Latest News from China - 01/14/2001

Persecution of Intellectuals in the City of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province In late October 2000, practitioners in Harbin handed out Dafa materials at high rises across the city, which resulted in several practitioners being arrested. Li Weiguo, Zhang Zidong (a driver and his mother) and Lu Shiping were hung from their handcuffs, beaten, shocked with stun batons, and tied to torture-racks. A special unit made up of more than 20 police officers from divisions across the city was established to handle the so-called "Key Cases". According to an insider, the unit was supervised by Luo Gan. Early in November 2000, police officers forced their way into a practitioner's home and confiscated a carload of Dafa books, tapes and CDs which the practitioner had been guarding with his life since the crackdown began on July 22, 1999. He is now being held by police. Late in November, 2000, a practitioner named Sun Yufeng from The Gas Turbine Factory was arrested. He was hung by his handcuffss, beaten, and tortured with an electric baton. Sun Yufeng remained firm to his belief in spite of the torture. Another practitioner, Zhang Chuanduo, narrowly escaped arrest, but his whereabouts remain unknown. Liu Xiaolong, a Ph.D student from Harbin Normal University, and Han Li, a Ph.D student from Harbin Industrial University, were arrested in Beijing and sent back to Harbin. They were both considered "Key Cases" by the local police. Their whereabouts are unknown. Late December 2000, Wang Yuezhu, Dai Jingming and Wu Wenfang, all professors from Harbin Industrial University, were arrested for financially supporting the promotion of Falun Dafa. The Public Security Department of the Provincial government authorized the arrest. Yang Maohua, a lecturer from the same university, was arrested in Beijing and was sent back to Harbin. He is now being held at the No. 2 Detention Center. One of the detained professors has been released while another was out on bail. No one has heard from the others who were arrested. Since November 2000, Professors, lecturers, Ph.D students and undergraduate students alike have stepped forward to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to the public. Some of them went to appeal in Beijing. Many of them have been arrested. They were: Associate Professor Luo Honghui Ph.D. Student Gao Shangmin, Han Songwei Lecturer Li Aiyang, Zhang Qingshen, Zhang Tingyan, Li Caixia Postgraduate Student Zhou Qiaohang Undergraduate Student Yan Dongzhe Chi Mingsheng, Zhao Yan, Shi Guangyuan, Gu Dongfeng Staff Liu Xijun, Liu Peng, Yu Shanhua Over 40 other students also went to Beijing. Their names are not known. The arrests of the above practitioners resulted in a shortage of teaching staff. The University had to request that the police allow the detainees out on bail. The authorities refused. They believed that those arrested were instrumental in mobilizing intellectuals across the city. They wanted to deter any others from coming forward by keeping these locked up. We appeal to kind-hearted people to speak out about this matter. More Persecution in the City of Harbin Practitioners from Harbin who were arrested in Beijing have been sent to a psychiatric hospital in Harbin. No details are known, however the Provincial Public Security Department is notorious for its gruesome persecution of practitioners. Jiang Shuhua, Senior Judge from People's Higher Court of Heilongjiang Province, was demoted for practicing Falun Gong. She went to Beijing to validate the Fa and was arrested. She has been jailed in No. 2 Detention Center of Harbin ever since. During the night of July 21, 2000, with no warrants whatsoever, the Police forced their way into the homes of many practitioners. They took away Falun Dafa books, tapes, pictures of Master Li and practitioners' personal belongings. They arrested over 30 people, who were then all tortured. Some of them were hung up by their hands and beaten. Their heads were covered with plastic bags so they could not breathe. They were force fed while their necks were held tight. Their noses and eyes were pricked with needles. They were hit with heavy mops. Screams of pain mixed with sounds of kicking and beating were heard. One police officer forced a practitioner to hold Master's picture between his legs while he was being hung up by the hands. The practitioner refused. After a night of torture, the practitioner's face was beaten beyond all recognition. When he was let down, the police covered his face with a cloth bag for fear that their brutality would be exposed. In torturing the practitioners, these so-called people's servants and police officers broke the law while they were supposedly enforcing the law. How can anyone put up with being treated like this? We hope that the tormenters will one day wake up and realize what terrible wrongs they have committed. Report from Tianjin--Brutality at the Detention Center of the Wuqing County After unfurling a Falun Dafa banner in Tiananmen Square and being arrested on July 15, 2000, I was sent back to the Detention Center of Wuqing County, Tianjin. This facility is considered "aggressive" in handling Falun Gong practitioners. Li Lanqing authorized that those who were arrested at Tiananmen Square on July 20 would have to be treated in a serious manner. The police officers, therefore, did all they could think of to torture us. As suggested by the County Police Chief, three other convicts were asked to do whatever they could to get my name and address out of me. If they were successful, the Police Chief promised to have their sentences shortened or even cancelled. The three convicts undressed me and beat my face with heavy shoes. One of them, whose last name was Zhang, said that it was easy to deal with women like me and besides, Falun Gong practitioners neither talked back nor fought back. When they were exhausted from hitting me, they slashed my legs and body with shards of broken glass. They burned the inside of my thighs with cigarettes. Then they resumed kicking me. The torture went on for about an hour. They did the same thing to an older lady practitioner, following an order from Zhang, a supervisor at the Center. All those who continued to practise Falun Gong at the Center were chained up and their legs were beaten black and blue. To hide what they did, the police asked other practitioners for their pants, which they put on the ones who had been beaten. The police usually shackled practitioners with their hands behind their back and hung them up. Torture from Hell--Exposing Abuses at Beijing Shijingshan Detention Center I came from Northeast China. I was arrested for stepping forward to tell the truth about Falun Dafa at Tiananmen Square on New Year's Eve, 2000, and was sent to Shijingshan Detention Center in Beijing. The police there were fierce and malicious. If you refused to tell them your name and address, they would beat you up. Two male police officers took turns slapping the face of a female practitioner in her 50s for more than one hour. Although they were exhausted and sweaty from the hitting, they did not stop. What was particularly atrocious was this: They poured dirty mop water that had been used to mop the floor down a practitioner's throat. To cover up their brutality, they did this when no one else was around, at night. The practitioner was left with dirt and sand in her mouth. But they didn't stop there. They ripped open the practitioner's clothes and poured the dirty water down her front and back and inside her pants. While they were pouring the water, they made sure that it soaked her down jacket. Then they made her wear the soaking wet jacket and stand outside in the freezing cold for about 40 minutes. She was shivering from the cold and her lips were bleeding from her chattering teeth. The down jacket had frozen stiff. Then, before her clothes were even dry, now wearing only her long underwear, she was taken out for a second round of dousing with the dirty mop water... My Experience Validating Dafa It was a beautiful day December 20, 2000. Seven of us from Hubei Province went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Dafa. We arrived at Tiananmen Square at 11 o'clock. There were not many tourists. Most of them were police officers and plain-clothes officers. We did not have time to prepare a banner, so we just shouted, "Falun Dafa is Good", "Restore the Innocence of our Master", "Dafa Rectifies Heaven and Earth". As soon as the police heard us, they rushed over. We were kicked, hit and dragged towards a police car. I decided that I would not cooperate with them and resisted going in the car by blocking the door. The police officer pulled my head and banged it against the car doorframe. My head was bleeding. They pulled me down and threw me on the ground, kicked and punched me. I was thinking to myself: as long as I am still alive, I will continue to shout, "Falun Dafa is Great". As soon as I said that, they beat me again with a club. The left side of my body was drenched with blood. Then I was pulled toward another police car. One of the police saw me covered with blood and suggested that they let me go for fear that I might die in their custody. On my way to where I lived, I heard a magpie singing to me. The following morning, the bruises on my body were all gone. I could feel the profound benevolence of our Master. He would not leave any disciples behind. Let us cherish this rare opportunity to be part of the Fa Rectification. Practitioners from Wuhan was Tortured Chen Ming, Wan Ziqiang, Wang Jianrong, Wang Jingping were practitioners from Wuhan. They were beaten up by twenty-four evil police officers for more than one hour because they refused to cooperate. Chen Jinzhi and Wang Wenying were forced to stand barefoot in a basin of water outside until the water froze. In spite of all this, the practitioners remained firm in their belief in the Dafa. Story of a Practitioner from Hunan I am a practitioner from Hunan Province, female, 52-year-old and retired. I arrived at Tiananmen Square October 28, 1999. Within half an hour, I was approached by a police officer and asked if I practised Falun Gong. I said yes. Minutes later, I was pushed to a police car which was full of fellow practitioners. We were then driven to Tiananmen Square Police Division where we were asked for our names and addresses. I did not answer because I hadn't yet achieved my objective of clarifying the truth. I knew that once I told them my name, I would be sent back home. Then my arms were shackled behind my back with one arm over my shoulder. I was made to squat and my head was pushed down. Every two minutes, I was asked if I would tell them my name and address. Every time I refused to answer, they would hit me on my head fiercely with the book Zhuan Falun and pull the shackles upward, which caused almost unbearable pain. The torture continued for half an hour. Then I was taken to another room, where I was kicked and punched by 4-5 police officers until I slipped into a coma. When I woke up, one police officer said that I was just faking it and demanded that I stand up, but I could not. They continued to torture me for about 3 more hours. I was just trying to appeal in a lawful manner. I would not have imagined I could be abused in such a way. In the end, I told them my name and address. I was then picked up by my relatives and a representative from my former employer. I had to pay a ridiculous fine. After I got home, I was held under house arrest for 15 days, the reason being that I practiced Falun Gong. On July 11, 2000, at 9:30 p.m., four police officers forced their way into my home and took me away, with no warrants whatsoever, again because I practiced Falun Gong. I am making this known to the world and appeal for the support of people with integrity. Please bring justice to stop these human rights abuses and restore the reputation of our Master. Loss of Job Resulted from a Lawful Act of Protest I came from Hengyang city, Hunan province. I am 48 years old. My husband is also a practitioner. On November 12, 1999, we went to Beijing to appeal to the government that Falun Gong is good and that Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance are good. What we did was lawful according to the Constitution. However, we were arrested and sent to Hengyang Detention Center for Drug Addicts for 15 days. My case was handled by the Hengyang Chengbei Police Division. My husband was detained for 15 days, and put in a tiger cage for two days. Furthermore, on January 10, 2000, the local police put me in Baishazhou Detention Center for Drug Addicts for 22 more days. I was released on Lunar New Year's Eve after they made my child (under 15 years old) sign a guarantee, pay a fine of 550 yuan (Chinese dollars, about one month salary of an averaged worker in cities of China) and sign an IOU for an additional 192 yuan. During the time when I was detained, I was not allowed to study the Fa or meditate, nor was I allowed to say that Falun Gong is good. Otherwise I would be whipped. My husband lost his job as a driver and was locked up for two months. To restrict his freedom, he was then demoted to a shipping and receiving position in February, 2000. On April 25, 2000, his employer dismissed him. He had lost his Communist Party membership earlier. He was informed of the decision to terminate his employment on April 27 after everything had been processed without his knowledge. The Notice of Termination was illegal and full of lies.