(Minghui.org) This article describes my six-year-long odyssey to get my pension reinstated. Through my own experience, I want to help practitioners who are still being deprived of their pensions by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) understand that this is an economic persecution. We Falun Dafa practitioners must never go along with it. I have realized that the process of getting one’s pension reinstated is a process of raising awareness of the persecution, and also a process of cultivation and improvement.
A Difficult Beginning
In 2015, I was illegally sentenced to three years in prison by the CCP for suing Jiang Zemin, the former CCP head who initiated the persecution of Falun Gong. After I was released in 2018, I found that my pension had been suspended. I immediately went to the local social security office to ask why, and a clerk said, “During the period of imprisonment, retired personnel will not be given pensions. There are official documents about this.” When I asked to see the documents, he said, “We don’t have them here, you can go to the municipal social security bureau to find them.”
I went to the municipal social security bureau and explained the situation. A clerk showed me a thick binder of documents. After opening it, he pointed to a paragraph and said, “This is the reply from the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security on the payment of pension insurance premiums and the receipt of pension insurance benefits by prisoners. It stipulates that ‘basic pension will not be paid to people who enjoy basic pension during their sentence.’”
I explained that I was not a criminal, and I was wrongly imprisoned. He said, “It’s useless for you to tell us this. You can file a complaint with the court. We are just following the official documents.” I asked to see the director and was told he was in a meeting. I tried to talk to the director later, but the director’s office was on the fourth floor. There were security guards on each floor. Unless I had an appointment, they wouldn’t let me see him. They said the director was in a meeting. This happened several times.
I went back to the local social security office and explained to the director that I lived alone and my pension was my only source of income. “You can’t cut off my livelihood,” I said. The director found the section chief in charge and asked him to calculate how much money I was still owed. The section chief said, “We can’t find that information here. You can only find it at the Municipal Bureau.”
The next day, the section chief brought back a deduction settlement form from the Municipal Social Security Bureau, saying that I received sixteen months of pension in excess, and that I had to return it before I could continue to receive my pension. I said, “That was during my time in the detention center. I should have received the pension and it was not overpaid.” The director responded, “We are doing things according to the official documents. Let’s do this. You ask the neighborhood office to issue a certificate stating that you are in financial difficulty and cannot repay it all at once. Then, you and I will sign an agreement to give you 650 yuan a month for living expenses, and the rest will be deducted until all the money is deducted.”
I would not agree to this, because signing the repayment agreement meant that I owed them money. After that, their monthly deductions would become reasonable and legal, and I could not recognize this kind of economic persecution. I am a good citizen who abides by the law, but I was unjustly sentenced to three years just because I sued Jiang Zemin for persecuting Falun Gong. Now they wanted to ruin me financially and leave me without food, so as to “transform” me, because when I went to see the head of the Domestic Security Bureau, he told me to express my “attitude” (sign statements to renounce Falun Dafa) before he could help me solve the pension problem. I cannot do something that goes against my conscience and that slanders Master and the Fa. I wanted to get my pension back in an upright manner.
After that, I went to the local social security office director every few days to explain, “Document No. 24 and No. 287 of the Human Resources and Social Security Department are both unconstitutional and illegal administrative documents. They have no legal effect and cannot be the basis for the enforcement of administrative actions. You are wrong to do so.” The director said, “This is the regulation from above.” After that, he began to avoid me.
More than 20 days later, the director retired and a new director came on board. I went to see the new director, but was asked to go to the deputy director. The deputy director received me warmly, and I told him, “I used to be ill and I was almost paralyzed. Many treatments didn’t work, so I applied for medical retirement ten years early. Later, I got better by practicing Falun Gong. Such a great practice has been brutally persecuted by Jiang Zemin’s group. They illegally tracked and arrested practitioners, searched their homes, and sentenced them. They persecute good people who believe in Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. These people are persecuted to the point of disability, insanity, and death, and have even had their organs harvested while they were still alive. I was wrongfully imprisoned for three years just because I wrote a letter suing Jiang Zemin for persecuting Falun Gong. I finally managed to get out of prison, but now my pension has been withheld and I can’t survive.” The deputy director expressed sympathy, but said he couldn’t do anything to help me.
He just advised me to sign the agreement first to get food for the time being, and then slowly look for solutions. I said, “I can never sign this. If I sign it, it means I legally admit that I owe you money. The pension is my rightful property, but you have withheld it. It is the money you owe me. Why do you want me to sign the debt acknowledgment? Isn’t this a reversal of right and wrong and contrary to the facts?” He said, “I don’t want to withhold it either. It was the document from the supervisors who told me to withhold it. So you can take this up with the higher levels.” With his words, I could take this to all levels of government agencies.
I immediately went to the Municipal Social Security Bureau. The director of the Pension Department received me in the service hall. I told him why I practiced Falun Gong, how I was arrested, my home was searched, I was wrongly imprisoned, and how I was persecuted in prison. I told him that practicing Falun Gong is not illegal. I showed him the Ministry of Public Security’s document [2000] (39) and the General Administration of Press and Publication’s Order No. 50. He was stunned, “Is there such document?!” Then he quickly put the two documents in his pocket (for fear that others would see it), his expression changed from stern to kind, and he finally smiled. But he said that even with the documents in hand, no one dared to violate the pension ruling. He asked me to go back and see the local social security director first, meaning that he would communicate with the local social security director and think of other solutions.
A few days later, I went to see the director of the local social security office. The result of their discussion was that I should make a repayment plan and pay it off in five years, so that I only need to pay a little over 4,000 yuan per year. I thought they had done their best. I was grateful for their kindness, which is also a manifestation of their knowing the facts about the persecution. But I couldn’t accept these terms because the persecution was not truly lifted.
After that, I went to the community office, street office, police station, judicial office, municipal Domestic Security Division, and the district, municipal, and provincial petition offices to appeal for justice. I went to the municipal government, judicial bureau, Social Security Bureau, Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department, and other agencies to ask for justice and to solve the problem of my livelihood. All the department staff pushed me away.
Finally, I could only go through the judicial process. But how to write a complaint? Which department to complain to? I knew nothing about the law. I started looking for similar articles on the Internet. Finally one day, I saw a practitioner’s experience sharing of getting back his lost job after eight years, then reaching retirement age, and handling his retirement procedures. Like me, this practitioner did not know the law, but he heard about the Justice Forum and succeeded step by step with the help of the Justice Forum. His journey was difficult, during which he lost his family and his property.
I asked myself, if I also need eight years or even longer, can I withstand such a test? After thinking for many days, I finally made up my mind: Yes, I can. With Master and the Fa, I am not afraid of anything. So, I began to ask the Justice Forum for advice.
The practitioners in the forum patiently and carefully guided me on how to go through the process step by step, and gave templates for each step. I downloaded them one by one. It took me a week to carefully read and understand them, and then I wrote the first “administrative complaint” according to the template given by the Justice Forum. After it was revised by other practitioners, I took it to the district court.
The Complaint Is Dismissed
At that time, a court stipulation stated that administrative cases should be heard alternately, that is, cases in District A should be heard in District B. Therefore, I had to go to a distant location that was inconvenient to travel to, to file a lawsuit. The first time I went to the district court, I waited in line for nearly two hours. I handed in the complaint, and the clerk only glanced at it and said, “Not qualified.” He didn’t say why it wasn’t qualified, but pointed to the last counter on the right and told me, “Go over there for consultation.”
When I went there, I saw a sign on the table reading “Consultation Site” and a girl with an intern badge on her chest was sitting there. When it was my turn, the girl asked me what I needed help with. I asked her to help me check whether the complaint was qualified. After she carefully read it, she instructed me on how to write it. She said that I had to re-write it, but I didn’t agree with her.
After I got home, I made some simple revisions and submitted it again the next day. With the experience of the last time, I went to the consultation first this time. A male intern suggested that I delete two claims and keep only one, otherwise the case could not be filed and no judge would review the legality of the document for me. I knew he was telling the truth. I did it.
The third time I went to the window to submit the complaint, I was told that the “website identification code” was missing. I didn’t understand what a website identification code was. Someone explained, “It is equivalent to the ID card of the defendant unit.” But where could I find it? A kind person told me that I could go to the law firm to check. I went there, but I couldn’t find it. There was no code for the local social security office, but there was a code for the municipal social security bureau. Finally, the lawyer helped me analyze it, and that it might be that the local social security office did not have legal status, and the municipal social security bureau was the legal entity.
After confirmation, it was true. Only then did I understand that the defendant unit must be a legal entity. The local social security office is a subordinate department and does not have legal status. It cannot be a defendant. I had to sue the Municipal Social Security Bureau.
After revising the complaint, I submitted it for the fourth time, and was told that the attachment (the copy of the sentencing verdict) was not qualified, and it was not stamped by the court archives (I copied the verdict by hand), and I had to get a copy from the court archives before it could be stamped. As a result, I went back and forth to the court six times, which took two weeks.
The sixth time, it finally passed. But the clerk at the receiving window asked me to wait, saying that he was taking it inside for instructions. More than half an hour later, the clerk came back and told me: “Go to an office in another courtyard. Two presiding judges want to talk to you.” I went there and saw three people. After introductions, I learned that they were two court presiding judges and a clerk.
A presiding judge solemnly took out a document and said, “This is the ‘Reply of the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security on the Payment of Pension Insurance Premiums and the Receipt of Pension Insurance Benefits by Prisoners,’ which stipulates that ‘basic pension will not be issued to people who enjoy basic pension during their imprisonment.’ We are enforcing the document, and your lawsuit cannot be accepted.”
I told them, “That document is unconstitutional and illegal, and it conflicts with the superior law, so it should be invalid. Look at my complaint; it is clearly written in it.” She said, “We can’t listen to you, we listen to our superiors. We have been enforcing this document for so many years, unless the document is invalidated.” I asked for a written reply of non-acceptance, but they refused to give it to me.
I had run back and forth hundreds of kilometers, under great difficulty and spent half a month, but only got a non-acceptance. I was so sad that I could cry.
Telling People About the Persecution
In September and December 2019, I bought train tickets twice to go to Beijing to appeal for justice. Because my ID was listed by the police, I was stopped at the ticket gate and intercepted by the local police station.
The first time I was intercepted by the community police and taken to the community office, the community secretary was upset. It was around seven o’clock in the evening, and she was waiting for me at the gate. As soon as I entered the office, she complained, “Why didn’t you tell me when you went to Beijing? If something happened to you, I would lose my job.”
I calmly told her how I had been persecuted, had my house raided, and been imprisoned. I narrowly escaped death and finally got out of prison. Now my pension had been withheld and I couldn’t survive. I had told her this before but not in as much detail. I left my complaint, Ministry of Public Security Document No. [2000] (39), General Administration of Press and Publication Order No. 50, and the defense statements of well-known lawyers Yu Wensheng and Guo Lianhui who defended Falun Gong practitioners with the secretary and the police officer. (I planned to petition multiple departments in Beijing, so I had prepared multiple copies of the materials).
The community secretary was very moved and agreed to help me find a solution. Two months later, she helped me apply for a 1,000-yuan hardship subsidy and took me to the local social security office with the police. Although the problem was not solved, she learned about the persecution of Falun Gong. Later, I gave them a copy of the criminal lawsuit and administrative lawsuit materials, and they all read them carefully. Sometimes they even asked me some legal questions and praised me, “How do you know so much!”
After Master’s new articles “How Humankind Came To Be” and “Why Save Sentient Beings” were published, I delivered the articles to them. Later, the community secretary who knew the truth and treated Falun Gong practitioners well, was blessed, and was transferred to the neighborhood administrative office (a civil servant establishment).
During this period, I also went to more than 20 law firms to clarify the truth in the name of hiring lawyers for the lawsuit. Most lawyers did not dare to take my case. Some directly said, “The Municipal Public Security Bureau has regulations that do not allow cases involving Falun Gong.” Some politely refused with various excuses; the two that dared to take the case asked for 30,000 yuan in lawyer fees and said that they might not succeed. Some also kicked me out, but I just laughed it off. I have encountered all kinds of situations.
Although I was unable to solve the problem, the good thing was that many people in the legal community learned about the persecution of Falun Gong. I prepared twelve copies of the defense statements by well-known Chinese lawyers Yu Wensheng and Guo Lianhui on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners and distributed them. This broadened their horizons and made them realize that well known lawyers are defending Falun Gong. Falun Gong really does not violate the law. Falun Gong practitioners are a group of kind and good people. Some small law firms only had one or two people on duty. When the staff was free, I sat down and clarified the truth to them. Some people even withdrew from the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
Cultivating Forbearance While Suffering
In the process of pursuing my withheld pension, I was often treated poorly and threatened. Once, when I went to the Municipal Social Security Bureau to deliver a letter to the director, I was stopped by the security guard at the stairs on the fourth floor, saying that the director had gone to a meeting. I asked him to just hand the letter over or stuff it under the door of the director’s office, but he refused. I wanted to wait, but he wouldn’t let me. He even called the director of the office to drive me out. I asked the director to hand the letter over, but she yelled at me, claiming she was going to call the police, and pushed me into the elevator. My nose was sore and my eyes were filled with tears. I thought I would never come again.
I remembered what Master said,
“Han Xin was an everyday person after all. As cultivators, we should be much better than him. Our goal is to rise above and beyond the level of ordinary people and to strive toward high levels. We will not run into that situation. Yet the humiliation and embarrassment that a cultivator endures among everyday people are not necessarily easier than that.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Oh, Master was right beside me, knowing what I was thinking. Isn’t this providing me with an environment for cultivation and allowing me to improve? Without this incident, how could I find so many people from various departments and let them hear the truth? These people from the public security, procuratorate, judicial, and government agencies at all levels are usually hard to reach; how could they be saved? After a fierce battle between good and evil in my heart, the “true self” finally won.
I corrected this incorrect thought. I am a cultivator, so I will remove my attachments of grievance, reputation, fighting, and laziness. The next day, I continued to move forward, corrected my thoughts, and decided to rationally and wisely validate the Fa and save people.
A Ray of Hope
As time goes by, more and more practitioners are being persecuted financially. The Justice Forum has been constantly introducing solutions for practitioners who have been deprived of their retirement benefits while illegally imprisoned. Deprivation of pension is part of the CCP’s policy of “economic ruin” against practitioners.
I realized that this might also be a Fa-rectification situation that requires us to take comprehensive action to resist the persecution. At this time, the prosecution period for my pension being withheld had exceeded two years, but the practitioners who understand the law on the Justice Forum provided a way to skip the prosecution period, that is, to initiate legal procedures through the “Government Information Disclosure Application Form” or other ways.
I was forced to deduct my pension without any procedures, so my initiation procedure is: the first step is to submit an “application for legal payment of pensions” to the Municipal Social Security Bureau, mail it by registered mail, and keep the receipt; the second step is to mail an “application form requesting the Social Security Bureau to pay pensions in accordance with the law” to the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, by registered mail, and keep the receipt; the third step is to initiate litigation.
At the third step, I went to the Municipal Intermediate Court to consult on how to file administrative litigation. The window clerk told me that “all administrative cases are now transferred to the Railway Transportation Court for trial.” Starting on May 1, 2021, this was a unified national regulation. I asked about the address and bus route to the Railway Transportation Court, and went home to prepare the complaint. I felt so relieved. This time I could avoid the district court that dismissed my complaint.
Because of all my preparation for the first administrative lawsuit, this time it was easy. I went to the case filing court of the Railway Transportation Court twice, and the window clerk accepted it. A month later, I received a courier notice: the court had accepted the case, and I went to the bank to pay a litigation fee of 50 yuan. Even if the case was successfully filed, I had to wait for the courier notice at home to confirm the court hearing date.
During this period, I called the judge several times to make an appointment, wanting to clarify the truth and give her a small speaker or TF card with Falun Gong information. She told me, “The court has regulations that you are not allowed to have private contact with either the plaintiff or the defendant before the trial.” I wanted to hand her informational materials, but she insisted on not meeting. Finally, I sent her a letter through the mail room, and mailed the letter to all the members participating in the trial. Later, I called her and asked if she received the letter. She said yes and reminded me, “Don’t send me any more materials, they will be put into the file.” I told her, “That is for you personally. It is fate that brought us together, so I care about you.” She expressed her gratitude.
Amazing Inspiration
On an afternoon in December 2021, the court hearing was held. Two days before the opening of the court, I read a report on the Internet that in the case of a nurse in Nanchang seeking her pension, the defense lawyer said, “Regulations on the regular cleaning of regulatory documents in Jiangxi Province: Regulatory documents that are applicable for a certain period of time should specify the validity period. If the regulatory document does not specify the validity period, the maximum validity period is five years. If it is marked as ‘temporary’ or ‘trial’, the validity period shall not exceed two years. When the validity period expires, the regulatory document will automatically become invalid. The defendant cannot deduct the plaintiff’s pension based on the document that should be invalid.”
From this information, I was inspired. Other provinces have such a document, and my province should have it too. So I searched online for “Provincial Regulations and Regulatory Documents Regular Cleanup Regulations” and I really found it. It was already 11:30 p.m., and I printed it out immediately.
When the court hearing was held the next day, the presiding judge asked the plaintiff to briefly state the reasons, and I simply summarized them in the following three points:
1. The administrative act of the Municipal Social Security Bureau to withhold pensions has no legal authority. The Social Security Bureau is a social insurance agency, not a social insurance administrative agency, and has no administrative management and administrative punishment powers. Even the administrative management and punishment powers of its superior Human Resources and Social Security Bureau must have clear functional powers and must act within the scope of authorization by laws, administrative regulations, and departmental regulations. Depriving pensions is obviously a deprivation of citizens’ property rights.
2. The legal basis of the Municipal Social Security Bureau is Document No. 24 and Document No. 287 of the Human Resources and Social Security Department. These two documents have no basis in law and regulation and are invalid. The documents arbitrarily reduce citizens’ rights and sets administrative compulsory measures, which violates Article 80, Paragraph 2 of the Legislative Code and Article 10, Paragraph 4 of the Administrative Compulsion Code, and is an illegal and invalid administrative document.
3. Provisions on Regular Cleanup of Provincial Regulations and Documents (Provincial Government Order No. 237) Article 10: If normative documents are applicable for a certain period of time, the validity period shall be specified. If the validity period is not specified in the regulatory document, the maximum validity period is 5 years. If it is marked as ‘temporary’ or ‘trial’, the validity period shall not exceed 2 years. If the validity period expires, the regulatory document will automatically become invalid.
The defendant’s legal basis: Document No. 24 is exactly this kind of ‘trial’ mark, and its validity period has exceeded two years. According to Article 10 of the Provincial Government Order No. 237, the document should be automatically invalid; and the document was not republished six months before the expiration of its validity period. Therefore, the defendant cannot deduct the plaintiff’s pension based on the invalid document.
As soon as I said this, the presiding judge was stunned and asked, “Plaintiff, is there such an item in your indictment?” I replied: “Sorry, judge, I only found it on the Internet at 11:30 last night, and I didn’t have time to report it to the presiding judge. Now I am presenting this document to the court.” Then I presented the document to the presiding judge through the court assistant. When I looked up at the trial table, I saw the jurors looking at me with approval. The whole courtroom was silent for several minutes.
When the presiding judge asked the defendant several questions, it was an attorney who answered them. The attorney seemed ill-prepared and did not even finish her last sentence. The presiding judge finished it for her. The other defendant’s attorney, the director of the pension disbursement department to whom I clarified the truth, said nothing and kept his head lowered. Apparently the director understood the truth and positioned himself well.
It was obvious that I, the plaintiff, dominated the whole trial, which was also the result of the overall cooperation of practitioners. It was a snowy and cold day, but several practitioners were sending forth righteous thoughts nearby. Some practitioners were in the hall sending righteous thoughts. The presiding judge, who knew the truth, also acted kindly and made an exception by allowing a practitioner to enter the courtroom to accompany me. I felt like the lawsuit was successful.
On the way home, I asked the other practitioner who entered the court: “Why was the defendant lawyer’s voice trembling? She even stuttered on the last two questions.” The practitioner said, “I sent forth righteous thoughts to have her stop talking and stop committing a crime against Dafa.” My heart was filled with excitement; how important it is for fellow practitioners to cooperate at critical moments!
Complacency Leads to Trouble
Just as I was confidently waiting for the verdict, unexpectedly, the lawsuit was dismissed. I really couldn’t accept it at the time. How could this happen?! I had done a lot of work, and sent letters to the five people involved in the trial in advance. During the trial, I also performed well, remaining calm and expressing myself well.
The day after the trial, it was windy and snowy, and the road was very slippery. Two other practitioners who entered the waiting hall took a taxi to take me home and had a long discussion with me. They agreed that the lawsuit was successful, but that we still need to raise awareness and put aside the problem. The basic point is to save all sentient beings. On the second and third days, they came to my home one after another to share their experiences, hoping that I would write about this incident to encourage more practitioners to come forward and fight against the persecution. But the case was dismissed unexpectedly.
I was so depressed that night that I wrote a tearful message to the Justice Forum, saying that I failed them. This was obviously because my mind was not right and I was concerned about my reputation, so I wrote like this. Several practitioners from the Justice Forum wrote back to me, pointing out that my ego was strong. The fellow practitioners’ words were pertinent and sharp, and they immediately hit upon my key point: my attachment to myself.
For several days, I silently read the replies from several practitioners over and over again, and all of them were very pertinent. I cried while reading, and looked inward. There were so many concerns about saving face, joy, showing off, and a fighting mentality. I thought about how well I performed in court, and how well prepared I was, and how I refuted the opponent completely, and I felt very happy, forgetting that it is Master who is saving all sentient beings. Without Master’s enlightenment and blessing, and without the help of other practitioners, what could I have done?! I can’t even write a complaint. What am I so proud of?!
I said to Master in my mind: “Master, I know I was wrong. I will correct myself according to the Fa and take practical actions to take every step of validating Dafa in the future.”
Pay Attention to the Process and Don’t Be Obsessed With the Results
I corrected my understanding, readjusted my mentality, cheered up, and continued to appeal to the Railway Intermediate Court. After two trials in the lower courts and two hearings in the intermediate courts, in November 2023, I received the final verdict from the Railway Intermediate Court, which supported some of my claims: 1) To revoke the original lower court judgment; 2) To make up the pension withheld upon release from prison. That is to say, the part that is suspended while in prison would not be refunded.
In the past, because I was obsessed with money, I would have been happy to get some money back. But now, it’s as if there is no such thing, and there is no ripple in my heart. I think this is the improvement of my ideological realm.
I deeply realized that if it hadn’t been for this tribulation and things had gone smoothly, I would have only been happy to get a sum of money back, and would have developed attachments such as showing off, profiting, and fighting. Instead of improving the final result, I would have declined. After this tribulation, other practitioners used the Fa to promptly remind me that when encountering problems, I no longer put “me” first, but can use the Fa to measure it. I will do whatever Dafa requires me to do, without hesitation. I am a Dafa particle and I am under the control of Dafa.
I am still appealing to the Provincial High Court for a retrial to continue to recover the pension that was suspended while in prison. At this time, I no longer have the concept of losing or winning in my mind. All I want to do was save all sentient beings. I will keep this lesson in mind. In the future, I will focus on the process, not be obsessed with the results, and will do it with the mentality of saving people.
Concluding Remarks
Looking back on the past six years of the process of requesting my pension, I’ve endured a lot of hardships, ups and downs, scorching heat and cold, and apathy and bitterness that have always been with me, which I have not encountered in the past decades. However, it is precisely because of this that I became strong and resolute, able to endure humiliation and bear the burden, and change my selfish nature.
Originally, I was a timid person who valued reputation more than life. In order to get rid of my attachments, Master helped me achieve success in this matter. This matter was indeed difficult at the beginning, but once you actually enter the process, as long as you do it with the intention of saving all sentient beings, it won’t be difficult at all. Now, a lot of difficulties appear to be nothing.
I hope that those practitioners who are still being persecuted by the CCP and deprived of their pensions will come out quickly and recognize that this is an economic persecution. We Dafa practitioners must never accept it. The process of standing up to tell sentient beings the truth, expose the evil, curb the evil, and saving sentient beings is also a process of improving one’s own cultivation.
My path is not yet complete. I will continue to walk step by step, steadily as always, just to help Master in the Fa-rectification to save sentient beings.
My level is limited. If there is anything that does not conform to the Fa, please kindly point it out.
Thank you, Master! I also thank those practitioners who helped me!
Copyright © 2024 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
