(Minghui.org) Liaohe Oilfield Experimental Middle School is located in the Liaohe Oilfield in the Xinglongtai District, Panjin City, Liaoning Province. It was both a junior and a senior high school. The students mainly came from the Liaohe Oilfield Research Institute, the Design Institute, nearby hospitals, and oilfield headquarters. With the development of the oilfield, the school grew rapidly and gradually become an elite school in the area.
However, the senior high school suddenly closed two years ago. Why, exactly, did it close?
1. Teachers Learn Falun Dafa and Open a New Chapter of the School
After Falun Gong was introduced to the public in China in 1992, many faculty and staff members of the Experimental High School practiced Falun Gong, especially at the senior high school. Teachers of nine subjects, including staff from the Academic Affairs Division, practiced Falun Gong, as did about half of the heads of the teaching and research groups. In some subject areas, the entire team were practitioners of Falun Gong.
Following Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the faculty and staff treated personal interest lightly and worked hard. They did not accept dinner invitations or gifts (a common form of bribery in today's China). They spent a lot of time and effort preparing their classes, and they worked hard in class and also after class, helping the students. They were considerate to co-workers, helped each other out, and treated students with compassion.
Those teachers fostered a positive atmosphere throughout the entire senior high school and maintained high ethics. The teachers were very capable and taught their subjects well. Students from this school made very good scores in the National College Entrance exams. It was regarded as one of the top schools in the Liaohe Oilfield and Panjin City. It was considered a model school, and teachers and students were proud of their school. At the beginning of each semester, many parents tried to enroll their children into the school. At that time, no one had any doubt that this senior high school would have a great future.
2. Elite School Slandered after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Begins to Persecute Falun Gong
In July 1999, Jiang’s regime initiated the brutal persecution of Falun Gongs. Liaohe Oilfield School officials began to brutally persecute practitioners. The school ordered practitioners to turn over their Dafa books and sign the guarantee statement to not practice Falun Gong.
This caused great confusion. Why could people no longer practice Falun Gong? Was it because the government didn’t know the truth about it? Teachers who practiced Falun Gongclarified the truth to school leaders and relevant departments. Some went to the central government in Beijing to petition. They wanted to tell the government that Falun Gong was good, did no harm, and benefitted the people and the country. But they were arrested and imprisoned and sent to forced labor camps and brainwashing centers. The persecution continued to escalate, and many practitioners suffered tremendous physical and mental harm. Below are but a few examples.
Ms. Yu Guiyun, a senior English teacher, was a member of the Council of English Teachers and Research Group in Liaohe Oilfield, and head of the English teachers and research group in the Middle School. She was also in charge of the Olympic graduating class. Her students scored first in English in the National College Entrance Exam in Liaohe Oilfield and Panjin City. Her students that participated in the Olympic English competition often won awards. She was a model employee. She was always in charge of the best classes. However, after the persecution started she was arrested twice and her home ransacked many times because she practiced Falun Gong. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong but was arrested and sent back to her city. The school fired her and forced her to go to the school every day to attend brainwashing sessions, and forced a family member to ensure that she went. At the time, Ms. Yu was in charge of the class about to graduate. The persecution of Ms. Yu Guiyun affected the students and severely impacted their exam results. Due to the relentless persecution, Ms. Yu was forced to retire. The school lost an exceptional teacher.
Mr. Gong Zhenju, a senior high school biology teacher, was a member of the National Petroleum Systems Biology Teaching Association, a judge on the panel of professional titles for Liaohe Oilfield and Panjin City, a member of the Council of Liaohe Oilfield and Panjin City Biology Teaching and Research Group, a part-time member of the teaching and research staff, and an academic leader. Mr. Gong was also the head of the biology teaching and research group at the senior high school. He had taught biology for many years, and his students' scores ranked very high in the National College Entrance exam locally. Mr. Gong had numerous academic papers published in national, provincial, and municipal publications, and received a number of awards. The young teachers that he guided have won numerous awards at the provincial and municipal level. Mr. Gong was the students' favorite teacher. Because he refused to give up his belief in Falun Gong after the persecution began, he was detained three times and his home was ransacked many times. He was once sent to the Fushun Brainwashing Center. Mr. Gong was forced to leave teaching twice without pay. More than 10 years of physical and mental torture has taken its toll on Mr. Gong, and he was once on the verge of death.
Ms. Meng Jian, an English teacher, had been in charge of the English class in the junior high school for many years. Due to her excellent work, she was promoted to teach English and was in charge of the English class at the senior high school. She was loved by the students and won the praise of her colleagues, gaining the trust and respect of school leaders at all levels. Because she continued to practice Falun Gong, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) detained her three times and ransacked her home repeatedly. Ms. Meng went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in November 1999. She was arrested and sent to a forced labor camp where she was brutally persecuted both physically and mentally. In May 2003, she was arrested and detained in the Panjin City Detention Center, where she again was subjected to cruel persecution. Once, she was force-fed with a tube and her esophagus was damaged, resulting in an infection. She was also restrained in a fixed position for a period of time. As a result of the torture, Ms. Meng became extremely weak, but continued to be subjected to further persecution. On June 23, she was secretly sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. She is still incarcerated in Dabei Women's Prison in Shenyang. Her husband divorced her and a happy family has been destroyed.
Ms. Zhang Xiuyu was a math teacher and a young mother. Her students' scores in the National College Entrance exam ranked top in math among the schools in the oilfield and city. After the persecution started, Ms. Zhang was arrested twice and her home ransacked repeatedly. She was sent to a brainwashing center and was forced to leave her teaching position. In May 2002, the school stopped paying her minimal cost of living expenses. When a relative asked the school administration why, the school said that she had to collect it personally. When Ms. Zhang went to the school, they secretly informed the oilfield 610 Office. She was then followed and, at around 7:00 in the evening on June 4, she was illegally arrested by several plainclothes police officers, who pursued her down the street. Ms. Zhang went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. She was once on the verge of death. At the end of August that year, the school instigated four students to falsely testify against Ms. Zhang at her trial. However, their statements were dismissed because they had not reached the legal age of 18. On September 16, at her second trial, the school principal, Di Aiguo, personally testified against her, which resulted in Ms. Zhang receiving a five-year sentence. She was then fired.
Mr. Li Guojun was a senior geography teacher at the senior high school, a member of the Council of Geography Teachers and the research group in the oilfield and Panjin City, and head of the geography teachers and research group at the school. His students scored first in the National College Entrance exam. He was one of the mainstay teachers of the school. After the persecution began, his home was ransacked. The school colluded with the 610 Office to send him to the Fushun Brainwashing Center. He was forced to leave his teaching position and his salary and bonuses were suspended.
The Experimental Middle School, and especially the senior high school, systematically persecuted teachers who were Falun Gong practitioners. Every practitioner at the school suffered persecution to varying degrees. They were deprived their freedom of belief and discouraged from being good people. This ultimately resulted in a dramatic moral decline at the school and was the cause of the senior high school closing down.
3. The School Leaders Sided with the CCP and Committed Crimes
Before the persecution began, school leaders and employees had a good understanding of Falun Gong since there were many Falun Gong practitioners who taught at the school. At the start of the persecution, the school leaders reacted passively to pressure from above. But, driven by the desire for profit, they were afraid that their power would be taken away and their careers and economic interests would be impacted, so they succumbed to the pressure and began to actively participate in the persecution. They actively persecuted practitioners and committed many crimes against them.
1) The school defamed Falun Gong to the fullest extent in preparing for the persecution. For example, all teachers and students had to sign a statement that said they were against Falun Gong. The school also slandered Falun Gong on blackboards, bulletin boards, during CCP Party lectures, at conferences and meetings, etc. The aim was to discredit Falun Gong and to have staff and students develop hatred toward Falun Gong, and to turn them against it.
2) The school tried to force every practitioner into submission. They confiscated all Dafa books and tried to force every practitioner to write a guarantee statement saying they would no longer practice Falun Gong, threatening that otherwise, practitioners would lose their jobs and subsequent salary and bonuses. At the beginning of every semester, every employee had to sign a contract stating that they would not practice or promote Falun Gong, as otherwise they would lose their jobs.
3) The school organized brainwashing sessions. A practitioner's relative had to bring the practitioner to school every day to attend the brainwashing session. Anyone who did not write the guarantee statement not to practice Falun Gong would lose their job. As result, many practitioners lost their teaching positions.
4) The school fabricated evidence against practitioners who were arrested. When Mr. Gong Zhenjiu was detained, the school actively cooperated with the police department to fabricate evidence in order to send Mr. Gong to forced labor. When Ms. Zhang Xiuyu was being persecuted and was on the verge of death in custody, the school should have come to her aid. Instead, the school leaders fabricated evidence that resulted in Ms. Zhang being given a prison sentence. The school leaders also provided false evidence for the purpose of imprisoning several other teachers. This was all done behind the scenes, unbeknown to employees. Many employees were deceived and did not know the truth.
5) The school cooperated with the 610 Office to arrest employees and send them to the Fushun Brainwashing Center. The persecution seriously harmed practitioners both physically and mentally. The school deceived practitioners by asking them to come to the school and then they had police handcuff them and take them away. Some female workers were wearing skirts at the time. Several big policemen dragged and carried them into the police vehicle and sped away. This happened on the first day of school for all to see. Many teachers witnessed this and were very angry. All of these activities were instigated personally by the school administration.
Within the Oilfield and Panjin City educational system, only the Experimental Middle School actively cooperated with the 610 Office to arrest its employees and send them to Fushun Brainwashing Center. Other school leaders protected their employees who practiced Falun Gong. There was a big contrast.
6) The school touted the CCP line and poisoned the minds of its teachers and students. In recent years, the Experimental Middle School lavishly praised the CCP in keynote speeches, singing competitions, class meetings, billboards, radio and newspapers, the CCP Party lectures, painting, calligraphy, photography, national flag raising ceremonies, singing the national anthem, and an online knowledge contest.
In all the years of being persecuted, Falun Gong practitioners repeatedly told the school administration the truth about Falun Gong and tried to persuade them to stop participating in the persecution and choose a better future for themselves and their families. But they do not listen and continue to serve as accomplices of the CCP. It is bringing harm to themselves and others.
4. Those Who Carry Out Persecution Suffer Karmic Retribution
Over the course of the persecution, the moral standards in the senior high school deteriorated, and, as a result, the quality of teaching declined rapidly. Its glory days were over. Teachers were no longer focused on teaching and educating, instead, they were focused on making money. Some teachers deliberately did not make the key points of the lesson clear so that students had to attend extra classes that required expensive fees. Some teachers leaked exam questions to students in the extra classes, so many students believed that they had to attend the extra classes. As a result, students did not pay attention in regular classes. Exam cheating became rife, students skipped classes, became addicted to online games, smoked, drank, and engaged in puppy love and other undesirable practices.
Since the regular test scores were inaccurate, parents thought that their children were doing very well, but the National College Entrance exam results were poor. The difference was very great compared to the regular exams. Parents wondered why. They were not very happy about the school. Some students even did outrageous things, but their parents did not dare to publicize it. Eventually, the school developed a terrible reputation and they could not recruit any new students, so it was closed down in the summer of 2010.
Principal Di Aiguo began to suffer an inexplicable ache soon after he testified falsely against Ms. Zhang Xiuyu. He was diagnosed with a serious, life-threatening heart condition. He had to go to Beijing for heart bypass surgery. Now he suffers from diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses, and has to rely on drugs.
The former vice-president in charge of the senior high school now suffers from critical heart disease.
The education director also actively participated in the persecution. His wife contracted cancer. She could not work after major surgery. Since the senior high school is now closed, the education director had to find a job elsewhere. Due to his bad reputation, he was turned down many times. Finally he found a position with no real power.