Latest News from China - 02/14/2001

[Northern China] Practitioners Distribute Flyers About the "Self-Immolation" Incident After the "self-immolation" incident, practitioners in a city of Northern China stepped out to distribute the Truth Flyers and materials to their neighbors. Just in a few days, hundreds of thousands of flyers and newspaper were distributed to every corner of the city. Practitioners often found there were already flyers in their neighbors' mailboxes, although the contents of the flyers were different. That has shown that many practitioners were working on this issue according to their own situation and ability. After the citizens got to know the truth, their attitude changed greatly. Many of them said: "Actually, we are clear about this in our minds. It will not be that easy for them (the government) to start another political movement. The rumor-mongering people were vicious. You should be careful." Many relatives of Dafa practitioners took the initiative and helped to distribute flyers to support justice. Here, we would like to take this chance to show our respects for them. [China] To Preserve "Status Quo", Citizens are Disturbed and Harassed In order to assure that the number of Falun Gong practitioners appealing in Beijing during the Spring Festival is ZERO, a special meeting was held. The following announcement was made in the meeting: "The higher levels of authority issue a tight order that the leaders of districts, street offices or resident committees will be fired if there are Falun Gong practitioners in their affiliated areas going to appeal in Tiananmen Square during the Spring Festival. In order to ensure that the number of Falun Gong practitioners appealing in Tiananmen Square during the Spring Festival is zero, from now on, the cadres in street offices and resident committees should be on duty 24 hours a day. Falun Gong key persons should be put under surveillance 24 hours a day. Specialized personnel should be assigned to watch them. We have set up a Falun Gong "Transformation Class" in our office. There would be one fewer of them if we could transform one practitioner. We should increase our effort to find out who the backbone of Falun Gong is in this area, and gradually 'clean it up' from the inside." There is no legal system in our country. Without any valid, legal reason, police can forcibly take our relatives away at will. To placate the government, they solicited the civilians, deprived people's basic human rights of the freedom of belief, and transform practitioners by all means. They trample on the constitution with their powers. People are wondering who has granted them such power. As too many practitioners were detained during the Spring Festival, they have run out of room at detention centers. Thousands of practitioners were detained in a large airplane hangar. Now it has become clear and we realize that the purpose of detaining so many practitioners during the Spring Festival was to prevent them from going to Tiananmen Square, so that the government could stage the "self-immolation" incident. As a result, it was not easy for practitioners to discover the flaws of the incident, since most of them were kept away from the scene. [Xiangtan City, Hunan Province] "Sound of the Universe" Resounds in the Sky On January 27, the "Sound of the Universe" music from the Falun Dafa Radio Station resounded in Jintangwan Detention Center in Xiangtan City. This greatly inspired the practitioners who were detained in that jail. On January 18, the "Sound of the Universe" resounded in Xinkaipu Detention Center in Changsha City. Practitioners detained there were very happily excited. In addition, at the end of the year 2000, there was a nine-meter (approximately 27 feet-long) red Dafa banner with yellow characters hung from a footbridge in Xiangtan City for two days. This has surprised and effectively shocked the evil. [Masanjia, Liaoning Province] Information from Masanjia Labor Re-education Camp Although viciously persecuted by the evils in Masanjia Labor Re-education Camp, all genuine practitioners still uphold their beliefs in Dafa. Many practitioners regretted deeply the damage they brought to Dafa, as they were forced to write down words against Dafa. They were determined to make amends with their actions. [Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] A Senior Student in a High School was Sentenced to 3 Years in Labor Camp Zhang Haibin, a senior student in No.22 High School in Shijiazhuang City, went to validate Dafa in Beijing on December 9, 2000. He was brought back by the principal of the school on December 27 and sent to No.1 Detention Center on December 29. In the afternoon on February 4, 2001, Yudong Police Station announced that he was sentenced to three years in a labor camp. [Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province] 30 Practitioners Detained Illegally During the Spring Festival, according to orders from "higher level of government," police in Qiaodong District went door-to-door to practitioners' homes and asked them to sign their names to the printed "guarantee statement." Those 30 practitioners who refused to sign the statements were detained in Qiaodong Police Station Detention Center. From January 21 to February 9, the practitioners were detained illegally for those 20 days. During the detention period, two practitioners were sent to a labor camp. Eventually, practitioners went on a hunger strike for 3 days and were released afterward. These practitioners were not permitted to have the customary reunion with their families and relatives. Consequently, everyone spent the Spring Festival holiday in fear. One of the practitioners was a clerk working in the government office. Police went to his home and asked him to sign the "guarantee statement." They also told him that he would be put into a detention center if he refused. This practitioner asked the police: "Which item of the law compels me to sign this kind of statement?" Police replied: "There is none." Then he continued: "Which item of the law claims I should be put into prison if I do not sign?" Police said: "There is none." So the practitioner told him: "Since there is no such law or regulation, YOU, the police, are violating the law. I can not go with you." Police said: "Even though there is no regulation or law regarding this, we have received verbal orders." Then the police forcibly seized the practitioner and took him away from his home. The practitioners were not allowed to receive visitors during detention. As the Spring Festival is the most important holiday for Chinese families' reunions, relatives all went to send food and clothes to detained practitioners. The police took advantage of the situation and extorted money from practitioners' families, saying "If you want to visit them, buy us a carton of cigarettes." According to practitioners' relatives, they had to hand over at least 100 Yuan to the police at EACH visit. [Xiangtan City, Hunan Province] Once the Righteous Mind Emerges, Miracles Happen During the Spring Festival, a 40-year old woman practitioner from Hunan went to Beijing to validate Falun Dafa. She was locked up in an iron cage by Beijing police. She twisted the iron bars and was able to escape. Later, she was caught by personnel from the Jiangnan Police station of Xiangtan City and thrown into an iron cage again. This practitioner thought that she should not stay there. Many Dafa works were still waiting for her to do things for Dafa. Once her righteous mind came out, she again pried apart and loosened the iron railings, which were 20cm [8 inches] in diameter and escaped once more. Policemen could not believe it and felt this was inconceivable. [Xiangtan City, Hunan Province] Practitioner Walked to Beijing to Validate Dafa A Xiangtan Dafa practitioner ran out of money on his way to Beijing to validate Dafa. For the rest of his journey to Beijing, he therefore walked four days and four nights to get there. When he felt tired during the day, he would just have a rest along the roadside. He even sold off his only pair of shoes and luggage. Eventually, he arrived at Tiananmen Square and unfurled a Falun Dafa banner. Afterwards, he returned home safely. [Xiangtan City, Hunan Province] Police Illegally Arrested Dafa Practitioners Before the Spring Festival Xiangtan City Police carried out another round of illegal arrest of Dafa practitioners, just before the Spring Festival. They forced these practitioners to attend a "Transformation Class." The so-called "Transformation" was in fact a ploy to detain the practitioners and then cruelly torture them. Three policemen from Hutan police station at Xiangtan County and the Chief Justice of the local court went to illegally arrest a Dafa practitioner in Hutan Village. This practitioner escaped quietly. When they found this out, they forced three elementary school students, who were passing by, to make a fake "guarantee," claiming this practitioner will not appeal in Beijing during the Spring Festival. Just before the Spring Festival, many Xiangtan Dafa practitioners went to Beijing to validate Dafa. Some of them were detained 15 days and were arrested again after being released. Those who escaped could not return to their homes and wandered about. At present, Xiangtan police continue illegally arresting and detaining Dafa practitioners and force them to give up their belief of "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance." [Xiangtan City, Hunan Province] List of Names of Some Dafa Practitioners Being Held in Sanjiaoping Detention Center Liu Guoqing, Xiao Zhixiang, He Yunbo, Wang Guilin, Luo Qianggen, Wang Yaoxun, Peng Yunpu (male, 67-year-old), Qin Sanfeng (female, 60-year-old), Hu Yonghong (male, 36-year-old), Zhu Guoqiang, Zhou Chuanjiang, Xing Chunxia (female, 34-year-old), Hu Dongxia, Ms. Zhou, Yang Shunying, Tao Shuyuan, Tan Chunmei, Huang Duohong, Zhang Shuyuan, Xiang Hairong, Zhu Shuwen, Tian Xiaojuan, Zhou Hejia and Fu Xianhua. Practitioners held in Qilipu Detention Center, Xiangtan County: Liang Xing'an, Zhou Tianqi, Liu Fangping, Liu Shuqiu and three other practitioners whose names are unknown. There are several dozens of Dafa practitioners being held in Xiangtan Drug Abstention Center.