Investigative Report on the Persecution of Falun Gong at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Led by the Deputy Party Chief Guo Chuanjie

Guo Chuanjie's Involvement in the Persecution

Guo Chuanjie was born in September 1944 in Xishui County Hubei Province [1]. Since 1997, he has been the deputy chief of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Party Committee. He doubles as the Party chief of the University of Science and Technology of China since May 2003. In July 1999, he assumed the post of the deputy chair of the “Leadership Team to Handle Falun Gong Issues” at the Chinese Academy of Sciences [2]. Thus, Guo Chuanjie has been the main responsible person for the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In July 1999, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (“Academy”) Party Committee established its own “Leadership Team to Handle Falun Gong Issues.” Chen Yiyu, then Vice Academy Chancellor and member of the Party Committee, was the chairman of the “Leadership Team.” Guo Chuanjie, then deputy chief of the Party Committee, was the deputy chairman of the “Leadership Team.” Wang Jingchuan was the secretary general of the “Leadership Team.” The goal of the “Leadership Team” was to persecute Falun Gong practitioners at the Academy.

On July 26, the Party Committee of the Academy hosted a “Criticizing Falun Gong” meeting at Beijing’s Jingxi Hotel, which was attended by over a thousand people. Guo Chuanjie personally engaged in the “transformation” activities of Falun Gong practitioners. The “transformation” methods included “one (Falun Gong member) being surrounded by a few” and “one on one” method [2]. “Transformation” has been recognized as the main cause of death and disability among Falun Gong practitioners. It is also the most significant method of psychological and physical torture [3].

In an Academy-wide conference on controlling employees’ thoughts, Guo Chuanjie raised the point that the Falun Gong put ‘thought controlling work’ on high alert. [4]” He emphasized on the “transformation” of Falun Gong practitioners at an expanded conference hosted by the Academy’s Party Committee [5].

In his article published on Jan 11, 2002 in the state-controlled Guangming Daily, Guo Chuanjie glamorized Jiang Zemin’s “three represents” as the “advanced culture.” In the same article, he argued that “Falun Gong was to be cleansed by the advanced culture centered on dialectic materialism.” The very same article was placed in the “highly recommended” category by Information Briefing, a newspaper affiliated with the Ministry of Culture [6].

Before the Party’s 16th Congress, Guo Chuanjie hosted a “Conference of Maintaining Stability at Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing Area).” A key component of that conference was to plan and strategize “the battle against Falun Gong. [7]”

After he assumed the position of Party chief of University of Science and Technology of China, Guo again emphasized the importance of battling against Falun Gong and the “transformation” of Falun Gong practitioners at the 9th Conference of Party Members from the University of Science and Technology [8].

According to incomplete statistics since 2000, at least 29 Falun Gong practitioners who were employees at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been subjected to different types of persecution. The methods of persecution include dismissal from job position without pay; no housing rights; eviction from existing housing units; termination of pension or other income; refusal to register or forced withdrawal of the graduate students who practiced Falun Gong; kidnapping to brainwashing centers; illegal arrests and detentions; forbidding blacklisted Falun Gong practitioners to leave China, etc.

Persecution Case 1 – Professor Li Baoqing

Li Baoqing, a prominent scientist and researcher at the Geography Department, was listed in Cambridge University’s Who’s Who (1997) dictionary, vol. 25, p 233. 67-year-old Li was illegally detained 4 times because of his belief in Falun Gong.

On Jan. 13, 2000, Beijing Haidian District police broke into professor Li’s home. They ransacked his house and took his wife Liu Jinghang to the police station. On Feb. 7, 2000, professor Li was locked out of his home. He went to the police station, where his wife was detained, to get the keys from his wife. But he too was detained for 38 days.

On Feb. 1, 2001, three days after professor Li was released, he was “invited” to the office of the Party Chief, Liu Yi, at the Academy. Liu ordered professor Li to attend the “law education class” (brainwash center) held by the Party Committee of the Academy. When Professor Li refused, the Party Committee office director, Hu Shuwen walked out of the office and immediately 7 men rushed in and grabbed professor Li by his head, his arms and his legs. They even covered his head with a bag. Professor Li screamed and yelled: “I did not violate any law! You cannot treat me this way! I am over 60 years old. This is inhumane!” The strong men took professor Li down from the office on the 3rd floor to a car already waiting outside the building. Professor Li struggled to take the bag off his head because he was suffocating. After 3 hours of driving, they arrived at Xinan Labor Camp. Professor Li refused to get out of the car. They had to carry him to the Labor Camp.

Professor Li questioned the Academy Beijing Area Party Committee Chief, Peng Yushui, who was in charge of brainwashing Falun Gong practitioners: “the Chinese Academy of Sciences is a scientific research institute. How dare you force a citizen at large?! This is just like the Cultural Revolution. This is illegal! I am not a Chinese Communist Party member. The Party committees have no right to control me.” Peng had nothing to say. Professor Li was taken away.

The so-called “law education class” had no text books, or lectures, or discussions of any sort. It had no law and regulations! There was defamation of Falun Gong and its founder. There was physical and mental torture against the Falun Gong practitioners.

After professor Li was taken to the Xinan Labor Camp, he underwent two brainwash sessions organized by the State Organs Work Committee of the CCP Central. On Feb. 6, 2001, Jiao Xuexian, a team lead at the brainwash center told professor Li, “Once you get into this brainwash center, if you don’t transform, you will go to jail. If you still don’t transform, you will never be released from the jail, even after you served your sentence. We have special law against Falun Gong.”

Persecution Case 2 – Liu Jinghang

Liu Jinghang is Li Baoqing’s wife. She is a researcher at the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications at Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Feb. 2, 2000, Liu Jinghang went to visit another Falun Gong practitioner. She was arrested on Feb. 7, 2000 and was sentenced to 3 years of forced labor. While in the labor camp, she went on hunger strike and was force-fed 3 times. She was tied on a bed and not allowed to move for days on end. She was not allowed to sleep and forced to perform slave labor. Moreover, she was put under non-stop brainwash by watching videos that defame Falun Gong. Liu Jinghang was also over 60 at that time. She suffered physically and mentally. Her blood pressure went very high. Her heart was lack of blood. She was constantly dizzy and her ears couldn’t hear well. She also lost 3 teeths and lost some memory. Her hair turned all white. When she got back home, her neighbors and colleagues could not recognize her. The Academy refused to pay her pension. She had no income.

Persecution Case 3 – Cong Peixi

Born in 1947, Cong Peixi worked at Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In late 1999, Cong went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was illegally detained by Shanghai “610 Office” for 1 month. In 2000, she was forced to resign and was given no salary. She was sent to a forced labor camp from July 2001 to July 2003 by Shanghai “610 Office.” While in the labor camp, Cong had to work from 7am to 3am the next day. Her joints were severely injured from the slave labor. In order to “transform” her, the labor camp made her stand facing the wall from 5:30am to midnight. Her legs were very swollen. In winter, she was locked up in a room with an open window. She was frequently humiliated and beaten by other inmates.

In November 2004, she was caught talking to a 70-year-old colleague about the truth of Falun Gong. On Nov. 26, 2004, Yangpu District “610 Office” kidnapped her from her home and sentenced her 1 year in labor camp. Cong Peixi went on hunger strike in Yangpu District Detention Center.

Persecution Case 4 – Hong Wei

26-year-old Hong Wei graduated from Beijing University in 1998 and was guaranteed a spot in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Micro-Biology Department for graduate studies. He started to practice Falun Gong in 1994. On April 25, 1999, he was one of the Falun Gong practitioners who appealed outside Zhongnanhai in Beijing. He saw then Chinese vice president Zhu Rongji came out and met with the practitioners.

One early morning in September 1999, Hong Wei and two other Falun Gong practitioners (also from the Academy) practiced the Falun Gong exercises outdoors and were detained in Qinghe Detention Center for 30 days. Since then, Hong Wei was under the close monitoring of local police. Whenever a “sensitive day” approaches, he would be detained.

In January 2000, Hong Wei was dismissed from school and sent back to his hometown in Sichuan. Hong’s father was summoned to Beijing multiple times to pressure Hong Wei to give up the practice. In October 2000, Hong Wei was dismissed from school again and went in hiding. In 2002, he was arrested and detained for over 1 year. In summer 2003, he was secretly given 10-year jail term for “disturbing social orders.” Hong Wei has been held at Chongqing Prison.

Persecution Case 5 - Cao Kai

29-year-old Cao Kai was a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Before he practiced Falun Gong, he suffered from severe eye disease and was on the brink of being blind. It was cured after he started to practice Falun Gong.

In September 1999, Cao Kai was detained for 15 days for practicing Falun Gong in public. Later he was dismissed from the institute and forced out of their apartment, where Cao Kai, his wife and their seriously ill baby stayed. Cao Kai and his wife appealed and were both arrested. No one took care of their baby. Eventually, the baby died.

In June 2000, Cao Kai was arrested in Hainan Province and was detained in Beijing Qichu Detention Center and Haidian Detention Center for 100 days. During his detention, Cao Kai went on hunger strike and was force-fed for a long time. The guards did not even bother to take the force feeding tube out of his stomach. Cao Kai’s life was in danger multiple times. In February 2001, he was again arrested and held at Beijing Tuanhe Labor Camp.

Persecution Case 6 – Guan Ge

Guan Ge was born in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Her husband was a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Because Guan Ge practiced Falun Gong, her husband was dismissed from the Academy.

In May 2001, Guan Ge was arrested in Xinxiang, Henan Province for talking to people about the truth of Falun Gong. On Aug. 4, 2001, she was sentenced to 3 years in labor camp. She was persecuted to death in Shibalihe Women’s Labor Camp in Zhengzhou City Henan Province on June 4, 2003.

While in the labor camp, Guan Ge was subject to different methods of torture, including the “restraining clothes.” According to Guan’s family members, there were 3 swollen areas on her head. By her hairline, there was a 1cm wide, 7cm long dent. There were purple bruises on her back from electric shock. Her arms were dark brown color. The fingers on her left hand were purple. The fingers on her right hand were white. There were bruises all over her legs and a black mark on her neck from tightening ropes.

(Published in Chinese on Feb 15, 2005; Published in English on Sep. 15, 2012)

Reference:

[1] Guo Chuanjie CV (Back)
[2] “Memo of the Third Conference by the Team Devoted to Establishing Spiritual Civilization at China’s Academy of Sciences,” China’s Academy of Sciences Newspaper (006), 2000 (Back)
[3] WOIPFG Reports
“Speech by Lu Yongxiang and Guo Chuanjie,” China’s Academy of Sciences Newspaper (068), 2000
[4] “Speech by Guo Chuanjie,” China’s Academy of Sciences Newspaper (21), 2001
Information Center of the Ministry of Culture; the article is also available at Guangming Daily, Jan 11, 2002 (Back)
[5] “The Academy Hosted ‘Maintaining Stability’ Conference,” Dispatches from the Semi-Conductor Institute at the Academy, March 24, 2003
[6] “Speech by Guo Chuanjie,” give at the 9th Party Member’s Congress at China’s Academy of Sciences
[7] “The Academy Hosted ‘Maintaining Stability’ Conference,” Dispatches from the Semi-Conductor Institute at the Academy, March 24, 2003 (Back)
[8] “Speech by Guo Chuanjie,” give at the 9th Party Member’s Congress at China’s Academy of Sciences (Back)