The Persecution of Tianhe Chess Academy Principal Mr. Tong Huanxiang

Mr. Tong Huanxiang is the principal of Tianhe Chess Academy in Weihai, Shandong Province. At around 5:00 p.m., October 11th, 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Tong Huanxiang and their daughter were just leaving a friend's house on the beach when a jeep started to follow them. After about six metres, a group of plainclothes police officers and armed police jumped out of the jeep and arrested them, claiming they were following orders. The police took them to a police station in the Gao District, Weihai City. Mr. Tong's seven-year-old was terrified and burst into tears.

Mr. Tong Huanxiang was detained in the office of External Affairs Department, and Mrs. Tong and their daughter were held in the Patrol Police Department. During their detention, the child repeatedly wet her pants because she was so scared. The police robbed them of their bags and confiscated all the belongings in the bags. The police took their keys and ransacked their home and offices without telling the couple. The police looted Mr. and Mrs. Tong's two PC's, one laptop computer, other items and cash, which was their tuition income of about 50,000 yuan¹. The police also confiscated their car. Without going through any legal procedures, the police had Mr. Tong placed in Weihai City Detention Centre. Mrs. Tong and her daughter were kept in the police station until midnight. When they were released, they were only given back their house key. At the time this report, Mr. Tong is still incarcerated in the detention centre.

The police are persecuting Mr. Tong simply because he practises Falun Gong and believes in Falun Gong's principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance." How did Mr. Tong start practising Falun Gong? His parents, who were both approaching their 80s, were hit by a car while they were taking a morning walk in 2003. His mother's collarbone was broken and her thigh was fractured. The doctor had to install a steel plate to treat the thigh fracture. His father's lips were injured and needed a few stitches. The elderly Mrs. Tong checked out of the hospital after six months, but she had a stroke that same day when she heard that the people's court decided that the driver didn't need to pay their medical expenses. Fortunately the hospital was able to keep her alive, but she became partially paralysed and senile. She had to rely on other people's care completely.

In May 2005, elderly Mrs. Tong, who was confined to a wheelchair, moved into Mr. Tong Huanxiang's home so that he could take better care of her. Mr. Tong hired a caretaker to look after her and spent several hundred yuan a month on her medical treatment, but she did not improve at all. Mr. Tong heard that Falun Gong was capable of treating illness, so he decided to give it a try. Before he went to work every day, he played a total of 14 audio CDs of Falun Gong's lectures for his mother and set up the player to play the CDs repeatedly. On the 12th day, his mother could get out of bed and walk! Although she had to lean on the caretaker, she could go to the toilet on her own. At first, Mr. Tong's father strongly objected because he had fallen prey to the hate propaganda against Falun Gong on TV and because he was terribly frightened of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He could hardly believe it when he witnessed his wife's amazing improvement.

Mrs. Tong began to improve each day. Because of the stroke, her hands always went limp in front of her chest. When she tried to jieyin in the Falun Gong exercises, she could not open up her hands because her fists were clenched. The second day when she was washing her face, her hands opened up! Her hands became supple again. After that, elderly Mr. Tong accepted Falun Gong. Moreover, elderly Mr. Tong read Zhuan Falun [This book comprises the principal teachings of Falun Dafa] to his wife daily. Before he knew it, he began to improve. He became more considerate of others. Zhuan Falun teaches people not to fight back when cursed or attacked and not to pick up things belonging to other people. He said that at first he found it impossible to follow Falun Gong's teaching, but he slowly changed for the better. Elderly Mr. Tong had turned grey in his 30s, but now his hair is becoming black again. His teeth were getting loose, but now they are firmly in place. In the past he had to carry pills for his heart disease, but now he can carry a large sack of flour to the sixth floor without getting winded. It was an incredible challenge in the past for a 79-year-old man like him to get by. After one year of practising Falun Gong, elderly Mrs. Tong can now go up and down stairs on her own. Although she is not agile, she can walk independently and is no longer senile. After witnessing the transformations of his parents, Mr. Tong started to practise Falun Gong as well.

So far we have learned that the following police officers were involved in the arrests of Mr. Tong and his family: Zhang Yidong and Zhu Guoqing.

Note

1. "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/2007/10/21/164917.html