Elderly Practitioner Ms. Tang Shirong from Chongqing Has Been Missing Since September 2005

Practitioner Ms. Tang Shirong from Jingkou Town, Chongqing City, went missing at the beginning of September 2005 and there has since been no information of her whereabouts since. Her family members went to Jingkou's local police station, and also the local police station in Tongjiaxi Town in the neighbouring Beibei District, to report her disappearance. The authorities at both stations denied any knowledge of Ms. Tang's disappearance and refused to investigate further.

Ms. Tang, around 66 years old, was a retired worker from Chongqing Special Steel Company. Before she went missing, she lived in the company's newly developed residential facilities.

According to an insider from the Jingkou Town government, at the beginning of September 2005, material exposing the persecution appeared all over Jingkou Town, exposing the actions of Zuo Jin, secretary of Jingkou Town Politics and Law Committee, in persecuting local practitioners. It was at that time that Ms. Tang went missing.

After Ms. Tang began to practise Falun Dafa in 1998, she followed the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" in everything that she did. She recovered from diseases which had brought her long-term suffering. She became open-minded and friendly and glowed with health. She experienced the happiness that comes with Dafa cultivation.

After the persecution of Dafa began in July 1999, Ms. Tang went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. She was arrested and detained for 15 days by the Jingkou local police station. After she was released, she was regularly harassed by the Jinkou Town government, the local police station, the residents' committee, her company's retirement organisation, and others. All of them sent people to her home to pressure her into writing a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Dafa. She told them that Falun Dafa is good, but they did not listen and threatened to send her to a brainwashing centre if she did not sign. They threatened her further, saying that if the brainwashing did not "transform¹" her, they would send her to a forced labour camp. To avoid further persecution, she left her home and moved away from home. Despite having a home, she could not return to it.

In February 2001, when Ms. Tang distributed leaflets about the staged Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident², the local villagers reported her to the authorities. She was arrested and imprisoned in the Dujia Street Jail by the police from Tongjiaxi Town local police station. The police attempted to sentence her and demanded she sign an arrest warrant. She refused to sign the warrant or acknowledge any guilt. The procuratorate interrogated her many times. Every time, she clarified the truth about Falun Dafa to them and refused to cooperate, causing them to achieve nothing through their interrogations. Later, because the conditions for a sentence had not been met, the procuratorate was unable to hold a trial.

Without any legal procedures, Ms. Tang was imprisoned for half a year in Beibei Jail and forced to fold paper cartons every day, despite her age. The vegetables she was served every day were boiled instead of stir-fried and usually smelled rotten. The hygiene conditions in the jail were very bad. She and others there developed scabies all over their bodies, and the constant itching was unbearable. Ms. Tang's case was never given due legal process, but instead she was sent to Maojiashan Women's Forced Labour Camp, Jiangbei District, Chongqing City, where she was to be held for two years.

In the camp, the guards instigated criminals to strip off her clothes and barbarically inspect her. Then they unevenly cut her hair to humiliate her. Guards forced her and other practitioners to undergo intensive military training under the hot sun. If anyone did not meet the guards' criteria, she would be made to remain and continue training. Those who did not obey would be beaten and kicked by the criminals. Ms. Tang had committed no crime, and thus refused to recite the prison regulations. The guards then instigated criminals to maliciously tie up both her arms, force her to bend over at a 90-degree angle, and hold this position for extended periods. If she moved, the criminals would use a crutch to pound her back. They also refused to allow her to sleep. They continued this excruciating torture for half a month. In October 2001, Ms. Tang was persecuted to the point that she had an extremely high hypertension reading of 240. Only then was she released on bail for medical treatment.

After she returned to Jingkou, the Jingkou Town government and the local police station were not willing to release her. They wanted to take her to a brainwashing centre to force her give up her belief in Dafa. To avoid this, empty-handed she fled her home. The local police angrily kicked her gate until it broke. Later, when she moved to her company's newly developed residential area, the Jingkou Town residents' committee and the local police continued to interrogate and harass her out of "care for her well-being," particularly during holiday periods or dates they considered sensitive. They also sent unemployed people to monitor her. She endured this constant pressure up until she disappeared.

After Ms. Tang was reported missing, Jingkou Town government never again sent anyone to "care" for her and never took an interest in her whereabouts. Their interest in her just suddenly stopped. Jingkou Town government and the local police station cannot escape responsibility for practitioner Ms. Tang Shirong's disappearance.

Jingkou Police Station's phone number: 86-23-65183972

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

2. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" [an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim]

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/10/137524.html