China's Ministry of Education Participates in the Persecution of Falun Gong: Investigative Report II
1. Case reports of students and educators tortured to death in China
Since July 20, 1999, public sources have documented that 867 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death. Sixty-one of the victims worked in the education system. In the year 2003 alone, 406 practitioners were illegally detained. Most of them were teachers and scholars. A few cases are reported in detail below. For more information, please refer to the appendices.
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Case 1. Student Zhang Zhenzhong, from Shandong University, is brutally murdered by police [1].
While in prison, the practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest their unjust detention. Five days later, policemen tied them to racks (used as an instrument of torture), pressed them down, forcibly pried open their mouths, and required prisoners with no medical training to force-feed them. Zhang Zhenzhong was force-fed through his nose. The policemen left the tube in his nose for more than twenty minutes, during which time he vomited repeatedly and was in great agony. The policemen held him by the hair and slapped him in the face again and again. Soon afterwards, Zhang Zhenzhong died from the force-feeding.
Case 2. Outstanding teacher Ouyang Ming, from Huanggang Industry School, is tortured to death [2]
On September 4, 2003, Clearwisdom.net reported that on August 20, 2003, Ouyang Ming, an outstanding and widely praised teacher in Huanggang Industry School, was tortured to death. Ouyang Ming was a forty-one year old teacher in Huanggang Industry School. He had good computer skills and was therefore targeted for persecution by Huanggang police. Between January 2001 and August 20, 2003, he was arrested and detained four times, and suffered from 108 different kinds of torture. The tortures used against him included:
- “Hammering the heart”: He was forced to lean against the wall while criminals repeatedly punched his chest near his heart until they were exhausted.
- “Roasting meat”: They continuously punched his face until it became so red that it looked like roasted meat.
- “Roasting pigs feet”: They hit his fingers and toes with heavy tools.
- Extreme humiliation: He was forced to squat in front of prisoner(s), whom police required to urinate on his face.
In addition, jailors and other prisoners beat him and tortured him every day. During his detention, he suffered from their extreme maltreatment. They pried open and broke his teeth while force-feeding him, and one of his legs was broken when he tried to resist the torture. Under tremendous pressure from the 610 Office, his school dismissed him from his job while he was being detained and tortured.
Case 3. Zhao Xin, a lecturer in Beijing Industry & Commerce University, dies from brutal beatings [4]
Ms. Zhao Xin was a lecturer in Beijing Industry & Commerce University. She was an excellent teacher and kind-hearted. On June 19, 2000, she went to Zizhuyuan Park to do the Falun Gong exercises and was arrested by the park police. She was later taken away by Haidian police and was detained in a detention center of the police station. During her detention, on June 22, she was so badly beaten that the 4th, 5th and 6th joints of her neck vertebrae were shattered and her life was in danger. She was sent to Haidian Hospital for emergency treatment. Very shortly after that, her family and her work unit received notice from the hospital that she was in critical condition. Miraculously, Zhao Xin survived; however, she became paralyzed from the neck down and was unable to move any part of her body except for her head. With great courage, she endured extreme and protracted suffering. At 6:50 pm, on December 11, she passed away.
2. Middle and primary school teachers and students tortured for practicing Falun Gong
WOIPFG investigations have found that the persecution of Falun Gong in China has been extended to all levels – primary, middle, and high schools. Because Chen Zhili, the former Education Minister, carried out Jiang Zemin’s policy of genocide against Falun Gong, the persecution has seriously endangered the safety of students and teachers.
1) The persecution of students
Under the administration of Education Minister Chen Zhili, children who practiced Falun Gong in China did not escape persecution. They have been subjected to various forms of mandatory anti-Falun Gong education, such as: signing statements denouncing Falun Gong, answering questions related to Falun Gong on exams, and participating in anti-Falun Gong activities. If they refused to participate, their standing in school as well as their graduation was jeopardized, and punishments and torture might even follow. Many children were not allowed to move on to the next grade, were expelled from school, fined, detained, sent to labor camps or forced to be homeless because they or their parents were unwilling to give up practicing Falun Gong. Many children suffered tremendous physical and mental pressure as the result of the persecution of their parents.
Case 1: A provincial model student is expelled from school [5]
The following is an excerpt of the testimony of a primary school student:
“I was born on January 20, 1987. I am homeless right now. Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, I went to Beijing with my parents twice to visit the appeals office. On both trips, I was beaten up, sworn at, threatened, and blackmailed by police. I was also illegally detained, interrogated, photographed, handcuffed, and confined to a single cell. After we returned home, the principal of my school, my teachers, and representatives from the Education Bureau came to “talk” to me and coerced me into writing the so-called “promises.” I didn’t write them, so they took away all my honors, such as Provincial model student, the city’s “Three Excellent Student” award, junior reporter of the Chinese Young Pioneers Newspaper, and so on. I was told that I was deprived of the rights to be elected to receive these honors in the future. I was officially denounced school-wide and was stripped of all titles. On holidays, my teachers called me in the morning and at night, not allowing me to go out.
“My schoolmates started to look at me with weird expressions in their eyes. Sometimes, the teachers would take me out, in the middle of a class, to tell me that ‘the leaders from the Education bureau want to talk to you. You can only listen but cannot say a word.’ If I told them my own opinion, I would be labelled ‘stubborn’ and ‘refusing to change and had to go through the ‘re-education’ session again. I continued to lead such a life until I graduated from primary school.”
In his testimony, the student said that after he graduated from primary school, none of the middle schools were willing to accept him. “Eventually, I received a notice telling me that I should go to a middle school near my home. When I went to register, the principal said, ‘Our school won’t take [people who practice] Falun Gong. We can’t take you. This is a policy imposed by our superior (the Education Bureau in the City). There’s nothing I can do.’ I went back to the school again to tell them that I am entitled to go to public schools and this is a right guaranteed by the law, and that they didn’t have the power to deprive me of the chance to go to school. They said ‘You have to put it on paper to promise that you’ll stop the practice and won’t go to Beijing. You also have to write a repentance statement. We’ll then evaluate to see if your mindset is good. If not, we’ll continue to convert you. If you don’t write it, it’s useless for you to come here every day. If you come one more time, we’ll try to convert you one more time.’ I rejected the principal’s unreasonable demands and refused to write any promise or statement.”
Case 2: Middle school student, forced to flee, is arrested[6]
Tie Long was fifteen years old and lived in Shao Village of Liuchun Township in Hebei Province. He clarified the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong to his teacher with VCDs and materials. His teacher didn’t believe him and reported him to the police. Liuchun Township police station arrested Tie Long, who was then a second year student in middle school. They took him to the town hall and handcuffed him to a tree. They beat and kicked him until they were exhausted. Later, Tie Long was forced to flee from his township to avoid being arrested. Nonetheless, Tie Long was arrested and jailed at Dingzhou Detention Center
Case 3: A student from Qidong County, Hunan Province, is disqualified from the university entrance exam and hunted by the 610 Office[6]
A high school graduate from Qidong County, Hunan Province, wrote his/her own opinion on a test question about Falun Gong during the university entrance exams. The student wrote: “Falun Dafa is good” and “The persecution is too brutal.” The Qidong County Education Department acted as if they had met a major enemy. They expelled the student from school and deprived his/her rights to participating in the entrance examinations. They also held a large conference in the county with all teachers and students for the purpose of stopping such things from spreading and occurring in the future.
Upon learning of the incident, the Hengyang City 610 Office wanted to arrest this student and make this a major city-wide case. They also decided to use this student as an example. Because the student is from Qiyang County in Yongzhou City, the 610 Office ordered policemen from these two cities to arrest the student. They failed three times. They also searched his/her home and tried to look for the student everywhere by placing spies and agents on the case, but they were unsuccessful.
Case 4: Primary school student is unlawfully expelled from school[7]
Miao Xin is a ten years old girl who attended No. 2 Yongjun Primary School of No.3 Oil Mining and Refinery Factory in Daqing City and lived in the factory workers’ residential area. On November 28, 2000, she went to appeal in Beijing. After returning to school, Principal Zhao required her to write a “three promises” statement (promising not to practice Falun Gong anymore, not to appeal in Beijing and to renounce her belief in Falun Dafa); otherwise, she would not be allowed to continue her schooling. Miao Xin refused. In the end, she was unlawfully expelled from the school and has been staying at home ever since.
Case 5: A primary school student and his mother are persecuted in brainwashing class [7]
On midnight of March 10, 2001, Hou Zhenlong, a ten year old boy who was in his second year at a primary school, was kidnapped together with his mother and forcibly taken to a brainwashing class in Jilin City, Jilin Province. Before that, the principal and the teachers in the school had tried to force him to sign a statement against Falun Gong and to participate in the so-called state-run Million Signatures campaign. He refused. The principal and the teachers threatened, “If you don’t sign, we will call the police to take you away.”
Case 6: A young girl is tortured with electricity[7]
The police at the Longshan Forced Labor Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, used an electric baton to force a fourteen year old girl named Han Tianzi and two university students from the College of Liaoning Traditional Chinese Medicine to write statements promising to give up practicing Falun Gong. The miserable cries from the female student who was shocked with electricity could be heard. The police tortured them for a whole afternoon. Han Tianzi’s arms were unable to move because of the electric shocks. It took her a long time to put down her arms. When camp Director Bai and two other team leaders were torturing her, Han Tianzi told them, “I’m protected by the Young Children’s Law,” but they didn’t listen. Furthermore, they threatened her and ordered her not to tell anyone about it.
2) Teachers are abused for their beliefs
For the past few years, the education department headed by Chen Zhili has been beating, harassing and charging high fees for students. Schools have become “a place where parents are most afraid of their children being hurt.” Teachers who practice Falun Gong follow Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and teach children to follow these principles too. However, simply because of practicing Falun Gong, there teachers have been jailed; some even lost their lives.
Case 1: Shenyang Middle School Teacher Wu Yuan is murdered [8]
Wu Yuan, male, forty-four years old, was a math teacher at the Liaoning Province Lingyuan City Beilu Township Junior High School. He was a good person and teacher who was known by all the students and parents. He always helped poor students pay their school fees. Wu Yuan was arrested in August 2002 simply because he practiced Falun Gong. Later he was illegally sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and was inhumanely tortured at the Shenyang Dabei Second Jail. A male teacher at the Lingyuan City Beilu Junior High (Tel: 0421-640-1442) gave evidence that Wu Yuan was tortured to death in Shenyang Jail.
Case 2: The persecution of Wu Xinmei, a primary school teacher in Hengshui City, Hebei Province [10]
Wu Xinmei, female, fifty-five years old, was a primary school teacher at Hengshui City, Zhongxin Street, in Hebei Province. Simply because she practices Falun Gong, she was illegally jailed several times. She was detained in May 2000. At the detention center, Wu Xinmei asserted that she did not do anything against the law and that appealing was a citizen’s basic right, so she refused to write the detention center’s rules and was thus forced to wear a cuff used on cows, which was kept on her day and night for ten days at a time. This occurred twice. In September 2001, the people from the 610 Office, education department and Wu Xinmei’s school tried to arrest Wu Xinmei and send her to a brainwashing class. In order to avoid harassment and arrest, Wu Xinmei was forced to leave her home. She is still homeless.
For the past four years, the 610 Office and the education department have been persecuting Wu Xinmei. She was jailed at her working unit for sixteen days and fined 2800 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China] and was forced to stop working. From May 2000 to the present, her wages have been stopped.
Case 3: Outstanding teacher Li Hongling from Zengcheng District in Guangzhou is unlawfully jailed [9]
Li Hongling, female, twenty-nine years old, is a Falun Dafa practitioner in Hunan Province. After graduating from the university in 1998, she taught English at the Xintang Middle School, in Xintang Town, Zengcheng District, in Guangzhou. She is well respected by her students and her colleagues.
In April, June and July of 2000, Li Hongling went to Beijing to appeal and was unlawfully detained a number of times. In September, she was unlawfully arrested and jailed at the Guangzhou Chatou Female Labor Re-education camp. Because she did not give up Falun Gong, her sentence was extended. At the end of 2001, police transferred Li Hongling from the Chatou Female Labor Re-education Camp to Guangzhou Law Enforcement School, located at 56 Xizhoubei Road, Chatou, Guangzhou, for brainwashing. In March 2002, she was transferred to the notorious Liwan District Brainwashing Institute, Huangpu District, Guangzhou City. The Brainwashing Institute is located at Hongshan Rehabilitation Centre in Huangpu District of Guangzhou City. The Rehabilitation Center hired thugs to torture Falun Gong practitioners after midnight every night. Because Li Hongling resisted the persecution, she was brutally treated with all kinds of tortures.
In July 2002, after Li Hongling was released from the brainwashing class, she continued to be persecuted by the Zengcheng District 610 Office, Zengcheng District Education Department, Xintang Second Middle School, in Zengcheng District. She was deprived of the right to teach. She even lost her right to go home during the 2003 summer holidays. With support from the 610 Office, the deputy of the Xintang Second Middle School openly said that they wanted to take Li Hongling to the brainwashing class.
3. Persecution of Teachers and Students at Universities
When Jiang Zemin ordered the persecution of Falun Gong, Chen Zhili ordered all universities and colleges under the control of the Ministry of Education to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. They used threats, bribes, suspensions, expulsions, and house arrests to force the students and teachers to abandon their beliefs. Many faculty members lost their jobs and many graduate school and university students were expelled from school. Thousands of students and teachers were illegally detained, sent to labor camps and sentenced to jail, or even persecuted to death. The persecution of students and scholars at Tsinghua University and Beijing University were the most severe. Below are just a few such cases. For more details, please refer to the Appendix 14.
1) Persecution of teachers and students at Tsinghua University [11]
Tsinghua University is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in China. Tsinghua University is one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in China. Since July 22, 1999, it has become the focus for the persecution of Falun Gong within the tertiary education arena. According to incomplete statistics, in Tsinghua University alone, more than three hundred students and faculty members are known to have been unlawfully arrested and detained to date.16 Those who practice Falun Gong, undergraduate students, master’s degree students, Ph. Ds, lecturers and professors from almost every department, have suffered various degrees of persecution (See Appendix 2). Many students, faculty and academic staff members were forced to suspend their work or study, or to quit school altogether and stop teaching and performing research work. Many were illegally detained and forced to go to brain washing classes. Many were forced into homelessness and at least eighteen of them have been unlawfully sentenced to jail. At least eighteen were illegally sentenced: Bai Rongchun (13 years), Liu Zhimei (12 years), Yao Yue (12 years), Wang Xuefei (11 years), Meng Jun (10 years), Wang Xin (9 years), Dong Yanhong (5 years), Yu Ping (4 years), Yu Jia (3.5 years), Liu Wenyu (3 years), Li Feng (3 years), Chu Tong (18 months). Among them, Lin Yang, Ma Yan, Jiang Yuxia, Li Yanfang, Huang Kui, and Li Chunyan were sentenced secretly in Zhuhai City.
Case 1. Graduate students, teachers and academic staff sentenced to jail[17]
According to the Human Rights and Democratic Movement Information Center in Hong Kong, five graduate students and one academic staff were sentenced to jail on December 13 for distributing materials on the Internet regarding Falun Gong. Yao Yue from the Institute of Microelectronics in Tsinghua University received the longest sentence, twelve years. Wang Xuefei from Shanghai received an eleven year sentence. Meng Jun, a master’s degree student and teaching assistant at the Department of Electronic Engineering was sentenced to ten years in prison, and Wang Xin, another Ph. D. candidate, was sentenced to nine years. Academic staff Dong Yanhong was sentenced to five years. The husband of Yao Yue, Ph. D. candidate Liu Wenyu, was sentenced to three years in jail.
Case 2. Wang Weiyu [18]
Wang Weiyu, male, thirty years old, PhD student of the class 1996, from the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanics at Tsinghua University. He has won numerous awards such as outstanding graduate award, outstanding student’s scholarship, the Phillips scholarship, and others. He once held positions as the class captain, secretary of the Youth League, Vice-Chairman of the Science Association, deputy secretary of the Youth League at the Precision Instrument Department, and Instructor for 1997 undergraduate students. After completing his undergraduate studies at Tsinghua University, he earned exemption from examination and entered directly into the Ph.D. program. He was illegally detained twice by the Tsinghua police in September and October of 1999. Police subjected him to corporal punishment like forced squats for four to five hours. He was also forcefully interrogated until late at night. Shortly after that, he was suspended from the University for more than four months. He was again asked to suspend his studies in June 2000. He was arrested and detained illegally for one week for talking to other people at Tiananmen Square on July 22, 2000. He was forced to leave the University and became destitute and homeless during the second half of 2000. Secret Agent from the National Security kidnapped him at his work place on August 12, 2002. After being secretly and illegally detained for fourteen months, he was transferred and illegally detained again at the Beijing Chaoyang District Detention Center around October 2003. During October 2003, Wang Weiyu’s case was rejected by the procuratorate due to lack of evidence; the material related to his case was returned to the Public Security Department. It was then delayed and did not reach court again until early December.
Case 3. Xu Zhiguang
Xu Zhiguang, male, twenty-six years old, 1999 Ph.D graduate from the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanics of Tsinghua University. He was awarded Outstanding Student and other scholarships and once held positions such as class captain, and chairman of the faculty science association. He was exempt from taking the entrance exam and accepted as Ph.D. student immediately after he completed his undergraduate studies. The police detained him illegally for one day for appealing for Falun Gong on July 25th, 1999. He was compelled to go home on October 1999; he was also told, “He cannot return unless he has separated from Falun Gong in his mind.” He was told, “If there were further actions from him then suspension and expulsion would happen immediately.” He was forcefully seized by university police and sent to a brainwashing class in April 2001. After that, he was forced to leave the university, and he became destitute and homeless. The police seized him again on April 23rd, 2002. Then he was detained at Beijing Tuanhe Labor Camp. Now he is detained at Beijing Haidian Detention Center.
2) Persecution of teachers and students at Chongqing University[16]
Case 1. Police rape Chongqing University graduate student Ms. Wei Xingyan [14]
Wei Xingyan, twenty-eight years old and a graduate student at Chongqing University, was arrested for telling people the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong. A police officer from Baihelin Detention Center of Shapingba District raped her in public on the evening of May 13. After the incident, Wei Xingyan went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The police botched a violent force-feeding, which seriously injured both her trachea and esophagus, making her unable to speak. She was sent to the Southwest Hospital in Chongqing for emergency treatment.
After the incident was exposed abroad, Chongqing University refused to admit that Wei Xingyan was ever a student at the University and openly denied that there was ever a program of “High Voltage Direct Current Transmission & Simulation Technology”[which was Ms. Wei's specialty]. At the same time, they also changed the information for the program on the University’s website.
However, investigations of The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) through various channels, including official and non-official sources, prove that Wei Xingyan, a graduate student at Chongqing University, was indeed detained at the Baihelin Detention Center. The suspects at the 610 Office of Shapingba District, in Chongqing City, tried to avoid the topic, deny their identities, give inconsistent answers, lie and cover up facts.
University departments, Graduate School departments and security offices at Chongqing University didn’t cooperate with the WOIPFG investigation into the incident, nor did they seek justice for the victim, their own student. Under threats from the 610 Office, University officials denied the existence of the student. Additionally, they modified their website to eliminate evidence of the program the victim was in. They helped the perpetrator cover up the truth, monitor, threaten and transfer the students and teachers in the school who knew the truth. Furthermore, they arrested a dozen students and teachers whom they suspected of assisting in the WOIPFG investigation.[12]
Recently, Zhang Siping, the Vice President of Chongqing University openly admitted when questioned at a symposium held at the well-known Wharton Business School [of the University of Pennsylvania] that their university would force students to suspend their studies because of their practice of Falun Gong.[15]
A few days later on December 19, Chongqing University made an announcement, modifying the vice president’s statement and creating a “bizarre” story, in which they claimed Wei Xingyan was a prostitute, [16] not a student.
Other staff and students of Chongqing University who suffered persecution:
Case 2. Zhang Zhihu, male, thirty-three years old, of Uygur nationality, was a Master’s degree student in the School of Architecture, Chongqing University. He was illegally sent to the Xishanping Detention Center for two years of forced labor and at the same time was forced to quit school because he firmly believes in the principles of Falun Gong, and went to Beijing to peacefully appeal [for Falun Gong] according to his legal rights.
Case 3. Lü Zhen, male, twenty-seven years old, a native from Shandong, was an undergraduate student of International Finance, Chongqing University. Because he firmly believes in Falun Gong and went to Beijing to peacefully appeal [for Falun Gong] in June 2000, he was illegally sent to the Xishanping Detention Center for one year of forced labor. At the same time, Chongqing University revoked his BA degree.
Case 4. Zhang Yougao, male, sixty-six years old, a native from Guangdong, is a retired lecturer in Photo Electricity, Chongqing University. Because of his firm belief in Falun Gong and the fact that he went to Beijing to appeal in June, 2000, he was illegally sent to the Xishanping Detention Center for one year of forced labor, a term that was later extended for another half year. On January 3, 2002, he was again sent to the Xishanping Detention Center for two years of forced labor.
Case 5. Gu Jiushou, male, sixty-six years old, a native from Chongqing, is a retired engineer who used to work in a laboratory, Chongqing University. Because of his belief in Falun Gong and the fact that he went to Beijing to appeal in June, 2000, he was illegally sent to the Xishanping Detention Center for one year of forced labor, a term that was later illegally extended for another half year. On May 13, 2003, he was abducted by Chongqing Shapingba police substation, and has been illegally detained ever since.
Chongqing University students and postgraduates Wu Jie, Mi Xiaozheng, Yang Chengbao and others suffered various forms of persecution, such as detention, suspension of their studies, etc.
4. Persecution suffered by students who returned home from overseas
Case 1. Zhao Ming was unlawfully sent to the Tuanhe Labor Camp[17]
Mr Zhao Ming, a Master’s degree student in Computer Science at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, was illegally detained in China for twenty-two months. After he returned to Ireland, he told people about what went on behind the scenes at the Tuanhe Labor Camp:
“… one day in the first month after I was sent there, I was beaten up by ten drug addicts. Later they told me the police had ordered them to do so. They savagely hit my body with fists, feet and knees, leaving my thighs black and blue, and for two weeks I could not walk.
“The typical physical punishments were ‘Squat’ and ‘Fly’ against the wall. The former means that one takes half a step forward, then squats down. Staying in this position for a long time would make the person numb in the heels until they completely lose consciousness and become paralyzed. To ‘Fly’ is to stand in front of the wall, bend down with one’s back and arms against the wall. Over time, one would feel his legs trembling, and his head dizzy.
While I was in the Xin’an Labor Camp, two weeks before my one-year term was up, Li Jirong, leader of No. 4 brigade, ordered detainees in his brigade and in juvenile team to forbid me to sleep. Every day, I was forced to ‘squat’ and ‘fly’ for more than ten hours, and this went on continuously for two weeks. I was locked to a chair all day long. During the day, they would scream at me, hitting my head and kicking my legs until blood was running down my legs. During the first two days, they would not allow me to close my eyes at all, and ordered some prisoners to monitor me in turn. If I closed my eyes, they would push and wake me up. Later they allowed me to rest for only one to two hours on a small bench during the night. I remember when I complained to section head Shen Yongke about the mistreatment I had received, he said, ‘We will force you to transform.’ As a result of such physical punishments, my legs became numb from the middle part of my thighs down to my feet and I would feel pain if I walked or stood for long, and my feet felt nothing whether I have shoes on or not.
“I suffered various forms of torture while in the male detention center in Tuanhe. For example, they shocked me with seven or eight electric batons. I was forced to sit in a basin and pushed underneath a bed. The board of the bed was thus pushed up. Then many guards sat on the bed to press it down on me. For more than three months, I was forced to squat until 3:00 am before I was allowed to sleep, and I was forced to get up again before 5:00 am.
“Two weeks before my release, they deprived me of sleep for two days. When I saw Liao, head of the Discipline Inspection Section, I reported to him about this. He did not take any clear stand and said he would report this to the head of camp. Later, I saw the head and wanted to talk to him, but he would not listen and swaggered off. That evening, five police shocked me with electric batons. They were: Jiang Wenlai, head of the Management Section; Yang, head of the Education Section; Jiang Haiquan, Deputy Head of the Education Section and two police from the ‘assault squad.’
“Jiang said to me, ‘This is what you get for reporting to the head.’ The five police first put a bed board on the floor and bound my legs, my feet and body and my head tightly onto the board [to prevent my body from jumping when being shocked]. The strap used for tying my head ran between my teeth. Then they shocked me with six electric batons on various parts of my body, with voltage as high as tens of thousand volts. My whole body trembled violently, my muscles were twitching, and my breathing was heavy. I felt very dry in my throat and one of my legs was thrown into violent convulsions.
“A few days later, police Xu from the education department of the Bureau of Labor Education came to the ‘assault squad’ and asked me if the police had violated discipline. I asked him, ‘What do you think of the act of five police shocking me with six electric batons?’ He said, ‘This is a serious violation of the discipline.’ He then asked me if I had any evidence and if there were other detainees present. Later he simply denied the fact by saying, ‘There are only three policemen in the ‘assault squad.’ It is impossible to have five of them.’ In the end he threatened me, ‘If you’re not concerned about your release, then go on talking like this, I’ll take notes.’
“I was not the only one who suffered persecution. All the Falun Gong practitioners there who refused to give up their beliefs were in a very difficult situation. A practitioner detained upstairs was beaten into a state of paralysis, and they used even more vicious means when shocking some others—a number of police stepped on the victim’s face and his four limbs to shock him. Jiang Haiquan, former leader of No. 5 team used two electric batons to shock a practitioner’s head continuously for half an hour. Many illegally detained Falun Gong practitioners are well educated; some of them have Master’s degrees; others have PhD degrees, and there are also university professors. My family also suffered a lot. My mother could hardly sleep at night during my detention. Many practitioners’ children were left at home without anybody to look after them. Because of their detention, many families broke up and many of their family members lost their source of income to maintain their living.”
5. Persecution extended to young children
Young children are innocent. They should be in kindergarten, under parental care and guidance and protected by all levels of government departments. However, when Falun Gong was suppressed, the children were not spared. Numerous children suffered and some even lost their young, innocent lives.
Case 1: Eight month old baby boy and his mother persecuted to death[20]
Ms Wang Lixuan, twenty-seven, and her son Meng Hao, just under eight months, were from Yantai Qixia temple, Kouzhen Nangu village, of Shandong province. She was a Falun Gong practitioner. On October 21, 2000 she was illegally detained on her trip to Beijing to appeal. She escaped from the detention center, but a day later, she was illegally detained again. On November 7, 2000 Ms Wang Lixuan and her son were both tortured to death in the Tuanhe Dispatching Center in Beijing. When her relatives received news of their deaths, they went to Beijing to identify their bodies. Both bodies were frozen. According to the post-mortem examination, Wang Lixuan had fractured cervical vertebra and femora. Her forehead was dented and a needle was left in the lumbar area. Meng Hao’s ankles had two deep bruises; his forehead had two purple spots, and his nose had blood clots. According to the examiner, the injuries were possibly due to his ankles being tied up and the body hung upside down.
Case 2: Four year-old Rong Rong suffers separation and loss of close family members
Rong Rong is only four years old and an orphan. At such a young age, she has already experienced separation and the loss of close family members.
When Rong Rong was born in November 1999, her father, Zou Song Tao, was absent. He had gone to the Beijing Enquiry Bureau to clarify the facts regarding Falun Gong. When he returned to Qingdao, he was immediately detained. That was in October and he wasn’t released until December. Thereafter, he was arrested and released several times, until November 3, 2000, when he died from torture. Rong Rong had not even spent six months of her life with her father. In May 2001, her mother Zhang Yunhe, was identified as having given out Falun Gong materials. She had no choice but to leave home. Rong Rong, then two and half years old, was separated from her mother. She had to be looked after by her grandparents. Rong Rong’s grandmother, who was over sixty years old, was unable to bear the loss of her beloved son-in-law and the separation from her daughter. She died from a broken heart in August 2001. Rong Rong lost the three persons who loved her the most – her father, mother and grandmother.
Case 3: Even toddlers are detained.
Wang Zhiden is a Falun Gong practitioner from Shandong, Laiwu City. On July 21, 2000, he was working at home, when Zhang Bingyin, Zhang and a third person from the local police station, led twenty policemen onto his premises without permission. They had a master key to the security gate. When the neighbors tried to stop them, the police ignored them. They forcefully kicked open the door and barged inside. They arrested all the six members of his family. His son and niece were both just over two years of age. The police didn’t even permit them to dress the children.
The whole family was taken to the detention center. Wang Zhiden’s two year-old son, his nose bleeding, was clinging to the iron-fence, wailing uncontrollably. Nonetheless, officials refused to release the child. Before the arrest, the power and water supplies to Wang Zhiden’s home were cut off as ordered by the Public Security Bureau. This was done because they were Falun Gong practitioners. The Public Security Bureau also banned his daughter’s school from issuing his daughter her High School Graduation Certificate, despite the fact that the school had recommended the daughter to the Public Security Bureau as a fine and good student. She was the Youth League Secretary of her class.
There was a similar case in Yanggu County police station in Shandong province. A six- month-old baby was illegally detained in an icy cold detention center with her parents and grandparents.
The details cited in this report are only the tip of the iceberg. It is impossible to gather details of all the victims because of the clandestine nature of the persecution. Many crimes committed by Chen Zhili, former Minister of Education, who mandated that China’s education system follow Jiang Zemin’s genocide policy against Falun Gong have been covered up.
Appendix One: A Nine Year-Old Student Is Forced to Quit School and Leave Home
-- Narrated by the child and written down by his mother
(Clearwisdom.net) I am a nine-year-old boy from northern China. I should be in the second grade now, but because Dad, Mom and I insisted on practicing Falun Dafa, we became homeless and were forced to wander from one place to another for more than a year now. I was forced to quit school. Now we live a very unstable life. I believe you all have had a childhood worth remembering, but my childhood is full of sadness. Before July 20th, 1999, I had a family filled with joy, with Dad, Mom, Sis and me. Sis was in middle school and I was an elementary school student. Both Dad and Mom were university graduates and worked as senior engineers. Like thousands of other kids my age, I enjoyed the happiness of my childhood without any worries whatsoever. However, all this was shattered by Jiang’ scoundrel gang. After that horrible day, the Jiang group used all the media to fabricate lies to frame Falun Dafa and outlawed the practice. Since then, the peace and harmony in our home was replaced by never ending harassment.
Dad and Mom never agreed to give up their right to practice Falun Dafa. They had to endure constant pressure from work, such as being asked to write statements agreeing never to practice Falun Dafa again and to go on television to declare their position publicly. They were under strict observation at work. Out-of-town traveling was out of the question. Even after work, they were checked regularly with phone calls, especially on certain sensitive dates. Weekend outings had to be reported ahead of time, so their whereabouts could be traced by phone. They were not allowed to visit my grandparents, even during holidays.
One night in June 2001, a group of policemen illegally tried to abduct my Dad. They forced their way into our house and seized about thirty thousand dollars worth of our personal possessions for no reason. They forcefully took Mom to the police station and left my thirteen-year-old sister and me home alone. The house was in great disorder, and my sister and I really did not know how we could continue our life. Since that day, Dad did not dare to come home. The evil officials and police gathered about two hundred policemen to guard every possible route that connected our house to other cities. They also drove overnight to my aunt's home, where my aunt's family and my grandparents live. They climbed over the fence and got into the house, but still could not find my Dad. Everyone who lived in that household was very disturbed. Then, they drove several hundred miles to my mom's parents' home and tried to force my grandparents (both close to eighty years old) to turn in their son-in-law, but to no avail. Knowing their only daughter's family was in such deep trouble, they have been worrying about us every day since then. They have not heard from us for over a year now.
Ever since my dad left home, policemen have watched my mom day and night. Once, when she was accompanying me on my way to school, Mom made a phone call that was questioned and examined over and over again. Policemen put all kinds of pressure on my mom, came to her office as often as they wanted and frightened her with all kinds of methods. She had no personal freedom at all. Finally, she could not bear it anymore and left my sister at home by herself and took me with her to leave home to avoid the persecution.
Dad, Mom and I have become homeless for more than a year now. I was forced to separate from my sister, teacher, classmates and buddies. My sister is home alone, constantly looking forward to our return every day. She is longing for a normal family life like anyone else.
We do not have any dependable place to stay. Many nights, the three of us slept on the cement floor, hugging each other. I always curled up from the shivering cold. It’s very hard for us to endure the endless nights. We cannot go back home and cannot sleep in a bed. The Jiang group has broken up a happy family like ours. All this was caused by the fact that my dad, mom and I want to be good persons and practice Falun Dafa.
Our close relatives, my aunts, uncles and grandma, who all benefited from practicing Falun Dafa, haven’t even dared to mention Falun Dafa since the cruel suppression began. My third aunt was detained and put in the notorious Masanjia Forced Labor Camp and was later sentenced to three years in prison. One of my cousins was put in a forced labor camp to undergo brainwashing. My old aunt and grandma were forced to abandon their home and move from place to place to avoid persecution and arbitrary arrest. My poor old feeble grandma could not stand the homeless life and the sadness of not being able to be with her family. She passed away, far away from home, alone with such deep regrets. None of her thirty descendents could be with her when she left this world. My buddies Hongfei, Tiege, and Wenlong were forced to quit school. My uncles and aunties, Grandma Liu and Grandpa Zhang were all forced to leave their homes to wander about to avoid arrest.
Grandpas and grandmas, uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters, how I wish to be able to go back to school again. When I left school, my teacher told me in private that a present had already been bought for me since I got the highest scores in my final exam. I want to go to school! I want to finish my education! I miss my sister and want to be reunited with her. I want to go home! I want the police station to return all our belongings. I miss all my relatives, my teacher, my classmates, and my buddies. When can I return home? When can I see my relatives?
In China, I am not the only one being forced to quit school, leave home, and lose my loved ones. Millions of families in China are in the same boat as us. Please extend a helping hand. Help rescue these people whose only wish is to be good people. This is a cry for help from my heart.
Appendix Two: Cases of Persecution of Tsinghua University Students for Persisting in Their Belief
- (Clearwisdom.net) December 31 2002
Department of Electronic Engineering
Yuan Jiang graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department of Tsinghua University. He was the Chief Assistant of the Dafa Assistance Center in Lanzhou and the Deputy General Manager of the Information Technology Engineering Company that operated under the Gansu Province Telecommunications Bureau in the city of Lanzhou. Yuan was later removed from the position and demoted to the position of Chief Technology officer because he didn’t give up practicing Falun Dafa. He was arrested on August 30, 2001 in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. After being tortured by police from Gansu Provincial Station, he passed away on November 9, 2001.
Meng Jun, male, 29 years old, was an assistant teacher in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Meng graduated with a Master’s degree from Tsinghua University. He was detained twice in September and October 1999 at the Tsinghua University Police Station and Beijing Police Station. Meng was forced to quit his job for persisting in his belief. In June 2000, he was detained for six days because he went to Tiananmen Square to appeal peacefully for Falun Gong. At midnight on December 31, 2000, he was arrested by the policemen of the Zhongguancun Police Station when he was putting up material clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa. He was brutally tortured while in detention and later locked up at the No. Seven Division of the Beijing Police Department. On December 13, 2001 the Beijing Intermediate Court illegally sentenced him to ten years in prison under the charges of “using the Internet to spread Falun Dafa materials,” “flying Falun Dafa banners with balloons” and “handing out Falun Dafa facts-clarification pamphlets.”
Yao Yue, female, 29 years old, married, was a graduate student in the Microelectronics Department at Tsinghua University and a Communist Party member. She was selected as “The Excellent Student” in the graduating class by the City of Beijing. Her husband Liu Wenyu, also a Dafa practitioner, was a graduate student in the Department of Thermal Energy of Tsinghua University. On September 3rd, 1999, she practiced Falun Gong openly on the campus of Tsinghua and was forcefully taken away by the campus police. She was interrogated until the morning of the next day. She was then expelled from the Communist Party and the school. Her personal records were transferred out of the school. In the early hours of January 1, 2001 the police forced their way into her home and arrested her. She was later held at the No. Seven Division of the Beijing Police Department. On December 13, 2001 the Beijing Intermediate Court illegally sentenced her to twelve years in prison under the charges of “flying Falun Dafa banners with balloons” and “handing out Falun Dafa facts-clarification pamphlets”.
Chu Tong, female, 32 years old, graduated from the Institute of Microelectronics at Tsinghua University with a Master's degree. She is a lecturer in the same institute. Her husband Yu Chao, a graduate of the Department of Precision Instruments, is also a Dafa practitioner. On October 27, 1999, she went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong and was brutally beaten by the police. Afterwards she was detained in the No. Seven Division of the Beijing City Police Department. She was illegally imprisoned for one-and- a-half years. After she was released from prison, she published her "solemn declaration" expressing her steadfast faith to continue cultivating Falun Dafa. Thereafter, she and her husband were forced to leave their home to avoid further persecution. In August 2002, both Chu and her husband were secretly abducted at their residence in Beijing and there has been no news of their whereabouts since then.
Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanics
Wang Xin, male, 25 years old, was a Ph.D. student (who enrolled in 1999) in the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanical Engineering of Tsinghua University. He received the “Excellent Cadre of the University Scholarship,” “Second Prize of the Excellent Student Scholarship,” “Haolaixi Alumni Scholarship,” “Xiyueyuying Scholarship,” and other scholarships. He once served as the class captain and vice chairman of the Science Society of the Department. In October 1999, he was suspended from school because of his firm belief in Falun Dafa, and was warned: “If you don’t separate from Falun Dafa ideologically, then we will not take you back.” Wang was arrested in April 2001 and later detained at the No. Seven Division of the Beijing City Police Department. On December 13, 2001, the Beijing Intermediate Court illegally sentenced him to nine years in prison under the charges of “flying Falun Dafa banners with balloons” and “handing out Falun Dafa facts-clarification pamphlets”.
Huang Kui, male, 26 years old, was a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Precision Machinery & Instrumentation from the class of 1999. He was the winner of the “Zheng Geru Scholarship,” “First Prize of the Excellence Student Scholarship,” and “Outstanding Graduate.” He was elected as the class captain, vice chairman of the Science Society of the Department, etc. Huang earned exemption from entrance exam and was directly admitted to the PhD program. In October 1999, the university suspended him for 3 months [because he practiced Falun Gong]. He was arrested in June 2000 because he joined a Falun Gong group practice on campus. He was publicly beaten by the police and then dismissed from the university. Huang was once kidnapped by the personnel from the National Security Bureau. In November 2000 he was arrested in Zhuhai under the fabricated charge of subversion, which was later changed into “disruption of law enforcement officials.” He was held at the Zhuhai No. Two Detention Center. In August 2001 he was tried at the Xiangzhou District Court in Zhuhai City. Originally, the verdict was to be announced around the Chinese New Year in 2002. However, because of the U.S. President Bush’s visit to China, the announcement of the verdict was postponed. It is most likely that Huang was sentenced in secrecy.
Wang Weiyu, male, 29-years-old, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Precision Machinery & Instrumentation. He won numerous honors and scholarships, such as “Excellent Graduate,” “Honor Student,” and the “Phillips Scholarship,” etc. He was also elected as the class captain, secretary of the Communist Youth League of the class, vice chairman of the Science Society of the Department, deputy secretary of the Department’s Communist Youth League, assistant of the 1997 undergraduate class, etc. Because of his excellent undergraduate study record, he earned exemption from entrance exam and was directly admitted to the Ph.D. program. He was arrested twice in September and October 1999 for attending the cultivation experience sharing conferences. He was detained in the Tsinghua University Police Substation where he was forced to squat for more than four to five hours. He was threatened and interrogated until midnight. Later, he was suspended from school for four months. After going back to school, he announced that his beliefs had not changed and he was again suspended in June 2000. During his suspension, he was detained without any charge against him for one week, simply because he was seen talking to others in Tiananmen Square. In the latter half of 2000, he was forced to leave school and become homeless to avoid being arrested. In August 2002, he was secretly abducted by the National Security agents from the company he was working for. His whereabouts are unknown.
Xu Zhiguang, 25 years old, is a graduate student of the class of 1999 pursuing his doctoral degree in the Department of Precision Instruments at Tsinghua University. He won the honor of “Outstanding Student” and a first prize scholarship. He was elected as class captain and the chairman of the Science Society of the Department, etc. Because of his excellent undergraduate study record, he earned exemption of entrance exam and was directly admitted to the Ph.D. program. On July 25, 1999 he was detained for one day by the Beijing City Police Department simply because he went to the appeals department to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa. In October 1999 he was sent home for six weeks because he persisted in practicing Falun Gong. He was told that if he still could not separate himself from Falun Dafa he would not be allowed to return to school. In July 2000 he was told that if he took part in any Falun Gong activities he would be suspended or expelled. In April 2001, the school authorities kidnapped him and sent him to a brainwashing class. Later, he was forced to leave the school and went from place to place to avoid persecution. In April 2001 he went missing and was later detained at the Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp in Beijing. Now his whereabouts are unknown.
Yu Chao, 30 years old, graduated from the Department of Precision Instruments at Tsinghua University in 1999. He is a network engineer. His wife Chu Tong, also a Falun Gong practitioner, is a lecturer at the Institute of Microelectronics at Tsinghua University. His elder sister Yu Jia, a Dafa practitioner, is a lecturer at the Institute of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. In 2000, he displayed a Falun Dafa banner in Tiananmen Square. Because of this, he was illegally sentenced for one year of forced labor, but he was allowed to serve the sentence outside the labor camp. He and his wife were forced to leave their home to avoid further persecution. In August 2002, the couple was secretly kidnapped at a residence in Beijing and their whereabouts are unknown.
Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering
Zhang Mengye graduated in 1959 from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering at Tsinghua University, having majored in river hydropower. He was a classmate of Hu Jintao, now secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. Mr. Zhang was a lecturer at the Institute of Guangdong Electrical Engineering. He was sentenced to two years of imprisonment by the Public Security Bureau of Guangdong province and detained at Guangzhou City First Forced Labor Camp. In order to appeal for an unconditional release, Mr. Zhang went on a hunger strike three times in the camp. He was persecuted to the point where he became extremely skinny. As of February 10, 2002, he weighed less than 35 kilograms [72 pounds]. After being released, Mr. Zhang was forced to leave home because he couldn’t bear the intense harassment and persecution. He published two articles on March 20 and May 4, 2002 about his true experiences, which included suffering from Hepatitis B for 20 years before he began practicing Falun Gong. After practicing for only 8 months, he was cured of the long time disease. Moreover, these two articles referred to his being persecuted only because he had written to the Chinese government in 1999 sharing his understanding about Falun Gong. The Guangdong 610 Office had spent a great deal of human resources to capture him and threatened to send him to the forced labor camp or “brainwashing classes.” After having been given away by a collaborator for the police, Zhang Mengye and his wife were forced to undergo brainwashing at the Huangpu drug rehabilitation center, where Mr. Zhang was severely persecuted by all kinds of methods.
Lin Yang, male, 25 years old, class of 1994 in the Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering at Tsinghua University. He once won the first prize scholarship, the third prize “Challenge Cup” award at a science exhibition and “excellent individual” of science activities on campus. On the basis of his admirable study record and moral standards, Lin was nominated to study as a master’s degree student without any entrance examination. But Tsinghua University did not enroll Lin Yang because he refused to compose a letter against Falun Gong and to guarantee that he would relinquish practicing it when the university reopened in September 1999. (There were 7 new masters degree students who received similar and unjust treatment at that time.) Lin Yang and two of his classmates were detained on the criminal charges of “illegal assembly” and “disturbing the public security” merely because they expressed their opinions to a representative of the National People’s Congress. He was suspended twice from the university. Lin Yang was also illegally detained for 10 days for reporting his situation to the Taitanghe prison, during which time he went on a 9-day hungry strike. Tsinghua University unlawfully expelled him after he was released. In November 2000, Lin Yang was illegally arrested by the Zhuhai city government on charges of “subverting the state,”which was later changed to “undermining the law enforcement.” He was detained at the Zhuhai No. 1 Detention Center. In August 2001 he was tried at the Xiangzhou District Court in Zhuhai City. Originally, the verdict was to be announced around the Chinese New Year in 2002. However, because of the U.S. President Bush’s visit to China, the announcement of the verdict was postponed. It is very likely that Lin was sentenced in secrecy.
Jiang Yuxia, female, 25 years old, class of 1995 in the Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering at Tsinghua University. In October 1999, she visited the Office of Appeals to state her understanding about Falun Gong, and because of that, Tsinghua University withheld her diploma. The University claimed that she failed to pass the graduate thesis debate and therefore she could not receive her graduation certificate. Jiang Yuxia was arrested and detained for 3 days for visiting Tiananmen Square on National Day, October 1st, 2000. In November 2000, Jiang Yuxia was arrested by the Zhuhai city government on charges of “subversion of the state,” which was later changed to “undermining the law enforcement.” She was detained at the Zhuhai No. 1 Detention Center. In August 2001 she was tried at the Xiangzhou District Court in Zhuhai City. Originally, the verdict was to be announced around the Chinese New Year in 2002. However, because of the U.S. President Bush’s visit to China, the announcement of the verdict was postponed. It is most likely that Jiang was sentenced in secrecy. Department of Thermal Engineering
Yu Ping, male, 30 years old, graduate student of class 1995 in the Department of Thermal Engineering at Tsinghua University. In March 1997, because of his outstanding academic achievements, Yu Ping was allowed to enter the Ph.D. program in advance. Yu has won Tsinghua’s “129 Scholarship” and the Siemens Scholarship. Yu Ping was elected chairman of the Graduate Students Union of the Department and deputy team leader of the Graduate Students Affairs. However, Yu Ping was not granted his Doctor’s degree even though his graduation thesis was appraised as an excellent dissertation and was approved by all the judges in early June 1999, simply because Yu Ping went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal [for Falun Gong] on 20th June 1999. At that time, Yu Ping was accepted by the Ohio State University with a full scholarship. He lost the opportunity to study aboard. Later, Yu Ping was sentenced to four years in prison, which he had appealed. His current circumstance is quite unclear.
Liu Wenyu, male, married, 29 years old, graduate student of class 1997 in the Department of Thermal Engineering at Tsinghua University. His wife Yao Yue (also a Falun Gong practitioner), was a graduate student of class 1996 in the Microelectronics Department at Tsinghua University. Liu Wenyu was elected class captain and won Tsinghua’s scholarship for outstanding students. In May 1999, because of his excellent academic achievements, Liu Wenyu was allowed to enter the Ph.D. program in advance. Nevertheless, between January 15 to 30 2000, in order to force him to give up his practice [of Falun Gong], Tsinghua University placed Liu Wenyu under house arrest at the No. 200 Nuclear Experimentation Base. Liu Wenyu was illegally detained for a month on criminal charges of “suspected illegal assembly” for peacefully appealing for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square in June 2001. Liu Wenyu was compelled to withdraw from school after he was released. In the early morning of January 1, 2001, police from the Zhongguancun police station broke into Liu’s house and arrested him. He was held at the Seventh Detention Center of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. On December 13, 2001, the Beijing Intermediate Court sentenced him to 3 years in prison on charges of “using the Internet to spread Falun Gong material,” “flying Falun Gong banners with balloons,” and “distributing Falun Gong facts-clarifying pamphlets.”
Department of Architecture
Ma Yan, female, 26 years old, was an undergraduate student of class 1994 of the Department of Architecture, with a minor in Broadcasting in the College of Liberal Arts at Tsinghua University. She started to practice Falun Dafa in July 1998. On April 25th 2000, Ma Yan went to Tiananmen Square to express that Falun Gong is a beneficial cultivation practice, and was detained for a month. No one informed her parents of her detentions until days later, which caused her parents great agony. Soon afterwards, the University authorities called and asked Ma Yan to withdraw from school. She refused. Later, the University called again to inform her that she was expelled from Tsinghua. In November 2000, Ma Yan was illegally arrested by the Zhuhai city government for “subversion of the state,” which was later changed to “undermining the law enforcement.” She was detained at the Zhuhai No. 1 Detention Center. In August 2001 she was tried at the Xiangzhou District Court in Zhuhai City. Originally, the verdict was to be announced around the Chinese New Year in 2002. However, because of the U.S. President Bush’s visit to China, the announcement of the verdict was postponed. It is most likely that Ma Yan was sentenced in secrecy.
Wang Zhiqiang, male, 31 years old, was a graduate student of class 1997 of the Department of Architecture at Tsinghua University. In October 1999, Wang was forced to suspend his schooling for practicing Falun Gong. He was missing for a long time. After six months, his family was told that Wang Zhiqiang was detained at the Seventh Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau. Currently, his whereabouts are unknown.
Department of Engineering Physics
Li Chunyan, female, 22 years old, was an undergraduate student of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University. In September 1999, the University didn’t allow her to enroll because she refused to write a statement guaranteeing that she would give up practicing Falun Gong. In October 1999, she was detained and interrogated by the Tsinghua University police station. During her detention, she was tortured and interrogated until midnight because she participated in a Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference. She was persecuted many times by the Tsinghua University police station and interrogated by the Fourteenth Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau just because she practiced Falun Gong in the morning practice site at the campus. She was compelled to suspend her university studies. Tsinghua University refused to issue a written statement about suspending her university studies because they were afraid of exposing the nature of their actions. In November 2001 in Zhuhai city, she was charged with “subverting the state ”and illegally arrested. Subsequently, the charge against her was altered as “undermining the law enforcement,” and she was detained in the Zhuhai No.2 Detention Center. In August 2001, she was tried in Zhuhai City Xiangzhou District Court. The result of the trial was to be announced after the 2002 Chinese New Year. Due to President Bush’s visit to China, the result has been delayed. At present, she might have received a secret sentence.
Department of Chemical Engineering
Liu Zhimei, female, 22 years old, was an undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering (Class of ‘97) at Tsinghua University. In September 1999, the University did not allow her to enroll in classes. She was detained and interrogated until the next morning by the University police station because she had participated in a Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference in October. Afterwards, in July 2000, she went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal. She was illegally detained for 20 days during this period and she went on a hunger strike. In August 2000, Tsinghua University suspended her university studies without issuing any written notification. In May 2001, she was illegally arrested. During her detention she was transferred to several detention centers. After she was put in the Seventh Branch’s detention center of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, she suffered excruciating torture. Her head was beaten to the point of becoming beyond recognition and her chest was severely beaten. A number of her nails were pulled off.
A number of false accusations were made against her and she was illegally sentenced for twelve years. She was sent back to her ancestral home from Beijing. At present she is in Shandong Province Jinan City Prison for Women.
Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology and Design
Li Yanfang, female, 27 years old, was a graduate student majoring in the nuclear reactor engineering and safety at Tsinghua University. In September 1999, she was forcibly taken into custody by the University police for openly practicing Falun Gong exercises on campus and was interrogated until the next morning. In late October she was again detained by the University police for participating in a Falun Gong Experience Sharing Conference, and her Falun Gong books, which she carried with her, were confiscated as well. While in custody, she was tortured for protesting. In June 2000 she went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully appeal [for Falun Gong] and was consequently detained for 9 days by the Beijing Public Security Bureau. In August, after the summer break, the University verbally notified her to suspend her study. Later, the University once again verbally notified her to withdraw from school. Both incidents have caused great agony and tremendous financial losses to her family in the countryside. During that period of time, her maternal grandmother, who suffered from cancer, got worse and subsequently passed away in July 2000. . In November 2001 in Zhuhai city, she was charged with “subverting the state ”and illegally arrested. Subsequently, the charge against her was altered as “undermining the law enforcement,” and she was detained in the Zhuhai No.2 Detention Center. In August 2001, she was tried in Zhuhai City Xiangzhou District Court. The result of the trial was to be announced after the 2002 Chinese New Year. Due to President Bush’s visit to China, the result has been delayed. At present, she might have received a secret sentence.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Li Feng, female, was a mechanical engineering postgraduate at Tsinghua University (Class of ‘96), and a teacher at a vocational school in Shanghai. She is a well praised teacher. She resigned from the job in May 2000. Nevertheless, the Shanghai police went to Beijing after she left Shanghai to find her and later sentenced her to three years in prison.
Academic Staff
Dong Yanhong, female, 30 years old, was a prizewinner of a national calligraphy contest. Because of her firm belief [in Falun Gong], Dong Yanhong was listed as a key target by Tsinghua’s southwest residential committee. One day in January 2001, the residential committee deceived her into a talk, and Dong never came back. On December 13, 2001, the Beijing Intermediate Court illegally sentenced Dong Yanhong to five years in prison on charges of “Using the Internet to spread Falun Gong materials,” “hanging Falun Gong banners with balloons,” and “distributing Falun Gong facts-clarifying pamphlets.” Dong did not give in to the persecutors in prison and continue to practice Falun Gong. Dong is currently held in isolation under tight surveillance. The prison guards keep a close eye on her during family visit hours and restrict their conversation contents.
Yu Jia, female, 35 years old, was a lecturer at the Institute of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. Her younger brother Yu Chao (also a Falun Gong practitioner) graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Precision Instruments at Tsinghua University (class of 1990). Yu Jia peacefully appealed for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square during the Chinese New Year in 2000 and was thus detained for an month, during which time she was handcuffed for 5 days without being allowed to eat and sleep. Her wrist was seriously injured. After she was released, Yu had to live on a tiny amount of allowance issued by the University. Later she was detained several times by the police station for publicly practicing Falun Gong exercises on campus. She was secretly sentenced to three and half years in prison.
Wang Jiuchun, female, was an associate professor in the Department of Science and Technology Development at Tsinghua University. She was the former voluntary assistant of Tsinghua’s Falun Dafa practice site. On the eve of the Chinese New Year in 2002, Wang’s home was searched, and Wang was arrested. She was later sentenced for one and half years in forced labor camp. Currently she is illegally held at the Tuanhe Labor Camp.
Qiu Shuqin, female, was a staff in the Dean’s office at Tsinghua University. She was laid off by the University for practicing Falun Gong and lived on a tiny living allowance issued by the University. In 2001, she submitted an application for early retirement and was approved. She got a one-month criminal detention for peacefully appealing [for Falun Gong] on Tiananmen Square on April 25, 2000. During her detention, Qiu was physically punished by being handcuffed behind her back for several days simply because she practiced Falun Gong exercise. After she was released, she was detained and beaten many times by the police station with her personal belongings illegally confiscated for publicly practicing Falun Gong exercise on campus. A few days before July 20, 2000, Qiu was secretly taken away by the Beijing Public Security Bureau and was subsequently detained for nearly a month. Over the years, Qiu Shuqin was arrested more than ten times and illegally detained six times. During her illegal detention, she was handcuffed behind her back and suffered force feedings. In 2002, Tsinghua University unlawfully withheld Qiu’s retirement pension, leaving her family without any financial resources. Qiu Shuqin is currently sentenced to a labor camp.
Jia Xiaomei, female, was an employee of the Machinery Plant at Tsinghua University. On December 26, 1999, she attended the public trial of the members of the Falun Dafa Research Society. The Haidian Public Security Department handed her one month criminal detention. Afterwards, the Zhongguancun police station unlawfully restricted her personal freedom by summoning her, for as long as forty-eight hours, without any formal document around any “sensitive date.” On April 16, 2000, Jia Xiaomei was arrested by the police for practicing at the former practicing site and was later handed a one-month criminal detention. She was arrested again on June 30, 2000 by the police and was detained. She went on a hunger strike for three days to protest the detention. She was not released until she physically became extremely weak. On July 22, 2000, Jia Xiaomei was dragged onto a police car in front of her apartment building by the police and was once again illegally detained for forty-eight hours, only because she was suspected for possibly going to Tiananmen Square to appeal [for Falun Gong]. in August 2000, because she persisted in her belief, her work unit asked her to resign. She refused, and the work unit did not allow her to go back to work. In November 2001, Jia Xiaomei was kidnapped to the Tuanhe labor camp for posting Falun Gong facts-clarifying material.
Persecution of Tsinghua University’s graduates who are studying overseas
Zhao Ming was a student in the Department of Computer Science (class of ’88) at Tsinghua University. He was once project manager of the Computer Network Center of the Ziguang Group at Tsinghua University. In March 1999, he enrolled in the Master's program in Computer Science at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. During the Christmas season in the same year, he went back to China, calling on the Chinese government to stop the irrational persecution of Falun Gong. He was then illegally detained. In May 2000, he was sent to the Tuanhe Labor Camp in Daxing County, Beijing. But his term was extended illegally for another 10 months. During his detention, he was often tortured, shocked by electrical batons, and forced to do heavy physical labor work. In addition, he was forcibly brainwashed and mentally tortured, and pressured to give up his belief in Falun Dafa. Under pressure from the international community, Zhao Ming was released on March 12, 2002 after nearly two years in detention.
Zhang Zhigang, male, 26 years old, was a graduate student in the College of Liberal Arts at Tsinghua University. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering at Tsinghua. In 2001, he enrolled in the graduate program in Computer Science at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
During his study in Tsinghua University, he was awarded a Zhang Guangduo Scholarship, a Distinguished Student Leader’s Scholarship, the Wu Chaoyu Scholarship and another Grade 2 Scholarship for academic excellence. He was class secretary of the Youth League, a member in charge of propaganda of his grade party branch (Chinese Communist Party), a member of the department committee of Youth League, and chairman of an association. Because of his excellent academic record and personal character, he was recommended for a Master’s degree in the College of Liberal Arts at Tsinghua University without the need to sit for an examination.
In 1999, because of his persistence in practicing Falun Gong prior to the start of his Master’s program, the university refused to enroll him in the Master’s program. In October 1999, he was forced to return home for 3 months in order to be forced to stop practicing Falun Gong. In January 2000, he was forcibly taken to a hotel in the university to be illegally isolated. His personal freedom was restricted and he was forced to undergo ‘thought transformation’, but in reality he was being mentally tortured for more than two weeks. After that he was forced to suspend his studies and return home for transformation [to stop practicing Falun Gong]. On April 25th, 2000 he went to Tiananmen Square to appeal but was detained for a month. Not long after he was free, he was detained for another month for an unjustified “crime” of disturbing the social order, simply because he gave an article about Falun Gong to someone to read. In July 2000, the university cancelled his party membership because of his involvement in clarifying the facts about Falun Gong, and he was deprived of the opportunity to pursue a Master’s Degree.
Xie Weiguo, male, 29 years old, was a Class of 1996 Master’s degree graduate from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University. He was studying for a Ph.D at Manchester University in England in Dec. 2002 when his case was reported at www.minghui.ca. He was black listed by the Jiang regime because of his involvement in appealing for Falun Gong and appealing for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong in China. His fiancé Zhu Jie, who lived in China, was secretly arrested on November 4, 2002 in Beijing by the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
References
[1] Zhang Zhenzhong, a Student from Shandong University, Is Killed by Police Officer Li Aimin from Tangyin County (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/7/42935.html)(Back)
[2] Ouyang Ming, the Most Outstanding Teacher of Huangguang Industry School in Hubei Province is Persecuted Unmercifully and Tortured to Death (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/10/4/40963.html)(Back)
[3] Chinese Government Tries to Hide the Truth of Ouyang Ming's Death from the Australian Government (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/18/43263.html)(Back)
[4] Zhao Xin passed away six months after her neck vertebrae were shattered from brutal beatings (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/12/13/4410.html)(Back)
[5] Experiences Of A 15-Year-Old High School Student Suffering From the Persecution (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/3/14/33279.html)(Back)
[6] High School Student Deprived of Right to Take College Entrance Examination and Threatened With Arrest for Expressing His True Thoughts on an Exam (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/7/16/24167.html)(Back)
[7] Survey shown that the school has become the most worrisome place for parents of primary and middle school students, Xinhua Net, December 22, 2003, written by Yang Weihan (Education Net of Chinese Primary and Middle Schools http://www.k12.com.cn/newspool/25268.html)(Back)
[8] Death News Again From Dabei Prison of Shenyang City : High School Teacher Wu Yuan Was Murdered (http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/25/63247.html)(Back)
[Wu Yuan, Dafa Practitioner from Lingyuan City, Is Tortured to Death (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/1/12/44019.html)(Back)
[9] Outstanding teacher Li Hongling from Zengcheng District in Guangzhou was unlawfully jailed (http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/27/63431.html)(Back)
[10] The persecution on Wu Xinmei, a Primary School teacher in Hengshui City, Hebei Province (http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/25/63298.html)(Back)
[11] Cases of persecution on teachers and students at Tsinghua University for upholding their beliefs (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/12/31/41740p.html)(Back)
[12] Cases of persecution on teachers and students at Chongqing University for upholding their beliefs (http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/20/62924.html)(Back)
[13] Policeman Rapes Female Graduate Student in the Baihelin Detention Center, Chongqing City (phone numbers) (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/6/7/36645.html)(Back)
[14] Investigations from “World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong” (WOIPFG) has confirmed that graduate student Wei Xingyan was raped by a police (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/24/56147.html)(Back)
[15] Wei Xingyan Rape Incident Exposed Overseas, Vice President of Chongqing University Admits Persecution Policy (Photos) (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/8/42966.html)(Back)
[16] Chongqing University’s “Vice President” and “Prostitute” (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/25/63267.html)(Back)
[17] Zhao Ming : Inside Story of so-called “spring wind melting in the rain” education in Tuanhe Forced Labor Camp (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/4/8/28007.html)(Back)
[18] Ireland: Collecting Signatures for the Rescue of Liu Feng and Yang Fang in Dublin (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/12/23/43400.html)(Back)
[19] Press Release: Beijing Arrest of Mrs. Xiong Wei, former student at the Technical University of Berlin (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/18/17888.html)(Back)
[20] Belated News: More Details about Wang Lixuan and her Young Baby's Death (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/6/9304.html)(Back)
[21] An Old Professor Wrote to Chinese President Hu Jintao Requesting stop of Persecution on Falun Gong (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/8/3/55054.html)(Back)
[22] Modern times ‘small radish head’ (http://search.minghui.org/mh/articles/2000/9/27/1569.html)
World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Tel：1-347-448-5790；Fax：1-347-402-1444；
Mail Address：P.O. Box 84， New york, NY 10116
Website： http://www.upholdjustice.org/, http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/
