Teacher from Rural Town Persecuted

On June 26th, 2012, the article “An Excellent Teacher from Lingyuan, Liaoning Province, Was Arrested” was published in Minghui Weekly. Dong Xiaoming is still being held after four months of detention. In addition, his case was submitted to the Procuratorate with the request for a prison sentence verdict.

Dong Xiaoming is 36 years old. After graduating from the Normal College (for teachers), he had the choice of staying in the city, which would have provided him better career opportunities and living conditions. However, he decided to return and work in his hometown at the Dongzhangzi Elementary School in Beilu Village in the Lingyuan District.

Mr. Dong is a tall, handsome man with noble determination. He spent over ten years in this rural country school. He is kind, down-to-earth, humble, and eager to learn, which earned him the respect of his colleagues and school officials. Earlier this year, he was assigned a class with difficult students. In a short period of time under his leadership, this class became very disciplined and made excellent academic progress. There is an interesting story behind this. In his class, a tall, strong boy often bullied a thin, short boy. He often took money from this short boy and sometimes hit or swore at him. As a result, the short boy often cried. His classmates reported the bully to school administrators, but Mr. Dong had his own approach. He didn’t simply criticise him or report to his parents, but instead he talked with him in private, explaining the principles of being a good person and the pain and ill feeling caused by his behaviour. He told him to put his feet in the other student’s shoes. Eventually, this boy recognised his wrongdoing. He sincerely apologised to the short boy. The two students became friends later and he never made the same mistake again. It is fortunate this student had a good teacher like Mr. Dong. His parents were very grateful to him. There are many similar examples of him teaching his students with compassion.

According to his colleagues, Mr. Dong's classes maintained the highest attendance. He rarely took time off from work. His wife was very supportive. He often said, “It doesn’t matter to me if I work a little harder, but it matters for the several dozen children in my class.”

After his arrest, his students called him every day. They cried on the phone, “We all miss Teacher Dong. What crime did he commit? We want him to be released so that he can teach us again!” Their parents also urged the principal to seek his release.

After Mr. Dong was detained for two weeks, more than ten people went to the Public Security Bureau to request his release. Among them were student representatives, parents, villagers, teachers, and school instructors. Public Security Bureau director Wang Guilin met with them. They asked for Mr. Dong's unconditional release, explaining that he was a very good person. An assistant instructor came out and threatened them, “How dare you come here? If you continue your request, you will lose your jobs.”

Wang Guilin then extorted money from Mr. Dong's family. His parents, wife, and siblings repeatedly went to request his release. Knowing how anxious they were, Wang Guilin pretended to be sympathetic and said, “Nowadays no one dares to be in charge of Falun Gong issues. I am the only one who dares to touch upon this issue. However, you need to pay 50,000 yuan (over $8,000 USD) for his release. In addition, you should keep this a secret and never mention it to others - otherwise, I can’t help.” A rural family does not have that kind of money. Wang Guilin knew about their situation, but his greedy nature overcame his basic conscience. Mr. Dong’s family believed him and borrowed money from every possible resource. They finally came up with the 50,000 yuan and gave it to Wang Guilin. However, Mr. Dong was not released as promised. Now he will be sentenced to prison, since his case was submitted to the Procuratorate.

The arrest of this excellent teacher has had a big impact on the locals and those in education, and many people recognise that Mr. Dong is being treated unfairly. Citizens have commented angrily, “Nowadays, the Chinese Communist Party does only bad deeds. There are no human rights. The bad people are having a good life while the kind people are being persecuted.”