The Persecution Faced by Ms. Zhang Xiangling in Yongnian County, Hebei Province

Ms. Zhang Xiangling is a Falun Gong practitioner in Yongnian County, Hebei Province. On August 19th, 2008, the police in Handan City, Hebei Province broke into her home and arrested her. She is still in detention.

Ms. Zhang Xiangling, in her 30's, is a resident of Qumo Village, Qumo Township, Yongnian County, Hebei Province. She started practising Falun Gong in 1999. She has tried hard to follow the teachings of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and has been strict with herself. Everyone surrounding her knew that she is a good person. Ms. Zhang Xiangling has been repeatedly harassed, arrested and detained.

In October 2003, agents from the Domestic Security Guard and police from the Yongnian County Police Station arrested Ms. Zhang Xiangling. They interrogated and detained her at the Yongnian County Detention Centre because she refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong.

Ms. Zhang Xiangling later went on a hunger strike to protest. She warned the police that they would bear responsibility for anything that happened as a result. After 59 days of hunger strike, Ms. Zhang became bones and skin. The guards sent her to a hospital. The doctor said that her oesophagus and stomach were damaged and that he couldn't treat her, although she was on the edge of death. As a result, the police ordered her family to take her home. When she returned home she resumed her practice of the Falun Gong exercises and regained her health.

After she recovered, agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) kept harassing her, and thus Ms. Zhang couldn't lead a normal life with her family. She decided to leave her home town and run a small business in Handan City to make a living for her family. When her small business didn't run well, she had to find some temporary jobs. The jobs she could find were all so physically demanding or dirty that no one else would take them, such as cleaning, moving bricks and mud, etc. However, no matter what jobs she took, she never complained, and she always fulfilled her duties very well, and thus her bosses always praised her.

Around 10:00 pm on August 19th, 2008, agents from the Domestic Security Guard and seven or eight policemen from the Fudong Police Substation broke into the home Ms. Zhang was renting. They did so without any warrant and ransacked her home. They later detained her at the Handan City Detention Centre, where she remains to this day. The persecution brought Ms. Zhang's family great pain as well.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/10/5/187148.html