Please Help Me Save My Mum

My dad, Mr. Zhang Xingwu, who is over 60 years old, and my mum, Ms. Liu Pinjie, have both been detained for more than a month. There is nobody at home to pick up the phone. I don't know how long I will have to wait before I can hear their voices again. I feel a great sense of hollowness. I try to not think about that phone call or happy memories. But, I am not able to stop thinking about my mother's voice from our last phone call before she was arrested. She had said only one sentence, but I will never forget it.

After 10 p.m., on July 16th, 2008, about 20 police officers from the Jinan City Zhong District 610 Office¹ broke into their home, arrested my parents, and then changed the lock on their door. That evening, my mother appeared to have a stroke and was unable to move her left side or speak. The following day, the police did not release her until my family had met their demand for 10,000 yuan². My mum, who was petrified, could not return home and had to stay at a relative's. Two weeks later, she managed to struggle to walk a little bit. Then, mustering as much strength as she could, she went by herself and took a cab to go to different government departments to explain to those in charge about her persecution experience and to demand her husband's release. I constantly worried about her. I cannot be clearer about the cruelty of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), all I could do was to keep calling her, to ensure that she was safe.

Because my mum's mobile phone was confiscated when her home was ransacked, I couldn't reach her, but for a few times when she borrowed a phone from someone. That evening when I called her again, it kept ringing and ringing, but I kept redialling and finally got through. I could hear noise in the background. I had only called her this once when I heard her say quickly, "I am busy right now, call me later." But instead of hanging up, she pressed the wrong key and put her phone, which was still on, in her pocket. I was able to hear clearly a dialogue between my mother and another person with an authoritative voice. The other person, who sounded very rude, was loudly berating her, challenging her as to why she dared to say such and such about where she was. Instead of raising her voice to match his, hers voice was gentle but quite firm. She repeatedly talked about her positive experience of practising Falun Gong and that there were no laws or regulations on the books that practising Falun Gong is a crime. The other person kept repeating just the same few words: "The CCP doesn't allow you to practise so you are violating the law and I can call people from the police bureau to come." My mum replied, "The CCP has committed huge sins. Do not follow whatever the Party does. You need to make up your own mind." Hearing this conversation for 20 minutes, I couldn't calm down or keep quiet any more: I wanted to jump in. But no matter how loudly I shouted, she couldn't hear me. So all I could do was strengthen the energy around my mum from my heart. When I listened again, she was still conversing with that man. Unable to calm down, I hung up.

Two days after that phone call, which was on August 6th, my mum got arrested again. It seemed to me that my parents had evaporated from the human world and that they had lost contact with everyone. Recently I heard through the grapevine that my dad was arrested under the so-called "Undermining State Law Enforcement," Due to her high blood pressure and lack of evidence, after my mum was held at the detention centre for three weeks, the Procuratorate granted permission to release her at the end of August. However, the team leader, Han, from Jinan City Zhong District 610 Office, still held her in detention. My parents, who have been law-abiding citizens, are innocent people who have never violated any law nor done anything against their conscience. Yet, ironically, they were taken away from their home after midnight for supposedly "Undermining State Law Enforcement." In actuality, my parents basically did nothing but speak the truth.

Indeed, my parents, who were initially comfortable in their senior lives, have been practising Falun Gong for over ten years. They were arrested and sentenced several times after starting to practise Falun Gong. By now they know too well how skilful and brutal the CCP persecution can be. After one instance, my mum jokingly said, "I have experienced everything, so I am afraid of nothing."

For the past nine years, the CCP has used the most brutal, humiliating, and cruel methods ever known to humans to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. My parents were not only deprived of the rights of a citizen but were also subjected to extremely intense pressure to quit practising. Chinese people nowadays have learned to keep changing their philosophy of life to fit the CCP's in order to gain a very limited living space. To save themselves, ordinary Chinese people put up with the lies In opposition, the Falun Gong practitioners who uphold "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" never tell lies. No matter what difficulties they face, they tell the truth, while at the same time treating all others kindly. No matter what kind of environment they are in, even if in a forced labour camp like a hell in the human world, they remain calm and firm.

For the past nine years, practitioners have been detained and subjected to brainwashings. The whole motivation for what practitioners are doing is only for exposing the persecution about Falun Gong to people. So why is the Party so afraid of its own people, who are not armed, to speak up?

While thinking about my innocent parents, I realized that, for the past few years, I have not heard them complain about anyone or say how unfair it is that they are being mistreated. All they have done is to tell people that Falun Gong is great. As long as there are Chinese people in the world, there are people practising Falun Gong. Falun Gong is very well received in over 100 countries, except in its place of origin. If speaking the truth can be counted as evidence of their "crimes" in China, then speaking the truth is a crime. Who can still feel safe? Just for saying a few sentences exposing the persecution, practitioners are arrested by officers from the 610 Office. Proper legal procedures are never followed. Hiding behind their police officer "masks," even rogues can appear respectable when they violate the laws. What has happened to my parents reveals just how tarnished the judicial system really is. Even if you act and behave extremely carefully, there is no guarantee tragedy will not befall you. No matter who you are and no matter how many assets you possess, where the law is tarnished and human rights are ignored, do you indeed truly own something? How can anyone ensure the safety of your entire life?

For explaining the facts, my parents were arrested and detained. If you still believe that people should speak up and tell the truth no matter what the circumstances are, please give help me to save my parents. Because of their belief, my parents are detained. If you believe that one should have the freedom to choose one's believe, then please help me save them. People should have the right to know about this situation. Please help me save them. For upholding justice and remaining true to their conscience, my parents are detained. If you believe that there is justice in the world and that conscience should prevail, then please help me save them. Because they exposed the evilness of the CCP, my parents are detained. If you believe that the CCP should not persecute innocent people, please help me save them. Because of the ridiculous "ultimate power" of the 610 Office, my parents are detained. If you think for your own future and that of your family that we should protect the dignity of law and safeguard basic human rights, then please help me save them.

Because of their kindness and upholding their belief, my parents are fearless. If you think such kind of people are worthy of being respected, please help me save them. Even if a person's truthful words are not very sophisticated, heaven will still hear them. Even if a person's benevolent thoughts are very weak, they will still encourage others with hope on dark nights. I believe that truth is what everyone is longing for from the bottom of their hearts, and their benevolent thoughts are what brought them to earth after birth. Everyone, please help safeguard kindness in the human world with your heart, and please safeguard righteousness in the human world with courage. Please help me rescue my parents. Please contact the following people to demand their releases:

Switchboard of Jinan City Police Bureau: 86-531-86915454

The 610 Office in Shandong CCP Committee: 86-531-82038101, 86-531-86913139
Secretary of the 610 Office:86-13361083699

Jinan City 610 Office:86-531-82038134, 86-531-86929982

Deputy Secretary of Jinan City 610 Office Liu Guorong: 86-531-82038103, 86-531-82868818, 86-13969093610 (Mobile)

Political and Judicial Committee of Jinan City:

Secretary of the CCP committee Li Jiazheng:6-531-82038713, 86-531-85086588, 86-13808922038 (Mobile)

Deputy Secretary of the CCP committee Zhang Chengwu: 6-531-82038713, 86-531-85086588, 86-13808922038 (Mobile)

Deputy Secretary of the CCP committee Li Guozhong: 86-531-82038713, 86-531-82950397, 86-13906409831 (Mobile)

Deputy Secretary of the CCP committee Zhao Lijun: 86-531-82038714, 86-531-82729681, 86-13606374976 (Mobile)

Escort Kui Zhiqi: 86-531-82038714, 86-531-82743511, 86-13706417263 (Mobile)

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/9/7/185397.html