Name: Song Youchun (宋有春)
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Address: Fenshuiling Village, Fenshuiling Township, Dai County, Shanxi Province
Occupation: Language Teacher employed by Dai County Second High School
Date of Death: 2000
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2000
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yuncheng City Forced Labor Camp (运城劳教所)
City: Yuncheng
Province: Shanxi
Persecution Suffered: Forced labor, brainwashing, torture
(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Song Youchun died in 2000 as a result of torture at Yuncheng City Forced Labor Camp. Fellow practitioners did not learn of his death until two years later.
I was Mr. Song Youchun's schoolmate at Shanxi Province Normal University. He graduated in 1997. In 1996, Mr. Song started practicing Falun Dafa. He was the volunteer assistant at our group practice site. Over a dozen students did the standing exercises at 5:00 a.m., and the sitting meditation at noon. We read the Falun Dafa teachings together at 9:00 p.m. We practiced together for two years.
Mr. Song's wife, Du Xinju, was his college sweetheart since their freshman year. She studied in the History Department, and Mr. Song in the Chinese Department. They were both hired by Dai County Second High School, upon graduation in 1997, and they eventually got married. His whole family practiced Falun Dafa with the exception of his younger brother. They had a happy life.
On July 22, 1999, I went to Taiyuan City to appeal for Falun Dafa. Outside the provincial government compound I ran into Mr. Song's family, including his parents, wife, and their daughter Yuanyuan, who was only a few months old. Little did I know that it would be our last meeting.
Mr. Song went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa, and was taken to Yuncheng City Forced Labor Camp in 2000. He was very firm, and unyielding in his faith. He was tortured severely. The camp administration had his family pick him up when he was dying. He was unconscious when they carried him home and he died shortly after his return. He left his elderly parents, young wife and baby daughter.
Ms. Du Xinju went back to her hometown of Quwuo County with her daughter, now 12 years old.
Earlier report: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/6/5/48917.html