Eight Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in October 2023

(Minghui.org) Eight cases of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death for upholding their faith were reported in October 2023, bringing the total year-to-date reported deaths to 174.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditative practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. The practice was introduced to the public in 1992, and over the next several years, millions of Chinese people embraced its profound teachings and health benefits. The Chinese communist regime feared its popularity and launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate Falun Gong in July 1999. The persecution continues today.

Except for one death that took place in February 2022, the other seven died between March and October 2023, including two in March, three in August and one each in September and October. Due to the communist regime’s strict information censorship, the real death toll as a result of the persecution is likely much higher.

Jilin Province registered three deaths and the remaining five provinces—Anhui, Henan, Heilongjiang, Hunan and Shandong—each registered one.

The eight deceased practitioners included three women and five men. The youngest was 53 while the others were in their 70s, with the oldest being 77.

Most of the practitioners endured long-term torture and incarceration before their passing. In particular, a 53-year-old woman who became healthy and worked in a supermarket died of a stroke after non-stop arrests and harassment. A 75-year-old woman was beaten and force-fed with unknown drugs in a psychiatric hospital for eight months. She passed away five months after she was released. A 70-year-old man died in prison less than a year after he was transferred there.

Two men in their 70s lost their pensions after they suffered years of imprisonment, and life was very difficult for them before they died. One practitioner’s daughter was detained because she supported her father’s practice. After the practitioner passed away, the authorities denied the daughter’s right to travel abroad indefinitely.

Below are the eight deaths reported in October 2023. The list of the practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).

Belated News: Father Dies After Repeated Harassment, Daughter Monitored and Denied Passport

Before he practiced Falun Gong, Mr. Cai Kaikui of Tongxu County, Henan Province, had an ill temper and often scolded his children. He smoked nearly four packs of cigarettes a day. His fingers had turned yellow and his clothes often had holes from cigarette burns. Before he was 50 he had numerous illnesses and could hardly turn over in bed.

After he took up Falun Gong in 1998, he easily quit smoking and improved his temper. There was no more fights at home, and he befriended his neighbors.

Because Mr. Cai refused to give up Falun Gong, police officers broke into his home on April 22, 2020, without showing their IDs or a search warrant. They confiscated his Falun Gong books, an audio player, and a cell phone. He was interrogated in Tongxu County Police Department and released on bail on the same day after a relative paid his bail bond.

From then on, local officials and the police constantly harassed him and tried to get him to fingerprint unknown documents. They also wanted to obtain information and the whereabouts of his daughter Ms. Cai Qiaoling, who also practices Falun Gong.

On June 30, 2021, someone knocked on Ms. Cai’s door and said that her bathroom was leaking water downstairs. When she opened the door, captain Li Rui of the Shunhe District Domestic Security Office barged in with 20 plainclothes officers. They spent three hours ransacking her home and confiscated her belongings. They never gave her a list of the confiscated items.

Ms. Cai was taken to Shunhe District Police Department and given 13 days of administrative detention for for “organizing, instigating, coercing, and inciting others to engage in cult activities” based on Article 27 of China’s Public Safety Administration Law.

Ms. Cai’s landlord, harassed by the local officials, refused to continue to lease the apartment to her when she was released in August 2021. She was forced to move. Meanwhile, the authorities monitored her and her online activities and tapped her cell phone. In October she found a job as a cashier in a hotel. The police harassed the hotel owner the day after she started work and had her fired. In November the police attempted to arrest her and her bedridden father. When she found another job in December, someone went to her workplace to harass her on her first day. Not wanting to negatively affect the company, she quit. Even though her father was hospitalized, the authorities continued to follow and harass her.

The non-stop harassment took a toll on Mr. Cai’s health and he died on February 15, 2022.

Ms. Cai went to the immigration office in Tongxu County on January 5, 2023, to apply for a passport. She learned that the Shunhe District Police Department had banned her from traveling abroad until January 26. When she tried to get her passport on January 29 at a local office, she was told that she still had to consult the immigration office. On February 2 the immigration office told her that she was banned from leaving the country until August 1, 2023, no reason given. On August 2 the ban was extended indefinitely.

Ms. Cai filed a complaint with the Kaifeng City government in early September 2023. In mid September when she checked back with the immigration office, she was told that the reason she was restricted from traveling abroad was based on Article 12(2) of China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law. The article says that Chinese citizens are not allowed to exit China if they have been sentenced to criminal punishment and have not been completed their terms or they are suspects or defendants in criminal cases.

75-Year-Old Anhui Woman Dies Months After Being Held in Psychiatric Ward for Eight Months

Ms. Hu Hongmei, 75, of Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, died on March 26, 2023, just months after she was released from an eight-month involuntary hospitalization in a psychiatric ward.

Ms. Hu did not have any mental disorder and was targeted simply because of her faith in Falun Gong. It is common practice for the authorities to admit healthy practitioners to psychiatric hospitals and subject them to involuntary drug administration and physical torture.

Ms. Hu’s involuntary commitment took place on February 25, 2022, when the Youdian Township Police Station and the Youdian Township Government seized her from home and took her straight to the psychiatric department of Baiyun Hospital.

They put her in a ward with eight others, including human rights activists. The hospital was run like a prison. Ms. Hu was never given enough food, and she was forced to take three pills of an unknown drug three times a day every day. When she refused to take them, the nurses grabbed her neck and slapped her in the face.

Sometimes, five nurses held Ms. Hu down to force her to take the pills, almost breaking her ribs. The nurses also force-fed her, accusing her of eating too slowly. Sometimes they blew air into her stomach through the feeding tube to increase her suffering. While other detainees could go outdoors for a break, Ms. Hu was never allowed to leave the room. The guards could kick her and tie her up at will. She also had a blood sample taken every month.

After over eight months of detention, the police videotaped Ms. Hu and took her photo. They also ordered her to sign a statement promising never to practice Falun Gong again. Because Ms. Hu had never married, her brother was told to pick her up from the hospital in October 2022 and take her to the Youdian Township Nursing Home, where she was placed under residential surveillance. Back in October 2021, she was held in the same nursing home under residential surveillance after her arrest.

The nursing home president Wang Longfei and his staff kept pressuring Ms. Hu to renounce Falun Gong after she was admitted in October 2022. While still suffering from the complications of involuntary drug administration at the hospital, she struggled to cope with the relentless pressure and died on March 26, 2023.

Ms. Hu once said that her entire life had been miserable. When she was young, a military doctor operated on her stomach even though she was completely healthy. She tried to appeal to the central government but couldn’t afford the train ticket to Beijing. She hitched a ride on a cargo train and endured unimaginable hardships on her journey to Beijing. She didn’t get the justice she deserved. Decades later, she died as a result of the persecution of Falun Gong.

Jilin Man in His 70s Has Pension Suspended and Dies in Poverty

Mr. Jin Dejun of Yanji City, Jilin Province, lost his pension in July 2020 and struggled to make ends meet. He passed away in spring 2023 after suffering poverty and illness. He was 74.

Mr. Jin, born on May 17, 1949, was given nine years in prison in 2000 because he refused to renounce his faith. He was incarcerated and viciously tortured in multiple prisons in the cities of Changchun, Jilin, and Gongzhuling during the nine years. Unable to bear the pressure of the persecution, his wife divorced him while he was in prison. When he was released, he was homeless and destitute.

The Yanji City Social Security Bureau suspended Mr. Jin’s pension in July 2020. At the time he was 71 and could not even afford the cheapest rent, let alone the cost of daily necessities. He died three years later, penniless and ill.

Heilongjiang Woman Dies After Being Repeatedly Harassed by Police

Ms. Tang Chunhua, 53, from Ning’an City, Heilongjiang Province, died in August 2023 after enduring years of persecution for her faith, Falun Gong.

Ms. Tang credited Falun Gong for restoring her health and enabling her to live an illness-free life. She suffered from a severe kidney disease since she was young and her condition deteriorated over the years. She had to take multiple medications every day to keep her symptoms under control, but they did not help.

Her physical suffering also made her irritable and restless. She loathed social interactions and never smiled. Her husband and children tiptoed around her, afraid that they would provoke her anger. They also let her get her way in everything. Despite this, she felt hopeless and wondered if she would ever hear laughter in her home. Her parents, who lived with her, were also worried about her health and looked everywhere, seeking a cure for her.

By chance, Ms. Tang’s mother got a copy of Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong’s main book, in 2010 and asked her to read it. Ms. Tang didn’t take it to heart initially as she didn’t believe Falun Gong could restore her health. Her mother started reading the book and recovered from her illnesses in just one month. Ms. Tang was amazed by her mother’s miraculous recovery and began practicing Falun Gong on July 15, 2010.

Three months later, Ms. Tang’s kidney disease disappeared without medical treatment. For the first time in two decades, she experienced what it felt like to be illness-free. Her husband and children were overjoyed and their home was once again filled with laughter.

Ms. Tang was able to take care of herself, do household chores, and tend to her family-run convenience store.

Many people who frequented her convenience store witnessed her dramatic changes and realized that Falun Gong was nothing like what’s depicted in the communist regime’s hate propaganda. Ms. Tang and her mother also worked hard to help people see through the regime’s lies and appreciate the goodness of Falun Gong.

Ms. Tang’s mother was arrested in 2022 for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was released later, but she and her daughter were targeted by the Chinese Communist Party. The police often harassed them at home and summoned Ms. Tang to the police station frequently for interrogation in an attempt to make her renounce Falun Gong.

Under the mounting pressure, Ms. Tang had a stroke in August 2023 and died soon afterward.

Jilin Man Repeatedly Arrested and Lost Pension, Dies of Permanent Injuries from Torture

Mr. Yang Xin of Yushu City, Jilin Province, was arrested and detained many times because he refused to renounce Falun Gong. When he was incarcerated in a prison, he was tortured until he vomited blood and nearly lost his eyesight. The torture he sustained in a detention center caused him to have bloody stools. He lost his pension as a result of the persecution. The authorities continued to harass him. He died on August 10, 2023.

Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhu Haishan, who also died because of the persecution, went out to deliver DVDs with information about Falun Gong on July 23, 2010, and were arrested. Mr. Yang was sentenced to three years in prison on December 30, 2010, by the Yushu City Court.

In Shiling Prison in Siping City, the guards and inmates tried to force Mr. Yang to renounce his faith. They shocked him with electric batons, beat him, deprived him of sleep, and made him sit still on a small stool for hours. As a result of the torture, he nearly lost his sight and his physical condition deteriorated. When he was at the verge of death, the prison released him to avoid being held responsible. However, instead of taking him home, an agent from the Yushu City 610 Office took him to a brainwashing center and continued to torture him.

Mr. Yang’s physical and mental health never recovered after he was released. He felt weak and lethargic. With blurred vision, he could not farm to support himself and had to lend his farmland out to other farmers.

Chengfa Town Police Station officers started to harass Mr. Yang in July 2017, a few months before the communist regime’s 19th Congress. Between 2017 and 2021 the police arrested him four times, ransacked his home, and detained him for a total of 18 days.

A Chengfa Town official harassed Mr. Yang and his wife Ms. Tian Fenghua on November 18, 2020, and ordered them to sign guarantee statements to stop practicing Falun Gong. The official said that if they signed the statements, the government would never harass them again and would return the money confiscated from them. Because the couple refused to sign, Mr. Yang’s pension was suspended.

Due to continued harassment, Mr. Yang lived under a lot of stress and agony. He died on August 10, 2023. He was 70.

Health Deteriorated After Prison Torture, Senior Engineer Dies at 77

Mr. You Yunsheng of Shouguang City, Shandong Province, used to work as a senior engineer at a division of the Shengli Oilfield Industrial and Development Corporation. He has been arrested four times and imprisoned twice for a total of 9.5 years since the persecution of Falun Gong started.

In July 2005, a Shengli Oil Field Police Department chief repeatedly slapped him in the face in the attempt to force him to give up his faith. The beating was so severe that Mr. You ended up in critical condition and had to be resuscitated.

Guo Hongtang, the deputy director of Shouguang City Domestic Security office, arrested Mr. You on June 26, 2008. They held him in a secret location and restrained him in a metal chair with his hands and feet cuffed. They didn’t let him sleep for seven days. One of the officers shocked him with an electric baton and hit his head, threatening to beat him until his skin fell off. Mr. You was later sentenced to six years in Shandong Province Prison.

In Shandong Province Prison, Mr. You was savagely tortured, and his blood pressure became dangerously high. He was rushed to hospitals for emergency care 12 times in five years. After that, his health continued to deteriorate and he often fell. One time he lost consciousness and nearly died.

Mr. You was arrested again in April 2017 and sentenced to another 3.5 years. He was admitted to the Shandong Province Prison on December 14, 2017. He remained firm in practicing Falun Gong and was tortured again. In July 2019 he had a heart attack and the doctor issued a notice of critical condition. He demanded medical parole when he was hospitalized but the prison authorities denied his request.

When he was released from the prison in June 2021, he was very weak and had to wear a urine bag. His health continued to worsen as he could barely stand. He also became disoriented. He passed away at the age of 77 on August 21, 2023.

Mr. You’s wife, Ms. Li Suzhen, was also a Falun Gong practitioner. Mr. You’s arrest in April 2017 devastated her, and she passed away on October 27, 2017, while he was still detained.

70-Year-Old Man Dies While Serving Time for His Faith, Family Suspects Foul Play

A 70-year-old man in Yushu City, Jilin Province, died on September 18, 2023, while serving a four-year term for speaking up for his faith in Falun Gong.

Mr. Ma Changqing was arrested around August 10, 2022, when the police saw him putting up a poster through the Yushu City Chinese Medicine Hospital’s surveillance camera. He was taken to a detention center facility in nearby Changchun City that day. His daughter, who struggles with epilepsy and can't care for herself, was taken to a senior center. The Dehui City Court sentenced him to Jilin City Prison some time in 2023.

The prison called Mr. Ma’s sister-in-law on September 18, 2023, and said that they were taking him to the hospital for an operation for his small intestinal hernia. But hours later, the prison called again and said Mr. Ma had died. Because the prison refused to provide any details about Mr. Ma’s death, his sister-in-law suspected that the prison was trying to hide the true cause of his death, as a hernia usually isn’t a life-threatening condition. She worried that he’d been tortured to death in prison because he refused to renounce his faith in Falun Gong.

Mr. Ma retired from Yushu City’s road maintenance division. He injured his spinal cord in October 1981 lifting heavy objects at work and had to wear a back brace to prevent paraplegia. He could not raise one of his arms. After he began to practice Falun Gong in May 1996, he no longer needed the brace, and his arm became fully functional. Because of the practice, he had good health and a happy family.

Over the past 24 years that the Chinese Communist Party has persecuted Falun Gong, Mr. Ma was arrested and detained many times. He served a two-year sentence for having Falun Gong items at home. His wife, Ms. Mu Chunbo, the director of the street committee and also a practitioner, passed away in 2012 because of the persecution. Their daughter suffered from epilepsy since she was little and her condition kept worsening over the years as she was traumatized by her parent’s persecution.

A few officers from the Domestic Security Division of Yushu City Police Department broke into Mr. Ma’s home on November 15, 2010. Without identifying themselves or showing any legal document, they turned the place upside down and confiscated their Falun Gong books and 33,516 yuan in cash.

The financial persecution dealt Ms. Mu a hard blow. She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma in December 2010. Her treatment racked up a 50,000-yuan medical bill. Unable to afford the hospital stay, he had to take his wife home.

At home, Mr. Ma fed Ms. Mu liquid food through a tube and drained her phlegm through an incision on her throat. She later developed severe bedsores on her back, buttocks, and legs. She passed away on March 29, 2012.

Woman in Hunan Province Dies Alone After Frequent Police Harassment

After the persecution of Falun Gong started, Ms. Yang Zhilan of Hengyang City, Hunan Province, suffered multiple arrests. She was sentenced to 2.5 years on September 2, 2005, for raising awareness about the persecution and endured relentless torture in the Hunan Province Women’s Prison. The guards forced her to stand or sit still for long periods of time, twisted and handcuffed her arms behind her back for hours, and force-fed her unknown nerve-damaging drugs.

The local officials from the Shigu District Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Xihu First Village Residential Committee, and Shigu District Police Department ransacked Ms. Yang’s place on June 21, 2021. They confiscated 16,000 yuan in cash and her bank books.

After that the police frequently harassed her and followed her when she went out. They were staked near her home to monitor other practitioners who came to visit her. They even harassed her daughter and ordered her to sign a statement to promise that her mother would not go out to distribute Falun Gong fliers or tell people about the persecution.

Six officers from Qingshan Police Station in the Shigu District tried to take Ms. Yang to a hospital for an exam on January 19, 2022. She refused to open the door for them. They then cut off her water and electricity and waited outside of her home, intending to arrest her when she came out. It is unclear to how long this lasted.

Because of the non-stop harassment, Ms. Yang was unable to live a normal life. On October 6, 2023, a resident in Ms. Yang’s apartment building smelled something unpleasant coming from her apartment and knocked on her door several times, but no one ever answered. Her daughter was called to come to check on her. She discovered that her mother had passed away several days before. One of her neighbors said that he/she did not see light or hear sound from her apartment after October 6, 2023 and speculated the she had died around that time. She was 75.

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