Years of Persecution and Suffering in the Lives of Ms. Song Guixiang and Her Family of Practitioners from Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province

My name is Song Guixiang. I am 62 and an elementary school teacher who lives in Jiaoxi Town, Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province. I have been a teacher since I was 18. I was recognised as an outstanding teacher of the town every year and of Qingdao City in 1985.

Overworked year after year, my health faded. I had dozens of diseases when I was in my 40s, including arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, etc. I took all kinds of medicine and visited many hospitals. I practised various qigong but nothing worked. My family spent all the money they made on my medical bills and still had to borrow more from relatives. My health deteriorated and I had a terrible temper after all the suffering. My family spent all our money and we couldn't afford to see doctors anymore. I wanted to kill myself.

On October 20th, 1996, as I was at the end of my tether, a friend visited me at home and introduced me to Falun Gong. She told me, "Falun Dafa is great. Through the practice, one can gain health and won't need medicine anymore." From then on, I followed the path of cultivation. Dafa's profound principles persuaded me. I came to understand the true meaning of life.

I persisted in studying the Falun Dafa teachings and doing the exercises. At the end of 1996, I participated in an experience sharing conference in Jiaozhou City. I experienced many miracles during those days. My weight went from 242 pounds to 214 pounds. My knees stopped hurting and I could kneel down, I could fall asleep finally and all my symptoms disappeared. I felt so light when I walked.

In less than 20 days, all my illnesses were gone. I felt that I had become a new person, so did my family. They were so excited that they were speechless. We didn't know how to thank Teacher for this great change. My friends, relatives, and the doctors I used to see were shocked upon seeing my transformation. I had rosy cheeks and was very energetic. They asked me what medicine I took, and I told them it was Falun Dafa. They were amazed. Dafa saved me and gave me a second life. My whole family, four generations and 13 people, from 2 to 80, began to practise Falun Gong, and we have all benefited from it.

We learned what it felt like to be sickness-free. All my family is sincerely grateful and respectful to Teacher, who taught us how to follow Truth, Compassion, Tolerance in our daily lives.

My mother died because of the persecution

In July 1999, my mother couldn't stand Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime's slander of Falun Gong and we decided to go to Beijing to appeal. We arrived in Beijing on July 22nd, 1999, and went to the Appeals Office. The officers didn't allow us to go in. We went to Tiananmen Square on December 16th. My mother sat down and shouted "Falun Dafa is Good!" An officer kicked her fiercely. Her leg was broken and she couldn't stand up. The officers arrested us and sent us back to Jiaozhou City. After they took us back, I was locked in my workplace, my husband was locked up in a nursing home. My son was locked up in a psychiatric hospital, and my two daughters were locked up in the Fu'an Police Station. My mother was left alone at home with a broken leg and no one to take care of her.

I was let go from my workplace after a year and half of detention. In less than two months, on April 20th, 2001, because I refused to give up the practice, a dozen police officers broke into my house and arrested me stealing my TV, refrigerator, and bicycles. My mother and my two-year-old nephew were left behind shocked and crying.

Traumatised, my mother's mental situation worsened. She cried and cried, wanting me to be released. She died in May 2002.

Both my husband's and my retirement funds were withheld, making our lives financially difficult.

Jiaozhou City 610 Office¹ continues to persecute practitioners

After the officers from the Jiaozhou City 610 Office confiscated our home utilities and our whole family's salary and retirement funds, we fell into financial trouble. We ate buns, pickles, bad veggies and fruit thrown away at the market. My daughter decided to open up a copy shop to maintain our lives.

At 6 a.m. on October 16th, 2006, a dozen officers from the Jiaozhou City 610 Office and the police station came to our house with three police cars and a van to confiscate our furniture and equipment. They broke into the house like gangsters without showing any paperwork or going through any procedure. They searched the house and stole a copier, a printer, and and a CD burner, two computers, two mobile phones, and over 4000 yuan² and some US dollars. The total cost of the things they stole from us was hundreds of thousands of yuan. They didn't give us any receipt or ask us to sign anything. We were left with nothing. My daughter Li Xue and my husband were arrested and were tortured by the third middle team of the Beiguan Police Station. Two days later, the officers arrested my other daughter, Li Mei and stole her property as well. They arrested my son Li Jun, the same day. Li Mei and my husband were released 15 days later. Li Jun was transferred to his workplace and is being monitored.

Li Xue, after being locked in the Beiguan Police Station for 14 days, the Jiaozhou City 610 Office, Jiaozhou City Public Safety Bureau and the Jiaozhou City Procuratorate sent her to the Dashan Detention Centre in Qingdao City. Later the Jiaozhou City Court sentenced her to prison for seven years. On June 20th, 2007, Li Xue refused to give up Falun Gong and was sent to the Ji'nan Women's Prison. She is still there being tortured.

The amount of my husband and my retirement fund and my son's salary that the authorities withhold is over 5000 yuan per month. We have no income now and are still living in miserable conditions.

On January 22nd, 2007, Song Guilan and I went to Sanlihe Park. We came across several students and Song Guilan gave them Falun Gong materials. Someone reported us, so we were arrested and held in a police station for 14 days. We refused to give up Falun Gong and did not cooperate with the police. The Jiaozhou City 610 Office and the Jiaozhou City Public Safety Bureau sentenced us. I was sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp and Song was sentenced to a year and half. I was let go in less than ten days because I got seriously ill. Song is still locked up and being tortured inside the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Province.

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.org/mh/articles/2008/1/26/171112.html