Latest News from China - 01/15/2000

284 Practitioners from Da-qing City Signed an Appealing Letter to the Authorities; Representatives Were arrested and 6 were sent to labor camps

In Da-qing, 284 practitioners signed an open appealing letter to the Chinese authorities. Their representatives were arrested before they were able to go to Beijing to deliver this letter. The appealing letter and the banner with signatures were also confiscated. Afterwards, many practitioners were detained. Up to January 3, six practitioners including Wang Tian-you and Wang Bing were given forced labor "education".

More practitioners from Da-qing City have gone to Beijing to appeal by escaping the police' blocking and interception. Whoever goes to Beijing to appeal will be detained after they are escorted back. Those who refuse to give up Falun Gong after "being educated" (which means physical and mental abuses) will be sent to forced labor camps. In Rang-hu District alone, there are many practitioners who have been detained because they had gone to Beijing to appeal since the mid-December 1999. Among them were Yang Shu-hua, Hou Shu-nan, Guo Yu-xia, Ren Zhao-yan, Tao Wei-ji, Li Shu-mei and Wang Guo-fang etc. Some workplaces forced Falun Gong practitioners to pay more than ten thousand Yuan (more than the annual salary of an average employee) as deposit. Once they go to appeal, security officers of their workplaces will go to Beijing to arrest them by using this money. Some workplaces warn practitioners that if they go to Beijing to appeal, their spouses or children will be fired.

Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress Was Relieved of Duties for Calling an End to the Ban on Falun Gong

AFP reported that in Chong-qing, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress, Zhou Jia-ying, was relieved of her duties on Monday after she protested the ban on Falun Gong and called for an end to the ban on the group.

Zhou is an engineer in the He-chuan Electrical Company of Chong-qing. During a meeting of the conference in December last year, Zhou made a proposal stating that the government's view of the group as a "religious sect" was not correct and called on the authorities to allow it to legally register. The local authorities of Chong-qing were extremely angry with her and on January 10th they removed her from duty.

A Major of Armed Police Is Being Detained in Shan-dong Province for Appealing for Falun Gong

According to news sources, Yu Feng-lai, a major of armed police was escorted back to his native Shan-dong Province on January 4 for detention after being arrested when appealing at the Tiananmen Square on January 2. Currently he is being detained in the armed police corps and has already been removed from duty.

Practitioners in Chengdu City Are Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong Privately or Attempting to Go to Beijing to Appeal

January 13, 2000

Recently, Chengdu police department has escalated its persecutions against Falun Gong practitioners. In the recent forced "education classes", the police department announced that they would detain whoever practices Falun Gong privately or goes to Beijing to appeal. Moreover, the police department will detain the practitioner as long as he/she attempts to go to Beijing to appeal.

Those who are escorted back from Beijing will be put on handcuffs and shackles. Due to the pressure from the higher authorities, the police officers and officials have committed numerous violations of the basic human rights of Falun Gong practitioners. So far, 4 groups of Falun Gong practitioners have gone to Beijing to appeal. They appeal for Falun Dafa at Beijing by taking great risks.