Mr. Zhong Guichun, Former Head of the Political Protection Department at the Beijing Public Security Bureau, Exposes Details of the Persecution - Part I

Some previous Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials now living in Australia and Canada have publicly exposed the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong taking place both inside and outside of China. Now Mr. Zhong Guichun, previously an official in the Chinese Public Security Bureau, has also stepped forward to reveal more facts of the persecution. Mr. Zhong's experience indicates that the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong actually started before July 20, 1999.

Mr. Zhong Guichun currently resides in New Zealand. Moved by the other individuals' brave actions publicly exposing the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong both inside and outside of China, he also stood up to share with the public and the governments around the world what he knows about the persecution and how the persecution has been carried out in China and abroad. Mr. Zhong is fifty years old. Mr. Zhong Guichun used to be one of the heads in the Political Security Office in the Beijing Police Department, a Class II Police Supervisor. [Editor's note: Beijing Police Department has many Sections, each of which has many Offices. Office is at the lowest level in the hierarchy. Class II Police Supervisor is close to Sergeant in New Zealand and Corporal in the U.S.] The work unit he was in was responsible for monitoring minority groups, different religions, people who held different opinions from the CCP's propaganda, and various qigong groups for a long time. He spent a lot of time doing research on Falun Gong, and discovered that Falun Gong was beneficial to people and to society. He was attracted to its profound teachings and started to practice himself. In November 1993, the Beijing Public Security Bureau fired Mr. Zhong because he supported and cultivated Falun Gong. His personal experience shows that the CCP's persecution actually started before July 20, 1999.

Recently, the Clearwisdom website interviewed Mr. Zhong Guichun. The following are excerpts from the interview notes.

Finding the Righteous Fa after Many Years of Searching

Reporter: Hello Mr. Zhong. Can I ask how you started practicing Falun Gong?

Mr. Zhong: I'd always been very interested in qigong. I practiced quite a few kinds of qigong and Wushu. I also knew many masters of different qigong schools. However, they disappointed me. I believed I would never find a good qigong until a friend introduced me to a Buddha School cultivation way. He said the master of that cultivation way was magnificent and very kind. I met with Mr. Li (the founder of Falun Gong) in 1990. What he taught us was amazing. I felt it was the cultivation way that I had been searching for. I started practicing Falun Gong. Since then, my health has improved and I view the world and life differently. Mr. Li's words and actions are totally different from those of the other qigong masters that I knew of. Mr. Li is very kind, considerate and humble. What he taught was so new -- I'd never heard it before. Therefore I started practicing Falun Gong and started to help Teacher spread Dafa.

Reporter: What was it that impressed you the most after you started practicing Falun Gong?

Mr. Zhong: There were so many things that I can't list them all. I'll just give a few examples: I remember at the 1992 and 1993 Eastern Health Expos, Mr. Li adjusted people's bodies and health problems. One person came and said he had illnesses all over his body. He tried both Chinese and western medicine and all kinds of prescriptions but failed to have his illnesses cured. Teacher Li spent a few seconds adjusting his body and that person felt all his illnesses disappear. He immediately felt very comfortable. Many people saluted or even kowtowed to Teacher Li for his wonderful help. Teacher Li gave a few of us veteran practitioners some gong and gong potency and asked us to adjust people's bodies as well. We achieved the same effects. We spent a few minutes adjusting people's bodies and their illnesses disappeared. We didn't know how it worked, but I was impressed.

What impressed me the most was Teacher's compassion. He was always among us during his daily life. He was always so benevolent and easygoing, yet Teacher's words have profound meanings. Everyone who came into contact with him felt he was so kind and powerful. We all wanted to stay with Teacher and didn't want to leave. So many years have passed but Teacher's words, actions and images are still clearly in my mind.

Long-Term Work in the Political Protection Department Included Monitoring Different Qigong and Religions Groups

Reporter: Had you always worked in the Public Security Bureau?

Mr. Zhong: I was born into a military family. I went into the army when I was fifteen years old. After I finished my military duties, I started working for the Beijing Public Security Bureau. I was a policeman, a detective, a military policeman, and a head in an Office. I worked there for twenty-four years and thus many people at the Beijing Public Security Bureau knew me. The work unit where I worked was responsible for monitoring minority groups, religions, people who hold different opinions from the CCP's propaganda, and various qigong groups. In November 1993, the Beijing Public Security Bureau fired me because I supported and cultivated Falun Gong. After that, I worked at the Beijing Economic and Trade Bureau.

Reporter: Did you need to contact those qigong groups? Also, why would the CCP spend so much money and go to such efforts to monitor those groups?

Mr. Zhong: I myself had been very interested in qigong. However, I couldn't find a good cultivation way for myself until I found Falun Gong. I was one of the heads of the Political Security Office at the Fengtai Branch. Our job was to monitor and investigate minority groups, religions, qigong groups, and people who advocated democracy.

The CCP doesn't allow any groups or religions that it can't control to exist. Why do we say it is a dictatorship? That's why. It ordered us (Political Security system) to monitor all kinds of religions and qigong groups, including Buddhism and Taoism, to help maintain its authority. Our work unit's job was to do political investigations of those groups. It's wasn't criminal investigation, since we were just supposed to collect information, send in spies, and monitor their members and activities to decide whether they were "anti-CCP" or whether they were willing to subject themselves to the CCP's leadership. If they would not accept the CCP's leadership, they would be eliminated. The CCP's strategy on religion is to eliminate all the religions some day in the future. It claims to uphold freedom of belief, yet it would like to ultimately eradicate all religions so people can only believe in the CCP doctrines. Our job was to help maintain the CCP's authority.

Fired in 1993 for supporting Falun Dafa

Reporter: Did you get fired in 1993 because you practice Falun Gong? Didn't the persecution of Falun Gong start in July 1999?

Mr. Zhong: The Beijing Public Security Bureau fired me on November 8, 1993. Their reason was that I, as an employee of the Public Security Bureau and a CCP member, was a Falun Gong practitioner. They said I was promoting superstition. They ordered me to give up practicing Falun Gong and cut all ties with the teacher of Falun Gong. I refused. Then they notified the HR Department of the Beijing Public Security Bureau and requested that I be transferred out of my position within a certain period of time. They were actually trying to fire me, but they were such gangsters that they ordered me to quit my job so it would look like I chose to leave my position. They told me I had to do that. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep my title and I wouldn't be allowed to transfer to other departments.

Reporter: What is the background situation regarding their firing you?

Mr. Zhong: It was before Teacher's fourteenth lecture series in Beijing. They fired me claiming I was promoting superstition. The real reason is that I supported Falun Gong. The CCP no longer trusted me to do police work, as I supported something other than the CCP. They forced me to quit my job, refusing to pay my salary if I didn't. This way, they could claim I quit my job and it had nothing to do with them. It is the typical gangster approach that they have been using all along.

They were trying to show their loyalty to the Jiang gang. Jiang said he wanted "stability" while they thought there were already too many people practicing Falun Gong. Teacher had held thirteen lecture series in Beijing. I was responsible for coordinating the fourteenth one. Originally, we planned to hold the class in the Shijingshan District. The Shijingshan Police Substation decided to use this as an opportunity to make money. They said they would need to assign one hundred to two hundred policemen to "guard" the class. Each one of them would cost fifty yuan every night. It was a large amount of money. The venue officials also said they would send some service people to help out, and each of them would cost several dozen yuan every night. The fee Teacher set for his lecture series was the lowest in the country. Still, veteran practitioners were only required to pay half price. The fees that we would collect would not amount to much at all, so we didn't agree to the Shijingshan Police Substation's request. We decided to hold the class in Fengtai District instead.

Ticket Refunding Showed that Falun Gong practitioners had High Moral Standards. However, the Police Took it as a Proof That it Would be Easy to Take Advantage of Falun Gong Practitioners.

The Shijingshan Police Substation found out we would hold the class somewhere else. They wrote a report to Zhang Liangji, then Head of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, claiming that over three thousand Falun Gong practitioners would hold a protest at Tiananmen Square because the Shijingshan Police Substation refused to give them permission to hold a qigong class. The Beijing Public Security Bureau thought it was a serious issue, since Jiang wanted "stability." Therefore they talked to the Fengtai Police Substation and ordered them to decline our application. When they found out I was the coordinator for the class, they took me away from my job and started to "educate" me. It was the night of November 8, 1993. After that, they sent over one hundred plainclothes policemen to see if anyone complained about the class cancellation.

To their surprise, Falun Gong practitioners took the high road. The ticket refunding went very smoothly. When practitioners learned that the police substation didn't allow us to hold the class, they said they would attend the next class then. The police didn't find any evidence of a so-called "protest on Tiananmen Square." They discovered Falun Gong practitioners were very well disciplined. No practitioners cursed anyone else during the ticket refunding. They all maintained a positive attitude. The plainclothes policemen were impressed and moved. They complained against the head of the bureau for sending so many policemen for nothing. They found that although Falun Gong is not an organization, the practitioners are very well disciplined individuals. This is because our xinxing level improved after we learned the Fa. However, the leaders at the police substation didn't think so. They decided it would be easy to take advantage of Falun Gong, and started to secretly investigate Falun Gong and write false reports to the City Standing Committee of the Party and the Public Security Bureau claiming that Falun Gong was very well organized. Their aim was to use Falun Gong.

Starting in 1993, the Public Security Bureau and the Political Protection Department Launched a Secret Investigation of Falun Gong. They Fabricated Lies saying Falun Gong had become a Threat to the Nation's Authority.

Reporter: When did the CCP start sending plainclothes policemen to Falun Gong to collect information?

Mr. Zhong: The CCP's official investigation of Falun Gong started after the fourteenth lecture series in Beijing was cancelled in 1993. The CCP took note of Falun Gong and began investigating it. They fabricated lies and stories to defame Falun Gong when they wrote their reports. For example, they said Falun Gong was very well organized and was a tight-knit organization. They claimed Falun Gong had a "background" as a threat to the country and to the leaders of the country. They secretly sent those reports to their bosses in order to get recognition.

The Political Protection Department didn't have a lot of work to do. There was a plan to cut this department and merge it with the Security Bureau. The Political Protection Department tried to stir up some things in qigong, minority groups, and religions so they would have more work and improve their job security. They decided they could easily take advantage of Falun Gong. They knew Falun Gong was good, yet they thought they could do whatever they'd like to people who follow the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. They tried to use and persecute Falun Gong simply because Falun Gong is good.

After I was transferred out of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, they didn't stop monitoring me. They often sent people to talk to me and see if I still practiced Falun Gong and whether I assumed any positions in Falun Gong. After the end of 1993, the Public Security Bureau and the Political Protection Department started to investigate Falun Gong and collect and fabricate materials to report to Jiang and Luo Gan. They claimed that Falun Gong was a tightly organized group and had established a threat to the CCP. They were praised for what they did since they provided "evidence" to persecute Falun Gong. Since the start of the persecution, the Political Protection Department was renamed the National Protection Section. They got more manpower and more resources. By getting actively involved in persecuting Falun Gong, this department avoided being cut. Instead, it expanded. During the persecution, the Public Security Bureau and the Political Protection Department have been acting as evil accomplices. They have been actively involved in carrying out the persecution, while Jiang and Luo Gan were the leaders in the persecution.

Reporter: Do you know how many spies the CCP sent to Falun Gong to collect information back then?

Mr. Zhong: I don't have a specific number. Based on my experience from my job monitoring other qigong groups at the Political Protection Department, they must have sent many spies into Falun Gong. They spent much more manpower and resources on Falun Gong. After 1999, the Political Protection Department used almost all of its manpower and resources to monitor and persecute Falun Gong. Before, the Political Protection Department was responsible for monitoring those people who held different opinions from the CCP's propaganda, along with other religions, and college student organizations. In 1999, the Political Protection Department was renamed the National Protection Section and promoted by one level. It used to have about a dozen people. Later, they recruited more people and increased their staff to more than fifty. They bought a fleet of over twenty luxury cars. They had more funding. Together with the 610 Office, they used all their power to persecute Falun Gong. Meanwhile, they sent many spies overseas to monitor Falun Gong practitioners living abroad.

(To be continued)