:
All these students must hand in some written materials. These materials have to cover the following points: the student’s own criticism of “Falun Gong”, their reflections on their mistakes by participating in Falun Gong activities, their promise to abide by the laws and rules in the future, and other questions that the university requires them to talk about.
Those students who have made quick changes in their opinion and hold good introspective views on Falun Gong can be allowed to return to school and resume their studies in the near future. The time they spent at home will not be treated as skipping school. They will be examined in all of their courses according to the usual requirements and these students have to be responsible for their own course performance.
Those students who have failed to make significant progress in their opinions about Falun Gong will not be allowed to return to school. The university asks their parents to cooperate with the school to help them continue to be introspective at home. And their parents are also required to go through the procedures to suspend these students’ schooling without losing their status as students. The time of suspension is temporarily set to start from the day they went back home to the end of this term. Whether or not these students will be allowed to resume their studies next term will depend on the change of their opinions.
Those students who insist on withdrawing from the school have to submit a formal application to withdraw as required by the university. If the university discusses and agrees to treat them as normal cases to withdraw from school, their parents can come to school to go through relevant procedures with their applications.
School of Graduate Studies
The Tsinghua University Administrative Office
The Tsinghua University Student Affairs Office
November 16, 1999
Attachment 2
Yu Jia’s letter to her colleague from the detention center
To: Mr. Jian Chen - Please also pass on to the Faculty Leaders and the University Leaders
I think the current conclusions that have been drawn and the steps taken to deal with Falun Dafa are extremely unfair. It is absolutely against the truth and violates the Constitution. It is also against basic human conscience. As someone that has benefited from Falun Dafa, I felt obliged to step forward and say something in fairness especially when Dafa is suffering from unjustified suppression. It is Falun Dafa that has removed all the illnesses from my body in a surprisingly short time. It is Falun Dafa that has made me understand the true meaning of life and the principles of being a true person. In the words of our forefathers: “Receive one’s favor of a drop of water, repay his kindness with a whole spring.” I am only an ordinary person with no power nor privileged status. What I can give in return to Master Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa is simply my conscience.
In addition, the current ways of dealing with the teaching professionals, working staff and students, such as putting students on suspension, forcing them to quit school and attend study sessions, or compelling them to say things that is against their will, are very unjust.
These students and teaching professionals have never done anything harmful to the nation and the people nor have they ever done anything bad. They have been following Master Li Hongzhi’s teaching to cultivate themselves to be good people. How could you treat them in such a way? How can one says that Falun Dafa is bad, or is a cult and brain washes people? In fact, Falun Dafa has never put people in study sessions for re-education, or put students on suspension from their studies. People come to learn Falun Dafa of their own free will. Nobody has ever been forced to learn, and nobody has ever been threatened to lose his job, family, and prospects. Of course, I believe the university may be also having difficulties that it felt hard to disclose. To resolve these problems is beyond the university’s capacity. Therefore I hope that the university can help me to report to the higher levels of the government.
I will accept the faculty’s termination of my job and all other related matters in the faculty. Please transfer my lecture notes and reference materials to Mr. Xiao Junqian. Please also give my books and materials relating to statistics in my office to Mr. Xiao Junqian. Please donate all other books to the information center.
Finally, I thank you all for everything you have done for me.
Yu Jia
(A teacher in the School of Business Administration, Tsinghua University, and the mother of a 2-year-old girl.)
9.2 More Cases Regarding the Persecution of School Students and Teachers
Case 1
Victim: Pang Dongzhen (female), graduate student in the Department of Foreign Language, Huanan Normal University; and more...
Location of incident: Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Description:
Since November of 1999, some universities in Guangzhou started to punish those practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal by forcing them to quit school. In both Huanan Normal University and Jinan University, some students had been ordered to quit school. Pang Dongzhen was dismissed from the university because of going to Beijing to appeal on several occasions. After she was released from administrative detention for the second time, she was arrested again when she had a meal with four other practitioners at her home. She is now under criminal detention.
Case 2
Victim: Lei Xiaoting (female), lecturer in the Department of Foreign Language, Beijing University of Industry and Business.
Location of incident: Beijing
Description:
The policemen from the 7th division of Beijing Public Security Bureau took her away from her dorm and put her under custody on the morning of November 5, 1999. The security section of the university said that the police suspected her of having attended the Falun Gong news conference held on October 28, 1999, and served as an interpreter for the foreign journalists. Her parents’ requests to visit her were denied.
Case 3
Victim: Luo Zhijun (male), graduate student in Sichuan Institute of Industry.
Location of incident: Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Description:
Luo Zhijun was arrested in the home of a fellow practitioner in Pi County, Sichuan province on October 12, 1999. He was dismissed from the Institute after 15 days of custody. Four students were ordered to monitor him. Later he was sent back to his hometown in Jiangxi province.
Case 4
Victims:
Cao Kai (male), Ph.D. student in the Institute of Developmental Biology, Chinese Acedemy of Science (CAS), Beijing
Chen Kaiqu (male, 24), graduate student in the Institute of Mathematics, CAS
Li Xiaodong (male, 24), graduate student in the Institute of Mathematics, CAS
Hong Wei (male, 24), graduate student in the Institute of Microbiology, CAS
Zhou Li (female), graduate student in the Institute of Microbiology, CAS
Yuan Xiaofan (female), Ph.D. student in the Ecology Center, CAS
Meng Jun, Ph.D. student in the Ecology Center, CAS Yan Xiaohua (female), Ph.D. student in the Institute of Animals, CAS
Location of incident: Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing
Description:
All 8 graduate students whose names are listed above were once detained as “criminal suspects” for peacefully appealing for Falun Dafa. Among these students, Yan Xiaohua has been dismissed from the institute. Cao Kai has been detained twice, and he was named as the most problematic Falun Gong member. He is now suspended from his research. Chen Kaiqu, Li Xiaodong, and Hong wei were also arrested on the morning of September 5, 1999 because they practiced Falun Gong in Zhongguancun, Beijing. They were released after 40 days of detention.
In some research institutes such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 people including graduate students were put on the list of people who refused to give up their belief in Falun Gong. The institutes suggested that the people on the list start to hunt for new jobs because the institutes would dismiss them very soon. Most of these people on the list were key researchers on some research projects.
Case 5
Victims:
Luo Mingpu, graduate student in Sichuan University, Sichuan Province.
Liu Tao, graduate student in Sichuan University, Sichuan Province.
Chen Mingyong, graduate student in Sichuan Institute of Industry, Sichuan Province.
Location of incident: Sichuan Province
Description:
Luo Mingpu and Liu Tao, graduate students at Sichuan University, and Chen Mingyong, a graduate student at Sichuan Institute of Industry, were expelled from the universities. The authorities suspected that they might have taken part in drafting “Appealing Letter from Falun Gong Practitioners in Sichuan Province to the General Secretary of United Nations, Mr. Annan” and collecting signatures.
According to a message received on February 8, 2000, they were later arrested, and were transferred to Linxia street Jail in Chengdu to wait for a severe sentence. They are detained along with murderers, drug dealers and other criminals.
Case 6
Victim: Dong Buyun (female, 36), teacher at Xiyanchi Elementary School of Lanshan District, Linyi, Shandong Province.
Location of incident: Linyi City, Shandong Province
Description:
Dong Buyun went to Beijing to peacefully appeal on July 20, 1999 and was arrested. The police of Lanshan District of Linyi City sent her back home under escort on September 20. She was under the custody of her school. She was detained in an office on the second floor of a building in the school. She was under surveillance 24-hours a day. She was forced to watch TV programs that defame Falun Gong and to study the anti-Falun Gong policies issued by the central committee of the communist party. She was also required to write a pledge of giving up Falun Gong, etc. However, she firmly insisted that the propaganda on the TV was all fabricated, and she refused to write the pledge. Instead, she wrote a letter of resignation to give up her job instead of giving up Falun Gong. On the next day, it was officially reported that she jumped out of the building and got killed around midnight. The police cremated her body in a hurry before noon the next day.
Case 7
Victims:
Zhang Yuwei (female), Ph.D student in Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Province
Guo Chunhuan (female), Ph.D. student in Zhejiang University, Zhejiang Province
Location of incident: Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Description:
They were going to Beijing to peacefully appeal and were intercepted by police in Jinan, Shandong province on October 27, 1999. The local police department sent them back to Hangzhou under escort. As of November 6, 1999, no information was available from the police, and her family was not able to contact her. What happened to Guo Chunhuan, after she was picked up by the university’s security department on the evening of November 1, 1999, was also unknown. Some Falun Gong practitioners in Zhejiang University are facing dismissal from the University.
Case 8
Victim: Zhang Ji (male, 20), a student in Qiqihar University.
Location of incident: Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Description: (See Section 7.4, Case 1)
Case 9
Victim: Gao Shanshan (female, 16), high school student of the First High School in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province.
Location of incident: Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Description:
On September 20, 1999, Gao Shanshan went to a hotel in Beijing to meet her mother who came from Japan. The owner of the hotel saw her Falun Gong book, and then sent her to the police department. After being detained for 7 hours, she was only given a piece of stiff steamed bread. A policeman interspersed his talk with curses. By pulling her hair and forcing her mouth open, the policeman forced her to eat some lamb that had been contaminated by him with an unknown foreign sub-stance. Other policemen also made fun of her. There were also other tortures to this young woman ... ...
In her high school, Shanshan was recognized as an outstanding student. But since September 24, she had been illegally detained just for possessing a Falun Gong book. When her mother went to visit and bring her some things, she was made to leave immediately. She was told that if Shanshan still did not express “regret” for practicing Falun Gong, she would be arrested.
Case 10
Victim: Zhu Hang (female), associate Professor of Department of Humanity and Social Sciences, Dalian University of Science and Technology.
Location of incident: Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Description: (See Section 1.3)
Case 11
Victim: Chen Ying (female, 18), senior high school student in Jiamusi city.
Location of incident: Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Description: (See Section 8.3, Case 8)
| Part II | Previous | Next |