Persecution of a Well-Known National Model Worker

Practitioner Mr. Ding Guowang was always a well-known "National Model Worker," but because he refused to renounce his belief in Falun Gong the police arrested and detained him in a forced labour camp. His company fired him for his beliefs. Due to the persecution Mr. Ding suffered, he eventually became paralysed and developed a mental disorder.

Mr. Ding joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Red Army in 1965. Accepting the CCP's propaganda, he mistook the Party for his saviour and pledged his life to the CCP. In the Red Army he worked so hard that he repeatedly received the title "Model Soldier." During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong interviewed students in Tiananmen Square eight times, and Mr. Ding was one of Mao's guards for seven of those interviews. Because he worked so hard all the time his health suffered and he constantly had numbness in his lower extremities.

In 1968 Mr. Ding retired from the army and went back his hometown, where he started working at the Fertiliser Factory of Xiangcheng City, which was later taken over by the Lianhua Monosodium Glutamate Group Co-Op. Because he was such a hard worker his evaluations rated him an advanced worker each and every year, and he was promoted to workshop director. He then advanced to workshop CCP secretary, then to head of the factory Human Resource Section, and so on. He put his whole heart into his work and always requested assignments to the toughest jobs, but rarely took care of his own health. His home was just over six miles from the factory, yet every year he usually only went home a couple times. In April 1974, the Henan Daily published an article about him entitled, "Great Passion, Bright Model." Communist Party officials scheduled a tour for him to give speeches in Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhengzhou City, Liaoning Province, and other cities. Later The People's Daily, the main CCP newspaper, also reported his deeds. During those years the CCP regularly showered Mr. Ding with honours.

Due to the excessive toil, Mr. Ding suffered from cerebral vascular sclerosis, high blood pressure, and a host of other illnesses. He received no relief from the many medicines he took, and continued to suffer until he learned and started practicing Falun Gong in October 1997. From the teachings of Falun Dafa he came to understand the true reason for being a human being. He followed the divine principles taught in Falun Dafa, "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance." In less than half a year all of his illnesses had disappeared. His complexion was healthy, and he walked swiftly, like a young man.

On July 20th, 1999, Jiang Zemin colluded with other CCP officials to initiate the illogical persecution of Falun Gong. The CCP fabricated lies slandering Falun Gong. CCP authorities arrested and detained anyone who dared to stand up and appeal for Falun Gong and sent them to forced labour camps and prisons. To expose the lies Mr. Ding decided to go to Beijing and peacefully appeal on behalf of Falun Gong.

On September 8th, 2001 Mr. Ding went to Beijing. At about 10 a.m. on September 11th he went to Tiananmen Square and opened a banner that said "Falun Dafa is Good" high above his head and shouted, "Falun Dafa is Good!" Policemen rushed him and shoved him to the ground, then arrested and detained him. During his detention the police handcuffed and trampled him. Every day the police beat him with the intention of coercing a confession from him, but he was so steadfast he refused to identify himself or tell them where he was from. He didn't say a word.

Xu (last name) is the head of the First Division at the forced labour camp. Xu is a vile person. He knew Mr. Ding wasn't afraid of torture or death, so he took a different approach. He wouldn't allow guards or prisoners to talk to Mr. Ding. Xu wanted to isolate him and wear down his strong will before forcing him to accept "transformation¹." In protest of the persecution, Mr. Ding started a hunger strike that lasted for more than eight months. Xu assigned two teenage detainees to monitor Mr. Ding and gave them explicit orders to force him to eat. Each day they failed to complete this task they would be beaten. Each and every day the authorities beat the two teenage detainees in front of Mr. Ding to the point that their lives were in danger. Mr. Ding couldn't bear to see them suffer like that, so he compromised with the police, and with great regret he signed the Three Statements².

Although he signed the statements the authorities wouldn't stop persecuting him. They forced him to watch videos and listen to radio broadcasts slandering Falun Gong, and they didn't care anymore whether he ate or not. They didn't supply him with a coat or warm covers despite the frigid winter weather. For two winters Mr. Ding had only the thin clothes he'd worn when he went to Beijing in the early fall. At night he huddled between two other detainees to share their body heat, but the guards never cared about him. In less than a year he was covered with scabies. Xu ordered some of the stronger detainees to hold Mr. Ding down and injected him with an unknown substance. About four months later his scabies were cured, but many black scars were left on his body.

Mr. Ding was released in 2003. Authorities from the forced labour camp drove him directly to the Lianhua Monosodium Glutamate Group and extracted 10,000 yuan³ from the company, claiming the money was payment for Mr. Ding's living expenses in the forced labour camp. A few company officials who cared only about themselves spared no effort to help the authorities. They forgot all that Mr. Ding had done for the company and fired him, cutting off his only income.

On the morning of March 13th, 2003, Mr. Ding returned to his home in Xinqiao Town. Soon after his return he began to exhibit signs of mental problems, and it quickly became obvious that he couldn't take care of himself anymore. His condition continued to degenerate over the next two years, and finally he lost the ability to communicate and became half paralysed.

Many of those who know Mr. Ding were heartbroken by his situation. They all said, "Mr. Ding worked like a bull for the CCP. When they needed him the Communists praised and honoured him, but when they didn't need him anymore they nearly tortured him to death. Who will seek justice for Mr. Ding?"

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. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

3. "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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/5/6/154219.html