Facts about Dafa Practitioners Being Persecuted at Universities in Hebei Province (Part 1)

Universities in Hebei Province are mainly located in the cities of Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Qinhuandao and Tangshan. The Dafa practitioners working and studying at the universities have suffered severe persecution mentally, physically and financially. The following is a summary of the facts of the persecution against Falun Dafa practitioners at these universities.

Cases of Dafa Practitioners Being Persecuted at Hebei University of Science & Technology:

Hebei University of Science and Technology is a provincial university, which was formed by combining the former Hebei College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei College of Chemical Engineering, Hebei College of Textile and Garments and other local colleges. Since July 20, 1999, one practitioner enrolled at the university has been sent to a labour camp, at least five practitioners have been illegally detained while their homes were ransacked, three practitioners have lost their jobs, at least two students have been expelled from school, and two practitioners have been sent to a brainwashing centre. The school officials at the university deceived all the students by telling them lies about the situation of students who were Falun Gong practitioners, forced everyone to publicly state their attitude towards Falun Gong, and coerced students to produce 10,000 signatures against Falun Gong or face repercussions.

Below are some of the facts:

After July 20, 1999, the school officials, following the polices of the Jiang Zemin regime, tried to force all practitioners to give up practising Dafa, tried to confiscate all the Dafa books, audio and video tapes and other Dafa materials. They also tried to force Dafa practitioners to make false statements that Falun Dafa "had a political agenda" and "participated in political activities," in order to encourage support for the persecution and to deceive the public. In addition, they tried to force all students who were Dafa practitioners to give them lists of the names of people they knew practiced Falun Dafa or who introduced them to Falun Dafa.

The officials at the university coordinated with and acted in step with the Hebei Province "610 Office" and Shijiazhuang City "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.] to monitor Dafa practitioners, especially around the holidays and other "sensitive dates." Dafa practitioners even had to get permission to travel or to visit family members during the holidays. For practitioners that went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Dafa, they detained them, sent them to labour camps, withheld their salaries, fired them from their jobs and expelled them from school. They also persecuted practitioners' family members. Some practitioners were detained for more than forty days. For practitioners who never went to Beijing to appeal and their family members, the officials still stripped them of their Party membership, lowered their salaries, and sent them to brainwashing classes.

After the staged "Self-immolation Incident at Tiananmen Square", the officials at the university invited reporters to interview a Dafa practitioner. They tried to deceive the Dafa practitioner into renouncing his belief but they were not successful, and the Dafa practitioner did not cooperate with them. The officials then spread rumours and lies about this Dafa practitioner in the university. The officials also initiated a million signature campaign, trying to enlist all the teachers and students to sign their names in opposition of Falun Dafa. When a Dafa practitioner said that "Dafa is a higher science" during the initiative, they threatened to send him to the Masanjia Labour Camp. The school officials forced every teacher and student in the university to write statements against Dafa, and posted those statements on bulletin boards and walls. They also hung up banners defaming Dafa. Several Dafa practitioners were forced out of their teaching positions at the university, lost their Party membership, and some were sent to brainwashing centres.

The university blocked Falun Dafa practitioners from travelling abroad for academic conferences or lectures; and also prohibited Falun Dafa practitioners from participating in tour groups to Hong Kong and Macao in an effort to control their movements and block the true situation of Falun Dafa from being discussed with others.

The officials wrote news pieces defaming Falun Dafa for the state-run CCTV, which was broadcast by CCTV on September 7, 2003. Clearwisdom.net reported on their terrible deeds.

They cut off Dafa practitioners' financial resources. The university officials stopped paying Dafa practitioners' salaries, research grants, and prohibited practitioners from applying for research grants, denied them from being promoted or from receiving any recognition for their academic achievements. One practitioner continued his research project using his personal savings and won several international awards for his invention, yet he was forced to leave the university. The university officials even fabricated some rumours and slandered that Dafa practitioner in order to ruin his reputation and ostracize him for practising Falun Dafa.

Responsible parties:

Wang Yingying, Chairman of University Party Committee. Phone number (country code 86, city code 311): 8632001 (work), 7900671 (home)

Lu Changfu, Vice Chairman of University Party Committee. Phone number (country code 86, city code 311): 8632002 (work), 5809490 (home)

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/12/24/63164.html