Canadian Resident: Exposing the Torture Committed Against My Family by the Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province Police Department and 610 Office

Plaintiff: Mr. Chen Zhiming (Father), recent immigrant to Canada
Mr. Chen Yingyi (Son), Canadian citizen

My wife Huang Jinling and I are from Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province. After my wife began to practise Falun Gong in 1998, she became very healthy and cheerful. Our children lived quite some distance from us, but also led stable and good lives. Our peaceful lives were disrupted after July 20th, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned Falun Gong in China. My wife was tortured for not giving up Falun Gong and our relatives were harassed.

In November 2002, police from the Kunshan City Police Station suspected that my wife was in contact with practitioner Ms. Li Ji'nan, who was detained. Therefore, they put her name on the nationwide wanted list. I was sixty four and my wife was fifty nine at the time. Instead of having a peaceful retirement, my wife was forced to go into hiding for about a year.

Li Donglin, director of the National Security Team of the Kunshan City Police Station, attempted over and over again to have my relatives and I convince my wife to turn herself in. None of us complied. He even arrested me at my mother's home on the night of February 28th, 2003. My mother, in her eighties, was so frightened that she couldn't sleep and cried the rest of that night. Li Donglin held me as hostage, so my wife would turn herself in. After my son Mr. Chen Yingyi exposed Li's crimes to the international community, the police released me on March 12th, 2003. However, Li Donglin and other police ransacked my home.

After my wife returned home, one day in November 2003, the director of the Kunshan City 610 Office¹ Guan Zuxing asked my wife and I to go to Qingyang Police Station. We complied and they detained my wife.

I came home by myself and called my son in Canada. He exposed his mother's detention to the Canadian media. The Kunshan City Police Department felt a lot of pressure and released my wife.

One day in 2004, when I was not at home, police from the local police station and staff from the local 610 Office came to our home. They attempted to arrest my wife and take her to a brainwashing centre. My wife firmly told them, "I was taken to a brainwashing centre before. I will not go there any more unless you cut my head off and take it there." They left. But since then, on every politically sensitive day, the police monitored us and our activities were restricted.

Our son Chen Yingyi has been a permanent resident in Canada since 1998. He applied for immigrant status for us in 2001, but the police refused to issue my wife a passport. So our immigration application was delayed. Finally in March 2006, I started my application process alone. Then I came to Canada to live with my son, leaving my wife in China. From Canada, we heard the exposure of CCP's harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. I was so worried about my wife that I could not sleep for many nights. Police from the Kunshan City Police Station continued to reject our passport requests for my wife.

In May 2006, my wife's practitioner friend Ms. Li Ji'nan was released from the Nanjing City Women's Prison in Jiangsu Province. Ms. Li was injured and crippled due to the torture she had suffered. Therefore, my wife invited her to live at our home so that she could take care of her. One day Li Donglin came and told Ms. Li Ji'nan that they had ransacked her home after arresting her. They made no record of the things they confiscated. He remembered that he took her two bank deposit books and asked her to go to the police station to get them back. My wife and Ms. Li went, but Li Donglin refused to return the deposit books. Then he and the 610 Office kept passing the buck.

Ms. Li Ji'nan reported this to Song Wenyuan, the director of the Kunshan City Police Station, the Secretary of the Kunshan City Political and Legal Committee Zhang Yunlin, and others. Li Donglin was rather annoyed and he and Guan Zuxing wanted to take Ms. Li to a brainwashing centre for revenge. However, since Ms. Li stayed with us, they did not do it for fear of being exposed to the international community by my son.

In the morning of February 9th, 2007, Li Donglin came to my home and found my wife was at home by herself. So he gathered seven police, including Guan Zuxing, Hu Zhixiong from the Qingyang Police Station, and Wang Yan and Zhang Yunnan from the National Security Team of the Kunshan City Police Department. They arrived at our home with two cars that afternoon. They arrested my wife, ransacked my home, confiscated our computer, color printer and other things worth 10,000 yuan². They did not give a receipt, even though my daughter and two sisters of my daughter-in-law repeatedly asked for one.

Our neighbours saw them in our apartment and thought they were thieves. They asked them for their identification but no one dared to show any. The police did not even inform my relatives of my wife's arrest. It was our neighbours who informed my daughter later.

At the same time, Li Donglin sent people to Ms. Li Ji'nan's home to arrest her too, but they did not find her. Therefore, they stayed outside her home watching and questioning everyone visiting her home over the next few days. My daughter and my wife's two sisters were detained when visiting Ms. Li's home on February 14th, 2007. They were released after some time.

Li Donglin arrested my wife this time out of revenge. Not only did he want to arrest everyone who knew of his mistreatment of Ms. Li Ji'nan, but he also wanted to take their money.

Guan Zuxing and Li Donglin have done so many terrible things that their names frequently appear on the evildoers' list on the Minghui website [Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net]. They suspected it was my daughter who reported their evildoings. So when my daughter went to Qingyang Police Station asking for my wife on February 10th, 2007, Li Donglin shouted that he was "very angry" with her. He said to her, "I received a phone call from the World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) yesterday. What can they do against me? Do you know that my name was on the evildoer list again? Who put it there? Probably you. From now on, just mind your own business!"

The CCP keeps promoting the idea of a "harmonious society." What kind of "harmonious society" is this when police throw an innocent old lady into prison a few days before the Chinese New Year? Can my family be harmonious by having me and my wife separated by prison walls during the Chinese New Year?

Looking at the biography I wrote for my wife for her immigration application four years ago, I could no longer hold back my tears. I can't believe that this document was used several times to rescue my wife. Four years ago, police arrested her with the excuse of helping them solve a case, but now they no longer use excuses" they are very brazen. I am very concerned for my wife's safety. She is not a criminal. She holds on to her belief, and endures torture. I appeal to the government of Canada, human rights organisations, the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners in China and all Canadians to help rescue her.

I am requesting that the international community demand the following of the Chinese government:

1. Immediate release my wife and issue a statement guaranteeing her freedom;

2. Return everything they have confiscated from us and stop harassing my relatives;

3. Issue a passport to my wife so that she can immigrate to Canada;

4. Stop forcefully "transforming" Falun Gong practitioners and guarantee their freedom of speech and personal dignity.

I appeal to all kind-hearted people for help. Please appeal to Canada's Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and members of parliament to investigate the torture of my wife and pass the aforementioned four demands to the Kunshan City government, Political and Legal Committee, Police Department and National Security Team.

Thank you very much!

Chen Zhiming

February 15th, 2007

Appendix: Biography of Ms. Huang Jinling (my wife)

I am Ms. Huang Jinling of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. I was born in 1944. I started to work at the Shanghai City Xinxin Machinery Factory in 1960. The Xinxin Machinery Factory moved to Guizhou Province and became the Changxin Machinery Factory in 1970. I worked as a Chemical Engineer at the Chemical Lab of the Changxin Machinery Factory. I retired in September 1994 and moved to Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province.

In December 1998, I went to the Falun Gong exercise site close to my home by chance and was invited to join the group for the exercises. That was the beginning of my Falun Gong cultivation. I regularly attended the group exercise. Before July 20th, 1999, Falun Gong was legal in China and many people practised it. They wanted to be good people and become healthier. I was getting old and had many diseases, including premature heart beat, Meniere's disease, and hemorrhoids that lasted for several decades and were not cured even after surgery. I also had rheumatoid arthritis in one arm. All these diseases were gone within a couple of months after my practice. This made me firmly believe in Falun Gong's effectiveness and power. My children were very happy to hear of my greatly improved health and became very supportive of my practising Falun Gong.

Falun Gong teaches people to cultivate one's mind nature. After practising Falun Gong, not only did my health improve; I also became more open and considerate of others. Whenever I ran into a conflict, I looked within for any shortcomings. I wanted to be a good person to my family, friends, neighbours and every one else. I believe that everyone around me noticed and appreciated the positive changes in me. Therefore, when the CCP banned Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, many people could not understand why. I thought that the government misunderstood Falun Gong, therefore I went with some fellow practitioners to Nanjing City, the capital city of Jiangsu Province, to appeal for Falun Gong on July 22nd, 1999. We wanted to share the experiences and benefits we derived from practising Falun Gong with the government officials. However, the police stopped us before we reached Nanjing and took us back to Kunshan. I was detained at the Dongxin Street Police Station in Kunshan City for a night before being released. From then on, the local police monitored me closely.

In May 2000, my husband and I wanted to visit our son in Canada, but the police denied my passport application because I'm a Falun Gong practitioner. They quoted the reason as "presenting a threat to national security" (but actually they were afraid of their crimes being exposed overseas) and claimed that I was not allowed to leave China unless I was "transformed" and denounced Falun Gong.

On October 1st, 2001, I packed a set of Teacher's Lecture CDs in my husband's luggage when he went home. The police at the Shanghai Railway Station found the CDs. These CDs were published by official channels, but now the police declared them illegal and took them away. They also detained my husband for four or five hours until some policemen from the Kunshan City Police Department drove to Shanghai to take him back. He was released.

Local government officials asked me to give up practising Falun Gong. I shared my experience so they could understand that Falun Gong is good. They were not able to argue with me. Then they threatened to take away my pension. I told them with a smile instead of anger that I had earned my pension due to hard work, so no one had the right to take it away. I also told them that I could still survive without the pension and I would never give up my practice. As the persecution of Falun Gong intensified, they talked to me more frequently. During the second half of 2001, I was asked to write statements promising to renounce Falun Gong. I rejected their request. Though they knew that I would never write the statement, they kept visiting and asking me to do so because they were pressured by their superiors.

In early November 2002, the police started another round of arresting practitioners. Fellow practitioners warned me that I was in danger, so I was forced to leave home and go into hiding for almost a year. I was listed on the nationwide wanted list on the Internet and I found later that an illegal arrest warrant for me was issued on November 20th, 2002. I could not use my citizenship card. It was very dangerous for me to go to a hotel or ride a train. I was forced to move seven times during that year, sometimes in the driving rain. No matter how difficult the hardship, I did not give up my belief.

In late February 2003, since the Kunshan police could not find me, they arrested my husband without an arrest warrant and took him from Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province to Kunshan. They detained him for twelve days, demanding that he tell them my whereabouts. They told him that if I turned myself in before March 5th, 2003, I would be pardoned. My husband said he could not find me within a few days. The police tried to deceive him, but could not get any information as to my whereabouts. Given my son's strong demand and protest, they released him on March 10th, 2003. They ransacked our home that day and confiscated three exercise music cassettes.

At the end of August 2003, my husband went to Kunshan to get his pension and found his pension account frozen by the police. When police found him, they put him under house arrest. Because I was the only practitioner from Jiangsu Province on the wanted list, the Kunshan police were punished. The director of our local police station was laid off, for he paid attention only to real criminals and not to practitioners. Police talked to my husband many times, promising not to arrest me if I returned home. They even said that I did not have to answer their questions and I could keep my belief. Because my daughter was arrested by police for distributing Falun Gong CDs leaflets exposing the persecution at Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province on August 8th, 2003, my husband wanted me to come home to help him to deal with the issue. He found me and persuaded me to go home.

Therefore, I returned home on September 28th, 2003, and completed the documents for my trial. I was out on bail until the trial date of September 29th. I believed that I was innocent, so I opposed the term, "turning myself in to the police." The police then did not insist on this term. Later I helped my husband and son-in-law to get my daughter released.

It was peaceful for me until November 6th, 2003, when my husband and I were called to the Qingyang Police Station in Kunshan City. Guan Zuxing said that they would be lenient only if I "turned myself in." The "turning oneself in" meant that I had to answer all their questions. He completely denied their previous promise and threatened to arrest me if I did not comply. I was detained immediately after the meeting and taken to the Suzhou City Brainwashing Centre in Jiangsu Province. My husband knew that if I refused to be "transformed" I might be taken to a prison. He brought me living necessities and clothes that night. When he got home that night, he suffered severe chest pains.

In China, unless you give up your belief in Falun Gong, you could be thrown into prison anytime. At the prison, if you still hold onto your belief, you will be tortured brutally.

No matter how vicious the environment is and how difficult the path is, I firmly believe that it is not wrong to be a good person.

Contact information of government offices and individuals that were involved in my arrests, harassment and torture:

Kunshan City Police Department: 86-512-57702333
Director of the National Security Team of Kunshan City Police Department, Li Donglin: 86-512-57702840 (Office), 86-512-57702333 Ext. 50048.

Secretary of the Kunshan City Political and Legal Committee Zhang Yuelin: 86-512-57703220 (Office)

Director of Kunshan City Police Department, Song Wenyuan
Director of the Kunshan City 610 Office, Guan Zuxing

Members of the National Security Team of Kunshan City Police Department:
Wang Xiao, Yang Linrong, Lu Yihua, Wang Yan, Zhang Yunnan, Tao Xiaoyu and Xu xi

Changjiang Police Station in Kunshan City: 86-512-57304532

Kunshan City Detention Centre
Division Head Liu Wei: 86-512-57660728 (Office), 86-13862671666 (Mobile)
Division Head Chen Fucheng: 86-512-57660728 (Office)
Political Instructor Shi Hailing: 86-512-57660727 (Office)
Deputy Leader of the Fourth Squadron Gao Li
Guard Liang Lijuan (in charge of women's cell #101 where Ms. Huang Jinling was imprisoned)

Detention Centre Supervisory Phone: 86-512-57662158, 86-512-57663301 (Director Office)

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/2007/2/17/149167.html