Yanshan University in Hebei Province Promotes Propaganda Campaign against Falun Gong on Campus

(Minghui.org) Since the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Yanshan University in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province has been actively spreading hate propaganda against the practice on campus. 

One of the largest universities in Hebei Province, Yanshan University was formed as an offshoot of Harbin Institute of Technology in Heilongjiang Province, a top national defense university, in 1960. The school is directly funded by the Hebei Provincial Government, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It has nearly 39,000 students and 3,200 faculty and staff members. 

In an effort to further control the young students’ minds, the school leadership has been running brainwashing campaigns targeting new students every year since 2015, with collaboration from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, 610 Offices, the judiciary branches and other colleges. The format of the campaigns includes new student welcome parties, photo exhibitions, petition drive, and seminars. 

The school’s deputy Party secretaries Xie Yan’an and Sheng Wanyu, secretary of the discipline inspection commission Li Rong, deputy secretary of the propaganda department Huang Sheng, and vice chancellor Wang Baocheng all participated in the campaigns.

Timeline of Brainwashing

As early as December 2001, Yanshan University held a photo exhibition in the library to defame Falun Gong. 

In May 2008, the school’s custodial department issued a notice, demanding all of their staff members, including contractors, to sign statements promising not to practice Falun Gong during the Beijing Olympics. 

In November 2015, the university held a three-day “anti-cult” education exhibition in the student center. A director of the Qinhuangdao City 610 Office gave a speech smearing Falun Gong. 

In November 2016, Yanshan University was given an award for “Excellent Unit of Legal Publicity and Education” and Ren Yanjing, the director of the university’s Legal Affairs Office, was awarded “Excellent Worker for Legal Publicity and Education” for its active role in smearing Falun Gong.

When the new semester started in January 2017, the school started another smearing campaign against Falun Gong, accusing Falun Gong practitioners of distributing “anti-revolutionary books.” 

On May 7, 2018, Li Yongcai, the director of the anti-cult association in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, was invited to Yanshan University to give a seminar to smear Falun Gong. Sheng Wanyu, the university vice chancellor, introduced the school’s achievement in the brainwashing campaign. She also shared the plan to further the campaign by making full advantage of their resources and creating new anti-cult platforms.

On February 23, 2019, Xie Yan’an, another vice chancellor, also slandered Falun Gong during a speech about the campus security work.

Persecution Cases

Yanshan University’s 610 Office and security office found out in February 2002 that Mr. Sun Man, a graduate student of the School of Mechanical Engineering, practiced Falun Gong. Security officer Zhao Yunxia and Zhou Xihua, dean of the graduate school, searched Mr. Sun’s dormitory and talked to him for six hours, trying to pressure him to renounce Falun Gong.

The officers often harassed Mr. Sun during classes or in his dormitory since then. He was taken to a brainwashing session hosted by the Hebei Province Higher Education Commission on February 28, 2002. 

Two sophomores read information about Falun Gong in their dormitory on October 13, 2010. They were reported by another student and later arrested by the local police. The school threatened to expel them.

Ms. Chen Xiuju, a local practitioner in Qinhuangdao, was reported by a security officer for distributing Falun Gong materials on campus on April 19, 2013, and arrested by the police. 

Ms. Zhu Weihua, a retired professor at Yanshan University, was arrested at least ten times and held in various detention centers and labor camps since 1999. After she was released, the university ordered her to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong. When she refused to comply, she wasn’t allowed to work anymore and her years of service were wiped out from her pension benefit calculation. She only received 800 yuan every month to cover her most basic needs. 

Those who participated in the financial persecution of Ms. Zhu include Wang Baocheng, the then HR director; Liang Yingqi of the 610 Office; Wang Jinbao, Yang Fan, and Li Jing of the security office; as well as Bai Jing of the disciplinary committee and Chang Fuqing, the secretary of School of Architectural Engineering and Mechanics.

Since September 10, 2022, Falun Gong practitioners living on campus have been frequently harassed by the local police. The police also took their photos and videotaped them without their permission. Several officers broke into a practitioner’s office on the evening of September 14 and took her photos. 

Perpetrators

Zhao Xianfeng (赵险峰), born in November 1967, has been the Party secretary of Yanshan University since March 2019.

Zhao Xianfeng

Xie Yan’an (谢延安), born in January 1964, has been a member of the Party committee, vice chancellor and deputy Party secretary of Yanshan University since November 2012.

Xie Yan’an

Sheng Wanyu (盛婉玉), born in September 1964, took office as the deputy Party secretary in 2012. She is now the chancellor of Chengde Medical University.

Sheng Wanyu

Huang Sheng (黄晟), born in February 1975, was the vice chancellor of Yanshan University between May 2015 and May 2019. He was promoted as the school’s deputy Party secretary in May 2019.

Huang Sheng

Wang Baocheng (王宝诚), born in October 1962, worked at the school’s HR department between January 1999 and September 2007. He was the head of the organization department between September 2007 and December 2012, before becoming vice chancellor and a member of the school’s Party committee.

Wang Baocheng

Li Rong (李榕), born in March 1962, took office as a member of the school’s standing Party committee and secretary of the disciplinary committee since May 2017.

Li Rong