(Minghui.org) A retired teacher in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, is facing indictment for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Meng Qingjie, around 71, was seized from home at around 7 a.m. on July 12, 2024, by a group of plainclothes officers from the Shenhe District Police Department and its subordinate, the Dongling Police Station. They raided her home without showing their IDs or a search warrant. They took her to the Shenyang City First Detention Center that night.
Ms. Meng’s family was initially not given any updates about her case status. When they pressed for answers the police eventually said her case was submitted to the Shenhe District Procuratorate. Her loved ones were notified over the phone on August 16, 2024 that she was issued a formal arrest warrant and that her case rested with the Shenyang Development Zone Procuratorate. The caller refused to say when the warrant was issued. Ms. Meng is now facing indictment.
Ms. Meng taught elementary schools for 30 years before she retired in 2008 and spent the last decade of her career at the Shenyang Agricultural University Affiliated Primary School. She was repeatedly targeted over the years for her faith. Prior to her latest arrest, she served a three-year labor camp term (2005-2008) and a six-year prison term (2012-2018). Her pension was suspended after she was released from prison in 2018.
Below is an except from a letter Ms. Meng wrote to government agencies, urging officials to reinstate her pension.
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When I was young, I devoted all of my energy to my job. Because I was an excellent teacher, the school leaders always arranged for me to teach the fifth-graders (who were graduating and had to take exams to enter middle school) or troubled students. Because I worked so hard, I had health issues from head to toe, including a stomach condition, heart disease, high blood pressure, and rheumatism in my left leg. Sometimes I would suddenly get dizzy while writing on the blackboard, but I still had to finish the class. It was a very painful period of time.
In late 1997, I began to practice Falun Gong. I benefited both physically and mentally and felt that my life had been renewed. In the past, I worked hard to advance in my career, but now, I truly cared about my students and hoped they could all have bright futures. Many parents thanked me for helping their children get high scores on exams. I once took seven students to a district-wide math competition, and six of them won the top six places among all the competitors.
There was a fifth-grade class that no teacher wanted to take, as many of the students had trouble passing exams. The school leaders assigned me to be the head teacher. I taught them using Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and influenced them with my own actions. Most of them did well on the exams to get into middle school.
A fourth grader who was tall and strong always liked to fight with other students. I often talked to him and listened to him, treating him like my own child. I encouraged him to take one step back and not act impulsively. His behavior slowly changed. He not only stop fighting but also volunteered to help clean the classroom. He has now moved abroad and enjoys a good life. Every time his grandfather saw me, he always thanked me for changing him.
Because of my close connection with the students, they all liked me and respected me. If I had to take time off for a few days, the students would tell me that they missed me a lot.
Countless practitioners have been arrested or jailed since the persecution started on July 20, 1999, including me.
Because I wrote a letter to the school leaders about the persecution in 2002, I was arrested and held in a brainwashing center for over two months. I was arrested again in the spring of 2003 for renting my apartment to another Falun Gong practitioner. This time, I was detained for over a month.
I was given a three-year labor camp term in 2005 for distributing Falun Gong materials.
Also for spreading information about the persecution, I was sentenced to six years in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on April 15, 2012. It came only ten days after my daughter’s child was born, just as she needed my help the most.
For upholding my faith, I have been incarcerated for over 3,300 days. The mental and physical suffering was beyond words. I can only say I’m lucky that I survived.
My pension was suspended in 2018, around the time I was released from prison. It still has not been reinstated as of today, leaving me with no income at all.
Because of Her Faith, 70-Year-Old Retired Teacher's Pension Suspended for Five Years and Counting