67 Year Old Ms. Xia Guiqin Passes Away After She and Her Son Endure Frequent Police Harassment and Mistreatment

Ms. Xia Guiqin, sixty-seven years old, was from Jilin City, Jilin Province. After she began practising Falun Dafa in 1996, her liver disease, rheumatism and many other diseases were all cured. She went to Beijing three times to appeal for justice for Falun Gong after the persecution began. For doing this she was frequently persecuted and died in 2004. More details of her story follow:

For practising Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Ms. Xia's son Mr. Xu Weidong, was often disturbed by police and officials from the local community. They frequently tried to force him to write Guarantee Statements, sometimes to promise he wouldn't go to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong and others swearing to give up the practice of Falun Gong. One time when they forced him to write a Guarantee Statement about Beijing, they also extorted 1000 yuan from him as a "deposit." Later Mr. Xu Weidong was imprisoned at the Huanxiling Forced Labour Camp because he went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. In the labour camp he was persecuted until he was emaciated and suffered a mental breakdown. Officials at the forced labour camp were afraid of being held responsible for his condition, so he was released from the camp on bail to seek medical attention.

Ms. Xia was solely responsible for the support of her family and had to take care of her now-disabled son and her grandson, who was only fourteen years old. At the same time, the police and the head of the local Community Committee often harassed her. In 2003, under tremendous pressure, Ms. Xia discovered a lump on her breast. When she first noticed it, she didn't pay too much attention to it and continued going out to sell ice cream everyday. She also cooked for her family and took care of her grandson. Her son was afraid of people and remained in the trance-like state he had been in for two or three years. She felt very bad for him.

By the beginning of 2004, Ms. Xia could no longer go out to sell ice cream, but she still saw to the cooking and shopping for her family. During June and July of 2004, Ms. Xia even had a hard time walking by herself, but she still went out to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to people. One morning, the head of the local Community Committee saw her clarifying the facts, so in the evening, he led police from the Xida Police Station to bang on her door. After that, Ms. Xia's entire body became very painful, and she could hardly walk or cook. Her younger son took her place selling the ice cream. When her 14-year-old grandson was out of school for summer vacation, he would help his uncle sell the ice cream, and it was he who cooked and cared for his grandmother.

Ms. Xia Guiqin died in 2004.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/10/24/87444.html