In the township of Jingkou (of Chongqing City, Sichuan Province), a group of reprehensible people have been actively persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners since last October.  Among them are the heads of the local government, police officers, and managers at various local factories. They have resorted to every possible means such as suppression, lying, and frabricating criminal charges, to force practitioners to give up their belief in Falun Dafa. Without obtaining any legal  paperwork (no police ID, no search warrant), they forced their way into the homes of the practitioners, ransacked the premises, arrested practitioners, and confiscated all the “Falun  Dafa” books and materials they could find.  They forced the practitioners to attend special “re-education classes,” and tried to force practitioners to sign statements promising that they stop practicing Falun Gong. Those practitioners who refused to do so were thrown into detention centers, labor camps, and mental hospitals.

Under the leadership of Zuo Jin (the deputy general secretary of the town’s local XX Party, and the person in charge of “solving” the Falun Gong problem), the town of Jingkou held  “re-education” classes on more than ten separate occasions with each class lasting anywhere from two weeks to two months. While the classes were in session, the practitioners (who were forced to attend the classes) were either not paid or recieved subsistence wages.  The local government assigned people to monitor the practitioners 24 hours a day, and anyone who insisted on practicing Falun Gong was thrown into the local detention center immediately.

In March, Chen Hong, a police officer, went to the home of Falun Gong practitioner Zhou Chenyu. Under the pretense of trying to understand Falun Gong, Chen took Zhou to the local government building where Zhou was held for fifteen days.  Zhou then served another fifteen days at the local detention center. Other police officers used similar ploys to bring Zhao Jiayu and Jiang Changlian to the government building, where they were detained for fifteen days as well.  Police Sergeant Zeng Xianqiang then brought out pre-approved arrest warrants and tried to force the two practitioners to sign the warrants. The two practitioners refused and asked, “Why are we being detained?” The reply was, “Because you practiced Falun Gong while you were in custody…. Even if we were wrong, you have to serve out your sentences.” The two practitioners refused to sign and were still sent to the local detention center for fifteen days.

Since June 2000, Zuo Jin and his subordinates stepped up their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in order to further advance their political careers. To date, around twenty practitioners in Jikou have been arrested, their ages ranging from 17 to over 60.  They are now being secretly held at the Chongqing Geological Apparatus Factory. Zuo Jin said, “We need to force them to denounce their beliefs.  If they do not obey us, we can hold them for two or three months then send them to labor camps.” Each practitioner is forced to pay 35 RMB every day (around $5, higher than the average daily salary).  Most practitioners being held are retired workers, while some are still teenagers.  Zuo Jin and his subordinates continue to look everywhere for practitioners to arrest, causing practitioners unable to go home.  Some have been forced to leave their spouses and kids, go to places far away, and wander around on the streets looking for help.

The following account portrays one family’s example showing how practitioners are being persecuted:

Zhao Yan, femail, 28 years old.  Her entire family, including herself, her parents, and her sister, all practice Falun Gong.  On July 18 of this year, Zhao Yan and her sister Zhao Qiyao went to visit another practitioner Du Hanwen. The police happened to come to arrest Du at the same time. When they found out the sisters were also practitioners, they arrested the two women using the excuse that the two women did not have their ID’s with them.  They were then detained for fifteen days under the charge of “Disrupting Public Order.” On August 18, Zuo Jin and his subordinates went to the workplace of Zhao Yan, and tried to force her to sign a statement promising to give up Falun Gong. They wanted her to agree to the following: (1) To admit that Falun Gong is an evil cult, promise to break away from Falun Gong, and stop practicing Falun Gong (not even in her own home);  (2) To promise never to go to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, and never congregate with any other practitioners (meeting with even one practitioner is considered an illegal gathering).   Zhao refused.  She is now being held at the Geological Apparatus Factory.  Her mother has been arrested twice for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and has been fired from her job. Her father has been forced to leave their home because he refused to give up Falun Gong. Her sister was forced to resign from her job and leave the town as well because Zuo Jin had repeatedly sent people to arrest her. The whole family has been broken into pieces.  Meanwhile, Zuo Jin and his subordinates are still actively searching for the father and the sister.  So far, over a dozen practitioners in Jingkou have been force to leave home.

In addtiona, from last October to date, seven practitioners have been sent to labor camps or mental hospitals. The following is a brief summary of what has happened to some of these local practitioners.

1.      Zhao Jiayu, female, 48.  She went to Beijing to appeal to the government twice on behalf of Falun Dafa.  She was jailed twice, once for fifteen days, and a second time for 30 days (both times she was held at the local detention center). Now she is serving a 2-year sentence at the Jiangbei Bao-Jia Shan Female Labor Camp.

2.      Yuan Rong, female, 48. She was detained for fifteen days for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. After she was released from the detention center, she was again held at the town government building for a period of time. After she was released, she was sent into the detention center two more times because she took in practitioners who had been fired or expelled from school and had nowhere else to go. Zuo Jin, along with local police officers, even broke into her office and beat up the practitioners, seriously injuring three practitioners. On July 2, 2000, she was again arrested and detained for 30 days, simply because some practitioners went to visit her at home.  She is now serving a 5-year sentence at the Jiangbei Female Labor Camp.

3.      Qin Zhongcun, male, 24.  He was a student at the University of Yuzhou. Because he wanted to continue practicing Falun Gong, the university suspended him. Later on he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was expelled from his University.  He has been detained for three times.  Now he is serving a 1-year sentence at the Beiluo Xishanpin Labor Camp.

4.      Wang Jianguo, male, 28.  He was detained for fifteen days because he refused to hand over Falun Gong books to the police.  He then went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was arrested again.  Now he is serving a 1-year sentence at the Beiluo Labor Camp.

5.      Gao Honghai, male, 27.  He is a graduate of the University of Chongqing.  He was detained for a month in June because he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. He is now serving a 1-year sentence at the Beiluo Labor Camp.

6.      Zhang Zhihu, male, 31.  He was a graduate student at the Chongqing University of Architecture.  In June, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was detained for a month.  Currently, he is serving a 1-year sentence at the Beiluo Labor Camp.

7.      Zhang Bangrun, female, 49.  She was detained for going to Beijing to appeal . Zuo and his subordinates sent her to the Chongqing  No. 1 Mental Hospital against her will.  She was injected with drugs and locked into a dark, windowless room with no food or water. Her family was not allowed to see her.  The head doctor told her relatives: “She does not have any mental problems. She is simply being persecuted for being a Falun Gong practitioner. She is suffering so much and I feel so sorry for her.”  Five witnesses can testify the mistreatments.  When they were finally allowed to see her, she was in such bad condition that they could hardly recognize her.

The following practitioners have been detained at the local detention center:

1.      Li Wei, male, 24.  He was a student at the University of Yuzhou. Because he wanted to continue practicing Falun Dafa, the school suspended him. When he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, he was arrested and detained twice.  After one-month detention, he was expelled from his university.

2.      Zhou Chengyu, female, 53. She was a librarian at the University of Yuzhou. She was arrested on two separate occasions for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. After that, she was then detained in the university for another month.  She was then fired from her job.

3.      Zhang Hongqiong, female, 48.  She was the medical director of the Chongqing Milling Factory Health Clinic.   Because she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, she was arrested and detained for 10 days.

4.      Li Yukun, female, 60.  She was detained for 10 days after going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was then expelled from the XX party.

5.      Tong Huishan, female, 53, and Jiang Yonghong, female, 49.  They were both employees at the Chongqing Oil Pump Head Factory.   They went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa and were arrested.  Several security guards at the factory went to Beijing to bring them back.  The two women were forced to pay for all guards’ expenses, including transportation, food and hotel charges.  They were both detained for 15 days.

6.      Chu Guorong, female, 55.  She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was arrested and detained for fifteen days.  She was forced to pay for all expenses incurred by the people who brought her back from Beijing.

 

7.      Wang Yonghui, female, 60.  She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was arrested and detained for fifteen days.  After she was release from the detention center, she was forced by her employer to attend numerous “re-education classes,” and is still under constant surveillance.

8.      Deng Bezhi, female, 53.  She was detained after she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa.  In Beijing, one police officer took off his shoes and used them to hit her face more than ten times.  Her face soon became swollen and bruised. After she was brought back, she was detained for fifteen days.

9.      Zhou Xiaohong, female, 34, Zhao Pin, female, 36, Tang Shirong, female, 60, were all detained for fifteen days.

10.  Jiang Changlan, female, 39.  She was detained for fifteen days after she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. After she was released, she was again detained for 30 more days (two separate fifteen-days terms) for no justified reason.

Jingkou is but a tiny little town inside the city of Chongqing.  From this little town, one can catch a glimpse of how much persecution Falun Gong practitioners are enduring. There are numerous other towns in Chongqing.   It is hard for one to find out what has happened to every single practitioner.  However, what has happened to the family of Zhao Yan is fairly common among Falun Gong practitioners.  The Ministry of Public Security has ordered the local police to follow the government’s three point policy of “1) destroying the reputations of Falun Gong practitioners, 2) bankrupting practitioners financially, 3) eradicating Falun Gong completely within three months.” It seems that the situations of the practitioners are about to get worse.

 

Chongqing Practitioners, August 28, 2000