(Clearwisdom.net)

Xiaheshou Village is within the jurisdiction of the Longcheng District in Zhaoyang City, Liaoning Province. In September 2003, with no agreement or consent from the villagers, the village committee sold the Fruit Hill orchard, located at the northern part of the village, to someone as "undeveloped" property at a cheap price.

On October 6, 2003, in order to safeguard their interests in the orchard property, a group of villagers went uphill to block the transaction. When just about reaching halfway up the hill, 24 thugs from a local organized crime ring hired by the village committee and Longcheng police charged down the hill with batons and savagely beat the villagers, injuring many of them. The thugs even followed the villagers to the hospital in order to prevent them from seeking medical treatment.

Nobody from the village committee cared about their situation, so the villagers had no other choice but to appeal to the Zhaoyang City government. However, they appealed there 2 times with no results. On November 4, 2003, with no other recourse, 56 of the Xiaheshou villagers decided to go to Beijing to appeal for their cause.

When the train reached Lingyuan Station, the railroad police drove all of them off the train, accusing them of all being "Falun Gong practitioners trying to make trouble in Beijing." Because of this, the train was delayed 45 minutes until the villagers were able to board again, even though they insisted they had nothing to do with "Falun Gong." By the time the villagers finally reached the Appeal Office in Beijing at 4 o'clock in the morning, the anti-riot police sent by the Zhaoyang City government to arrest them had also arrived. They shouted, "Punish and stomp Falun Gong." The police then beat up the villagers in front of the Appeal Office, injuring 17 of them. Some of the police wondered, "Looks like they really weren't Falun Gong practitioners. Falun Gong practitioners never curse or fight back, but some of these people did."

To this day, the Xiaheshou villagers are still appealing for justice on their behalf. Even though there has not yet been a final outcome, this matter has nevertheless raised some serious questions about certain issues.

It is a basic right granted by the constitution and protected by law that a citizen be able to appeal and voice his or her concern. Why did the local government officials and police try so hard to block the villagers from doing so? Because they were afraid of "losing face," afraid of "their under the table dealings being exposed," afraid "their conduct would be criticized or condemned by senior leaders," and they were also certainly trying to sustain their selfish interests.

What the police and local government officials had done was a very serious violation of their jurisdiction and lawful power. Why had they labeled the villagers as "Falun Gong practitioners" even though they knew very well that the villagers had nothing to do with Falun Gong? Because they know that today in China, regardless of how minor an issue might be, it will become a major issue once it's connected to Falun Gong. Regardless of how important and critical an issue might be, once it conflicts with the persecution of Falun Gong, that issue must be relegated to secondary status as the government has focused its efforts on persecuting Falun Gong instead of on solving social problems.

Once any individual or group is labeled "Falun Gong", then that individual or group will be persecuted by use of any means and can be subject to any atrocity without any consequences imposed on the party that persecutes and without any concerns about the individual or group being persecuted. Clearly we can see just how cruel and despicable the tactics used by Jiang's regime and its followers against Falun Gong are.

In order to suppress Falun Gong, Jiang unilaterally declared a policy to "ruin [Falun Gong practitioners'] reputations, cut them off financially, and destroy them physically." At the same time local officials and police were ordered to "Beat them to death without concern and count the deaths as suicides with no need to investigate identities and to directly cremate the bodies."

At the least, more than 40 types of torture methods have been used, and a large percentage of the tortured victims have been women and senior citizens. Examples of torture methods used are as follows. Practitioners are subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation as well as to simultaneous shocking by multiple electrical batons for long durations of time (this includes the insertion of electrical batons, to administer shocks, into practitioners' mouths and other sensitive areas such as the chest, armpits, breasts, and private parts). Many types of handcuffs and feet shackles are used on practitioners. Rubber clubs, wolf fang clubs, the dungeon, the water dungeon, the dead person's bed*, straightjacket, and sitting planks are all used to torture practitioners. They use leather whips, copper wire whips, steel bars, thorny plants, spiked bamboo sticks and "tying the rope" method to torture practitioners. Metal nails are hammered underneath the fingernails of practitioners, pliers are used to pinch practitioners' bodies and pull out their nails. Practitioners are locked up in solitary confinement, forced to sit on metal chairs, and force-fed (using non-clinical plastic tubes) with hot pepper sauce, concentrated saline solutions, human urine and feces. They pour icy cold water on practitioners in the winter, and strip them of their clothing, exposing them to outdoor winter weather. Practitioners are restricted from being able to urinate and defecate. They have been subjected to sleep deprivation for as long as half a month, forced with injections or the intake of nerve damaging quantities of psychotropic drugs, and subjected to very high voltage electrical needle torture, as well as other such atrocities.

From the encounters experienced by the Xiaheshou villagers, we have learned that they received even more brutal treatment after being labeled as "Falun Gong." The villagers were innocent. Falun Gong is innocent. Yet their fates are closely connected. In a society where the spirit of "Truth, Compassion and Forbearance" receives ruthless persecution and harsh slander, no one should expect justice, truth, human rights, legality and fairness to be present but only deception, wickedness, savagery and corruption. This is the disastrous consequence brought to Chinese society and people by Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong. Faced with such facts, who can still say that the persecution of Falun Gong has nothing to do with any individual and is only the concern of the practitioners? People with such attitudes most likely only see the apparent phenomenon, but fail to see the hideous nature of this persecution instigated by Jiang's dictatorship regime.

Faced with such a mad persecution, the resolute, fearless, compassionate and true to heart characters displayed by Falun Dafa practitioners are meant to awaken people against their indifference, apathy and fear towards the evil. They are intended to call out to people's longing for Truth, Compassion and Forbearance, to let them know that one should live with dignity, and have a sense of duty and resolute faith in safeguarding truth and upholding justice. It is meant to let people know that even in facing injustice and violence one should still maintain truthfulness, compassion, tolerance, and consideration for others, and that one should never strike back with violence. This shows people that the spirit of Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance rooted deeply in one's heart will never be crushed and defeated. Their magnificent undertaking and benevolent conduct has established a new milestone in human history. It is guiding sentient beings towards brightness and magnificence, creating a proper social environment and path of survival for future human beings. Although their endeavor is tragic and solemn, they deserve and are worthy of people's praise and admiration. The light of truth from Falun Dafa will cleanse every misunderstanding and confusion, and will exist forever in people's hearts.

*Dead Person's Bed: The four limbs of the practitioner are stretched out and tied to the four corners of an icy-cold metal bed. The practitioner cannot move at all. Neither is he allowed to get up to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. This treatment would last from several hours up to more than a dozen days. This type of cruel torture causes severe damage to the practitioner both mentally and physically.

2004-1-5