Latest News from China - 01/23/2001

[Changsha City, Hunan Province] Falun Gong Music Resounds through Labor Camp

At 5:20 am January 18, 2001, the Falun Gong music, Pudu and Jishi resounded through the Xinkaipu Labor Camp of Changsha City, Hunan Province, where dozens of male Falun Gong practitioners from various areas of Hunan Province were detained.

[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Provincial Party Secretary Initiates Persecution

Recently the party secretary of Heilongjiang Province, Xu Youfang, went to Beijng and personally guaranteed "Jiang's Central Government" that no Falun Gong practitioners from Harbin City would go to Tiananmen Square to appeal during the Spring Festival.

Upon his return, Xu Youfang initiated his persecution throughout the city. Orders were given at each level to force Falun Gong practitioners to write three statements: "statement of guarantee," "statement of repentance," "statement of separation." If a single practitioner from a unit went to Beijing to appeal during the spring festival, every leader of this unit would be relieved from his position. All police stations and street offices neglected other spring festival holiday preparations in order to devote all their attention to preventing practitioners from going to Beijing.

Recently, both day and night, police and individuals from residency committees went to practitioners' homes demanding that they write the "three statements." Any practitioners who refused to do so were sent to a labor camp immediately.

Unwilling to cooperate with the forces of evil, many practitioners refused to write the "three statements." Police would arrest them in the middle of the night and confiscate their homes.

Numerous practitioners have become homeless, and their whereabouts are unknown.

[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Authorities Sign Pledges to Prevent Falun Gong Appeals

Recently the Harbin City Government established a pledge system to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to Beijing to appeal. Authorities at each level signed pledges to those at the next higher level. Chief leaders at each level of government would be relieved from their positions if any practitioner from their region went to Beijing to appeal. Meanwhile they also make a list of Falun Gong practitioners and began arresting them.

Most practitioners on the list of 12 practitioners from Shangzhi City have been arrested by January 20, 2000. Police deceived some practitioners in order to apprehend them, and their family members were not informed until after they were arrested. Among those arrested were old couples over sixty years old as well as young girls only twenty years old.

[Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province] Persecution, Law Broken by Power, Conscience Bought by Money

The Harbin government started arresting Falun Gong practitioners on January 1, 2001. Police revealed that higher authorities had assigned a quota of about 400 practitioners to each public security unit. Police arrested and detained Falun Gong practitioners by breaking into their homes, waiting at their homes, or deceiving them into believing they only wanted to talk to them at work.

According to insiders, the Provincial Party Secretary, Xu Youfang, has granted all work units and street offices the right to send Falun Gong practitioners to detention centers. Persecutors would be awarded different grades according to the number of practitioners they arrested. Anyone "transforming" practitioners would be given bonuses.

A director of Nangang District was relieved from his position because some practitioners from this district went to Beijing to appeal. A section director of Daoli district, Zhao, called a family member of a practitioner and deceived him into thinking he was invited to a banquet. When this practitioner arrived at his workplace, he was required to criticize Falun Gong. If he refused to do so, his workplace would send him to a detention center. A leader of a bearings plant sent three practitioners to detention centers in this way.

On January 15, police from Daowai arrested more than 30 Falun Gong practitioners. On January 16, police from Daoli broke into practitioner Yang Qiuyun's home and arrested her without just cause. So far there is no information about where she was taken. On January 20, practitioner Fan Chunyan was arrested at her home by Daoli Branch police and her present whereabouts are unknown. Many other practitioners whose names are unknown were also arrested.

Most Falun Gong practitioners in Harbin City have disappeared. Some of them cannot go home. It is said that the situation will remain this way at least until February 7, 2001.

[China] Falun Gong Flyers Found in a Military Barracks

In January, more than 180 Falun Gong flyers were discovered at the Liberation Village Barracks. Military leaders were shocked and started a major investigation. According to family members, security officers questioned military personnel to find out if they had received flyers and about any guests that may have visited recently. So far, nothing has been discovered. In order to deal with persons of higher rank, security personnel ordered heightened security efforts and rewards of three thousand yuan (about $360) for information leading to the arrest of a practitioner.

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[Shangdong Province] Top Authority Controls Shangdong by a "Certificate of Military Command "

During the Spring Festival, governments everywhere in China have been arresting Falun Gong practitioners. Most practitioners are not able to go home. Many in Shandong province have been arrested. The top authority here required chief leaders in charge of the Falun Gong issue at provincial and city levels to assign a "Certificate of Military Command." According to this directive, if more than five Falun Gong practitioners from a leader's area went to Beijing to appeal during the spring festival, that chief leader would be relieved from his position. These leaders became very nervous. In order to keep their leadership positions, they went overboard, offering thousands of yuan in reward for each practitioner arrested. Many practitioners have already left home because they are aware of this policy.

[Shanghai] Residency Committee Searches Citizens' Mailboxes

On the morning of January 21, 2001, the Shanghai government held a political security meeting, at which each level of authority was required to assure that no practitioner would go to Beijing during spring festival. Governments at every level, such as district, county, and town, would hold transformation classes for Falun Gong practitioners. Monitoring sites would be established inside residency buildings. Falun Gong practitioners would be monitored and required to register when going out or coming in. Four or five officials were assigned to watch over each practitioner. Personnel in the residency committees were extremely nervous, as if facing a serious enemy.

Practitioner Wang Xiuzheng from Baoshan district was sent to a labor camp for two years last September. Cui Baokun was reported while clarifying the truth about Falun Gong and was sent to a detention center. Some practitioners who had been detained in detention centers had their terms extended.

In order to find Falun Gong literature, some street offices installed special doors , which allowed the residency committee to open all mailboxes with just one key.

[Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang Province] Exposing the Crimes of Fuyan County,

The Public Security Bureau, police stations, local governments, street committees, and other departments in Fuyuan County have been persecuting practitioners for a long time. More than ten Dafa practitioners in succession have gone to Beijing to appeal. They were sent back under police escort and detained in the Fuyuan County detention center while their homes were trashed and their personal property confiscated. Seven were sentenced to "re-education by forced labor." More than 20 Dafa practitioners were given long jail sentences after their homes were ransacked. Practitioners persisted in practicing Falun Gong and studying teacher's lectures in the detention center, which impressed criminals held there under the death penalty.

The section chief, Zhang Sidong, (home phone: [phone]) of the Political and Security Section of the Fuyuan County Public Security Bureau, threatened: "I have the authority to detain you for 1 year. If you want to be released, just bring the money. I can impose fines on you until you become penniless, and we'll see if you can still practice Falun Gong at that time...."

Illegally, they require relatives of detained practitioners to pay fines of 3000~5000 Yuan (average salary in China is about 700 Yuan/month in urban areas). They also impose huge fines on practitioners who go to appeal. One practitioner who went to Beijing was fined 13,000 Yuan. More than 10 people were dismissed or forced to resign from their jobs. They also attach the wages of practitioners' relatives or ask their work units to pay 3000~5000 Yuan in cash as a guarantee. Many people complain frequently about such an unfair law. To avoid having to pay the guarantee, some work unit directors went to the Public Security Bureau and asked the police to come and arrest the practitioners .

After a 6.15 Office (an office established specifically for dealing with the Falun Gong issue) was set up in Fuyuan County in 2000, various tactics have been used to persecute practitioners, such as requiring their work unit directors to make statements of guarantee, involving practitioners' relatives in their cases, forcing practitioners to pay cash pledges and fines, dismissing them from their jobs, monitoring their telephone conversations, monitoring them with camcorders, blocking communications between practitioners, putting their photos on the internet--not to mention placing them in detention centers and labor camps.

All Dafa practitioners firmly believe that the evil forces will eventually be eliminated. The current environment is still dangerous, but exposing the evil and telling the truth is still the sacred mission of every Dafa practitioner.

Case 1:

Dafa practitioner Wei Ruwu was detained for nearly 71/2 months simply for approaching the local government leader last February and telling him the truth about Falun Gong. The police told him: "We won't release you until you're 'transformed.'"

Because Wei Ruwu was detained for so long, the police eventually had to release him. But this practitioner had no money and could not pay the 3000~5000 Yuan cash pledge. Zhang Sidong, the section chief of the Political and Security Section of the Fuyuan County Public Security Bureau tried to extort the cash pledge from Wei and another practitioner who shared his apartment. Since the practitioners refused to cooperate, the police finally had no recourse but to release them after they signed a bill acknowledging a 200 Yuan debt.

Case 2:

High school teacher Dai Zhong from Hanconggou, Fuyuan County was designated as the province's most excellent teacher, and was generally acknowledged as a gifted scholar in educational circles. However, the Public Security Bureau sent him to the detention center in mid-July, 2000, under the charge of "practicing Falun Gong at home." During his detention, the County Legal Section, the Public Security Bureau, and the Political and Security Section fabricated charges using false evidence provided by Party members who "repented" under the pressure. Dai Zhong was then sentenced to forced labor "re-education" and dismissed from his job. While in detention, Dai Zhong was forced to wear shackles weighing more than 40 pounds.

Case 3:

In mid-July, 2000, after hearing the news that Dai Zhong had been detained for practicing Falun Gong at home, Dafa practitioners Zhang Hongliang and Zhang Suying went to the Public Security Bureau to ask for his release. As a result, they were both sent to the detention center. Later, Sun Yanhui and another female practitioner named Zhang also went to the Public Security Bureau to ask for the release of Dai Zhong, and they too were forcibly sent to the detention center. Because Li Hongliang and Zhang Suying persisted in practicing Falun Gong, they were sent to Jiamusi City for "transformation" and as of now have still not been released.

Case 4:

A lady over 50 years old was reported for reading Zhuan Falun (book written by the founder of Falun Gong) while buying steamed buns at a Supermarket. Officer Zhang Sidong took this practitioner away, sent her to a detention center, and confiscated 160 Yuan she had in her possession. The money has still not been returned. Half a month later, her relatives bailed her out by paying 3000 Yuan to the Public Security Bureau.

Name lists of the people who are responsible for mistreating practitioners:

Zhang Sidong: The section chief of Political and Security Section of Fuyuan County Public Security Bureau, Tel (home): 86-454－2133131

Lang Qingyun: one of the major people in charge of the 615 Office in Fuyuan County, Tel (office): 86-454－2132785

Zheng Hongshan: Secretary of Politics and Law of Fuyuan County, home phone: [phone], Tel (office): 86-454－2132850

Director's Office of Fuyuan County Public Security Bureau, phone: [phone]

[Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province] The Experience of a Dafa Practitioner in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province

I am 30 years old and live in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. I started practice Falun Gong in 1997. On October 14, 2000, I was detained for 1 month for distributing Falun Gong flyers. During that time, they confiscated my laptop, printer, copy machine, etc., which were worth more than 40,000 Yuan in value (average monthly salary in urban areas of China is about 700 Yuan). After being released, I frequently traveled on business trips. On December 19, 2000, I was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor, but because I was not at home, the police could not find me.

On the same day, Xuzhou City also sentenced more than ten practitioners, including Liu Ning and Yang Hongqi, and they are now detained in Fangcheng Prison in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. Ten more practitioners were sent to mental hospitals. Since I was always away from home, the local government went to my house to harass my parents, my wife, and my child. My wife now stays at the home of a friend. In order to determine my whereabouts, the local police often require my mother to go to the Public Security Bureau, where she is usually kept for a whole day and not allowed to eat. The police also asked my father for money to go to Beijing to look for me. Under pressure, my father brought 3000 Yuan with him and went to Beijing along with a person from the street committee and a policeman. My father had to pay all of the traveling expenses. Later when this money ran out, they asked my family to send more by mail. The phones at my home and my relatives' homes were all tapped.

Now, the Public Security Bureau in Xuzhou City is offering a reward of 30,000 Yuan RMB for the arrest of me and 4 other practitioners. They are determined to capture us because we have the ability to access the Internet.

[Linhe City, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region] Practitioners are arrested and tortured for no reason

On about January 12 this year the police arrested Dafa practitioners Yao Huizhen and Wang Yulan for no reason. They are kept in the detention center of Linhe Public Security Bureau presently. About January 14^th or so, Yao Huizhen was illegally transferred to the Female Labor Camp in Huhehaote City.

During the illegal detention in Linhe Detention Center, the police tortured both Yao Huizhen and Wang Yulan. Yao Huizhen was beaten until bloody and she lost consciousness. Even the on-lookers cried at the terrible scene.

Yao's daughter, Wang Xia, is also a Dafa practitioner. She had been kept in the Linhe Detention Center once for going to appeal in Beijing in February, 2000, and then was transferred to the Female Labor Camp in Huhehaote City. At present, Wang Xia can no longer live a normal life due to the irrational harassing and surveillance day and night. She had to leave her hometown and has become homeless.

[Wuhai City and Linhe City, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region] Documents issued by the municipal governments of the two cities to persecute Dafa practitioners and their family members

Recently, the municipal governments of Wuhai City and Linhe City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a series of documents: Falun Gong practitioners who go to Beijing to appeal will be deprived of their salaries and public employment and their family members will be implicated.

[Helongjiang Province] Practitioners who go to Beijing to validate Dafa are brutally persecuted in Helongjiang Province

Since New Year's Day, many practitioners in Helongjiang Province went to Beijing to validate Dafa. It is said that the number of practitioners in Helongjiang Province ranks first in the country of all practitioners who went to Beijing to appeal. The provincial Party Secretary Xu Youfang was blamed for this (by the Central Governemnt). After Xu came back, persecution to Dafa practitioners was renewed.

For example, the local police substations in all districts, together with agencies and neighborhood committees, carried out a so-called "Three-joint-guarantee" plan. They break into practitioners' houses (including those who practiced Falun Gong before and wrote "the statement of guarantee") day or night, search their houses and confiscate their property. They force all practitioners to rewrite "three statements", i.e., the statement of guarantee, the statement of regret, and the statement of breaking with Falun Gong. Those who don't obey will be sent to forced labor reeducation immediately.

The police told practitioners' family members that, "It's an instruction from above! If we don't follow, we policemen will lose our jobs right away! If one practitioner of our area went to Tian'anmen Square to appeal, our chief will be dismissed immediately."

To date, almost 100 practitioners have been illegally arrested, including some whole families of practitioners. This leads to more practitioners leaving their homes and becoming homeless.

In order to make excuse for such shameless acts, the public security department spread rumors that "Falun Gong is going to Beijing to create disturbances during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), so we have to detain them."

The police in charge of each district forced the family members of the practitioners who left their homes to get them back immediately. If they couldn't find them, a huge fine was issued as a guarantee against them. If the family didn't have enough money, the police would take away whatever was valuable from their houses. For instance: horses, donkeys, grain and corn reserved during last autumn harvest, etc. What's more, they ask the practitioner's family members for the transportation expenses they spent on looking for the practitioner --- they asked for 100 yuan each time they came to look for the practitioner at his (her) home. This is what Jiang Zemin calls "destroying Falun Gong financially".

We sincerely call for people in all international communities who believe in justice and have a conscience to discern the vicious intention of Jiang Zemin and its kin, to distinguish what is righteous from evil, good from bad. We call for worldwide humanitarian support for the practitioners being persecuted and their family members.

Good is rewarded with good! This is the unchangeable law in the universe throughout its history. The righteous thinking of Falun Dafa of "Truth-Benevolence-Forbearance" will decide your true home for your true being to return to in the future.

[Dongying City, Shandong Province] Vicious Doings in No. 2 Mine of Sheng Oil Production Factory, Shengli Oil Field

Long Lianjing, male, an employee of No. 2 Mine of Shengli Oil Production Factory, was forcibly arrested and detained by the guards of No.2 Mine because he practiced cultivation firmly. He suffered various kinds of bodily punishments---not allowed to sleep during nights, being subjected to freezing outside in thin clothes, etc. He was only given two meals during nine days. And he went on a hunger strike for more than 20 days, during which he was bound to the bed and forced to take injections.

All practitioners who refuse to write a statement of guarantee in Shengli Oil Field are sent here to be beaten up, even practitioners from other places like Kenli County and Guangrao, etc. This is a location in charge of beating practitioners. Every day, many practitioners from different work units and different areas are sent to No.2 Mine to be tortured, beaten around the clock and then sent away the next day. They are then replaced by another group of practitioners. It happens like this day after day. (More than ten of the perpetrators are not law enforcers. They are actually thugs hired from the rural areas who had long criminal records.)

Party secretary of Shengli Oil Production Factory: Zhang Yuhua, Tel (Home): 86-546-8622901

Deputy Party secretary of Shengli Oil Production Factory: Li Zhenjiang, Tel (Home): 86-546-8623395

Director of No.2 Mine of Shengli Oil Production Factory: Xue Kui, Tel (Home): 86-546-8623028 (office): 86-546-8742367

Security Department of No.2 Mine of Shengli Oil Production Factory: Tel: [phone]

[Beijing] Sadistic Policemen at Liuliqiao Police Station Injure Dafa Practitioner

On December 26^th 2000, I was arrested for peacefully appealing, and was escorted to the Liuliqiao Police Station. At 10:30pm, two policemen, one thin and tall, the other a big, strong plainclothesman, interrogated me. They asked for my name and address and I would not tell them. The stronger policeman grabbed my collar, pulled me down, and kicked my leg, trying to force me to kneel to them. I asked them loudly why they were forcing me to kneel down since I had broken no laws. Instead of kneeling, I sat on the ground. They kicked me many times. The thinner policeman slapped my face right and left with one hand as he grabbed my hair with the other. Then, with a fiendish look on his face, the stronger policeman took my shoes off and set a chair before me. Sitting in this chair, he used one of its legs to squash my toes one after the other. First he crushed the toes on my left foot, then the right. Then he did the same things to each of my fingers. Thinking I should not accept this passively, I told them they had no right to torture me because I didn't violate any law. I asked them why they treated me like this. I told them whatever good deeds or bad deeds they did would be rewarded or repaid, and that the things they were doing to me today were actually hurting themselves. The stronger policeman shamelessly replied: "I am willing to accept the judgment. I am willing to go to hell 18 layers down. I see you are already over 30. If you were only 25 years old, I would strip off all your clothes today." He used a lot of lustful words to humiliate me.

Later, the stronger policeman made me sit in a chair and shouted: "Will you give us your name or not?" I said no. Then he beat my head, body, and legs with a broom handle. Then he beat my hands with a baton causing them to become swollen and black and blue. He kicked me to the ground while grabbing my hair, then smashed my hands with his dirty boots. As a result, my whole body from head to toe was swollen and bruised. Their behavior showed that they had no humanity at all, for heavenly laws do not permit such things.

[Beijing] Eyewitness Account of Vicious Behavior in the Fengtai Detention Center

Four other practitioners and I were escorted to the Fengtai Detention Center. As soon as we entered the gate, guards used scissors to cut off all the buttons from our clothes and trousers. They cut our belts and leather shoes and threw them away. One practitioner had some 100 Yuan bills and 10 Yuan bills. The policemen used only 40 Yuan to buy numbered jail uniforms and shoes, and kept the rest of the money without giving a receipt.

On January 7^th 2001, six female practitioners jailed in No.14 cell of No. 3 Section began a hunger strike. The guards told several male inmates to force-feed them. The women didn't cooperate with them, so they were beaten. One of the female practitioners was called "Number 11" because she refused to give her real name. While force-feeding "Number 11," guards used a spoon to block her tongue and held her nose so she would open her mouth to breathe, then they poured milk into her open mouth. Even after her face turned blue due to lack of oxygen, they still kept on force-feeding her this way for three days. Milk got into her lungs and caused an infection. Around 11pm she was sent to the hospital, and she was near death when she arrived. To this day, we don't know if she survived.

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[Mulan County, Leilongjiang province] Local Government Violates Human Rights

Beginning in late December 2000, in order to curry favor with higher level leaders, Zhang Ke, the leader of Mulan County, issued an order to all police departments, county governments, and police stations under his jurisdiction to arrest and fine all people who had practiced Falun Gong previously and put them into custody or into a "Transformation Class." He ordered the authorities to arrest even those who had stopped practicing after July 22^nd 1999, when the government began their crackdown on Falun Gong. These practitioners were also sent to a "Transformation Class" and fined 3000 Yuan (about half a year's income for an average worker in the city). The authorities made it clear that if the family could not pay the money, the practitioner would not be released.

Those who just practice Falun Gong at home were also put into custody. The authorities said they would be released only after the Chinese New Year and Lunar Lantern Festival. Furthermore, the families had to pay 4,000 Yuan for each practitioner. No payment, no release.

If anyone went to Beijing to appeal, that person would be sentenced to forced labor immediately, with no family visitation allowed.

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[Wuhan City, Hubei Province] A True Story About A "Transformation Class"

The police of Wuhan City used two methods to stop practitioners from going to Beijing during the New Year and Chinese New Year. First, they asked for photos, pretending to be checking for permanent residency, and then they used these photos to intercept practitioners at railway stations. Secondly, they forced practitioners to write "statements of guarantee"--a promise not to appeal in Beijing-- and established rules requiring street residency committees or work unit leaders to meet with practitioners every morning, afternoon and evening, three times a day. If the practitioners didn't cooperate, they were arrested and forced into a "Transformation Class."

After being sent to a "Transformation Class," the first thing practitioners had to do was to pay 500 to 600 Yuan RMB. At the "Transformation Class" in the Wuhan City No. 1 Detention Center, practitioners were forced to take off all their clothes to check if they had brought anything with them. All personal items brought in would be thrown away, and practitioners would have to buy these same products again from the Detention Center. In another "Transformation Class" at Wujiashan Women Detention Center near Dongxi Lake, the guards put practitioners into cells with prostitutes and forced them to work over ten hours a day without pay. Other criminals paid the guards to buy a position such as team leader. Then they would bully and reprimand the practitioners (the so-called "Transformation Class" students). In the detention center, the price of a meal was extremely high, and only two small basins a day of hot water were provided for 7 or 8 people. But the guards, who routinely beat and yelled at the practitioners, feasted, drank and gambled until midnight everyday.

[Chenghai City, Guangdong Province] Practitioners Fined a Huge Sum for Appealing

Practitioners Liying, three sisters including Wang Shaoyun, Wang Shaoying, Wang Peiying, and two other practitioners from Chenghai City, as well as two practitioners from Waisha Town were escorted back to Chenghai after they went to Tiananmen Square to appeal on New Year's Day. They were detained in Chenghai City Detention Center. Each was asked to pay 20,000 Yuan (about $2,400). This put a heavy burden on the already poor families. Wang Shaoyun had gone to Tiananmen Square the previous year and had returned home safely. This time, they did many works to validate Dafa and clarify the truth before they went to Beijing.

[Longkou City and Qingdao City, Shandong province] List of Practitioners Sent to Labor Camps

Practitioners sent to labor camps for three years of forced labor for appealing include:

From Huang County, Longkou City, Shandong Province:

1. Wang Zhijun
2. Yang Yanping
3. You Lina
4. Meng Xiangfeng
5. Pan Liping
6. Lin Xiaohong
7. Wu Manping
8. Li Guilan
9. Yang Songlin
10. Kong
11. Lu Yanhong
12. Niu Weijun
13. Shang Hong
14. Wang Yihu
15. Yang Songlin's first daughter, third daughter and third son-in-law

From Li Village, Qingdao City:

1. 1. Ying, male, 27, living on Binhe Road, Qingdao City
2. Gao Mingxia, female, living near Lichun Park in Lichang District, Qingdao City

Gao and Ying were lured to the Lichun Police Station after receiving a phone call in October 2000. They didn't return home after that. Later, information leaked out that they were sent to a labor camp for 3 years.

From Sifang District Qingdao City:

1. Li, female, retired worker, living in Xinlong Road
2. Du, female, retired worker, living in Xinlong Road
3. Other two practitioners

Those four practitioners were sent to a labor camp in October 2000.