A Letter To President Jiang Ze-Min and Premier Zhu Rong-Ji From A Teenager of a Tortured Family of Falun Gong

Dear President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji,

My name is Shan Luo. I am a 19-year-old resident of the town of Shi-Gang, Xin-Jian County, Jiang-Xi Province. I began practicing Falun Dafa on May 25, 1997. I would like to report to you what happened to my family recently.

Last October, my mom and I were detained in the detention center of Xin-Jian County after we went to Bejing to make an appeal. After being detained for 45 days, I was released. However, one week after my release, my mom was sentenced to re-education through labor for two years without a trial, and she was sent to the Nan-Chang Female Labor Camp. TRelatives were not informed. I think this does not conform to the required legal procedures. When we eventually learned the whereabouts of my mom after going through much difficulty, my dad and I finally saw my mom in the Nan-Chang Female Labor Camp on March 6th. That night, my dad stayed with my aunt in Nan-Chang, while I stayed with my sister. The next day, I learned that my dad was arrested by the secretary of the county's Party committee at 12:45AM. I told my sister about it, so she went to the public security bureau of Xin-Jian County on March 8th when she was off from work that day. That afternoon, the public security sub-bureau of Shi-Gang Town called me over and told me that my sister was also arrested. They asked me to write a letter of guarantee, and I refused. Later, they said that they would spare me to send in clothes. They made my uncle use his job as the guarantee and to watch me. They required that I report to the public security bureau each day and stay in my uncle's place at night. They asked my uncle to watch me until the 16th. Later I learned that the public security bureau also arrested many people from their own homes without a reason.

The second day of my "stay" in my uncle's place, my uncle accompanied me to Nan-Chang, resigned the job of my sister, and returned her apartment to her employer. Because the key to the apartment and some material from the factory were still in my sister's handbag, my uncle and I went to the public security bureau of Xin-Jian to get the handbag. The public security bureau asked me to pay 27,000 Yuan RMB. If I didn't pay the money, they would confiscate my home, and they would not release anyone without seeing the money. They asked if my family still had any savings left, so my uncle was forced to sell our house. Out of the five people in my family, I am now the only one remaining outside of a jail. Right now, I have no food to eat, no place to stay, and I have to borrow everywhere to get that huge sum of money asked for by the public security bureau. How can I live? The next day after my sister was detained, her boyfriend asked to see her, the police told him: "You can't see her unless you can get 6,000 Yuan RMB to redeem her." Money, money, it's always money. An old man in the neighborhood said angrily, "They want to get the money before they'll release the people, and this seems to be even worse than the kidnappings made by bandits in the past." Last October, when my mom and I were escorted back from Beijing, the police from the public security sub-bureau of Shi-Gang forcefully took away 1,300 Yuan RMB from my mom. When we asked for it back , later, they said, "You still dream of getting it back?"

President Jiang and Premier Zhu, everyone in my family is a good person. We merely tried to practice some exercises, keep ourselves healthy and become a good person. We never did any bad things, yet we were arrested from home and detained willfully. Our legitimate rights guaranteed by the Constitution are deprived without a reason, and our personal freedoms have no guarantee. The police arrest good people as bad people as they wish. A happy family is broken, the children lost their parents, lovers cannot see each other, no job, no house, our family savings are lost, and we are over our head and ears in debt. How can a 19-year-old undertake such a heavy burden? Now, even non-practitioners would say, "how can the police arrest and fine people arbitrarily? They just want to do some exercises, and yet the police ruined their family. What has this world come to?" How can the masses understand what the government is doing!

Before I practiced Falun Gong, my health was very poor. I had gastropathy, tuberculosis, and a weak kidney since I was a child. I once had dermatitis all year long, and it was extremely itchy. The most severe illness I had was pubescent uterus bleeding in 1997. It almost killed me. The pain made me feel that I'd rather die. Hospitalization, injections and medications were all in vain to cure my disease, and my family doesn't have any money for me to go for medical treatment, so I was hopeless. The only thing left for me to do seemed to be lying in bed, waiting for death to come. It was at that extremely despairing time when I began to practice Falun Gong. From then on, I was able to say good-bye to medication. Without taking a single pill or having a single injection, my illness was gradually cured. My whole family started to practice Falun Gong since. Not only did we improve our health, but we also understand how to be a good person. In the past, my parents often argued over trivial things and the relationship between mom and grandma had become irremediable. Now my parents no longer argue, and mom and grandma can get along well. When our neighbors see the changes in my family, they all say, "Falun Dafa is great."

My entire family observes the law and principles of Falun Dafa, and do not quarrel or fight with other people. We work diligently and responsibly, and consider others first no matter what problem we encounter. We all try to be a good person. Master Li Hongzhi requires us "Never have a hand in politics or interfere in national affairs". We do not want to become high-ranking officials or to make a fortune, we merely want to do exercises and try to be a good person. We only want to have a legitimate cultivation environment.

I believe that our government will eventually realize that Master Li Hongzhi is a good person and Falun Gong practitioners are good people. I hope that President Jiang and Premier Zhu can take some time from their busy schedules to inquire into Falun Gong, give us a legitimate cultivation environment. I hope that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners just like me will no longer be arbitrarily arrested and sentenced without a reason. I hope tens of thousands of families like mine will no longer be separated. We are humans, we also want to have the basic rights and dignity of a human being, and have a happy family.

Please help my family!

Yours truly,

Shan Luo, a citizen of the town of Shi-Gang, Xin-Jian county, Jiang-Xi province

April 6, 2000

(Translated Apr. 8, 2000)