Persecution of Falun Gong Linked to China's Educational System, Including Colleges and Universities

During Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin's regime's persecution of Falun Gong, Chen Zhili, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the educational system and former Minister of Education (from March 1998 to March 2003), has controlled, directed, and enforced the persecution within China's educational system. Taking advantage of his special relationship with Jiang Zemin and given the special authority granted to her because of such relationship, Chen has initiated a persecution that has rarely been seen in the past. The persecution affected a broad spectrum, from individuals in the higher to the lower educational echelons. This included persecution of those in graduate and undergraduate schools, high schools, middle schools, primary schools, and kindergartens. This persecution was detrimental to a large number of people, especially given the cruel means employed.

We know of over 70 Falun Dafa practitioners, staff, faculty or students within the Chinese educational system, who were tortured to death. Just imagine how many students and educational workers were persecuted to varying degrees. We will disclose below selected persecution cases at some colleges and universities below.

Tsinghua University (aka Qinghua University)

Tsinghua University has a 100-year history with a reputation as a place for diligent study, radiating tranquillity and harmony. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began July 20, 1999, Tsinghua University staff has threatened, deceived, and forced many of its students to leave the university through various methods. They put them under house arrest, deprived them of work and used a number of methods to force the students and faculty to give up practising Falun Gong. Many were sent to forced labour camps and prisons. The staff of the university ruthlessly jeopardised the lives of Falun Gong practitioners and brought shame to the university's reputation.

According to the information available, at least 16 Dafa practitioners from Tsinghua University were sentenced to prison terms before they even had their "trials".

Bai Rongchun (13 years), Yao Yue (12 years), Liu Zhimei (12 years), Meng Jun (10 years), Wang Xin (10 years), Dong Yanhong (5 years), Ma Yan (5 years), Yu Ping (4 years), Yu Jia (3 1/2 years), Liu Wenyu (3 years) and Lin Yang (3 years). The terms of these practitioners are not known: Li Yanfang, Li Chunyan, Huang Kui and Jiang Yuxia.

In addition, one practitioner (Yuan Jiang) was persecuted to death. At least 18 were sentenced to forced labour. Many students and faculty members were forced to give up their studies and careers, and had to undergo brainwashing in prison. There are many others who were forced to leave their homes to avoid arrest.

Fudan University

He Binggang (28 years old) was studying towards his Master's degree at Fudan University in Shanghai. In July of 1999, the beginning of the persecution, the school police detained him unlawfully for over six months. In 2000, he was forced to give up his studies. In 2001, he was arrested by the police again and was sentenced to three years in a labour camp.

At the end of October 2000, Liu Xueyan (around 29 year-old male, a Ph.D. student at the College of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai), Chen Huijing (female, about 27 years old, a graduate from Shanghai Finance and Economics University), Deng Rong (female, 20's, a graduate from Shanghai Finance and Economics University), and many other Falun Dafa practitioners from universities in Shanghai, were arbitrarily arrested by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau and unlawfully imprisoned in a jail in Shanghai for nearly one year. In addition, police did not allow their family members to visit them, or deliver clothing and daily necessities. In August 2001, after they had already been detained for ten months, they received arbitrary three-year prison sentences. There whereabouts are unknown.

Jiang Bin, male, 26 years old, Ph. D. student at Fudan University (due to graduate this year), will stand trial at the end of this month, most likely on the 29th.

Lin Yuanxun, female, college student at Fudan University (due to graduate this year), was forced to escape from the school at the beginning of this year. She is clarifying the truth in other places, but her current whereabouts are unknown.

Zhang Gonghua, male, Masters student at Fudan University (due to graduate this year), was forced to flee from the school last year. He is clarifying the truth about Falun Gong in other places, but his current whereabouts are unknown.

Chongqing University

Many student practitioners at Chongqing University suffered persecution, including Yang Chengbao, Lu Zhen, Wang Zangkun, Wang Lei, Wu Jie, Mi Xiaozheng, Mei Guinan and Zhang Zhihu. Some professors and associate professors were also persecuted.

Professor Zhang Yougao, 64, was a senior engineer and optical electronics scientist. He was a group leader on a scientific project for the Three Gorges Dam. He was given the "outstanding worker" award several times. He was sent to the Baiheping Detention Centre and brutally tortured for several months because he went to Beijing to appeal. He was subsequently arrested again and sent to the Xishanping Labour Camp where he was tortured for one year. His story was reported on Clearwisdom.net. After his term had expired, the labour camp authorities arbitrarily extended it by six months. After he was released, the school officials sent him to a brainwashing class, held by the local government, as ordered by the "610 Office." Police then arrested him again. His home was ransacked, and he was detained at the Chongqing University Police Station.

Mr. Gu Jiushou, 64, is an engineer at Chongqing University. He was unlawfully detained and sent to forced labour because he went to Beijing to appeal. At the labour camp he was brutally tortured. Around May 9, 2003, police broke into Gu Jiushou's home, and arrested Gu and his wife Lei Xiaorong. They also ransacked the couple's home.

Close to the May 13 World Falun Dafa Day 2003, Dafa practitioners at the Chongqing University campus set off balloons with banners attached. The university authorities immediately sealed off all exits to search for those responsible and arrested all those who they thought were suspicious. Twenty-eight year old Wei Xingyan, a third year graduate student earning a Master's Degree in high voltage power transmission, was one of them.

On the evening of May 13, the police took her to a room in the Baihelin Detention Centre and ordered two female inmates to strip off all her clothes. Wei Xingyan admonished them, "You have no right to treat me this way!" Then a police officer in uniform came into the room and pushed Wei Xingyan to the ground and raped her in front of the two inmates.

After the assault, Wei Xingyan started a hunger strike in protest. After repeated force-feedings by the police, on May 22, Wei Xingyan, already on the verge of death, was sent to the Southwest Hospital in Chongqing City. Due to an extremely tight information blockade, little else is known about Wei Xingyan's current situation.

The crime was exposed on the Internet. In order to conceal a very depraved case of a female postgraduate student being raped by a policeman in public, Chongqing University went so far as to delete the category of "High-voltage Transmission Power" from its website and then claimed that there was no such student.

Tianjin University

Toward the end of 2002, police officers in Tianjin City unlawfully arrested Mr. Ren Zejun and his wife Ms. Zhang Yuanying for making and distributing Dafa truth-clarifying video disc's. They were sentenced to three years and four years of forced labour respectively, and are currently serving their terms at Shanghai City Prison. Ren Zejun was a staff member of the Architectural Design College of Tianjin University. Ms. Zhang Yuanxing worked for the Tianjin University's library.

In March 2001, the Tianjin University authorities forced every Falun Gong student to write an "Official declaration of Understanding" before graduation, that is that they would renounce Falun Gong. Anyone who refused would not be allowed to graduate and was sent to a "Re-education Class" held by the Tianjin City Government. The university authority claimed that this action was based on an order by Jiang Zemin. The deadline was March 8th. All relevant documents had to be collected and sent to the Bureau of Education by March 10th. One Falun Dafa student was interrogated non-stop for 24 hours by more than ten public security guards.

According to a Minghui.net report on April 29, 2004 students who applied to the graduate school of Tianjin University are interviewed prior to enrolment. The interviewer would ask if they are Falun Gong practitioners and also require prospective students to write a statement to declare that they are not Falun Gong practitioners. Furthermore, students are told to slander Falun Gong as a prerequisite for admission. If students cannot pass the interview to the satisfaction of the university authorities they would not be enrolled as graduate students. Jiang's regime is trying to suppress and persecute Falun Gong relentlessly, using so many devious means.

Dalian Polytechnic University (also called Dalian University of Science and Technology)

Ms. Zhu Hang, Associate Professor of the Department of Humanity, Dalian Polytechnic University: She was arrested when practising the Falun Gong exercises in a park on Aug. 30, 1999. The persecutors detained her in Yaojia Detention Centre in Dalian City, where she was tortured with the "Di Lao" (translated literally as the "prison in hell") device that held her immobile. She could neither use toilet nor eat by herself. She fasted for 7 days and nights, after which the perpetrators force-fed her. The force-feeding severely injured her mouth and caused her to lose consciousness. Zhu Hang was then sent to the People's No. 2 Hospital in Dalian City for recovery. She was first sent to the Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Institute of Medical Science for treatment of her physical injuries. After she had recovered, some government officials transferred her to the Dalian Psychiatric Hospital in order to cover up their crimes of torturing her in the detention centre. In the psychiatric hospital, she was forced to take narcotics that numb the central nervous system. If she refused, the unethical doctors tied up her arms and legs and forcibly injected her. As a result of the torture, she now looks totally different from three years ago. She can no longer take care of herself, let alone return to the university to teach.

Persecution of students at the Dalian University of Science and Technology

Mr. Huang Hongqi, 32-year-old, is a Ph. D. candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He was unlawfully detained in September of 1999. In December he was sentenced to 3 years at a Forced Labour camp and was expelled from the school.

Mr. Jin Xin, 32-year-old, a Ph. D. candidate in the Chemical Engineering Department. He was unlawfully detained in September of 1999. In December he was sentenced to 3 years of forced labour in a labour camp and was expelled from the school.

Mr. Zhang Tongbin, 29-year-old, a postgraduate student in the Chemical Engineering Department. He was unlawfully detained twice in September and November of 1999 respectively. Later he was expelled from the school without a reason.

Mr. Ye Mingjun, 26-year-old, a student in the Civil Engineering Department was unlawfully detained in November of 1999. Later he was expelled from the school for his belief in Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu Jia, 26-year-old, a student in the School of Telecommunications, was unlawfully arrested and detained in 1999. Later she was expelled from the school for her belief in Falun Gong. In 2001, she was sentenced to 3 years in a labour camp.

Ms. Tian Songsong, 27-year-old, a student in the School of Telecommunications, was unlawfully arrested in 1999, and was later suspended from the school for one year.

Beijing University

Ms. Yuan Lin is fifty years old and was a teacher at Peking University. She was sentenced to seven years in prison because of her belief in Falun Gong. In early 2002, while detained in the Third Division of the women's prison, police officer Tian Fengqing ordered Li Xiaobing, her sister Li Xiaomei and other criminal inmates to brainwash Ms. Yuan Lin. They used all methods to force her to give up her belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance." Ms. Yuan Lin was very determined in her belief in Falun Gong. As a result of severe torture, she is still deaf in one ear and many wounds covered her body. What's more cruel is that after forcing her to cross her legs, they tied her legs up for eighteen hours so that her legs could not move, during which time she could not use the toilet or drink water. They even stepped on her neck and pressed her body down. They forced her to face the wall and spread her legs apart. Two people would ride on her shoulders so that her legs were split wide into a position almost parallel to the ground. Yuan Lin went on a hunger strike to protest the cruel abuse. The police carried out brutal force-feeding and tortured her even further.

Shanghai Jiaotong University

Yang Yining is a graduate student pursuing a doctorate degree in the Computer Science Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University. At the beginning of the persecution, Yang Yining went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The police accused him of being "stubborn." In October, during the opening of the People's Congress, Yang Yining went to appeal in Beijing again and was brought back hand-cuffed. The police from the security department of the university unlawfully detained him for several months. The university police, in cooperation with Anhui Province police send Yang Yining to the Hefei Mental Hospital. They also spread rumours that Yang Yining had become insane after practising Falun Gong. After three months of forceful treatment and torture with nerve damaging drugs, Yang Yining was put under house arrest at his Anhui Province home. During the Chinese New Year of 2000, his girlfriend Zhao Lijun went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested and detained in Wuhan City. In the Chinese New Year's eve of 2001, police arrested Zhao Lijun on her way to work and sent her to a brainwashing centre. After being released, she was once again arrested and taken to Qingpu Brainwashing Centre, where she suffered cruel torture for several months.

Guo Xiaojun was a teacher at the Electronic Information College of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In August 2000, he was unlawfully detained and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Later, Guo Xiaojun's wife Xu Wenxin (also an alumnus of Shanghai Jiaodong University) was arrested for distributing Falun Gong literature and sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp.

Qu Yanlai is an alumnus of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Department of Energy Engineering. The university enrolled Qu in 1995. He began practising Falun Gong in April 2001. He was illegally detained in the summer of 2001 and they extorted more than 7,000 Yuan [500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.] from him. In the end of October 2001, he appealed for Falun Gong on Tiananmen Square. The police arrested, brutally beat him up and detained him in a detention centre in a Beijing suburb. Later, he was transferred to the "Beijing Seventh Section" (Here, sensitive and important cases are being dealt with.). The police tortured him and broke one of his legs. Because of his deteriorating health, he was unconditionally released after more than thirty days of detention. In early August, he got a job in Shanghai, and around 11 p.m. on September 30, 2002, the police broke into his apartment and arrested him. He went on a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary arrest. The police tightly blocked all information channels and refused to let anyone visit him. The police handcuffed, shackled and deprived him of any sleep. He was tortured cruelly, became paralysed and extremely weak. His case was treated as the biggest case in Shanghai and was reported to the National Public Security Bureau. The police are trying to unlawfully sentence him.

Li Tao was a graduate student in the Department of Power Machinery of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In 2000, he was detained in Beijing for appealing for Falun Gong. Upon his release, as he was returning home, the Security department of the university and Shanghai Public Security Bureau (Wenbao Section) forcefully detained him and tried to brainwash him for half a year. Li Tao is imprisoned in a Forced Labour Camp.

Mei Jianqi was enrolled in the Department of Machinery in Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1996. Mei was arrested for distributing Falun Gong materials. The police tortured Mei, attempting to get information about other practitioners. Mei is currently imprisoned in a forced labour camp.

Jilin University

According to an article on Minghui on March 5, 2004, Jilin University expelled four teachers who persisted in practising Falun Gong with the excuse that they had gone AWOL. Wang Yuejian (School of Mathematics), Feng Gan (School of Mechanical Science and Engineering), Meng Juanjuan (School of Philosophy and Sociology), and Liu Yong are the four teachers.

Prior to their expulsion, the local Police Department had tortured Ms. Shen Jianli, a teacher from the School of Mathematics, to death. Shen Jianli, 34 years of age, held a Master in Mathematics and was a teacher of the Mathematics Department in Nanling Campus, Jilin University. She was stripped of her party membership for refusing to give up Falun Dafa. On March 2, 2001, the leaders of the university ordered her to come to the university with her 4-year old daughter. They send both to the brainwashing centre in Nanguan District. Shen Jianli's husband, Zheng Weidong, a teacher in Jilin Electronics and Information Technology College, is also a Falun Gong practitioner. Police arrested him for making materials containing the true facts about Falun Gong.

Falun Gong practitioner Zhao Bo, a teacher from the English Training Centre, was persecuted to the brink of death. He suffered financial loss after the university cut off his salary, claiming that he went AWOL. Zeng Lingwen, a professor in the School of Physics, was held in a forced labour camp for several years and has not been released.

It is said that many Falun Gong practitioners were forced to leave their homes to avoid unlawful arrest. For example, Feng Gan and his wife, Dr. Ji Ping, from the School of Mechanics, were forced to leave their home. In November 2002, the Police Department in Changchun City issued a warrant for their arrest during the 11th Party Congress in Beijing.

Zhejiang University

Because of practising Falun Gong, on June 18, 2001, the associate professor of Zhejiang University Pan Kaixiang was sentenced to five years in prison.

Ph.D. student Gan Hongyu was detained for being a Falun Gong practitioner.

Many students and Ph.D candidates were expelled from the university or sent to forced labour camps. Some Falun Gong practitioners were forced to leave their homes for just saying a few words to expose the truth of the persecution and Falun Gong.

Nankai University

Ms. Lin Xun was born on February 27, 1978. She was enrolled in the Computer and Automation Control Department of Nankai University in 1997. In the end of April 2000, the Security Section of Nankai University tried to force her to give up Falun Gong. She refused. Therefore, the university put her on a one-year suspension. The perpetrators of the university's Security Section with Tianjin Public Security Bureau ransacked Ms. Lin Xun's apartment (Room 520, Building 15). In May 2001 after the one-year suspension had ended, the perpetrators in the university again tried to force her to denounce Falun Gong and threatened her that otherwise she could not resume her studies.

On June 18, 2001, a roommate invited Ms. Lin Xun to go back to Tianjin together. On the second day, the security section and local police station arbitrarily arrested her while she was having meal at the university's restaurant. Ms. Lin Xun was unlawfully sentenced to two and half years of forced labour and is currently detained at Tenth Class, First Team, Women's Forth Brigade of Banqiao Forced Labour Camp in Tianjin City. The source said that she was forced to do 18-hours of hard labour everyday.

Zhongshan University

Mr. Cai Zhigang graduated from a university in a foreign country. He was the vice director of the Laser Study Institution of Zhongshan University (located in Guangzhou City). Because he did not give up Falun Gong, in early 2003, the perpetrators deceived him into meeting with them for a discussion. They took him to a brainwashing centre, where he suffered from cruel persecution.

Ms. Sun Caiying was an English teacher at Foreign Language Centre in North Campus of Zhongshan University (originally the "Zhongshang Medical University). At the end of June 2004, she was taken to a brainwashing centre, because of practising Falun Gong. More detailed information will be provided at a later date.

Wuhan University

Ms. Huang Liyu was born in January 1982. In September 2000, she was enrolled at the Trade and Finance Section at Donghu Campus of Wuhan University. She began to practice Falun Gong in October 2000. On December 25, she was arrested at Tiananmen Square for appealing and publicly support Falun Gong. Without legal proceedings, at just nineteen years of age she was sentenced for one year of forced labour and is currently imprisoned at Wuhan City Hewan Forced Labour Camp.

Mr. Hong Dongqiang was enrolled in Civil Engineering of Wuhan University in 1998. In March 2001, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. Therefore, he was arrested and sentenced to a forced labour camp.

Henan University

Around mid-December 2002, the Kaifeng City Brainwashing Centre in Henan Province unlawfully detained more than twenty retired professors of Henan University in Yuyang Grant Hotel. The perpetrators put these professors, who are Falun Gong practitioners, under 24-hour surveillance and attempted to force them to give up Falun Gong. They confiscated the professors salaries (each professor's salary is between 2000 to 3000 yuan per month) and used it as wages and other expenses, such as food and lodging, for the people they hired to monitor the practitioners. In February 2003, after the Chinese New Year, seeing that they were unable to reform these determined professors, the perpetrators of this injustice had to release them.