Name: Zhang Cunmei (张存梅)
Gender: Female
Age: 72
Address: Tianshui City, Gansu Province
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Unknown
Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown
City: Tianshui
Province: Gansu
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, extortion, interrogation, detention, harassment
(Clearwisdom.net) Seventy-two-year-old Ms. Zhang Cunmei is a farmer in Tianshui City, Gansu Province. She started practicing Falun Gong in 1996 and all her illnesses soon disappeared. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she has been subjected to illegal detention and extortion. Two of her teeth were knocked out from beatings by local police.
Illnesses disappeared after practicing Falun Gong
Prior to 1996, Ms. Zhang Cunmei suffered from many illnesses, such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, heart problems, and insomnia. As she grew older, her health kept getting worse. She became despondent and almost lost all hope.
April 8, 1996, marked a momentous turning point in her life. Someone introduced Falun Gong to her and suggested she read Zhuan Falun. She learned to do the five exercises. In two weeks, the illnesses that had troubled her for decades disappeared. She became kind and compassionate and always smiled. Her family witnessed the dramatic changes in her and were amazed. They supported her learning Falun Gong, and many of her relatives and friends also began practicing.
Ms. Zhang became energetic and tirelessly farmed her land. She and her husband cultivated three acres of wasteland and grew grapes. Because their grapes were exceptionally sweet and juicy, merchants both near and far came to buy them. Ms. Zhang conducted herself according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and she returned more than 700 yuan that she had miscalculated to one merchant in 2007, and returned 20,000 yuan in cash that she had picked up to another merchant. Her good deeds impressed everyone who knew her.
Frequently detained and harassed
Since July 20, 1999, along with tens of thousands of practitioners in China, Ms. Zhang has peacefully and rationally validated Dafa in different circumstances. When she went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 2001 to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, she was arrested, detained, and had money extorted from her before she returned home.
In January 2002, local police officer Feng Jitang arrested and took her to the local police department, where Wu Hongxia, Pei Xiaoqing, and several other officers took turns beating her. Due to the severity of the assault, two of her teeth were knocked out,. She was detained for two weeks and had 500 yuan extorted from her from before she was released.
Six months later, Feng Jitang arrested her again, handcuffed her for four days, and extorted 800 yuan from her family before releasing her. In 2005, Ms. Zhang was arrested as she distributed information about Falun Gong, but she was released that same day. In 2011, officers from the Mapaoquan Police Station harassed her twice in the middle of the night and took away her Falun Gong books.
Without regret or complaint against those who have harmed her, kindhearted Ms. Zhang has continued to tell people about the wonderfulness of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
