Exposing the Tragic Experience of Being Expelled from University for Practising Falun Gong

I was born in the mountainous area of Dabieshan, Macheng City, Hubei Province. In 1998, I passed the high school entrance exam and was admitted to the No. 2 High School of Macheng City. I was very busy with my studies and seldom returned home. The school was close to my aunt's home, so I stayed with her. As a young child I was very weak and fell ill frequently, especially when staying up late. Unfortunately, this affected my studies. My aunt realised this after a while and decided to give me Falun Gong materials. She also talked with me a lot about how to be a good person. I subsequently began to live by the standards of a practitioner. However, it was my curiosity that made me embark on the path of cultivation, but still my goal was to pass the university entrance exam. I noticed that my health improved and my thoughts changed from those of the past. I felt very energetic and knew how to get along with others. Therefore, I was able to pass difficult times during my senior high school years and finally passed the university entrance exam.

Since I had been doing very well at the university, I was elected commissary in charge of studies of our class and received quite a few honours. In the twinkling of an eye I was a third year student. Because of the recommendation of both political instructors and students I was selected as a probationary Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member. At the time I was very happy and accepted it with pleasure, as I did not realise the evil nature of the CCP. I took an oath in front of a CCP flag and vowed to sacrifice all I had to the Party.

After studying Party theory for a while, I realised that it was not what I had expected and not something I really wanted to be a part of. In class, the Party secretary and students always gave high-sounding but empty talks. After some time I found that I did not accept the Chinese Communist Party ideology. So I always found some kind of excuse when it was time to attend a Party meeting. Also, when the probationary Party members were due to become full Party members, they had to submit an application for full Party membership. I was the only one who did not hand in the application. I fully understood that once I became a full Party member I would have to bow to the dictates of the Party and would lose my identity. In my heart I thought that it was Falun Dafa that gave me a second life and taught me a lot of principles on how to be a good person.

I worked hard and passed all the required exams. I became a postgraduate student at the South China University of Technology and received a full scholarship. All my relatives and friends were pleased and my parents were very proud. It is hard to describe their feelings when they held the admission notice in their hands. I also thought to myself that all my efforts over the past years had finally borne fruit. Yet, I was fully aware that without Falun Dafa I would not have not been successful. I felt that my time at the university was the happiest in my life. I had a good teacher and I was a member of a good student group.

Yet, the administrative staff kept after me. Even the Party secretary and the Secretary of the Youth League at the university talked to me a few times, because I did not take part in Party activities and did not apply to become a full member of the CCP. They said that my ideology was flawed. Therefore, they asked my class monitor and classmates to conduct a secret investigation, but they did not find anything that they could use against me. One day they "invited" me to their office and talked to me about their concerns. I saw clearly their intentions. Then, they asked me if I practised Falun Gong. At the time I was a bit scared and tried to answer the question with some casual remarks. I knew when I had chosen my path that I would not turn back. After two hours of "negotiation" they failed to achieve their goal. Before leaving, the Party secretary said that if I encountered anyone suspicious I should report it to them right away. When I walked out of their office I was exhausted.

On the evening of May 18th, 2007, I went to post eight posters exposing the persecution I had printed beforehand at public places around the university, including the laboratory building and dormitories. Two days later, after I returned from an international exhibition, the secretary of the Youth League asked me to come and see several leaders of the university and the head of security. I went to the office of the Security Department and saw a group of people sitting around the table. I became very scared and hesitated to say anything, especially because I had never come across this kind of situation. At the beginning I used the same tactics that had worked in the past, such as making some casual remarks. After half an hour, the deputy head of the Security Department, Chen, presented a piece of paper and a pile of documents. I was dumbfounded when I saw them. I tried to remain calm and not let them notice my fear. Chen said, "You posted these, right? You'd better tell us all the details and do not try to hide anything. Since we have already learned the truth through our investigation, we give you this opportunity to defend yourself. We can severely punish you because of this issue or deal with it leniently. It all depends on your attitude. It will be to your benefit if you cooperate. If you don't cooperate, the results are difficult to assess. I know you don't want your parents to worry, therefore, we hope you cooperate and not try to hide anything." My mind was blank and I did not know what to do. Then several other people began to "attack" me. I just kept silent and tried to avoid any questions that related to Falun Dafa. They subsequently insisted on checking my computer. I had no choice but to agree, so we went to my dormitory to get my computer.

Once their software was installed in my computer and activated, all Falun Dafa related materials appeared. Fortunately my classmates helped me delete some of the files, so there were only a few documents left.

Negotiations that night lasted for six hours. I left the security department at midnight, but they confiscated my computer and MP4 player. After returning to my dormitory I was depressed and had no clue of what consequences awaited me. I felt extremely uncomfortable--as if the sky was going to collapse.

The following day, Ou Yangbin, the secretary of the Youth League, summoned my teacher into her office and explained my situation. After returning to the lab, my teacher did not say anything until noon. He asked me to stay behind and to explain what was going on. I told him what had happened. He said, "China is such a dark society so that we only need to do our job well and should not bring trouble to ourselves. These people are evildoers and their job is to make trouble." My teacher had lived abroad for 11 years. He liked the overseas environment and disliked the administrative staff at the university. I did not say anything and just stood there in silence. He said, "Since this has happened already we should just put it out of our minds." He advised me to continue to do a good job with my experiments. "As long as you talk to them rationally their hands are bound. You must learn to protect yourself." I knew the issue had put my teacher in a dilemma as well. Since my teacher was a very practical person, we got along very well. He was well accomplished academically, however he was not happy with the administrative staff. He did not go to any of the meetings. I felt I was extremely lucky to have a teacher like him.

In the days that followed, staff from the security department told me to help in their investigation. But this was no more than recording what I had said during the interrogation. They asked that I answer all their questions. They also videotaped everything and ordered me to put my fingerprints on every page of the interrogation documents. I had no choice but to comply with their requests. Then nothing happened for some time. I thought it was just as my teacher had predicted and I was in the clear. However, the outcome was quite unexpected. On the morning of June 18th, 2007, when I was working at the laboratory, a teacher told me to go see the Party secretary. The secretary of the Youth League handed me their decision. They were expelling me from the university. It was like a bolt out of the blue. It was hard for me to accept, so I heedlessly ran away. The university phoned my family and told my father to come and pick me up. My mother sobbed and could not accept my fate. My father rushed to the university without delay.

We talked to the leaders of the university in the hope that they would give me an opportunity to continue my studies. The head of the postgraduate program said that as long as I would confess and promise that I would not practise Falun Gong, they would change their decision. I had one week to appeal to the university authorities. My father and I tried to talk to the principle and the Party secretary, however the secretary of the Youth League, Ou Yangbin, did everything in her power to stop us from appealing to the university officials. She said that we needed to make an appointment, which we did. However, she found many excuses to stop us from meeting with the school leaders. Finally I had to pack up and leave. When I saw a group of new graduates who had their photographs taken I shed tears. I was deeply hurt.

I still felt regret after six months whenever I thought about it. However, since I had chosen my path I valiantly tried to leave these regrets behind me. I told myself that I could not let this temporary setback make me feel constant regret. I felt that I was extremely lucky to have learned Falun Gong. Though I paid a steep price it still could not be compared to what I had gained. I also knew that I was not the only student that had such an experience.

After mourning for six months over my loss, I thought I had to go the public and stop this outrage from spreading. It was more important to speak about it to others to prevent more practitioners from being hurt, so that more people could see through the evil nature of the CCP. Let's safeguard this world with the power of justice.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/1/26/171084.html