"Respecting the old and loving the young" is a traditional virtue of China. Therefore, I can never tolerate the beating, swearing, and other ill treatment of old people. Recently, a fellow townsman coming back from visiting our hometown told me what had happened there (my hometown is Yangjiaying town of Jinzhou city, Hebei Province). Two ladies, both over fifty years old, because practicing Falun Gong and going to Beijing to appeal, were beaten by officials from the town government. One old ladys rib was broken; the other was handcuffed to a tree and beaten up. This kind of thing has happened in a country that claims to be ruled by law, and it has happened in my hometown. How sad and vicious it is!
Now every one knows that Falun Gong practitioners are kind-hearted, upright, and unyielding. Lets just talk about these two old ladies who suffered such mistreatment in our town. They are two nice persons known far and wide. They get along well with their neighbors and are always happy to help others and never argue. They have harmonious families and are very hard working and capable. Everyone should respect nice people like them. But they were mistreated badly. No wander there have been so many natural and man-made calamities the last two years. It is even worse this year, sometimes it is dry; sometimes it floods. There is plague of locusts here and cholera there. It is really multifarious. Are those people utterly devoid of conscience, and really not afraid of retributions later on?
I am just an ordinary citizen with no power, much less any means to help the two kind-hearted fellow villagers of mine. But I do not want to remain silent. I want to speak out for their injustice. It is said that people doing bad deeds are most afraid of being exposed. That is why the Focus Interview program on CCTV (a program on national TV to discuss topics that are of most concern to citizens, similar to 20/20 and 48 hours in the US) is the most popular. Today I write about their misfortunes to make the whole society aware. This is the tiny bit that I can do for justice and goodwill.
Song Xiaoping is 52 years old. She lives in Jinzhou city, Hebei province. Since she had benefited so greatly from practicing Falun Gong, and the government had just outlawed it, she felt she should exercise her right to appeal. She did so and was detained for 7 days on July 20, 1999. On October 25, the government labeled Falun Gong an evil cult. She could not understand this and went to Beijing to appeal again. She was arrested at Beijings Western railway station and was extradited back to her hometown. The officers of the town government closed the door and beat her fiercely, breaking her left rib. Even after such a painful injury, she was not allowed to go home and rest, but was detained for a month and forced to pay one thousand Yuan [about $120, 2 months average wage] before being released. During this period of time, officials from the town government searched her house and wanted to grab the fax machine her family used for business. Her husband fought desperately and managed to keep the machine; however, he became very ill due to the stress and anger. When Song Xiaoping came back home from the detention and saw what happened, she could not understand it. How could government officers do this? Werent they a group of robbers? She went to Beijing again on November 29 to ask for justice, but was arrested at Tiananmen Square and was repatriated to hometown. Since she went to Beijing twice, she was sentenced to criminal detention. The town government sent people to her home to rob them of their business equipment again, but failed because other people also had a claim on the equipment. Her husbands illness, however, was worsened because of fear and worry. Because of lack of attention to her husbands severe illness, the town government was afraid of causing his death. So after fifteen days detention, Song was allowed to go home and take care of her husband. Still, her family was forced to pay five thousand Yuan for bail. On February 2, 2000, government officers broke into her home again and found two Dafa books and some Dafa materials, together with a letter she wrote to the government leaders about the persecution she, as an innocent citizen, had received, and asking for the return of innocence to Falun Dafa. In fact, a citizen writing to leaders of the central government is a citizens right endowed by our Constitution and protected by law. Nonetheless, the law enforcement officers, paying no heed whatsoever to the law, used this as an excuse to arrest Song and detained her again. After a month, her family members feared that her life would be in danger and asked for her release. The town government asked for another five thousand Yuan bail. Her family had no choice but to borrow the money and took her home. Seeing all the injustice to his family, her husband s mind and body were ruined. He died with hatred ten days after Songs release on bail.
When writing to this, I cannot help asking, "Is this still a government ruled by the people?" Those officers use the detention center as a ready source of income, and arrest people on the flimsiest of excuses. They do not consider the citizens life or death. They disturb the peace of the neighborhood, ruin families, and even kill people. They are a gang of kidnappers and extortionists. Some times I think Chinese people really have a cruel fate, what kind of society do we live in! Whats wrong with the government? Why have those people become so frightening?
The story is not over. Circumstances seemed to always be hard for Song Xiaoping. On April 24 of this year, since she was talking to a neighbor who is also a practitioner, she was accused of "establishing ties and disturbing public order", and was sent to a disciplinary detention center. After twenty-three days she was transferred to criminal detention and two months later she was sentenced to labor camp for three years.
When I heard this story from my fellow townsman, I remained silent for a long time. I could not say anything. Indeed, for those who have lost their human nature, what can I say?
The heroine of another story is sixty-one-year-old Aunt Zhou, who has an affable nature. Everyone knows that practicing Falun Gong gave her a healthy body. In July 1999, the TV broadcasted so many lies severely criticizing Falun Gong, from which she had benefited tremendously. Later, Falun Gong was labeled an evil cult. She thought, didnt they mean that I am evil too? I practice Falun Gong in order to be a good person, how can I be evil? She could not stay at home any more and arrived in Beijing on November 9 to validate that Falun Dafa benefits people as well as the country. She was arrested at Tiananmen Square, repatriated to her hometown, and was illegally detained for a month. After she served the sentence, the detention center told her family to pay two thousand Yuan as bail for her release. Everyone knows her familys poor in economic condition, but to save their mother from prison, her two sons tried hard to borrow enough money and brought their mother home. When she heard that she was ransomed with money, she was very angry: whats this principle, that being a good person needs to pay the penalty? I will appeal for justice in Beijing. So on December 29 of the lunar calendar, she arrived in Beijing and was arrested again at Tiananmen Square. This time she was beaten badly by Beijing police, repatriated back, and was sentenced to forty-five days of detention. When her family members asked for her release, the detention center used the same rule of exchanging her with money. This time, however, her family really could not get any money, they said many good words but it was no use. Later, after realizing they could not squeeze anything out of her, the detention center threw her out.
Time passes quickly. Aunt Zhou had thought that with the passage of time, the government would have a new understanding of Falun Gong. Its true that a year has passed; more and more facts have proven that no Falun Gong practitioner was ever against the government, or humankind. Facing the huge pressure, they are still good people without any political goal. The TV news, however, still told lies continuously to incite and mislead people. Aunt Zhou increasingly realized that some officials of the government have gone too far on this issue. On June 1, the stubborn old lady went to Beijing again to validate Dafa and was arrested and repatriated back. This time the town government thought that they lost face and were extremely angry. Exasperated, they handcuffed the old lady to a tree and lashed her with tree branches. Her body was dripping with blood, she was moaning with pain and fainted because of the beating. The officers splashed water on her head, and continued to beat her after she regained consciousness.... (The scenes of the brutal invaders during WW II beating the Chinese is now repeated by the cruel and ignorant people beating Falun Gong practitioners. ... How sad it is!)
I think that facing such an old lady, anyone with a little pity definitely cannot raise a hand to beat her, unless he is a cold-blooded animal without human nature. Several days later, Aunt Zhou was locked in the detention center again, this time for two months. The town government then told her family to bail her out, but her family had no money left. The "businessmen" did not want to sustain losses, so the town government robbed them of a tricycle, a TV, a bicycle, and all her familys valuable things as the bail. As peoples public servants, they robbed people and savagely oppressed them, they were cruel-hearted and just didnt want people to live. I remember a law of the world is that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme. These government officers were extremely vicious as if they knew that their lives would end soon.
Later I heard that when Aunt Zhou was released, she was locked in a room by her family members with no freedom and could not get out any more. The old lady watched the sky and stars through the window every day, with a peaceful heart. She seemed to see the day when her homeland will become peaceful.
Law enforcement officers can deliberately break the law and commit all kinds of outrages. Does the law only regulate the people? I deeply believe that laws set up by heaven are absolutely fair. The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through. The heaven will eradicate the vile people. I offer a piece of advice to those doing all kinds of evil against their conscience: " Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil. Wake up and escape disaster at the last moment, and be good to yourself!"
A person against injustice
August 2000