The Persecution of Elderly Mr. Xue Tianbao from Yueyang City

Mr. Xue Tianbao is 70 years old and lived at Group 1, Division 2 in the Junshan District, Yueyang City, Hunan Province. He began practising Falun Gong in July 1999 when the Chinese Communist Party first began its frantic persecution of Falun Gong. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in November 1999 and has suffered greatly at the hands of authorities over the years.

Mr. Xue and practitioner Peng Xiaohui, who worked for the Cengshan Town Production Materials Company in the Junshan District, helped practitioner Gong Shuwen plant rice seedlings the morning of July 23rd, 2000. Junshan District Domestic Security Division agent Yu Zhihe and a group of police officers arrested Peng Xiaohui. They also kept hitting Gong Shuwen and his wife, Ms. Yang Yuee, until they collapsed and could not move. They then closed in on Mr. Xue Tianbao and shoved him into the muddy water of the rice paddy. As they were about to start hitting him, fellow villager Liao Jianhua who was working nearby shouted, "Do not assault a good person! If you do, you won't be able to drive your car back!" A crowd gathered. The officials were afraid of invoking public outrage. They got in the car and drove off. Peng Xiaohui left safely, but officials planned to retaliate against Mr. Xue.

Yu Zhihe, Li Qiliang, Zhao Wenhua, and several other Junshan District Domestic Security Division officials broke into Mr. Xue's home at noon on August 15th, 2000. They attacked him from behind and took him to the Cengshan Police Station. Li Qiliang ordered him to stand against a wall. Mr. Xue refused. Li Qiliang grabbed his chest and threw him against a wall. Before Mr. Xue could regain his balance, Li struck his right eye, then his chest, making him fall. Then Li kicked his throat while he was still down. Li eventually locked him into a room with a metal bed. At 9 p.m. Mr. Xue Tianbao was taken to a room in a hotel affiliated with the police station where Yu Zhihe beat him 18 times with a 2-foot long, 2-inch thick wooden stick, the handle of which was padded with toilet paper to improve his grip. Yu Zhihe repeatedly struck Mr. Xue's mouth and teeth while smirking, "Now go ahead and say, 'Falun Gong is good' and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. Now, let's see you scream,'The police are beating me,' 'The cops are thugs.'" Mr. Xue lost several teeth. His shirt was blood-stained.

Officer Li Qiliang violently kicked him from behind and said, "Kneel! " Mr. Xue sat on the ground. The police beat and kicked him until late into the night. He shouted, "Falun Gong is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!" A woman who came to deliver tea saw Mr. Xue and said, "Look what you have done to him!" Yu Zhihe retorted, "He is struggling against us!" The good hearted woman bent over and gave Mr. Xue tea. After the woman left, the police resumed beating him until past 1 a.m. when they became exhausted. They locked him in a small room at the police station. Mr. Xue Tianbao was covered with injuries, and his face was severely bruised.

The next day at 9 a.m. Yu Zhihe said to him, "We won't beat you today, just work with us. I'll tell the Politics and Law secretary in Division 2 to take you back." Secretary Li Liangxiang arrived later on and said, "Xue, see how you have suffered since you wouldn't listen? I'll take you back, but don't you give me any trouble now." Mr. Xue insisted on buying a belt since the police had broken his. After he was taken to the market, he said in a loud voice, "I am Xue Tianbao, a resident of Group 1, Division 2. The police beat me until I was injured and bloody, simply because I want to practise Falun Gong and be a good person." People gathered around and listened. Some said, "Why did you hit him so badly?"

From then on, 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) agents harassed him constantly, ransacked his home many times, and locked him up in a brainwashing class.

Since the persecution started soon after he began practising Falun Gong, he was unable to see through the Party's tricks.

His wife, Peng Shuchun, is also a practitioner. Domestic Security Division agents and those from the police station arrested her in April 2000 because she posted eight stickers reading "Falun Gong is good." She was taken to the Baimalong Women's Forced Labour Camp. The officials pressured Mr. Xue to give up cultivation by taking advantage of his love for his wife. Under pressure and out of concern for his wife's safety, he was coerced into renouncing Falun Gong against his true will. He posted an announcement that he was giving up the practice of Falun Gong in a public place. He and local official Sun Weixing went to the labour camp on April 5th, 2001 and took his wife home.

Afterward Xue Tianbao deeply regretted renouncing his faith in Falun Gong. He was determined to make up for it and wrote the word "void" on his relinquishment announcement.

As soon as Sun Weixing learned about it, the officials took Mr. Xue Tianbao to a brainwashing centre. Sun Weixing ordered three thugs, including Zhang Qinghua and Liu Xiaoli, to take turns beating him. They kicked him 49 times. He was beaten so severely that he could not turn over in bed; could not sit up, stand steadily or walk; and required assistance to go to the toilet. The next day Sun Weixing forced Mr. Xue to kneel on two red bricks outside in the sweltering heat and hit him if his back was not straight. After 30 minutes, Caisanghu Police Station head Liu told him to get up, but Sun Weixing shouted, "Don't you dare move! You won't get up until I tell you to." Police chief Liu left and later called Sun Weixing to a meeting. Official Nie Shuanghua told Mr. Xue to get up right after Sun Weixing left. He had knelt for about 40 minutes.

610 Office agents ordered Mr. Xue Tianbao's workplace to withhold his pension for three months. 610 Office agent Li Yong gave him 800 yuan¹ on May 22nd, 2006, but withheld 1,000 yuan of the total amount.

This 70-year-old man has suffered greatly at the hands of officials, simply for being a good person and practising Falun Gong. We call on all good hearted people to end this persecution that has lasted 11 years.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/4/229227.html