The Sad Plight of Mr. Dou's Family

Mr. Dou Pingjun, about 60 years old, lives in a village near Shahe City, Hebei Province. He is honest, kind, conscientious and reliable. He is deeply loved and respected by his students and peers. He used to have two sons and one daughter. His daughter is bright and capable, and his older son became a student at Beijing Aviation and Astronomy University.

Mr. Dou's younger son died one summer in a work-related accident when he was a high school student. The pain and loss of his son deeply grieved the entire family. Later on, the Dou family started practising Falun Dafa in 1996. They gradually came to understand that to be a good person one needs to be virtuous and follow the principle of the universe "Zhen Shan Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance). Falun Dafa helped to unlock the Dou family's mental block, allowing them to overcome their sadness. The whole family lived a harmonious and more optimistic life while also enjoying good health. Having seen the positive effects Dafa had on their family, Mr. Dou's daughter and son-in-law become very supportive.
After becoming a practitioner, Mr. Dou worked even more conscientiously. The academic results from his classes were always excellent. He was once nominated to be a "Teacher of Excellence," but the school leader denied Mr. Dou the award because he was a practitioner. Mr. Dou's wife Ren Sui-e, always a kind-hearted and capable lady, has become even more willing to help and obliging. The village folks think very highly of them both. The older couple has experienced happiness, contentment and good health since becoming Dafa practitioners.

Since July 20, 1999, however, the former leader of China, Jiang Zemin, has willfully slandered and persecuted Dafa. Local police and district leaders often came to harass the Dou family, frequently interrogating them, and even discharged Mr. Dou as the principal of the school. Twice they tried to force Mr. Dou into a brainwashing class. One time they were unsuccessful and the other time Mr. Dou was able to walk away. When Mr. Dou went back to work after a few days, all of his students welcomed him with applause and told him how they all missed him so much, promising to be on the look out for him and stop the police from arresting him.

On the night of January 19, 2005, officials again invaded Mr. Dou's home and arrested him. Mr. Dou's leg was injured during the process.

The Chinese Spring Festival was approaching. The Dou family had not been able to celebrate a Chinese New Year together for four years. Dou Xianhong, Mr. Dou's older son, worked as a technician at the Shi Jiazhuang Aircraft Manufacturing Company, and he was awarded the title of "Excellent Worker" in 1999. In 2000, Dou Xianhong went to Beijing to the Appeal Office to tell people about the goodness about Falun Gong but was detained in the Beijing Dongcheng District Detention Centre, where he was badly tortured. The police stuck him with an electric needle and assaulted him with electric batons. They also poured cold water over him. Fortunately Dou Xianhong managed to escape from the police on his way to Shijiazhuang. Since then he has remained homeless to avoid arrest.

Local police also detained, beat and burnt Xianhong's wife Song Guilan with a cigarette. The Shijiazhuang No. 6 Textile Factory later expelled her from work. Several days before their child was born, police invaded Song's home. They searched and arrested her, their abuse leading her to have severe abdominal pain. After Guilan returned to her own mother's home, police often harassed her. They sometimes broke into her older sister's home in the middle of the night, and sometimes they went to her aunt's home.

After the birth of their child, due to lack of care because of the situation at the time, the child died after being admitted to a hospital for one day. The Dou family was once again hit heavily. Xianhong hurried home and felt extremely sad, but he could not stay home long and has not been able to keep in touch with the family since.

From then on, Mr. and Mrs. Dou enquired everywhere about the whereabouts of Xianghong. They felt very anxious and agonised. Their daughter often woke up crying in her sleep at night. Their daughter-in-law had accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Dou all these years and had spent a fortune travelling around looking for Xianghong. She even took the risk of asking the police of her husband's whereabouts. She suffered a lot both mentally and physically. In October 2004 she finally learned where her husband was from a practitioner who had just been released from labour camp. Xianhong had been detained in the Handan Detention Centre for two years. As a practitioner, he had refused to admit any wrongdoing and refused to give his name. The police there did not send a report on him to their superiors on purpose, but they didn't let him go either. The police kept him there for a long time. While Xianghong was in the Handan Detention Centre, the police often beat him up, handcuffed and hung him up, and force-fed him. The police also told other prisoners to beat him. Under such brutal treatment, Xianhong's health deteriorated severely, his vision got much worse, to the point where he can no longer see people clearly from two metres away.

Later, with the help of the Dou family and many other kindhearted people, they brought Xainhong home. When the Dou family was about to celebrate their Chinese New Year reunion, the police again arrested Mr. Dou together with five other practitioners and put them in the Brainwashing Class.

For the past five years, many Dafa practitioners who cultivate "Zhen Shan Ren" have gone through all kinds of torture and abuse. According to reports, at least twenty practitioners are killed as a result of the persecution per week in recent years. The Xingtai Brainwashing Centre does not dare to exist openly. They are situated in a little lane without any signs. They have employed several thugs to assist them in forcing practitioners to give up their faith and write the so-called Guarantee Statement (1).

Note:

(1) "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/2/4/94834.html