(Clearwisdom.net) Yang Shu, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, recovered from chronic diseases after he learned Falun Dafa. But he died in November 2002 after being persecuted for practicing in public and going to Beijing to appeal for justice.
Yang was a 56-year-old driver for the Zhangjiakou City municipal government. He had a stroke, after which he needed to be hospitalized intermittently. His wife died, leaving him with two sons. Life was very difficult for him.
In 1996, while Mr. Yang was hospitalized, he learned Falun Dafa. He decided to leave the hospital and went home to practice Falun Dafa. He felt as if he had been reborn with better health and no more stress. As a result, he saved tens of thousands of yuan (1) for medical treatment. He was no longer a burden to his employer and his children for his medical expenses.
However, since July 20, 1999, he had been repeatedly harassed for continuing to practice Falun Dafa and for reading Zhuan Falun.
In June 2000, someone spotted Yang practicing with several practitioners in the People's Park of Zhangjiakou City and tipped off the police. The associate chief of Mingdenan Police Station, Wu, and his subordinates abducted Mr. Yang to the police station and interrogated him there. Then he was moved to Mingdebei Police Station, where he was further interrogated. As he refused to cooperate with them, they slapped him on his face many times. Then they shackled him to an iron chair. It was only after his son paid 2,000 yuan "Guarantee Money" (2) that they released him.
On April 25, 2001, after having witnessed many practitioners going to Beijing to validate Falun Dafa, Mr. Yang also wanted to do it. On April 27, he went with others to Tiananmen Square and was abducted by plainclothes police. Yang and his fellow practitioners were body searched and detained in an iron cage at the Tiananmen Square Police Station. In the evening, they were transferred to Beijing's Huairou County Detention Center where they were further abused. Yang had the symptoms of high blood pressure and the authorities released him for fear that he might die there.
Mr. Yang was stripped of his right to speak up for Falun Dafa. He died in November 2002 after having been repeatedly abused and persecuted for appealing for Falun Dafa.
Notes:
(1) yuan -- Chinese currency; 500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.
(2) "Guarantee Money" -- Money extorted from practitioners or their families by government agencies as part of a guarantee that the practitioners are to stop practicing Falun Dafa.
Translated on July 8, 2004