(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Yulan, the local community director in Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province, was arrested at the end of 2000. The news spread quickly throughout the local community.
At first, people didn't believe it. Some went to Zhang Yulan's home and her community office to check things out. Zhang's home had been searched and left in a mess. The lock on her office desk had been forced open. There was no doubt: She had been arrested.
1. Angry people question the police
The people's doubt quickly turned to anger. People knew Zhang Yulan had done many good things and was widely praised as a good person. How could such a good person be in jail?
People went to the local police station and angrily questioned police. "Why did you arrest Zhang Yulan?"
The police answered, "It's an order from the higher authorities. She practices Falun Gong; it is a political issue."
People refused to leave and kept talking about what they thought of Zhang Yulan.
"We only know she is a good person, the best communist member in the party of all those we know.
"She did practice Falun Gong. So what? At the annual evaluation of the local community office, she got 100 percent of the votes and continued to hold the office; she is the only elected people's representative who ever won 100 percent of the votes.
"For seven years, she has volunteered to wash clothes and bed covers for those old people who didn't have children to take care of them. She has taken care of a blind person for seven years. She organized volunteers to help with grocery shopping for old people. She cares for us like our own daughter. All other leaders should act like her."
Facing these enraged faces and listening to the indisputable facts, the police had no response. They closed the gate and said only, "The order came from the higher authorities. We can't resolve the issue."
"Where is Zhang Yulan detained?" the people demanded. They kept knocking at the gate but didn't get any answer.
"Let's go to the police department. Ask them to return her," They said.
2. Older people speak out about the injustice to Zhang Yulan in front of the detention center
That evening, many strangers came to the community and talked to every family. "Be smart. Why do you want to take a risk for someone else? Don't interfere with the police. If the communist party turns hostile toward you, it won't matter who you are. They will arrest you or even kill you without any reason! Old people should think of the consequences to your children. Young people should think of the consequences to your family. Take care of your own things and do not care about someone else's problem." Many plainclothes police were also seen wandering around in the community. People had to give up their plan to gather together at the police department to ask for Zhang Yulan's release.
Several older people in the community were the first to discover where Zhang Yulan was detained. They went to the detention center every day to ask to see Zhang Yulan. After being refused, they spoke out about Zhang's grievances at the gate of the detention center.
They said, "Zhang Yulan is the best director in our community. She used her own salary to help us. She takes care of us like she is our own daughter, helping old women to take baths, helping us wash clothes, do grocery shopping, or have a birthday party. During the Spring Festival Holiday, she took us to her own home to have dinner and spend Chinese New Year's Eve together. During the holidays, she took us out to see different places. She helps the unemployed find jobs. For seven years as the director of the local community office, she has done such good things consistently. The first year she was appointed director, the local resident community was changed from one that lagged behind to one that is a model of the resident communities."
The police tried to drive them away at first. Eventually, the police were moved and started to listen to what they said.
3. Mr. Li, a widower without children, said, "I could not leave the world without seeing Yulan one more time."
One day, an old man, Li, a widower without children, regained consciousness from his hospital bed. The first thing he asked was to be carried to see Zhang Yulan one more time.
Since learning of Zhang Yulan's arrest, Li had been kneeling down in the community office with others to ask for her release. After the request was rejected, the old man became sicker and sicker. He said that he would only have a few days to live and he could not leave the world in peace until seeing Zhang Yulan one more time. The community had no other way but to carry him to the detention center.
At first the detention center refused his request. Li told the police that the debt of gratitude he owed Zhang Yulan was as heavy as a mountain. One time, he had been sick with a pain in his stomach that made him wish he were dead. Zhang Yulan used her fingers to remove little by little the excrement that wouldn't come out. "You see, even one's own daughter would not do such a thing. Yulan did. Now she is persecuted in jail. If you don't want me to see her one more time and say a few words before I leave the world, I will sue you in front of the king of the afterworld after I die. She just practices Falun Gong to be a good person. What law did she violate? If you refuse such a request from a dying old man, do you have any human nature left?"
The police had no answer for the old man. They held a long meeting to discuss the issue and finally decided to allow him to see Zhang Yulan through the glass.
The reputation of Zhang Yulan's deeds is widespread in the detention center. Even drug offenders admired her and wanted to give up the past and be good people. Some said they had learned from Zhang Yulan and would practice Falun Gong after they returned to society.
4. Police express their admiration: "If one becomes a person like Zhang Yulan, even being in jail is an honor."
Because of Zhang Yulan's great influence on the society and her persistent attitude in practicing Falun Gong, the higher authorities wanted to "execute one as a warning to a hundred" and decided to hold a public trial. However, it never happened. Several months later, people learned that the public trial was canceled, and Zhang Yulan was going to be sent to jail in another place. It was not until Zhang Yulan's family received a request for money from Nantong City Prison that people realized Zhang Yulan had been sent away secretly.
Some police said privately, "If one becomes a person like Zhang Yulan, even being in jail is a honor."
Zhang Yulan was detained illegally in the detention center until she was sentenced to seven years in jail in August 2002. She is still detained at Nantong City Prison of Jiangsu Province.
People's reaction and anger to Zhang Yulan's detention indicates how unpopular is the persecution of Falun Gong, which teaches practitioners to be good people who follow the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."
