Practitioners in the Binhai Development Zone of Weifang City, Shangdong Province Were Persecuted

Since the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, certain divisions of the Binhai (formerly Haihua) Development Zone government and Haihua Corporation, especially the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau, have not ceased torturing and mistreating practitioners. More than 50 practitioners have been arrested and detained without legal justification. Of these practitioners, eight have been taken to forced labour camps, around ten have lost their jobs, and some were fired. Practitioners have suffered abuse or even worse torture. Officers tortured them during interrogation in an attempt to extract confessions, and many practitioners were also fined. Every practitioner in that area has been subjected to brainwashing tactics. They have suffered physical and mental trauma because of the continued harassment.

Please find below information about the persecution of practitioners living in the Binhai Development Zone. This information was obtained independently of any government channels.

1. Practitioner Ms. Tian Shufang is 60 years old. On October 11th, 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal to the central government on behalf of Falun Gong. Beijing police officers arrested her on Tiananmen Square. She was searched by staff from the Weifang Government Beijing Liaison Office, who confiscated 500 yuan¹ from her. While being taken back to Weifang, Weifang police officers fined Ms. Tian another 500 yuan, claiming that it was for her fare. Wang Zengxin and Lun Yu of the Haihua Corporation Security Division detained her in the Property Management Company for three days. The covered her head with a blanket and brutally beat her. The Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau released her after 45 days. While she was in detention, officials extorted 3,000 yuan from her family. They did not give any reason for the fine, nor did they give a receipt. In addition, the Security Department of the Property Management Company fined the family another 465 yuan, claiming is was for living costs.

On the morning of July 3rd, 2000, a group of police officers, under orders from Deputy Chief Wang Chunqiao of the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau, arrested practitioners, including Ms. Tian, while they were practising the Falun Gong exercises in Lake Park. Ms. Tian was taken to the Dawa Police Station where she was interrogated, videotaped and tortured for hours. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she was detained for nine days. She went on a hunger strike to protest her detention. Officers from the Police Security Bureau took her to the Salt Field (subsidiary of the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau) where she was forced to pull stone-rollers. Zhang Shujun, chief of the deputy squad, beat her head brutally. Yang Zhiying, chief of the police station, stomped on her feet. As a result, her feet became swollen and the skin peeled off. She was in pain for quite some time. Officers extorted another 3,000 yuan from her family. On October 26th, 2000, she was taken to the Laohekou Brainwashing Centre for another 78 days.

One night in March 2001, a member of the Security Section in Haihua Corporation arrested Ms. Tian again. The Security Section suspected that she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution. She was then taken to and detained at the Shouguang Detention Centre. She was later transferred to the Frontier Police Station at Laohekou were she was tortured for 15 days.

At 9:00 p.m. on February 6th, 2002, three or four policemen broke into Ms. Tian's home and arrested her. Officer Yang Qinghua slapped her face, and beat her head and face with a broom after he got tired of slapping her with his hands. Ms. Tian was beaten so severely that she became dizzy and was semi-comatose. The next day, she was taken to Shouguang Detention Centre by staff from the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau. Thirty days later, she was sentenced to one year of forced labour at Wangcun Forced Labour Camp.

2. Ms. Zhang Ruilan is 58 years old. On April 21st, 2000, she went to Beijing to appeal to the central government for justice for Falun Gong. Police officers from Fangshan Police Station arrested her. Lun Yuqi and Ma Qiang of the Security Section in Haihua Corporation escorted Ms. Zhang back from Beijing after seven days. She was detained at the Security Section of the Real Property Company and was interrogated. She was sentenced to fifteen days of detention for "harassing society and public order." Staff from the Property Management Company extorted 3,000 yuan from her daughter, which came from the housing fund (a fund used for housing construction).

On the morning of July 3rd, 2000, when Ms. Zhang was practising the exercises, Wang Chunqiao from the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau arrested her and took her to the Dagui Police Station. Ms. Zhang was interrogated, videotaped and tortured for hours. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and she was forced to sit on the ground in the courtyard. Later, she was imprisoned without any legal process and tortured for nine days at the salt field. When on hunger strike to protest her detention and torture, she was forced to pull the stone-roller at the salt field. Zhang Shujun beat her head brutally.

On October 26th, 2000, she was again arrested and taken to the Laohekou Brainwashing Centre for 18 days.

One day in March 2001, Ms. Zhang visited her mother. At 1:00 p.m., officers from the Security Section of the Haihua Bus Station arrested her, and Zhang Guoliang and Wang Zengxin took her to the Security Section of the Haihua Corporation. She was transferred to the Frontier Police Station in Laohekou where she was held for one night. Police officers ransacked her home and confiscated Falun Dafa books. Wang Zengxin shouted abusive language at her as soon as he saw her. The next day, officers from the Public Security Bureau, including Yang Qinghua, decided to have Ms. Zhang sentenced to forced labour. They took her to a hospital for a physical examination and she was found to be in poor health. The officers didn't like the results and argued until a doctor angrily told them, "She is so sick and can't stand any further suffering!" The officers had to take her home.

At 1:00 a.m. on February 8th, 2002, four police officers broke into Ms. Zhang's home and ransacked it. Ms. Zhang and her husband Mr. Liu Wensheng were taken to the Hetao Police Station of the City Public Security Sub-bureau. Lun Yuqi verbally abused Ms. Zhang and an officer beat Mr. Liu Wensheng in the chest and abdomen. The next day, the officers called in their daughter who was at work and also beat her. Once their daughter guaranteed that her parents would not practise Falun Gong, they were released. Not long afterwards, Ms. Zhang's husband became sick again. After practising Falun Dafa, his lung cancer had been cured; however, since he stopped practising, he relapsed. He died within a few months.

3. Ms. Cui Rongxiu is 41 years old. On October 11th, 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. On the evening of October 19th, she was taken back by staff from the Dawa Public Security Sub-bureau. The police beat her, fined her 8,000 yuan and detained her for 25 days.

On the evening of May 11th, 2000, Ms. Cui went to a practitioner's home. On May 12th, she was arrested and not allowed to sit down at the police station for an entire day. Local police officers verbally abused her and other practitioners. Ms. Cui was detained at the Property Management Company for the night. On the morning of May 13th, Hao Guijun, an officer from the Public Security Sub-bureau, forced her to stand on a chair close to a window and told her to jump off of it. She refused. Hao Guijun pushed her to the ground, stomped on her body and kicked her waist. She was hurt so severely that she couldn't stand up. She was released after it turned dark.

On October 26th, 2000, Ms. Cui was arrested and imprisoned at the Laohekou Frontier Police Station without legal justification by Ma Qiang and Sun Xingli, who were employed by the Property Management Company of Haihua Corporation. She went on a hunger strike to protest her detention and was force-fed. She was released after three months of detention.

In December 2001, police of the sub-bureau ransacked Ms. Cui's home. They found 26 copies of leaflets exposing the persecution. Ms. Cui was detained in the police station for a night. The next day, she was paraded through the icy and snowy streets, then taken to the Shouguang Detention Centre, where she was tortured for another 38 days.

4. Ms. Feng Shuxiang is over 50 years old. On the evening of May 11th, 2000, she went to a practitioner's home. On May 12th, she was arrested and not allowed to sit down at the police station for an entire day. Mou Xinlei, a local officer from the Public Security Sub-bureau abused and mistreated Ms. Feng. She was held at the Property Management Company for the night and released the next day.

On June 22nd, 2000, officers from the Dafui Public Security Sub-bureau arrested Ms. Feng again. They beat and kicked her. In the afternoon, she was taken to the Salt Field Detention Centre, where she was imprisoned for 13 days. On October 26th, 2000, Lun Yuqi of the Real Property Company deceived her into attending a half-hour meeting. He arrested her and took her to the Laohekou Frontier Police Station, where officers tried to force her to write a guarantee statement to give up practising Falun Dafa. Policeman Mou Xinlei beat, kicked and verbally abused her. She was detained for close to 10 days.

5. Ms. Li Huiting is 42 years old. From July 20th to 22nd, 1999, she was detained at Haihua No. 2 Middle School, and was forced to watch programmes broadcast by CCTV slandering Falun Dafa and its Teacher. The officers tried to force her to write a guarantee statement promising to renounce Falun Dafa. They threatened to detain her if she did not comply. Xu Songcui, deputy director of the Haihua District Administration Association, ordered her detainment and managers and teachers from Haihua No.2 Middle School enforced the order. At that time she wrote the so-called guarantee statement against her own will.

On October 12th, 1999, Ms. Li went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested and imprisoned at the Beijing Qianmen Public Security Bureau, Fengtai Stadium and Huairou District Detention Centre. Police officers beat her face with leather belts, forced her to stand for long hours, used the torture method "flying" (she was hung up with both arms and legs stretched wide), and locked her in a small dark cell. She was then taken to Chongwen District Detention Centre, where officers Liu and Li shocked her with electric batons. At about 7:00 p.m. on November 19th, she was taken back to the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau and forced to sit on the cold cement from the minute she arrived. Ms. Li spent the night with her hands cuffed to a chair. On November 20th, officers Zhao Xinlu and Wang Yaojie claimed that she was "disturbing the execution of the law" and called her a criminal. Wang Ping threatened and tortured her mentally repeatedly. He attempted to have her write a guarantee statement and threatened that she would have to stand all day until she wrote the statement. Even Liu, deputy chief of the Police Station, took part in torturing her. Ms. Li was forced to stand for seven days at a time and officer Mou Xinlei ordered others to put rusted shackles on her feet. Ms. Li's feet hurt so much that she could not move or sleep at night. During the day, she could barely walk because of her swollen legs and feet. During her imprisonment, her family members were threatened and blackmailed by officers from the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau. The officers extorted 3,000 yuan from the family members as a so-called fine, and an additional 5,000 yuan as "bail." They did not issue a receipt.

On December 14th, 1999, Ms. Li was bailed out by her family. However, Zhao Yongde, director of Haihua Education Committee, did not let her go back to work. Instead, she was forced to write a statement on her understandings of Falun Gong at home. She suffered economically and mentally. The former schoolmaster, a relative of Ms. Li, was dismissed and the award of "Advanced School" was taken away from him. After the lunar New Year of 2000, Ms. Li demanded to return to work, but Zhao Yongde would not give permission. From the end of February until early March 2000, she was suspended from work. The workplace deprived her of her salary beginning in October 1999, the date when she appealed to the Beijing government, because she refused the request of Zhao Yongde and Sun Kuishan, an official of the Political and Ideological Work Division, to appear on television to slander and renounce Falun Dafa.

On June 21st, 2000, Ms. Li went to Beijing a second time. She was reported and then arrested at the Qingzhou Railway Station and taken to Dawa Police Station in Haihua District. The next morning, on orders from deputy chief of the Public Security Sub-bureau Wang Chunqiao, officers cuffed her hands behind her back for hours. Ms. Li was also locked in an iron chair. Officer Mou Xinlei shook her injured arm many times until the teeth of the handcuff injured the back of her hand. The scar can still be seen today and Ms. Li's arms were numb for almost a year. The officers, including Mou Xinlei, humiliated and insulted her. They put a big hat made with newspaper on her head and made her sit under the burning summer sun without moving. Her legs were pulled apart and stretched straight forward. At the same time, her hands were cuffed behind her back. After dinner, Zhang Shujun, head of the deputy squad, grabbed her hair and pushed her against hard objects. He shouted wildly at the same time, "Use a rope and hang yourself!" Ms. Li told him that a practitioner would not commit suicide, for it is sinful. Zhang pushed her into the courtyard. She fell and couldn't get up because her hands were cuffed behind her back. Zhang grabbed her hair and pulled her up. At that moment, the courtyard was full of policemen watching.

Ms. Li was taken to the Shouguang Detention Centre for 7 days of torture after she refused to sign the detention paper. She refused to eat or drink to protest her detention. She was handcuffed and forced to sit in the iron chair. From that day on, Xu Songcui, deputy director of the Haihua District Administration Committee, and responsible for the persecution of Falun Gong, deducted 200 yuan from Ms. Li's family members' wages each month. He intended to destroy the family economically and have them suffer mentally.

On July 3rd, 2000, Ms. Li was again arrested by officers from the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau and taken to Dawai Police Station when she was found practising the exercises with other practitioners at Man-made Lake Park. Wang Chunqiao ordered police officers to have practitioners who participated in the group practice handcuffed with their hands behind their backs. All practitioners, including Ms. Li, were interrogated and videotaped. They were detained without legal process. The practitioners were locked up in two small cells at Haihua Detention Centre, the salt field of the Public Security Sub-bureau. Ms. Li and three other practitioners who were arrested at the same time shared a small cell and half a broken mat. There were rats running around in the confined area. They held a hunger strike to protest the detention, but Wang Chunqiao ordered the staff and nurses at Haihua Hospital to force-feed Ms. Li. Afterwards, they did not remove the tubes for hours. Yang Zhiying, chief of the police station, kicked her in the face. Wang Chunqiao, deputy chief of the Public Security Sub-bureau, threatened her, "If you participate in group practice again, I will take you to the forced labour camp."

In October 2000, the Haihua District 610 Office² Brainwashing Centre was set up at the Laohekou Frontier Police Station. On the morning of October 27, Sun Mingjun, the former schoolmaster of the No.2 Middle School and a teacher, visited Ms. Li. He pretended to call her back to work, and promised she would be paid. Ms. Li rejected the offer. At about 11:00 a.m. on October 28th, Sun Shouguo, head of the Party and Government Office and deputy director of the 610 Office, police officers Zhao Xinlu, Lu Liang and Wang, school vice-principal Sun Yunguang, and teachers, including Liu Meilong, Qin Zengxiang told Ms. Li's husband to go with them and let them in the house. Ms. Li found her home full of people after she returned with her child. She used her own experience to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa to them, telling them that Falun Dafa is good, that the persecution is wrong, and that the so-called "training class" is in fact imprisonment. She told them that they were violating human rights and committing wrongdoing. She refused to be "reformed³." Sun Shouguo said, "I don't care who's right and who's wrong. You have to go. You don't have any choice in the matter. My superiors give the orders, and I have to obey, or I will lose my job and everything!" He motioned to the four or five strong men he brought with him and had Ms. Li carried to the car and taken to the Laohekou Brainwashing Centre. This time, she was detained for two months. Xun Qingyun and his men also ordered the State Soil Bureau in Haihua District to take Ms. Li's husband to the Ocean Hotel where he was subjected to brainwashing tactics for a half day.

Since Ms. Li had gone to appeal in Beijing, officers from the Haihua Public Security Bureau had extorted a total of 8,000 yuan. Ms. Li's family suffered economically and mentally at the hands of the Communist Party officials and staff from various government offices, the Public Service Bureau and Haihua No. 2 Middle School in the Haihua Development Zone. She asked officials from the No. 2 Middle School and Public Service Bureau many times to let her return to work. They ignored her requests. She was not allowed to work, and lost her salary and the chance for a promotion. They had taken her salary, and medical and insurance cards, and continued to harass her and go to her house uninvited.

6. Mr. Hao Wuzhong is 58 years old. At dinner time on July 23rd, 1999, Huang Yude, supervisor of the Soda Factory Workshop, Li Mingjie, deputy supervisor, and Li Xueshu, head of Security Section of the Shangdong Weifang Soda Factory (subsidiary of the Haihua Corporation) went to Mr. Hao's home twice. They threatened that if he didn't write a guarantee letter renouncing Falun Gong, he would lose his job.

On the morning of June 3rd, 2000, eight practitioners, including Mr. Hao, practised the exercises at Man-made Lake Park. Wang Chunqiao, deputy chief of the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau, ordered a group of policemen to arrest the practitioners and take them to Dawa Police Station. Mr. Hao's hands were handcuffed behind his back. He was forced to sit up straight with both legs stretched forward in the courtyard for hours. Later, he was charged with "disturbing and harassing social order" and was imprisoned in a detention centre for 7 days. Mr. Hao went on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment. Wang Chunqiao ordered police officers and nurses to force-feed him and about ten policemen pushed him down on a "Kang" (a bed made of earth and mud). Yang Zhiying, chief of the Haihua District Dawa Police Station, savagely stomped on his left foot causing his ankle to be swollen for quite some time. The officers also pushed Mr. Hao's arms hard against the kang. He was bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth because of the violent insertion of the feeding tube. After the force-feeding, he vomited blood in the courtyard. Wang Chunqiao shouted "Lock him up and put him on the iron chair!" Afterwards, Wang and other policemen forced him to pull a stone-roller in the salt field until he was too tired to move. He was imprisoned and persecuted for 7 days. They also fined him over 100 yuan, which they called "living costs."

On July 15th, 2000, Mr. Hao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was arrested at the gate of the Bureau for Letters and Visits of Beijing and taken to the Weifang Government Beijing Liaison by officers from the Weifang Public Security Bureau and Bureau for Letters and Visits of Weifang City. The 200 yuan he carried on him was confiscated. At 9:00 p.m. on July 17th, he was taken back to Dawa Police Station. He was forced to sit on the cement, and Wang Chunqiao ordered other officers to pour cold water over him. Though it was July, he was shivering with cold. The next morning, Wang and a group of policemen attempted to fingerprint Mr. Hao, but he refused, so some of them forcefully pressed Mr. Hao's finger onto the document. Wang also cut Mr. Hao's hair. Mr. Hao was charged with "disturbing the execution of the law" and imprisoned in Shouguang Detention Centre for a month. During his imprisonment, he suffered brutal torture by criminal inmates Fu and Ma. He was also forced to work for ten or more hours daily. After being released, he was fined 1,000 yuan and his train fare of over 740 yuan.

On December 28th, Mr. Hao was taken by Huo Tongcha, head of the Security Section of the Soda Factory, to the Laohekou Brainwashing Centre where he was detained for another three months.

Mr. Hao was persecuted from July 3rd, 2000 to March, 2001, lost his job and thus could not make a living. He sustained an economic loss of around 15,000 yuan. Practitioners have suffered economically, physically and mentally during the past years. During holidays or festivals or any other important time, police monitored Mr. Hao. They even knocked loudly at his door at midnight many times.

7. Mr. Wang Wende is 59 years old. On the afternoon of July 15th, 2000, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was searched and the officers stole all the money he had on him. On the morning of July 18th, he was taken to the Haihua Public Security Sub-bureau. Wang Chunqiao, the deputy chief of the Sub-bureau, and a group of police officers beat and kicked him. They handcuffed his hands behind his back and cut his hair. They abused and insulted him, poured cold water over him in the courtyard, and tortured him with the iron chair torture method. Wang slapped his face four times. Mr. Wang had to sit upright for the entire night in a small cell. On the morning of July 19th, 2000, officers demanded that he sign the detention documents, but he refused. Then, an officer beat him with his shoe until his mouth bled. At last, the police officers signed for him and forced his fingerprint on the paper. Then, he was taken to Haihua Detention Centre for further torture. Officers beat him with brooms, forced him to stand still facing a wall, and handcuffed his hands behind his back. By the time he was released, the handcuffs had become rusty, and could only be opened with a mechanical device called a grip. Mr. Wang was not allowed to leave the cell, even for eating, sleeping, or relieving himself.

On October 26th, 2000, Liu Guangming, deputy section chief of his former work unit, attempted to take him to a brainwashing centre. Mr. Wang refused to go, so Ding Jinzhen, Secretary General of his work unit, and four or five young men took him to Laohekou Frontier Police Station where he was detained without any legal process. He left the cell once, but was escorted by a guard. Officers of the Frontier Police Station were enraged when they realised this. When they found Mr. Wang, they beat him cruelly and imprisoned him for twenty more days. They charged him 50 yuan per day for living costs. The police had extravagant meals, accompanied by alcohol, with practitioners' money. At meal times, Mr. Wang was locked up in his cell and given only leftovers. Xu Qingyun and Sun Shouguo took Mr. Wang to the Weifang 610 Office Brainwashing Centre for further persecution. They extorted a total of 5,000 yuan from his salary.

Many practitioners were fired from their Haihua Corporation jobs in 2001 and 2002.

Those involved in torturing and mistreating practitioners are: Xu Qingyun, Yu Haipeng, Yang Qinghua, Wang Chunqiao, Xu Songcui, Sun Shouguo, Tian Xinfu. Zhang Shujun, Yang Zhiying, Lun Yuqi, Hao Guijun, Mou Xinqi, Sun Mingbiao and Zhang Guoliang.

Note

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

2. "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.

3. "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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/14/148972.html