Tianjin High School Teacher Ms. Cong Huiyun, 64, Died One Year Ago

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Cong Huiyun, an excellent teacher from Tianjin No. 102 High School, passed away one year ago, in July 2013, at the age of 64. Ms. Cong was sentenced to a three-year forced labour term in September 2002 for not renouncing Falun Gong. She was tortured and injected with unknown drugs, and became disabled from the ordeal she suffered in the labour camp. She became paralysed and bedridden in 2012 and died a year later.

While being held at the Banqiao Forced Labour Camp, Ms. Cong Huiyun was deprived of sleep and forced to stand for long periods of time. Her legs swelled and she no longer could put on her trousers.

Ms. Cong was allowed two hours of sleep at night and forced to perform hard labour during the day. She was often forced to have a lot of blood drawn, and was injected with unknown drugs. As a result, her hands and feet became numb. At the end of her three-year sentence she could not walk and her weight had dropped by more than 30 lbs. She was emaciated and weak.

Ms. Cong never recovered her health after her release from prison. Her health continued to deteriorate, and by 2012 she was bedridden and couldn’t take care of herself. Her daughter was overseas and her husband was the only one to care of her.

The Tianjin 102 High School reduced Ms. Cong's pension by half, down from the 4,000 yuan¹ she was supposed to get. Therefore, her husband couldn’t afford to hire a carer. Although her husband did his best to take care of Ms. Cong, her needs were more than he could provide. She developed bedsores that eventually became infected and she passed away in July 2013.

Background

Ms. Cong Huiyun was a teacher at Tianjin No. 102 High School. She started practising Falun Gong in 1994. She was an excellent teacher, taking extra time to help her students improve, while many teachers increased their income by tutoring outside of school. She was well respected and praised by her students and their parents.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Cong went to the authorities to appeal and was detained at the local police station. She was demoted because she refused to give up her belief. She was forced to work in the school factory at reduced pay. The school principal was annoyed and angry with Ms. Cong for remaining steadfast in her belief and colluded with the police to send her to a forced labour camp in September 2002.

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Cong Huiyun (丛慧云)
Gender: Female
Age: 64
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Teacher at Tianjin No. 102 High School
Date of Death: July 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Banquao Forced Labour Camp (板桥劳教所)
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, detention

Note

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