In Memory of Fellow Practitioner Jin Xiuqing

On June 29th 2005, thunderstorms swept across most of the southeastern regions in China, and rivers and lakes flooded furiously. Throughout central China, however, the scorching sun was hanging high, the vast land had turned into a giant inferno. On this particular day, she just left quietly without saying a single word, left this world, left her friends and relatives, and left this land that she loved so passionately. Without any justification, she died inside a small, damp, and sorrow-filled cell in the Beishan Detention Centre in Fengcheng City, Liaoning Province. She, Jin Xiuqing, was a Falun Dafa practitioner.

Ms. Jin Xiuqing was 60 years old. She was a retired worker from the Silk Factory in Fengcheng City. Before she practised Falun Gong, Ms. Jin had been diagnosed with serious heart problems and severe enlargement in her anklebones. She had lived a miserable life struggling with her illnesses every day. In 1997, when Ms. Jin started practising Falun Dafa, she began to realise from her studies of Zhuan Falun (1) that one could achieve mental and physical health only by having an elevated character. So, Ms. Jin started to follow the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," and she changed her quick temper and many other bad habits as well. She tried to consider others first, and never picked a fight when dealing with conflict. She left her compassion and smiles to her relatives, her friends, her neighbours and every person that ran across her. As a result, Ms. Jin recovered from her ailments and her heart was filled with joy and delight.

In July 1999, when Falun Gong was under attack throughout China, the practice had already gained popularity around the world. Ms. Jin was completely at a loss as to what was going on. She started to reflect upon her cultivation experiences in the past few years. Based upon the tremendous changes that had occurred to her ever since she started practising Falun Gong, Ms. Jin concluded: "I have been absolutely right to choose Falun Dafa for my cultivation path."

Later, Ms. Jin decided to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. In October 1999, she was arrested at the Fengcheng City Train Station before getting on the train to Beijing. Ms. Jin was then held in a detention centre. Inside the detention centre, Ms. Jin still kept on practising the exercises. As a result, she was forced to stand still or squat down for a long period of time. She had shackles on her feet. Her ankles were torn and blood oozed out. When Ms. Jin's family members came to visit her and found out how terribly she was being treated, they were heart-broken. Ms. Jin was detained for sixty-nine days, and she was released only after paying a fine of three thousand yuan (2). The local police officers and Neighbourhood Committee members began to harass her often after she returned home. They also started to monitor her daily activities.

In August 2001, Ms. Jin was again arrested by certain members from the Fengcheng City 610 Office (3) for posting a leaflet saying "Falun Dafa is good." Ms. Jin was held in the detention centre for 6 months. She suffered a great deal both physically and emotionally, and her previous symptoms returned. Ms. Jin was later sentenced to two years in prison. The forced labour camp, however, refused to accept Ms. Jin because of her physical condition. Her sentence was changed to two years parole on medical treatment after her family paid a fine of two thousand yuan. Ms. Jin's pension was withheld completely. She and her husband had to live on his salary alone, and life was quite difficult for the senior couple.

On April 19th 2004, Ms. Jin had just had her dinner and was about to go downstairs to take a walk. Two officials (one was called Guan Wei, the other Cui) from the 610 Office suddenly came over and arrested Ms. Jin. She was taken to the detention centre and pressured to give up her practice of Falun Gong and write a repentance statement.

With righteousness and solemnity, Ms. Jin said to the officials: "There is nothing wrong with my practising Falun Gong and becoming a better citizen. You want me to change my mind, so what kind of person do you want me to change into? What kind of repentance do you want me to show? How come trying to be a better person is considered a crime?" Every time Ms. Jin was detained, she was tormented mentally and physically. She never forgot that she was a practitioner, and she would still treat others with compassion. When she noticed that some other detainees were sitting on the cold concrete, she tore apart her own cotton coat to make a blanket for these people. People around her all claimed: "Falun Gong practitioners are really good people." Even the guards started to say: "This old lady is really a good citizen!" Without seeing her being transformed, the authorities in the detention centre would not let go of such a good-hearted lady. They started to interrogate Ms. Jin without any success and eventually, they sentenced Ms. Jin again to three years in prison. These authorities intended to send Ms. Jin to the now infamous Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province. Due to the relentless persecution, Ms. Jin's physical and mental condition deteriorated rapidly, and the labour camp refused to take her. About two months later, Ms. Jin was released from the centre. Ms. Jin realised that she could prolong her life only through her studying of Zhuan Falun. She regained her health after cultivating again for some period of time.

The local police officers from the Fengcheng City National Defence Department and government officials from the 610 Office kept on harassing Ms. Jin. Around 3 p.m. on June 28th 2005, Ms. Jin had just come back from shopping and was about to go inside her home. Police officer Guan Wei and some others suddenly jumped out of their hiding place and grabbed Ms. Jin and took her to the detention centre again.

After about ten hours, Ms. Jin lost her precious life inside the centre. An innocent human being, a good-hearted lady who had merely persisted in her beliefs, was thus deprived of her last breath. During the five years of suppression of Falun Gong, Ms. Jin was arrested four times, and was detained for more than three hundred days. Her mental and physical suffering was indescribable.

Ms. Jin's family reproached the local government officials strongly for the death of Ms. Jin, and her body was kept in the local funeral home for more than 20 days while the officials tried to figure out how to deal with the incident. The Fengcheng City Public Security Department coerced Ms. Jin's family to yield and also offered the family monetary compensation. The family members fully understood that their incessant appeals would be futile under the regime, so they buried Ms. Jin with enormous sorrow.

Note:

(1) Zhuan FalunThis book comprises the principal teachings of Falun Dafa.

(2) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

(3) "The 610 office" is 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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/8/1/107450.html