Latest News from China - 09/22/2000

[Mainland China] Police chief death depicts demise of persecutors of practitioners

On September 16, 2000, Chen Wen, the police chief of Tongliang County in Chongqing, drove out in a Toyota Crown car together with his wife and brother-in-law. The car impacted under the wheel of a heavy-duty truck, and all three in the car died on the spot. Let's look at Chen's conduct in the suppression of Falun Gong:

In suppressing Dafa practitioners, Chen's conduct reached a crazed extent. After "7.20", under Chen's arrangement, Tongliang County set up special case groups to suppress Falun Gong. Police and joint civil defense forces from the county, district, town and village levels carried out vicious persecution against Dafa practitioners often. They arrested, beat and swore at practitioners, sent practitioners to labor camps, and committed all types of crimes. In March of this year, Chen beat and cruelly tortured about a dozen practitioners who were escorted back after appealing to the government in Beijing. Practitioners' arms were handcuffed behind their body (with one hand reaching above the shoulder and the other under the arm). Chen then pulled up their hands, threw them down to the ground and trampled them with his feet. The handcuffs cut into the flesh of the female practitioners and caused tremendous pain. From the beginning to the end, practitioners endured the pains without a groan, and faced the inhumane torture without resentment. Chen ordered several vicious guys to lash practitioners' feet bones with finger-thick steel bars, slap their faces, and beat and trample them. Afterwards, the practitioners were locked up in the detention center. On March 5, he deceived practitioner Li Zhengmei, a representative of the People's Congress of the County, to get her into the detention center and detained her for a month without reason. He has sent fifteen practitioners in his administrative region to detention centers or labor camps.

The heavenly principles are absolutely fair: the good will be rewarded with good, and the evil with evil. The vicious people that follow Jiang Zemin in bringing disaster to the country will not get away with what they did. Since ancient times, practitioners of righteous Fa were respected, not humiliated, because they would be great gods after completion of cultivation. The demise of the above persecutor of Falun Gong practitioners should let all the people in the maze think seriously and learn a lesson.

[Mainland China] The Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in the "Heaven on Earth" City of Hangzhou

Zhang Jianbo, a graduate student at Zhejiang Industrial University, was illegally detained and arrested by police because of practicing Falun Gong and appealing in Beijing. Now, after being detained for almost a year, he has been sentenced to four years' in prison. The trial was carried out secretly with only twenty people present, including his family members, university officers, and police. It's almost unheard of that a graduate student would be treated like this because of holding on to his belief and reporting the truth of Falun Gong to the government.

Wang Dawu, a graduate student from Hangzhou University with a Master's degree in chemistry, is one of the most veteran practitioners in Hangzhou and was once in charge of the Falun Gong assistance center in Hangzhou. He and his wife have made a very positive impact on the society because of their cultivation, and made great contributions to the development of Dafa in Hangzhou. Wang lives a thrifty and simple life, is kind and gentle to others and is highly respected by people around him. In business dealings, he returned tens of thousands of Yuan in monetary rewards back to clients, and gained their high respect. Because of practicing Falun Gong and writing to CCTV and other media to point out their untruthful reports (please refer to Minghui net for his letters), he was sentenced to two years at a labor camp. His wife is also detained by the police.

Chen Tingwei, a graduate from the Foreign Language Department of Hangzhou University, worked in a TV and broadcast research center. He was honored as a model worker every year. He started cultivation in 1995, and often promoted "Zhen-Shan-Ren" and Dafa on his frequent business trips. Such a good person was sentenced to one year at a labor camp last February.

Hong Chang, with a Master's degree, was sentenced to a labor camp for one year at the end of last year, after being illegally detained for three months.

Chen Wuyong was illegally detained at the end of last year when he and other practitioners were together at his home. Later, he was sentenced to one year in a labor camp. Several months later, his sentence was changed to external camp control. Then he was sent to a labor camp again for communicating with other practitioners. It is said that his sentence may be prolonged.

[Mainland China] Falun Gong practitioners were beaten brutally by police in Pengzhou, Sichuan province

On July 9, 2000, the police department, with the permission from the local government, surrounded 83 Falun Gong practitioners who were sharing experiences in Pengzhou Plaza. Nobody, including 70-year-old seniors and a 5-month-old infant was spared from the beating. The practitioners were beaten again after being taken back to their respective towns or villages, and punished with 15 or 30-day detention.

On July 25, the director Shen Xingfa (male, over 30 years old) of the police station in Jiulong town ordered people to use various torture instruments, whips made of wires plus "living hemp" ("living hemp" is a wild plant. When contacted with the skin, it triggers measles on a large scale and causes extreme pain. This sort of torture was used on underground members of the Party before the Liberation [before 1949]. However, this type of torture has been forbidden ever since). Now, it is being used again on 14 Falun Gong practitioners. Many practitioners fainted from severe whippings and were awaken with cold water for more torture. The torturers tried to ask the practitioners to "give up Falun Gong". However, the answer they got was, "We, without any hesitation, are determined in practicing Falun Gong."

What's even more inhumane is the whipping of Ye Xinghua (who was stripped to only his briefs) with "living hemp". Ye fainted many times from the whipping. When he lost consciousness, he would be awakened with cold water and whipped again. His whole body became swollen, and the torturers did not stop until they were exhausted. Then the unconscious Ye was handcuffed to a tree for 4 hours in the hot sun. He almost lost his life before being released. The torturers claimed: "It was better to beat him to death. There are no legal consequences for killing Falun Gong practitioners."

We're calling on the international society to express their concern and help Falun Gong practitioners in China.

[Mainland China] Cases of brutal persecution in Xishanping detention center of Chongqing

1. When one guard defamed Falun Dafa in a "legal education" class, a practitioner stood up and said, "Falun Gong is not an evil cult but a righteous Fa." The guard then beat the practitioner. Upon seeing this, another practitioner stepped forward and tried to reason with the guard. As a result, he was also beaten. Afterwards, the two practitioners were handcuffed to an iron gate and hung in the air for a day and a night.
2. One night, a practitioner promoted Dafa to some criminal convicts in his cell. Most of the convicts were interested in Dafa. Some learned the exercises. A guard spotted this and then took the practitioner out, made him put his hands on his head and bow his body at a 90-degree angle. The convicts who learned the exercises were beaten. Another two practitioners kindly persuaded the guard to stop. The guard got extremely angry and handcuffed the three practitioners to the iron gate and hung them in the air for a whole night. The next day, he put them in a "dark room" (a very little room with less than 5 square meter of area and no light, used to punish criminals. There is nothing in the dark room except a toilet without a lid. Sometimes, more than ten people are locked in such a room together) for three days and nights.
3. Since November 1999, whenever practitioners tried to practice Falun Gong or clarify the truth to guards or their inmate convicts, they would receive extreme maltreatment. Some were handcuffed to basketball stands during the day; some were handcuffed to metal gates all night long; some were locked in "dark rooms" for over ten days during which their relatives were not allowed to visit them.
4. One morning, two practitioners were handcuffed to the basketball stands and hung in the air by a guard for practicing Falun Gong in their own cells. After that, one of them was locked into a "dark room" for 19 days. . Another was forced to stand in a "Leifeng Tower" (this confinement is very gloomy and dirty. Snakes and rats often crawl around in there. Only during the day, could light penetrate through a palm-size opening). After he was released several days later, he looked so bad from the torture that it was frightening. However, the guard grinned hideously at him and said, "It was not us who forced you into this situation. You are the one who practiced Falun Gong and put yourself into this situation."
5. A guard took one practitioner out and asked, "Are you still going to practice Falun Gong?" The practitioner said, "Yes." The guard tied the practitioner very tightly with rope for a long period of time; which resulted in the dysfunction of both the practitioner's arms for more than 20 days. There are still scars on his hands and feet.
6. In order to prevent Dafa practitioners from doing Falun Gong exercises, the guards adopted a rule to encourage criminal inmates to fight with Falun Gong practitioners. The rule states that if there was any person practicing Falun Gong, all the people in that cell would be punished and their prison terms would be increased.
7. Since July and August, as more Dafa practitioners were put into the detention center, the guards, because they were shorthanded, selected some drug addicts and robbers as their "assistants" to deal with Dafa practitioners. Once, when several practitioners were found doing the practice, the guards prompted their "assistants" to beat and kick these practitioners. Then the practitioner who they considered as the "organizer" was handcuffed to the basketball stands and hung in the air for more than two hours. When the handcuff was unlocked, the practitioner lost all sensations in his hands and could not eat. Other practitioners tried to persuade these people to stop the mistreatment. But the "assistants" surrounded the practitioners and forcefully smashed their heads against the ground.
8. A practitioner was locked in a "dark room" when he was discovered to possess Dafa materials. On seeing that, another practitioner asked the director of the detention center to deal with this matter. However, one guard slapped this practitioner in his face multiple times, then handcuffed him to the basketball stands and denied him food for four days. Another two practitioners in the same cell asked the director for the reason of the punishment. As a result, they were charged with "organizing a hunger strike" and locked in a "dark room". One practitioner in the "dark room" told a director, "We are trying to be good people. It is not right for you to treat us in this way." The director said, "Our standard of good and evil is that the person being locked in is bad, while the person outside is good. So far the government only exerted 30% of our "power capacity" on you. The authority has been so kind to you, otherwise you would "

Though we would be beaten, handcuffed, hung up and locked in "dark rooms" whenever we practiced and spread Dafa materials, we still bear compassion and tolerance in the face of all this abusive treatment. We will keep on clarifying the truth, and try to fulfill the sacred obligation of "assisting the teacher in the human world". We did this in the past. We are doing this now and will continue to do this in the future. Our reason for all this is that we are Dafa practitioners assimilating ourselves to "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance".

The situation about Li Xiangdong

Li Xiangdong, male, 32 years old, works in Jiangbei No.3 Radio Factory of Chongqing.

He graduated from Yuzhou University in July 1991. He received a scholarship every year for his academic excellence. After graduation with outstanding achievements, he was assigned to that factory. Due to his outstanding work, he was promoted to the position of technical director. In 1995, he started practicing Falun Dafa. He was always regarded as a good young man, whether at his factory or in his neighborhood.

After April 25 of last year, he still firmly cultivated in Dafa with an unmoved heart. On July 30, 1999, he was detained for 15 days for practicing Falun Gong. In mid-September, he was again detained for 15 days. On November 8 1999, he was sentenced to one year in a detention center because he appealed to the government. He was put into Xishanping Detention Center.

In the detention center, he was beaten several times for practicing Falun Gong. In the coldest month of January, he was beaten again and handcuffed to an iron gate for a whole night for practicing Falun Gong. He tried to clarify the truth to the guard during the Spring Festival [Chinese New Year], and as a result, was put in a "dark room."

Three months later, he was sent to another group known for its brutality. Practitioners there are always beaten and suffer from hunger. Li Xiangdong was hung on an iron gate and beaten many times. Bruises covered his whole body. For practicing and spreading Dafa material, he was put into the "dark room" several times without water even during the very hot summer. Once in June, a guard discovered Li Xiangdong and other practitioners studying Dafa scriptures and attempted to seize the Dafa materials. In order to protect the Dafa materials, Li Xiangdong hurled himself onto a car. The car was dented but he was perfectly fine. The guard was scared and beat up Xiangdong, and then put him in the "dark room" for ten days. The guard then extorted 200 Yuan from him as "compensation" for the damage.

In such a harsh environment, most practitioners' health was adversely affected. Li Xiangdong's weight has deceased to 80 pounds from his original weight of 140 pounds. Though inhumanely treated, Li Xiangdong and other practitioners are still persistent in Dafa cultivation, and are continuing to clarify the truth to the guards and criminals without any resentment.

[Mainland China] News from Fengdu County, Sichuan Province

The police department in Fengdu County has escalated their persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners since this April. On April 25, over a dozen practitioners who practiced outdoors were detained and their homes were ransacked. Among them, Li Yan was arrested but the government failed to sentence her for lack of evidence. Still, she has been detained until now. All others have been released after being forced to sign the prepared guarantee letters.

Since this May, the police started to ransack practitioners' home anytime they wanted. One practitioner's home has been ransacked five times. In early August, over a dozen practitioners were arrested due to distributing Dafa materials and telling the truth. Each of them was forced to hand in 5,000 Yuan [about $600, 10 month average wage] as a condition for release. In mid-August, those practitioners were all taken away to the "education class" which has lasted until now.

Facing such persecution, some practitioners were forced to leave their home.

(Note: the phone number for the police department of Fongdu County is: 011-86-23-7062885)

[Mainland China] What a practitioner who went to Beijing saw, heard and experienced

On July 1, 2000, when I was in Beijing, hundreds of Dafa practitioners were arrested and detained at the Tiananmen police station. The detained practitioners were denied food, water and access to the washroom. At about 6pm, we were taken to Baimiao checking station for search and questioning. I requested to use the washroom since my menstrual period arrived. They did not allow me to use the washroom until I told them the sofa would be stained from my menstruation if I could not use the washroom. On that night, we 30 practitioners were taken to the detention center in Tong County. I was put in a cell with 8 other practitioners. Every practitioner was forced to take off all their clothes and were shocked by the baton, beaten up or cursed at if they did not undress quickly enough. We were punished by being forced to stand for 7 hours. Our feet bled from standing so long. The next morning, the incarcerated criminals tortured us causing my mouth and nose to bleed. Whoever did the practice or went on a hunger strike would be beaten and physically abused. A practitioner from Jinan [in Shandong province] and another practitioner were called out by the police. Their feet were chained, arms handcuffed behind their backs, and they were dragged to an open field. The police then shocked them with electric batons, cursed at them with profane words and force-fed them with a tube inserted into their stomachs. The torture lasted for over 40 minutes.

On July 3, they were tortured again in the same manner. Each practitioner was even charged 20 Yuan per force-feeding.

After the physical torture, we were forced to sort cotton yarn. Two practitioners worked on the same job, even though their noses were plugged with a tube and their hands handcuffed behind their backs. Despite this, they kept reciting the scriptures of our Teacher. They said they wouldn't stop as long as they were alive. In front of these practitioners, I felt shameful about myself. Just as our Teacher said, they truly deserve the title of "great enlightened beings in the universe".

Now, I have been released. I do not know how much more they will continue to suffer. However, I am confident that they will be determined until the completion of their cultivation.

A practitioner wrote (this article after being released from a protracted detention. There are much more evil and many more crimes there waiting to be uncovered and exposed.)