A Family of Practitioners from Yishui County, Shandong Province, Suffer Serious Persecution

Practitioner Mr. Ma Xingxiang, his wife Ms. Zhang Shengfen and their two children lived in a village in Yaodianzi Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province. Mr. Ma’s whole family received tremendous benefits from practising Falun Dafa. Their marriage and family life became more harmonious and happy. In 1999, personnel from the Yaodianzi Town committee, the 610 Office¹, the government, and the police station carried out former dictator Jiang Zemin’s order to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Those officials have committed huge crimes against Yaodianzi Town practitioners. Mr. Ma’s family also suffered very brutal persecution.

Before Ms. Zhang Shengfen practised Falun Gong, she suffered from many kinds of diseases. Her chronic gastric disease made her extremely skinny. She couldn’t eat any raw, cold, or spicy food. Later, she had cholecystitis, gallstones, anemia, and other ailments Her body felt very tight and heavy. She was unable to work in her family field, and later on she could no longer even cook for her family. She frequently left her hometown to seek a cure for her diseases. Although Ms. Zhang spent a lot of money on medical expenses, her physical condition didn't improve at all.

In February, 1996, Zhang Shengfen fortunately started to practise Falun Gong. After only a little more than 20 days of practising Falun Gong, all her diseases were cured. The tremendous changes in her body and mind allowed family members, relatives and friends to see the wonder and power of Dafa. Therefore, her husband Ma Xingxiang also started to practise Falun Gong. Soon after, he gave up all of his bad habits and his family became very harmonious. In just two years, Falun Dafa spread to over ten villages in Yaodianzi Town and more people received the benefits of practising cultivation in Falun Gong.

After the Chinese government started to persecute Falun Gong, several officials approached the home of Mr. Ma. They were led by the party committee secretary of the town, Gao Zhenguo, and the Political Judiciary Committee Secretary, Wang Sike. Others involved included Zhang Yudong, Wu Gang, Cheng Shibo, Lei Fudong, Shi Jun, Wang Fei, Wang Huantao, Lin Qingfu, and Jiang Shudong—over 20 people in all. They climbed over Mr. Ma's fence and pounded on the door of his house. They went in and took Mr. Ma's Dafa books, a stereo player, videotape player, meditation cushions, and other items.

At that time, Mr. Ma and his wife had gone to appeal to the higher authorities, seeking justice for Falun Gong, and their two children were the only ones at home. Mr. Ma's daughter was 16 years old and his son was only nine. During those days, just about every night, the children were awakened by pounding at their door. Once, the boy was so scared that he even hid himself under the bed.

A few days later, Mr. Ma was brutally beaten by Chief Jiang Shudong and others in the town police station. They exposed him to the sun in the summer while making him half squat, and hit his legs with a rubber baton for several hours. They took turns beating him. Around that time, practitioners Mr. Huang Changming, Mr. Wu Guangyu, and Mr. Qi Chunjie were also beaten in the police station.

Jiang Shudong kicked Mr. Ma in the face. The blood poured out of Mr. Ma's mouth and his face soon became very swollen. Ms. Zhang Shengfen was also detained in the police station.

The authorities also took Mr. Ma's daughter to the the central school where many practitioners were held early on in the persecution. They had the practitioners sit on the floor with their legs stretched out and their arms held up. Then they forced the practitioners to watch programmes on television slandering Dafa. They dragged Mr. Ma's daughter, Ma Na, outside and forced her to stand in the hot sun just because she refused to read newspapers that slandered Dafa. A policeman even kicked her twice. Na was released after being held for four or five days. Mr. Ma's family was fined 3,750 yuan² on this occasion.

In October, Ms. Zhang and her daughter were arrested again in Jizishan Village. Ms. Zhang was dragged out of a crowd of people by Wang Sike. She was thrown on the ground in front of the crowd and severely beaten. The purpose of this incident was to threaten the other practitioners. Wang Sike brutally kicked Ms. Zhang in the abdomen several times and punched her in the face and head. As if that abuse was not enough, he then dragged her to a room where four people fiercely kick her with their boots, punched her head, and slapped her face. They didn't stop beating her until her mouth and nose were bleeding. The perpetrators were Lei Fudong, Wu Gang, Shi Jun, and one other person.

The next day, Ms. Zhang was taken to the detention centre where she was held for the next month. Sixteen-year-old Ma Na was beaten by Wang Sike, Zhang Yudong, Cheng Shibo, and several others. She lost consciousness for a long time. This time, Mr. Ma's family had over 2,000 yuan extorted from them.

Once more the authorities came to Mr. Ma's home and took some of his family's belongings. They also arrested Mr. Ma and brutally tortured him. Meanwhile, many other practitioners were also arrested. Those responsible were Zhang Yudong, Shi Jun, and others. They used various methods to torture the practitioners for about two weeks. The methods used included: punching and kicking, beating the practitioners' hands with a bamboo stick, hitting the practitioners' legs with a nail-board, sleep deprivation, not allowing the practitioners to go to the toilet, forcing the practitioners into a half-squat position, forcing the practitioners to stand in the position of "a golden chicken standing on one foot," knocking the practitioners' heads against a wall while holding their hair, forcing the practitioners to lift their arms and stretch their legs out while standing still, and other brutal methods. Many practitioners were beaten very severely. Some practitioners had bruised noses and swollen faces, vomited blood, and could no longer walk.

After Ms. Zhang Shengfen was imprisoned in the detention centre for a month, she was held at the town government building for three days. She was fined 1,500 yuan. Although a family member brought food to her every day, the authorities still forced her to pay another 500 yuan for her living expenses during imprisonment. Her young son frequently cried. From then on, whenever he heard the siren of a police vehicle, his heart would pound and he became very nervous. He started to worry about whether the evil people would come to take his mom, dad, and older sister away.

The authorities frequently harassed Mr. Ma's family. Sometimes they went to their home during the day and at other times they were there at night. They often took Ms. Zhang away in the middle of the night and let her go home the next day. The reason they harassed her was that she talked briefly with some practitioners in the marketplace. The authorities have deprived Falun Gong practitioners of their basic rights and freedoms. During those several years, Mr. Ma's family lived under constant threat of being separated by the authorities at any time.

On one occasion, practitioner Mr. Zhang Shengqi from Fengtaizhuang Village gave Mr. Ma's family a flyer containing the words, "Falun Dafa is good." Even though Mr. Ma didn't post the flyer on his gate, Ms. Zhang Shengfen was still arrested by nine people. Wang Sike sat on a chair and encouraged someone else to cruelly hit Ms. Zhang over 20 times with a rubber stick and fiercely slap her face more than ten times.

In May, 2002, practitioner Ms. Ma Na went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. At Tiananmen Square, she shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" She was arrested by the police and taken to the Tiananmen Police Station. After she was held for several days in Beijing, she was taken back to the Yaodianzi Town Committee, where she was held another ten days. During her imprisonment there, Ma Na was force-fed several times. Later she was taken to the Fengjiazhuang Brainwashing Centre in Yishui County by Wang Zhaocai (the Political Judiciary secretary) and others, where she was held for almost a month.

In June 2002, Ms. Ma Na was sentenced to three years of "reeducation through forced labour" in the Shandong Province No. 1 Womens' Prison located in Jinan City. At that time, she was still not yet 18 years old. During her imprisonment, the guards attempted to brainwash her. To achieve this goal, they tortured her by not allowing her to sleep, locking her in solitary confinement, and forcing her to work long hours. She suffered tremendously both physically and mentally.

Meanwhile, Wang Zhaocai incited Wang Fuwen, Wang Huantao, and others to arrest Ms. Ma Na's mother and father. Her mother, Ms. Zhang Shengfen, walked out of jail while the authorities were on watch. Her father was forced to leave his hometown to avoid being arrested. Ma Na's grandparents and little brother were left at home with no one to take care of them. During that time, Mr. Ma's family grew two Chinese acres of vegetables in a big shed, which normally would have earned them an income of more than 20,000 yuan if they sold the vegetables. Because there was no one to take care of the vegetables, in the end, they got no income from them. Wang Zhaocai threatened to remove Wang Fuwen, Wang Huantao, and Lin Qingfu from their positions at the office because they were unable to arrest Mr. Ma and his wife. This caused the authorities, as well as some other people who didn't know the truth about Falun Gong, to develop hatred toward the practitioners.

Mr. Ma's son, now 12 years old, once again lost his mother, father, and sister. His grandfather was very sick and bedridden and his grandmother was also very weak and sick. He didn't know where his father and mother were or where his sister was imprisoned. He was frequently awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night and often cried: "Dad, Mum, quickly come home!" Mr. Ma's family members were arrested, beaten over ten times, and fined more than 7,700 yuan.

Since the Party started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, about 3,000 practitioners are verified to have been persecuted to death and many practitioners' families have been broken up by the authorities. Many innocent children have lost the love and care of their parents. When will this tragedy be stopped? Let us together condemn this evil persecution. Let justice, sincerity, and compassion return to the human world!

Those participating in the persecution of Mr. Ma Xingxiang's family and other practitioners:

Party Committee Secretary of Yaodianzi Town, Liu Zhuping: 86-13605395657 (Mobile)
Head of the town, Wei Shuwen: 86-13505395955(Mobile)
Deputy Secretary, Hu Faxiang: 86-13953983966 (Mobile)
Political Judiciary Secretary, Wang Zhaocai: 86-13954962821 (Mobile)
Chief of the Yaodianzi Town Police Station, Wu Yuanping: 86-13583989188 (Mobile)

Note

1. "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.

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/9/30/138993.html