Brutal persecution is the Chinese Communist regime's state policy
In the past ten years, at least nine Falun Gong practitioners among those who were unlawfully detained at the Daqing Prison died as a result of persecution: Mr. Yu Yongquan, Mr. Wang Hongde, Mr. Xu Jishan, Mr. Yuan Qingjiang, Mr. Zhu Hongbing, Mr. Li Min, Mr. Ni Wenkui, Mr. Zhou Shuhai and Mr. Zhao Qingshan.
Mr. Zhu Hongbing, an employee of the No. 7 Oil Drilling Plant at the Daqing Petroleum Management Bureau was unlawfully sentenced to seven years of imprisonment and suffered savage tubal force-feeding. Once a vicious inmate forced a bowl of diluted milk powder into Zhu Hongbing's lungs, causing a severe lung infection and eventual heart failure. In December 2008, when his term was up, prison officials still refused to release him. Zhu Hongbing went on a hunger strike to protest the abuse. Since he was on the verge of death, his family was permitted to take him home. By then his lungs had become severely shrivelled. Zhu Hongbing suffered another six months before he died on June 18, 2009. He had endured enormous suffering from heart failure and the lung infection. His hands and feet were cold, and he had great difficulty breathing. The family was devastated, having seen this once-healthy loved one, for whom each breath was torture, succumb to deteriorating health. His painful death was a heavy blow for his family.
During the appeals process the family noticed that all the regime organs and judiciary departments acted the same way - they did nothing. When Heilongjiang Prison Management Bureau head Chen Shu'an went to inspect the Daqing Prison, prison staff person Wang Yingjie pulled Falun Gong practitioner Fu Wenchang from his bed to the ground, head first, and violently beat him right in front of Chen Shu'an and more than ten other prison leaders. No one stopped the abuser. This is a vivid example - to show that the persecution of Falun Gong is a state policy of the regime rather than individuals' actions. Had there not been approval from their superiors and from their superiors' superior, the prison staff would not have dared to beat people right in front their superiors.
Violent abuse of Falun Gong practitioners is commonplace in prisons and forced labor camps across China where practitioners are unlawfully held. In some places the abuse is less severe. However, this is not due to the so-called "fine education" and "humanitarian concern" advocated by the communist regime in order to cover up the facts. It is because these staff members learned the truth behind the persecution; they kept their conscience and did not carry out the persecution policy of the regime. To date the persecution is still going on, but a lot of people do not know the facts due to the cover-up by the CCP.
It was a courageous act to expose the persecution
These practitioners' family members and friends did not choose to avoid trouble or to give in to the tyranny in the face of the persecution, or to blame their loved ones, like what happened in the Cultural Revolution when people separated themselves from victims of persecution to avoid being implicated. Instead, they chose to appeal for their loved ones collectively, and to call for help from the international community. This is in itself a courageous act that deserves respect and admiration.
Their courageous act is also inspired by Falun Gong practitioners' righteousness in not giving in to tyranny and in upholding justice and truth. As Chinese people who have long been subjected to the shackles of the communist regime, they are quite outstanding in that they have overcome fear and chosen to step forward against the persecution. There haven't been many instances like this among the Chinese people under the rule of the communists in which people unite themselves and take action together.
When they failed to get any help from the government departments at various levels in China, they chose to appeal as a group to the international community to expose the persecution and to support Falun Gong practitioners who are under persecution. Their action itself terrifies the persecutors. They have documented the crimes of those responsible and exposed them to the international community. This will not only help the international community know the brutality of the persecution, but will also bring forth global responses and put pressure on the persecutors, which in turn will help their detained loved ones.
In the face of the persecution by state apparatus, their courage and conscience has lit up the darkness in the prisons in China and is calling for people around the world to help. This is also the kind of courage that every Chinese person needs in order to stand on the side of justice and choose a bright future.
Category: Perspective
