(Clearwisdom.net)

[Editors' Note: In both Western and Chinese culture, the principle of karmic retribution, that is, being held ultimately accountable for one's own actions, is widely accepted. The fundamental teaching of Falun Gong is the characteristic of the universe, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance." The universe will reward actions that are in harmony with this principle, while actions such as beating, torturing and murdering people will incur karmic retribution. Stated another way, good deeds will be rewarded with good, while evildoings will meet due retribution. Articles such as this one are meant as a compassionate reminder of this principle to those who would commit wrongdoing. While many of those who persecute Falun Gong are merely "following orders," the universal law requires that they, too, be held responsible for their actions, and that only by reversing their course of wrongdoing may they escape retribution.]

Zhou Jian, the former chief officer of Liangshan Township and Tiande Township Police Stations, hated Falun Dafa and was heavily involved in persecuting practitioners. On May 1, 2004, he and his family went on vacation to Harbin City, where he was killed in a car accident.

Chen Fenghua, the former director of Shulan City Detention Center, detested Falun Dafa and was morally bankrupt. He slandered Falun Gong and practitioners without hesitation. On July 25th 2004, he died in a car accident on his way back from meeting his girlfriend in Jilin City.

At the Masanjia Labor Camp, the police encouraged criminals such as drug offenders, thieves and prostitutes to persecute practitioners. The criminals kept practitioners from doing the Falun Gong exercises. In order to reduce their term at the detention center, they also participated in beating or torturing practitioners, using all kind of torture methods. One of the criminals, after beating and verbally abusing the practitioners, suffered unbearable stomach pain for several days. Late one night, while everyone was asleep, this criminal put her palms together and stared at the sky. She cried and said, "God, please help me. I have committed a crime by beating Falun Gong practitioners. I will never do it again. I know that God is punishing me by having me suffer great pain." Since then, she has been seen practicing the Falun Gong exercises at midnight. Her stomach pain disappeared. Other criminals observed the changes in her and some of them said, "I will practice Falun Gong too after I get out of here."

On September 3 to 5, 2004, east Sichuan Province including Dazhou, Bazhong, Guang'an, Nanchong and Kaixian County near Kaijiang River in Dazhou as well as north of Chongqing City had torrential rains, followed by a huge flood. It was the worst flood in the last hundred years.

Based on information provided by the Sichuan Government Rescue Office, by September 14, the flood, known as the "9.3 disaster," affected 9.18 million people, causing the death of 105 people and 23 people were still missing. The direct economic loss was estimated at 7.6 billion yuan, of which agricultural loss was around 2.6 billion yuan.

The worst hit areas included seven regions in Dazhou City, with a total population of 4.04 million being hit by the flood, which led to 70 deaths, 20 missing and 4,971 injures. The estimated loss was 6.1 billion yuan in economic loss and 1.5 billion yuan in agricultural loss. The electrical power system in Dazhou City alone lost over 35 million yuan.

Before this natural calamity, government officials in the above mentioned counties, cities and regions had conducted an intense persecution campaign against Falun Gong practitioners to prevent them from appealing when Jiang participated in the "Celebration of Deng Xiaoping's 100 Year Birth Anniversary," (the former Chinese leader) which was held on August 22, 2004.

Earlier in May of this year, the above-mentioned regions started monitoring and controlling local practitioners' activities. They used illegal methods to obtain practitioners' telephone conversation records and cell phone numbers, and monitored their phone conversations or followed key practitioners 24 hours a day.

In the beginning of August, the practitioners' friends or relatives who had talked to practitioners on the phone were questioned or threatened by local police, national security officers or leaders of their workplace.

Two days before August 22, all practitioners were monitored 24 hours a day. If more than three practitioners were seen together, they would be arrested for "illegal gathering."

Since April, the police in the cities of Guangan, Nanchong, Chongqing and Chengdu arrested Falun Gong practitioners without restraint. This became more frequent before and after August 22, and Dazhou City arrested the most practitioners. This is also the place that was later most severely damaged by the flood in September. So far, 8 practitioners are known to have been illegally arrested in Dazhu County of Dazhou City, 13 in Dazhou City, and 8 in Wanyuan. The authorities in near-by regions, such as Chongqing, Kaixian County and Bazhong Region also arrested several Falun Gong practitioners before the August 22 event. Those who were responsible for arresting practitioners include Yan Yonghe, Dazhou City Party Secretary; Song Kaijun, chief of the National Security Division of Dazhou City; Qin Jiawen, chief of Tongchuan Region National Security, and others. Most of the practitioners were released within ten to fifteen days after they and their relatives strongly appealed the arrests. However,

practitioners Wang Haiquan from Dazhu and Lei Hong from Dazhou are still being held in the detention center, as the persecutors have targeted them as key organizers. It was reported that they would be sentenced to forced labor.

Since August 20, when the police started to arrest practitioners, the weather in that area had become overcast, and it rained continuously until September 3, when the heavy downpour suddenly came. The downpour lasted until September 5, leading to the disastrous flood.