(Minghui.org) According to information received by Minghui.org, at least 499 Falun Gong practitioners in Jilin Province have died as a result of the persecution of their faith over the past two decades. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is an ancient meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Sixty-one percent of the practitioners were once detained and the others (39%) faced ongoing harassment from authorities for refusing to renounce their belief. Many of the detained practitioners were relentlessly tortured, and large numbers were injected with drugs that damage the central nervous system.
The confirmed 499 death cases occurred in nine cities across Jilin Province. Changchun City, where Falun Gong was first taught to the public in May 1992, has the most cases, at 167. Combined with 137 cases in the provincial capital, Jilin City, the two cities accounted for 61 percent of the total deaths in the province. The numbers of deaths in other cities are as follows: 44 in Yanbian, 35 in Baishan, 34 in Siping, 34 in Tonghua, 22 in Songyuan, 19 in Liaoyuan, and 7 in Beicheng.
The 499 practitioners, included 248 (50%) female and 9 (2%) of unknown gender. Those who died were 19 and older, with 9 in their 90s. Most of them (110) were between 60 to 69 years old, followed by ages 55-59 (98), 40-49 (86), 30-39 (70) and 20-29 (18). Sixty-six practitioners were above 70 years old.
Because of the information blockade and the resulting difficulty in getting information out of China, the confirmed number of deaths is believed to only represent a portion of those who have died in the persecution so far.
Government Agencies that Commit Crimes
Among the 499 practitioners who lost their lives, most died as a result of harassment (195 people, 39%), followed by torture in forced labor camps (99, 20%), prisons (71, 14%), detention centers (67, 13%), police departments (37, 7%), police stations (18, 4%), brainwashing centers (7, 1%), mental hospitals (2, <1%), and other governmental institutions (1, <1%).
Overview of Causes of Death
(a) Harassment
Agents from the 610 Office, police officers and government officials constantly went to the practitioners’ homes to harass them in order to prevent them from regularly studying the Falun Gong teachings and doing the Falun Gong exercises. Many of these practitioners had already sustained physical and mental trauma while they were detained or imprisoned. Without being able to do the exercises, they had no means to regain their health. Some of the practitioners’ chronic or terminal illnesses that disappeared because of their practice of Falun Gong relapsed. There were also practitioners who fled trying to avoid persecution. Many of them subsequently died as a result of the stress and deprivations of living away from home.
(b) Forced labor camps, prisons, detention centers, brainwashing centers
After the practitioners were sent to the various detention facilities, guards viciously beat them, tortured them, or injected them with unknown drugs. Often, when the practitioners were at the brink of death, in order to shirk responsibility, the authorities had their families come pick them up or they released them in the name of “medical bail” or “bail awaiting trial.” Many practitioners died shortly after they got home.
(c) Police departments, police stations, government departments
Police officers and government officials, after they arrested or kidnapped the practitioners, would beat and torture them in an attempt to force them to give up the practice. Many of the practitioners died at the premises. Others were sent home after they were tortured to near death and died shortly after they were home.
(d) Mental hospitals
Oftentimes the medical professionals in the mental hospitals injected or fed the practitioners with nerve-damaging drugs. These once healthy practitioners either died on the premises, or became mentally disoriented. Some were sent home to die.
(e) Courts
When practitioners were tried in courts, the court officials harassed and abused them, which eventually led to their death.
B. Examples of Persecution Cases
1. Ms. Zhao Fengying Dies After Being Detained and Fined by County Government
Ms. Zhao Fengying was a practitioner from Wangjia Village, Fuyu County. In March 2000, she went to Beijing to appeal for her right to practice Falun Gong. She was illegally detained for 15 days and fined 5,300 yuan by the county government. Ms. Zhao was traumatized by the persecution. She died of a heart attack in July 2001 at the age of 38.
Additional information: The Persecution of Ms. Zhao Fengying from Panzhihua City
2. Ms. Wu Lianjie Killed by Officers in Public Security Bureau
Ms. Wu Lianjie lived in Baicheng City. She was tortured in Jilin Women’s Forced Labor Camp with two other practitioners, Ms. Wang Yuhuan and Ms. Man Qiujun, during the period from May to October in 2000.
On the night of August 19, 2001, Ms. Wu was distributing Falun Gong literature in Gongzhuling City, when several officers arrested her and took her to the Gongzhuling Public Security Bureau. She died the next day on August 20. She was in her 50s. The police claimed that she committed suicide by jumping from the building.
An insider disclosed that when Ms. Wu was falling from the fifth floor on the early morning of August 20, 2001, someone looked down from upstairs but didn't show any surprise in his facial expression. Experts analyzing the situation suspect that the police probably beat Wu Lianjie to death or to near death and then, in order to shirk responsibility, they threw her from the fifth floor so as to make it look like suicide. Her case is pending further investigation.
3. Ms. Li Jing Died in Police Custody
Ms. Li Jing was a 21-year-old student at the Jilin Province Professional Business College. She had been detained many times in 1999 for going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.
On October 31, 2000, officers from the Changchun City Public Security Bureau sent Ms. Li to a labor camp to serve a three-year term. She was released early in 2001.
Changchun City policemen Li Haifeng and Li Zhuji from the Xi'an Square Police Station brought her from Qiqihar City in Heilongjiang Province to Changchun City in Jilin Province on October 11, 2001. Her young life ended at a location 80 kilometers [about 50 miles] from Qiqihar City. The police claimed that Li Jing died from jumping out of the train, but her family suspected that she was tortured to death.
4. Mr. Liu Chengjun Brutalized in Prison
Mr. Liu Chengjun lived in Changchun City. On March 5, 2002, he and several other practitioners tapped into the city’s cable TV network and successfully broadcast a program about the true story of Falun Gong in Changchun and Songyuan for about 50 minutes, reaching more than 100,000 viewers. This courageous feat to expose the persecution was later dramatized in the film, Eternal Fifty Minutes.
The Chinese Communist Party were enraged by this act and began to hunt down Falun Gong practitioners on a large scale.
Mr. Liu was arrested on March 24. The police shot him in the legs, badly injuring him. He was placed in the bJilin Province Hospital, handcuffed to his bed. The authorities later put shackles on him because he refused to talk to the reporters, knowing that they would edit and twist anything he said into propaganda against him and Falun Gong.
Mr. Liu was sentenced to 19 years in prison on September 18, 2002, and transferred to Jilin Prison.
The guards beat Mr. Liu with thick wooden bed planks, causing his hips and buttocks to bleed. His shorts were stained with blood and stuck to his skin and could not be removed. They broke several planks during the beating. An inmate lashed him with a leather belt. The belt hit his face and eyes, causing extensive bleeding.
The guards forced Mr. Liu to sit still on his bed from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. everyday with short breaks for food and toilet use. He could barely talk from the torture and abuse. At one point, the authorities rushed him to Jilin Central Hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor issued a critical illness notification. Despite his precarious condition, agents from the 610 Office insisted on transferring him to the Jilin Public Security Hospital.
Mr. Liu died on December 26, 2003 after 21 months of relentless abuse and torture, at the age of 32.
Additional information: The Persecution of Liu Chengjun
5. Ms. Wang Fengyue, 70, dies of constant harassment
Ms. Wang Fengyue lived in Baishan City. Gong Shishun from the Quanyang Forestry Bureau and a police officer from the Dongbeichalinchang Police Station ransacked Ms. Wang’s home in October 1998, one year before the persecution was “officially” launched.
These authorities returned to her home several times after the persecution started in July 1999. Her husband Mr. Chen Jungong, also a Falun Gong practitioner, died a few months into the persecution.
After the husband’s death, the harassment intensified. The authorities searched and ransack Ms. Wang's place almost every other day. She was forced to leave home to avoid the ongoing harassment. She died on July 16, 2004.
6. Ms. Liu Boyi Injected with Unknown Drugs for 2 Years in Mental Hospital
Ms. Liu Boyi was a resident of Yanji City. She suffered ongoing torture from the end of 2003 up until 2004, when she finally died. Her husband had divorced her, leaving her with a child.
Ms. Liu Boyi's older brother helped the head of the 610 Office, Xiao Bin (male), to arrest her and detain her in Yanji City Mental Hospital for two years. She was given various unknown drugs and was finally released when she became very weak. At that time, Ms. Liu said to her brother, “Brother, I do not have any mental illness. You should not cooperate with the wicked policemen to torture me.” One month after she arrived back home, Ms. Liu was arrested again by agents from the 610 Office and was tortured to death at the age of 43.
7. Mr. Liu Yongqi Dies After Three Days in Forced Labor Camp
Mr. Liu Yongqi from Baishan City was put in Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp on December 10, 2004. Many people heard him shouting “Falun Dafa is good!” loudly as soon as he entered the labor camp that night.
He died from the consequences of brutal torture on December 13, 2004, the third day after he was taken into custody. His body was carried out of the labor camp. The labor camp authorities blocked any information regarding his death.
8. Healthy Ms. Liang Xiaoguang Dies of Cancer in Detention Center
Officers from the Yangguang Police Station arrested Ms. Liang Xiaoguang in Siping City on May 26, 2012. The police took her keys and, without her knowing, ransacked her home and took her Falun Gong items. While at her home, they interrogated her husband and younger brother.
Ms. Liang was sent to the Siping Detention Center and denied family visits. The Siping Court sentenced her to six years without informing her family. She refused to sign the court documents, and filed an appeal.
Ms. Liang was sent to the First People’s Hospital. Four days later on November 23, 2012, her family received a notification from the Siping Detention Center claiming that she died from “lung cancer” and her body had already been taken to the crematory.
On July 3, 2013, deputy director of the Siping Detention Center, Wang Haibo visited Ms. Liang’s husband and demanded that he sign a mandatory cremation notification. He said that her body would be cremated within 15 days, regardless of her family's consent. Feeling helpless and in an extremely traumatized physical and mental state, her husband acquiesced and signed the notification.
Additional information: Ms. Liang Xiaoguang Dies in Siping Detention Center
9. Mr. Wang Haitian Dies Two Months After Tortures in Brainwashing Center
Mr. Wang Haitian, from Mongolia, also went by the name of Bao Wenju. He operated a delicatessen in Jilin City. He was arrested on October 18, 2013, outside of his home. Officers from the Jilin Police Department and Zhihe Police Station took him to the Shahezi Brainwashing Center.
After he was released from the Shahezi Brainwashing Center on December 5, 2013, Mr. Wang's health deteriorated rapidly. He suffered breathing difficulty, a severely swollen abdomen, and constipation. He died within two months of his release, on February 2, 2014, at the age of 45.
Small black particles about the size of grains of rice were found in his ashes. Family members suspect that he had been injected with harmful drugs.
According to his family, he was tortured in the brainwashing center, including being force-fed with chili pepper water and mustard oil through his nose and having burning cigarettes inserted into his nostrils. The police had once threatened to remove his corneas.
10. Ms. Tian Yumei Dies after Being Visited by Court Clerks
The police in Taocheng City, Baicheng, arrested and detained Ms. Tian Yumei many times. Her health deteriorated after the torture in the detention center.
Ms. Tian fell and broke her left hip in the winter of 2016. She couldn't move due to her injury. The police forced her husband to write a statement to frame Falun Gong and grabbed her hand to press fingerprints on it.
The local court sent a judge to Ms. Tian's home and sentenced her to one year in prison with one year of probation, from December 16, 2016 to December 15, 2017. She was ordered to submit a monthly “thought report” during her probation.
Her husband, who didn't want her to suffer further persecution, wrote 12 reports on her behalf and sent them in all at once without her knowledge.
Two court clerks showed up at her home in October 2017 to check if she still practiced Falun Gong. At the time she was on the verge of death. Days later, on October 28, 2017, her heart suddenly stopped beating and she lost consciousness. Her two daughters rushed her to a hospital, where she died 30 minutes later. She was 66.
Additional information: Tian Yumei - 田玉梅
C. Falun Gong practitioners Who Passed Away in the Persecution
1. From Changchun City (167 Practitioners)
Wei Chunyu, Bai Yaqing, Sheng Guizhen, Wang Qijia, Dong Huiru, He Mingxia, Jin Min, Huang Jingzhen, Li Fenglan, Jin Shuxian, Ma Chunbo, Cai Qinghua, Zhang Xiangguo, Sun Xiaoqiu, Yu Guizhi, Ma Shiying, Xin Changnian, Cui Tong, Gao Jidong, Tian Yuan, Liu Jinguo, Wang Jun, Jiang Shufang, Xu Siming, Li Shufa, Wang Guizhen, Li Jinrong, Wu Shulan, Qiu Lanfen, Jiang Jifen, Zhang Hongyou, Mu Xingbo, Liu Juyuan, Cheng Shaoshun, Jin Xiukun, Sun Shibin, Liu Xiaoren, Zhang Lixin, Yu Qin Hai, Qiao Yuzhen, Liu Fengyun, Wang Xiuhua, Liu Xiulan, Tan Xijun, Chen Jiamei, Xue Han, Jiang Quande, Yu Fengzhen, Li Fengzhen, Li Xianhui, Li Cuiwen, Liu Changtai, Wang Xianguo, Bi Xuming, Zhao Fanglan, Zhang Shouxian, Yao Shufen, Sun Xiuhua, Peng Zhanrong, Hao Hong, Zheng Xuanguang, Wang Shiqin, Xue Fengqi, Fang Yuzhen, Zhang Yuanyuan, Ren Shuqing, Luo Shuchun, Song Zhiwei, Ma Zhijin, Xu Shuxiang, Ji Jingchang, Zhou Decheng, Wang Yuhuan, Liu Boyang, Liu Lei, Liu Haibo, Zhang Zhiqiu, Liu Yi, Wang Yan, Hou Xiuping, Zhang Wenya, Hou Lijun, Li Rong, Tian Xiulan, Yu Yan, Wang Shouhui, Guan Mingde, Li Hongjie, Yu Guixiang, Jiang Yong, Gao Ya, Shen Jianli, Zou Benhui, Li Shuqin, Yang Yan, Lu Qinghua, Wang Shouqi, Cui Jianbo, Lu Yongchang, Wang Xiufen, Yu Changli, Liu Lihua, Bi Yuefa, Li Hua, Wang Shuxian, Dong Jinchang, Li Fengqin, Song Zhaoheng, Li Shuhua, Wei Yanbin, Yu Feng, Wang Dongbiao, Yang Mingli, Zhang Zhengrong, Sun Shuxiang, Chang Shuai, Liang Baisheng, Zheng Yongguang, Song Changguang, Xu Xijun, Wang Kefei, Yin Shuyun, Bai Xiaojun, Li Qiu, Yu Xianjiang, Liu Zhichen, Li Yutong, Dong Dejun, Wang Hongtian, Xue Shuyi, Li Yuzhu, Zhang Honghuai, Sun Shiwen, Li Tiejun, Dong Suyun, Cao Yali, Meng Qingxia, Zhang Yuanming, Li Jiwang, Wang Xianyou, Huang Baochen, Yue Kai, Han Yuzhu, Liu Suyan, Yan Jingyou, Chen Liandong, Sun Xiuxia, Liang Zhenxing, Yang Guang, Zhang Guibiao, Sun Changde, Liu Jianying, Xiao Yongfen, Jiang Chunxian, Wang Yanqin, Wang Qibo, Liu Chengjun, and Liu Zhijun, Liu Shuyan, Zhu Haishan, Zheng Fuxiang, Zhang Jianhua, Cui Zhanyun, Zhang Shushan, and three more with names unverified.
2. From Jilin City (137 Practitioners)
Zhu Yan, Yu Fengzhu, Wang Yanqiu, Ni Yanping, Jiang Yuqing, Zhang Guizhi, Qian Jingxuan, Xu Zilin, Xiang Xiaojun, Zhang Shiying, Dong Xiuqin, Liu Yuxian, Qi Yuzhen, Wang Huimin, Yin Fengqin, Cui Zhongxuan, Hu Qinzhong, Zhang Zhizhe, Gao Yuqin, Liu Fang, Dai Su You, Zhao Yaqin, Wang Yongan, Xu Maosheng, Wang Qirong, Zhang Guiqin, Xia Guiqin, Qiao Xuechen, Song Yufang, Su Fang, Luan Sukun, Shen Shuhua, Yang Lingyun, Zhang Lixiang, Ji Shuyuan, Wang You, Wang Yajie, Sun Yuxian, Wang Fudong, Chen Baoying, Shan Jinghua, Ma Youliang, Wang Guiying, Wang Donghui, Su Fengzhen, Liu Shuxia, Zhao Hongmei, and Qi Laixing, Song Youhai, Qian Junlin, Qu Jingshan, Li Yinghua, Lin Songbai, Ma Lishi, Guo Hongqing, Lou Qingyun, Sun Jianhua, Sui E, Jiang Yongqin, Li Hailong, Pei Yongmei, Yu Xuezhong, Guo Shufen, Li Jing, Qiao Yanqing, Hou Mingkai, Zhao Jing, Wang Xiulan, Lu Suqiu, Qu Junli, Cui Guoqing, Sha Naiyi, Shao Hui, Cai Huilan, Zheng Junshu, Wang Guoping, Wang Minli, Yu Quan, Wang Jianguo, Yang Hongquan, Wang Yingui, Yu Chunhai, Li Chuanping, Fu Chunsheng, Han Hongxia, Fan Yichang, Xiao Jinrong, Yu Qiushi, Jiang Shulan, Gong Fangli, Zhang Huiqin, Liu Wensheng, Yang Junfeng, Song Bing, Chu Congrui, Wang Jichun, Hou Zhanhai, Chen Yongzhe, Liu Mingke, Liu Yuzhu, Xiao Jinsong, Wang Lixin, Li Zaizhi, Wang Ziguang, Xu Weidong, Cui Zhengshu, Liu Shiwei, Li Rongxian, Jiang Laiyou, Tong Zhentian, Wang Shuquan, Chen Dexi, Kong Fanrong, Guo Yaling, Liu Guiqin, Li Songtian, Chen Shuqin, Ma Zhanfang, Cao Hongyan , Zhang Mingyi, Xu Baiyi, Yu Lixin, Deng Shiying, Lu Rizhao, Bai Jingzhi, Wang Xiuyun, Wei Xiushan, Chang Guiyun and Liu Yanlong, Liu Qingtian, Zhang Hongwei, Yu Shujin, Yu Guoqing, Wang Haitian (Bao Wenju), Lu Jinshun, Wen Yumei, and one with name unknown.
3. From Yanbian City (44 Practitioners)
Quan Tongju, Sun Yuanwu, Teng Peixiang, Wu Yingzi, Jin Xifan, Jin Yingdan, Cao Yongde, Wu Chunyan, Song Yaqin, Gu Qingchun, Yang Fujin, Park Jizi, Lin Fenglian, Xiao Guobing, Pu Shihao, Yang Zhongfang, Zhang Shuxian, Huang Kuixi, Jiang Guirong, Liu Hong, Jing Shuhua, Song Yonghua, Zhang Yulan, Wang Tiesong, XX, Jin Dezhu, Xu Jun, Jin Yongnan, Jin Fanlong, Chi Yaocai, Wen Shuqin, Zhang Qingjun, Huang Sixi, Jin Junjie, Zhang Hui, Cai Fuchen, Xin Yanjun, Sun Xi, Lin Shixiong, Hao Yingqiang, Li Qiyu, Chi Huiwen, Liu Bo, and Liu Boyi.
4. From Baishan City (35 Practitioners)
Zou Fengxia, Li Ruiyun, Xu Yungui, Ruan Yuqi, Chen Jungong, Cao Guizhi, Wang Fengyue, Wang Yongjun, Zheng Baohua, Dai Shufen, Wang Shanling, Xu Dongcheng, Guan Shuying, Wang Wanzhen, Li Shunfeng, Chi Minyou, Li Chunyan, Sun Yufa, Wang Mingzhi, Liu Yongqi, Zheng Yongping, Ding Yunde, Gao Chengji, Liu Ziwei, Wang Weidong, Zhang Shengqi, Wang Jinian. Sun Yufa, Zhang Quanfu, Zhang Qifa, Wang Shuqin, Xu Huijian, Liu Zhaojian, Lei Ming, Zhou Ji'an, and Wang Xuezhu.
5. From Siping City (34 Practitioners)
Liu Fengqin, Zhang Yunzhi, Zhang Haiqing, Ding Guixiang, Mo Zhongren, Zhang Xiaotong, Cheng Yurong, Sun Guilan, Chen Jingru, Luo Zhencai, Liu Shuxiang, Wang Shuzhen, Li Aiying, Liu Jinru, Song Shijie, Zhi Guixiang, Liu Guihong, Sun Youfa, Dai Chunhua, Liang Xiaoguang, Zhen Guizhi, Yu Wenjiang, Yuan Wenshu, Li Wanyun, Deng Wenjie, Li Xiaodong, Zheng Lin, Tian Junlong, Zhang Yuke, Zhao Yanxia, Li Li, Liu Qinghua, Han Chunyuan, and Han Cuiyuan.
6. From Tonghua City (34 Practitioners)
Cao Yongfan, Liu Guilan, Zhao Shurong, Wang Shujie, Cao Yunlu, Wang Conghua, Li Huafeng, Li Shouchen, Sun Xianming, Chen Zhiying, Zhang Fengzhen, Chen Guangmei, Zhang Guangxiao, Ni Jincheng, Guo Qiyuan, Zhuang Xincheng, Li Shuzhen, Li Xifang, Liu Renge, Chen Shouku, Yu Donghua, Li Jingzhi, Wang Yufang, Wang Guiming, Song Wenhua, Xia Linkun, Zhang Baicheng, Li Chuanwen, Xuan Honggui, Sui Futao, Ma Shiyan, Yu Lianhe, Wang Dianren, and Cui Weidong.
7. From Songyuan City (22 Practitioners)
Li Shichen, Liu Jingyu, Yu Jiakuan, Zou Yunqin, Lu (first name unknown), Li Yulan, Wang Weiguo, Yang Baozhen, Yang Shuqing, Zhao Chun, Chai Yujuan, Gao Fangrong, Wang Guozhen, Yang Lidong, Sun Shizhong, Chu Guiren, Wang Enhui, Dong Fengshan, Cong Guixian, Yang Baosen, Zhang Jingzhong, and Zhao Fengying.
8. From Liaoyuan City (19 Practitioners)
Sun Baocai, Li Xiulan, Wang Yan, Liu Duansheng, Kang Yunling, Zhao Xiqin, Zhang Shunlong, Zhou Wenjie, Wei Fengju, Qu Hongkui, Liu Jingrong, Liu Bairen, Liu Jiankun, Zhang Ping, Yu Donghui, He Yuanhui, Ma Yuhuan, Yang Guiqin, and Yang Guijun.
9. From Baicheng City (7 Practitioners)
Wang Zhansheng, Zhao Qinglian, Wu Lianjie, Tong Guijie, Tian Yumei, Wu Quanyi, Liu Yu.
