(Clearwisdom.net) September 10, 2004, marked the 20^th "Teacher's Day" in China. The Ministry of Education issued a notice recognizing Teacher's Day 2004. Respect for teachers is a universal virtue and all good teachers should be respected.

On October 31, 1993, the "Teacher's Law of the People's Republic of China" was passed at the fourth session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress. This was done to improve the work, life, and academic and career development of teachers in China.

Have teachers' legal rights really been protected during the decade following the law's enactment? The reality is that a large group of excellent teachers have been deprived of their rights, and some have even been deprived of their right to life. This group of teachers is hard working, conscientious and responsible to society, the schools and to students. They are good teachers by any standard, but they have been illegally fired, detained, and tortured, and some have even died from abuse and mistreatment under the persecution. They have been persecuted only because they believe in Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. They were good teachers precisely because they had such a belief.

Ms. Zhou Chunmei, 62, was a teacher with a "special provincial classification." She and her daughter Sun Xiabo, also a teacher at Furong Elementary School, lived together in the Shihuyuan Residential Area, Weicheng District, Weifang City, Shandong Province. She died as a result of torture on July 27, 1999. The Weicheng District Education Bureau and local police officers are responsible for her death. She had suffered from 11 illnesses. One month after she began to practice Falun Gong, she became healthy and walked with a light step. More importantly, she improved her ethical behavior and character, and lived a better and happier life.

Because of her belief in Falun Dafa, the perpetrators dragged her into a police van and in the process bruised her arms. The police also monitored her outside her home for seven days.

Mr. Mou Naiwu, a teacher at the Weifang Institute, died as a result of the persecution. Mou Naiwu, 41 years old, lived in Gaomi City, Weifang. He worked at Weifang's Textile Technical School, where he taught physics, electrical engineering and computer science. Before he practiced Falun Gong, he had high blood pressure and other intermittent heart problems, stomach trouble, severe near-sightedness and other health problems. Treating one disease often led to the worsening of another. Even though Mou was young, the school knew him as a "chronic invalid." The torment of diseases led to a desperate outlook on life, and Mou gradually became highly irritable with coworkers and family; but after he started practicing Falun Gong in 1997, everything changed for the better. Soon his illnesses went away, and he experienced complete health for the first time in years. Mou only needed four or five hours of sleep each night, yet he was fully energized during the day. His anxious and irritable temperament disappeared. He became a very good-natured person and was on friendly terms with everyone around him. Mou accomplished more and did better at work, and was honored as an "outstanding teacher" several times. He was even made head teacher for the instructional and research groups. Many people remarked that he became a new person after practicing Falun Gong.

In January 2000 Mou was illegally sentenced to three years of forced labor and was detained at the notorious Weifang City Changle Forced Labor Camp. During that time Mou Naiwu's blood pressure increased to 240 because of the work overload assigned to all Falun Dafa practitioners at the camp. Fearing that he would die in their custody, the labor camp authorities allowed him out on bail to seek treatment.

Mr. Wang Dayuan, 36 years old and a lecturer from the School of Computer Sciences and Technology at Harbin Institute of Technology, was a Falun Gong practitioner.

At the end of October 2002, police searched his home and arrested him. He refused to give up his belief while in police detention, resulting in his being detained indefinitely. Wang Dayuan, a well-liked young man, was illegally sentenced to eight years in prison in the summer of 2003.

Wang Dayuan was first sent for "concentrated training." From the first day of this brainwashing technique in Harbin Prison, the prison guards made everyone sit still on a foldable stool all day long, until midnight, for several days. The guards forced them to write "repentance letters" (a statement that the writer promises to break with Falun Gong, guarantees not to practice again and expresses regret about practicing Falun Gong in the past). Some practitioners experienced muscle degeneration in their hips from this forced, extended sitting. Later, several camp police officers savagely beat Wang Dayuan and numerous fellow practitioners before sending them to small cells for solitary confinement. The guards handcuffed and shackled them, linking them together with a chain and fastening them to the ground. They could neither stand up nor lie down. In addition, the guards assigned two persons to monitor them around the clock. Their job was to keep the practitioners awake by beating them. The practitioners were not allowed any food. This is what the guards did to try to force them to write "repentance letters."

Falun Gong practitioner and schoolteacher Mr. Ouyang Ming of Huanggang Industry School in Huanggang City, Hubei Province, was in his 30's or 40's. Officials looked upon him as one of the most "dangerous" practitioners in terms of his ability to expose the persecution. Police detained Ouyang Ming four times altogether. The guards and inmates beat and tortured him during his detentions. They broke several of his teeth during force-feeding. One of his legs was broken when he resisted the mistreatment and abuse. He refused to give up the practice of Falun Dafa. In April 2002 he was unconditionally released from the Shizishan Forced Labor Camp in Wuhan City. One month later, the perpetrators from Huanggang City Police Department abducted him once again and sent him to Huanggang City's No.1 Detention Center for over a year. Later, the police sentenced him to two years in the Shayang Forced Labor Camp. He was tortured until his health collapsed and he sustained a punctured lung. He died on August 20, 2003.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Bai Xiaojun was a thirty-five-year-old former Northeastern Normal University lecturer with a master's degree. Because he persisted in practicing Falun Dafa, he was repeatedly held at the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp, where he was severely tortured. He was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis, lost consciousness and was then sent to a hospital. There was severe deterioration in both lungs. He passed away in early July 2003.

Mr. Wang Jiguo, 40 years old, was a staff member at the Mudanjiang City Teachers' College in Heilongjiang Province. He was sentenced to three years of forced labor in 2000. In August 2000, due to the severe persecution, Wang Jiguo was on the verge of death in the labor camp. He was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and other abnormalities of the liver and malfunctioning kidneys. The labor camp authorities had to agree to let him out on bail for hospital treatment. In December 2000, only three months after Wang Jiguo was released from the hospital, the authorities from Mudanjiang City Teachers' College ignored the fact that he was still urinating blood and had almost lost all sight in both eyes. They sent him back to the labor camp. Later, Wang Jiguo was sentenced and held in the Mudanjiang City Prison. There he was again abused to the brink of death. When he was sent to a hospital again, it was too late to save his life. He passed away in September 2003. Wang Jiguo's wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, is currently being detained in a labor camp. Their child is only eight years old.

Mr. Zhang Chuansheng, an associate professor at Chengdu University, 54 years old and a Falun Dafa practitioner, died from being beaten and strangled on February 15, 2002. Perpetrators were the police at the Chengdu City Detention Center. Deep, purple-green marks the width of two fingers were seen around his neck, but the police claimed he died from heart disease.

Mr. Li Baifan, around 40 years old, was a lecturer at the East China Normal University. Because he insisted on practicing Falun Dafa after the July 1999 ban, Mr. Li was detained at the Dafeng State Farm in Jiangsu Province and then transferred to the Qingdong State Farm in Shanghai. He was not allowed to see his family for two years. Because he refused to cooperate with the authorities and renounce his belief, at the end of this April police officers threw Li out of a tall building. Mr. Li died from the injuries he sustained. The responsible parties are claiming that Mr. Li committed suicide.

Ms. Zhao Xin was born June 28, 1968. She was a lecturer at Beijing's University of Business and Industry. On June 19, 2000, when Zhao Xin went to do the Falun Dafa exercises in Zizhuyuan (Purple Bamboo) Park, she was arrested and detained in the Qinghe Detention Center in the Haidian District. On June 22 she was beaten until three vertebrae in her neck were fractured. Zhao Xin miraculously survived, but her injuries left her paralyzed. She could only move her head. After six months of suffering in unimaginable pain, Zhao Xin passed away on the evening of December 11, 2000, at the age of 32.

Ms. Wu Yao, 57 years old, was a retired English teacher from the middle school affiliated with the Beijing Medical School. On September 10 (Chinese Teacher's Day), 2002, she and her husband Yang Zhanming were arrested while clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to people. They were later detained at the Fengtai District Detention Center, Beijing. She was sent to a forced labor camp on June 11, 2003, and on June 22, 2003, calling it a "sudden death," the authorities told her family that Wu Yao had passed away.

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There are many other teachers who are currently being persecuted in China. They are good people who have contributed to society. Thousands of Chinese teachers practice Falun Gong, and all of them are deprived of their rights to different extents. They have no way to appeal, and their right to make a living is being blatantly stripped away.

People who were and are being manipulated by Jiang's government cronies and who assist in the persecution are also victims. Some teachers have signed Falun Dafa-slandering documents and have asked innocent students to oppose Falun Gong. Jiang's lies poison the minds of all, particularly innocent children.

My wish on Chinese Teacher's Day is that young children no longer be forced to sign a Falun Gong-slandering document and to "take a stand" against Falun Gong; also, that the filthy lies that Jiang and his minions dish out would no longer pollute the schools.

On Chinese Teacher's Day, I wish to pay respect to and commemorate the Falun Dafa practitioners in China who upheld their freedom of belief with their lives!