Latest News from China - 04/02/2001

[Huludao City, Liaoning Province] "I Would Rather Say FALUN DAFA IS GOOD, Even If I'll be Put in Jail. It is Falun Dafa That Saved My Life." In order to confuse the public with propaganda by twisting the truth about and vilifying Falun Dafa [the great law], personnel from a TV station in Liaoning Province walked a long way. They went to Shihuiyaozi Village of Lianshan District in Huludao City, an isolated small village, and said to a senior villager, "As long as you say it is Falun Gong that made you suffer from the diseases and it is a hospital that cured you with medicine, we'll give you one thousand Yuan [about $125; $60 is the average monthly wage in China]." The village senior, having no alternative, said: "But I really recovered from cancer due to practicing Falun Gong! I should not speak against my conscience. I should thank Falun Gong." The head of the TV station said, "You see, we are here with the local police. If you do not do as we had previously arranged, you will be punished." Then they forced the senior to say in front of the camera how bad Falun Gong is. The senior stood before the camera, hesitant for a while, and said, "I would rather say Falun Dafa is good even if I'll be put in jail. It is Falun Dafa that saved my life." After saying these words, the senior broke into tears. The head of the TV station asked the cameraman to erase the video and went away depressed. [China] Dafa Practitioner would Rather Die than Kneel Down Dafa practitioner Li Ge (female) (pseudonym) was detained on suspicion of distributing Falun Dafa truth-clarifying materials. Her home was ransacked and she was taken to the City Public Security Bureau. Four young policemen brutally beat her and attempted to force her to kneel down. They beat her for more than 7 hours, but Li Ge still did not kneel down. Afterwards, the malicious persecutors pricked her fingers with a screwdriver and pen, and they did not stop torturing her until she lost consciousness. [Beijing] "Do not be A Soldier in Beijing. Otherwise, You will have to Commit Bad Deeds Against Your Conscience." Not long ago, a soldier serving in Beijing went back to visit his family. The villagers surrounded him and asked, "It is said that there are a lot of Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square. Is it true that they would be put into jail after being arrested and beaten by police?" The soldier said, "Yes. Once, Falun Gong practitioners were all over Tiananmen Square. Police were short-handed to have enough officers to arrest them. The central government dispatched our army to arrest Falun Gong practitioners. We soldiers did not want to do this. We spoke loudly to our director, 'Could we beat others when we are wearing uniforms? The first issue of 'Three Disciplines and Eight Requirements' [The discipline and requirements for soldiers to behave with high moral standards.] was NOT to beat and vilify others. Is this right?'" The director said, "This is an order from the central government. Dress in plainclothes and depart immediately. Those who do not beat Falun Gong practitioner will be punished and it goes on their record as a serious offence." "On arriving at Tiananmen Square, we indeed did not want to beat those Falun Gong practitioners, as we knew they are good people, but there were no alternatives. We had to act as if beating others and did some superficial things." He then continued, "You'd better not be a soldier in Beijing, in case you will be ordered to have to commit these bad deeds against your own conscience." [Northern China] Solemnly Warn the Evil Forces And Awaken People. On March 28, 2001, posters with red-colored characters reading, "Fa [Law or Universal Principle] Rectifying the Universe", "Falun Dafa is Good", "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong" appeared in phone booths in a main square of the city, the municipal government residential buildings, some streets and corridors of residential buildings. People also found some of the same kind of red characters showing up on banners for promoting the Sports Lottery, and on the hatch-back of a police car. In addition, some characters such as "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong," "Jiang Zemin Staged the Self-immolation Incident Attempting to Aggravate Persecution of Falun Gong. Please Do Not Be Deceived by Him," also appeared on the walls of corridors in some residential buildings. [China] Middle School Students Refused to Sign the Petition In a middle school, five students were forced to sign their names on a banner against Falun Gong. One student said, "I know Falun Gong. My aunt and grandma both are practitioners. They are very good people. How come they are supposed to be evil?" On hearing of this, four other students considered it reasonable, "We do not know Falun Gong. How could we casually sign against our consciences to slander it!" So all the five students did not sign. [China] In One City, A "Transformation Class" Ended in Vain. Recently, Jiang Zemin's accomplices ran a huge nationwide raid. It happened during the time of the two meetings [the Chinese People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference] as well as during the time when the United Nation Human Right Conferences in Geneva were to be held. The immense nationwide raid was staged in order to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from validating Dafa in Beijing and prevent the good people from providing strong evidences of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners to the world human rights groups. Falun Gong practitioners were kept under close control. Jiang Zemin's evil forces threatened that they would set up so-called "Transformation Classes" for the practitioners. But actually, the classes are to force practitioners to give up practicing Falun Dafa and making public their words of vilifying Dafa. The Falun Gong practitioners strongly objected. Practitioners in one city refused to take part in any activities organized by the local government to defame Falun Gong, and went on a hunger strike for several days to protest this. The local government officers had no way out but to ask practitioners' relatives to sign for the practitioners on some statements. The Political and Law Department of the city had supposed the class to be at least 130 people. However, as most Falun Gong practitioners learned about this beforehand, police from the city police department only "captured" 40 practitioners. Neither on quantity nor on effect did the local government officers reach their goals. [China] Words from Dafa Practitioner's Relatives "We're relatives of Dafa practitioners. As we hear and see more and more reports about Falun Gong through TV and other media [in China], we cast more and more doubts on the authenticity and reliability of the news reports, because these reports are totally different from what we know about Falun Gong practitioners. We witnessed their positive changes in their lives, and we know they are really good people. The government should focus their attention on punishing corruption. Why make trouble with these good people? This kind of government really has people worried." [Dashiqiao City, Liaoning Province] Seven Dafa Practitioners were Sent to Masanjia Labor Re-education Camp In March of 2001, seven female Dafa practitioners - Sun Shenghua, Hou Baidong, Wang Xiuqing, Xu Jia, Zhu Hongyan, Xing Chun'e and Xu Jun, were sent to Masanjia Labor Re-education Camp, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Sun Shenghua refused to cooperate with the vicious guards by jumping from a third floor window. As a result, she sustained a compound fracture in her ankle. The labor camp refused to accept her, so she was sent back and bailed out by her family. Another Dafa practitioner, Bai Hongbin from Guantun Village of Dashiqiao City, was sent to a Mental Hospital in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. No detailed information could be obtained about him. [Huludao City, Liaoning Province] The Deceptive Behavior of Police at Huludao Labor Camp Police personnel at the Huludao Labor Camp put on a fabricated show to deceive the masses and at the same time flaunted their devious achievements to their superiors. They ordered a detained "reformed" individual [the people whose mind have gone astray due to Jiang Zemin regime's brainwashing or torture] to slander Dafa, while people from a TV station came to collect news and scanned all the practitioners with the camera lens. They then bragged unblushingly, "Now most of the practitioners have been reformed." When some determined practitioners wanted to speak out the truth, the cameramen quickly moved the camera and the officials then threatened, " Don't talk nonsense. See how I'll punish you after the reporters leave." People in the camp also prepared some good food for the practitioners to show the visitors how "kind" they were to the practitioners. They did not allow the practitioners to sleep and beat them for an entire night. But they lied to the media, saying "We always spend the entire night doing transformation work on the practitioners and never take one day off, even on vacations. We gave up the opportunities to reunite with our families for the work to reform the practitioners." These debased people are indeed extremely shameless by regarding their tortures of practitioners as good deeds. [Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] No. 4 Large Unit of Shijiazhuang Detention Center: Dafa Practitioner Cui Junhua's Arm was Beaten So Viciously It Ended Up Fractured Police at No. 4 Large Unit of Shijiazhuang Detention Center closely monitored Dafa practitioners. They ordered the common criminals to watch over practitioners, did not allow them to practice nor study the Fa or talk with each other. They even followed the practitioners when they went to bathroom. Dafa practitioners were thus deprived of all personal freedoms. The police often body-searched practitioners. When practitioners raised an objection, the police became aggravated, instead of listening to the practitioners' complaints. They searched more thoroughly and even confiscated all the paper and pens that practitioners bought with their own money. They read the letters that practitioners wrote to their families and did not allowed any mention of the matter about Falun Gong in the practitioners' letters. It is stipulated that "criminals can be visited by the family members once a month." But Dafa practitioners, who are not criminals, are even deprived of this right. For example, Peng Rongfen (female), from Sizhilan Town of Ningjin County, Xingtai City, has not been permitted to see her relatives for more than ten months. Almost every month, her parents and husband (home phone: [phone]) came to the detention center to visit her, but they were not allowed to see each other. Dafa practitioner Wang Jinmei (female), from Handan City (address: No. 8, 11 Row, Wangzhuang West Street, Dongfeng Road, Handan City, Post Code: 056002) should have been released last November, as her illegal detention period in the labor camp was for one year. But she has not been released up till now. The team leader Geng Xingjun beat up Cui Junhua (female) and two other practitioners. Cui Junhua's arm was beaten so severely that it broke. Several other team leaders were on the spot at that time, but nobody stopped his brutality. [Hengshui City, Hebei Province] Police Illegally Arrest Dafa Practitioners At 5 am on March 14, 2001, police from Shenzhou City, Hebei Province, arrested Dafa practitioner He Yinhua (female) who stayed in her fellow-villager's home in Hengshui City. He Yinhua was a 23 year- old peasant in Shenzhou City. She once went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. In the summer of 2000, she escaped from an illegal "Study Class" held in Shenzhou City, and has become homeless ever since. We have also heard that a lot of Dafa practitioners from Shenzhou City, Jizhou City and other places went to Beijing to appeal during the period of the two National Meetings. Many Dafa practitioners from Zhenzhou City and other surrounding cities and counties were arrested. Some work units in Hengshui City forced Dafa practitioners to write "Guarantee Statements" under pressure from the upper level government. [China] A Practitioner's Husband was Illegally Detained Cadres of a county in a city in North China, being afraid that Dafa practitioners would go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, coaxed all Falun Gong practitioners to go to the factory to "have a meeting and study some documents," but they actually detained them in the town government office. One female practitioner could not go because of her sick child. Her husband went instead. It was never expected how it could be that a practitioner's husband who himself was not a practitioner could also be lured to be detained for more than ten days. He was not released until he submitted illegal "fines." [China] A County Cadre Taught People to Curse. A 3-year-old Boy Made Him Ashamed by Reason An elderly lady had been illegally detained for half a month in the county due to practicing Falun Gong at home. Her son and her 3-year-old grandson carried all the savings of the whole family, 2,000 Yuan, to bail her out. But the cadre did not let the elderly lady go, even after he received the money. He ordered the elderly lady to curse Teacher. The elderly lady said, "I have never cursed anybody in my whole life. It is unbelievable that a cadre would teach people to curse." Her little grandson said, "My nanny teaches me not to curse. One who curses is a bad child." This made the cadre blush and he could not say anything. How come those cadres of the country are so unreasonable and not even as good as a 3-year-old child? [Yantai City, Shandong Province] A Painter Who is a Dafa Practitioner from Yantai City was Illegally Arrested On February 27, 2001, Dafa practitioner Chu Chunyan (female) who is a painter and an assistant professor, and Dafa practitioner Du Tonggao (male) who is a painter, were arrested while they were working at their paint shop. The police attempted to arrest them by force, citing the reason for the arrest their cultivation of Falun Dafa. The two Dafa practitioners acted solemnly and fairly. They clarified the truth about Falun Dafa and refused to cooperate with the police. Everyday since then, their former work unit, Yantai Cultural Bureau, sent many persons to take turns to keep constant surveillance on them and restricted their freedom of activity. Their basic human rights were severely violated. On March 3, 2001, Chu Chunyan and Du Tonggao were illegally and forcibly taken away and put into criminal detention. Dafa practitioner Lin Cailing (female) from Yantai University has been illegally detained for one month and was not released after the detention period was completed. She is still under indefinite illegal detention. [Changchun City, Jilin Province] Changchun Dafa Practitioners: Be Aware of the Police's Trick I am a Dafa practitioner from Changchun City. At about 7PM on February 20, 2001, a policeman from the local station called me to go to the police station the next day at 8:00AM and get my ID card back. When I got there the next day, the police from Chaoyang District Branch were waiting for me. They detained me for15 days and later sent me to Heizuizi Labor Camp for 1 year of forced labor. [Beijing] Beijing Police Inhumanly Persecute Dafa Practitioners A Dafa practitioner from Hebei Province went to Beijing to validate Dafa on January 29, 2001. Beijing police thought up all kinds of vicious means to force him to tell them where he was from. As the practitioner refused to say, the police handcuffed his two hands and hanged him up, and shocked his waist badly with an electric baton. This practitioner was "fined" 15,000 Yuan after being escorted back by his local government. He has been imprisoned for two months in a detention center, and is not released yet. [Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province] A Practitioner from Shenzhen Suffered Hardships Dafa practitioner Zhou Suwen from Shenzhen was arrested last December as he was studying the Fa with some fellow practitioners. There were more than 40 people being arrested at the same time. On March 4 this year, Zhou Suwen was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor without a trial, and is now held at Sanshui Labor Camp in Guangdong Province. Another Shenzhen Dafa practitioner, Sun Zhinan, was arrested on February 20 this year. He has been detained for more than one month and is not released yet. He has two teenage children at home. [China] A Person has been Deprived of his Right to Livelihood Mr. Li is a retired employee. He has suffered from serious back and leg problem and other diseases for many years before practicing Falun Gong. He tried medical treatment but it didn't work. He was very weak and even had difficulty walking. But since he began to cultivate Falun Gong, without receiving medical treatment, all his diseases have disappeared and his physical condition becomes better and better. As his work unit does not make any profit, he can only get 100-Yuan retirement pay each month [average monthly wage is about 500 Yuan, which is about US$60]. Though he saved on a lot of medical expenses through cultivating Falun Gong, the 100-Yuan pay he gets could hardly make ends meet as it was. But even though, he has been deprived of the monthly pension since last winter. The reason given for withholding this meager sum of money is that he is a Falun Gong practitioner. How can this white-haired, elderly man make a living? Will he be forced to beg for food along the streets? This is the human rights situation in China: individuals are even deprived of their right to livelihood. [Hengshui Area, Hebei Province] A Partial Name List of Dafa Practitioners being Persecuted Dafa practitioners being illegally detained overtime in Hengshui Area, from March 2000 until now: Xin Mingru, Feng Caili, Wang Xiuxue, Xin Mingling, Shan Shufang, Shan Shuhong, Yuan Qingai, Ming Xiulian, Di Xiulian, Meng Xiangguo, Meng Xianrong, Hou Guorui (together with his parents), Cai Yongcun, Liu Guichun, Sun Xiumin and Zhang Wenju. Dafa practitioners being illegally sent to forced labor camps, from February 2000 until now, and sentenced to 2 to 3 years of forced labor: Guo Zhijiang, Sun Tieliang, Zhang Qizhen, Zhong Baorui, Zheng Baowei, Shan Shuhua, Zhu Yunpeng, Zhang Fengjiang, Yu Na, Qi Zhengui, Le Lihong, Liu Shujun and Zhang Yongli. Dafa practitioners being illegally sentenced to 2 to 4 years in jail, from July 20, 1999 until now: Li Zhenzhong, Song Yunsuo and Zhong Cunjie.