Elderly Ms. Zhang Juxiu from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province Persecuted for Nine Years

Ms. Zhang Juxiu, nearly 80, is a retired official from the National Revenue Bureau of the Qilihe District in Lanzhou city, Gansu province. During the past 9 years she and her family, who do not practise Falun Gong, have been subjected to severe persecution.

Before she learned about Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang had a life full of hardship. Her husband suffered from diabetes for many years. Her eldest son was crippled by a shattered vertebrae in his lower back and was unable to financially support himself. He could barely walk with a cane and suffered from incontinence. Her eldest daughter-in-law was also handicapped. After a quarrel, her middle son and his wife deserted the family, leaving behind an 8-week-old baby with cerebral palsy. Ms. Zhang raised her grandson, but he went missing at the age of seven and has yet to be found. Not long after, her husband passed away. Ms. Zhang was the sole provider for her family. Due to the severe strain, she suffered from constant headaches, dizziness, gastric bleeding and bone spurs in her lower spine. Her knee was fractured in a traffic accident. When she was angry or caught a cold, she would often twitch, froth at the mouth, experience cold sweats and suffer from incontinence. In an attempt to seek better health, she tried many different treatments and spent a lot of money, but to little effect. At one point she contemplated committing suicide.

At that critical moment, Ms. Zhang learned Falun Gong from one of her friends. In a short time, all of her illnesses disappeared and her physical condition improved greatly. Her grey hair turned black, her furrowed brow diminished and her mental outlook brightened dramatically.

However, not long after, Jiang Zemin's , [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong. At the end of 1999, in order to appeal for justice for Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing. She was subsequently arrested and sent back to her home town, where she was detained for 15 days. After that, the CCP started their systematic persecution of her.

In February 2000, Ms. Zhang was arrested and sent to the Xiguoyuan Detention Centre, also known as the First Detention Centre of Lanzhou City. On the way to the centre, she lost consciousness, and the police asked her youngest son to take her home. While she was unconscious, the police from the Qilihe Police Station of Lanzhou City extorted 3000 yuan¹ from her youngest son by telling him, "We will not arrest your mother again later if you pay us now."

In March 2000, Xi Mingjie, former head of the National Security Team of Qilihe Police Department of Lanzhou City, issued an order to Ms. Zhang's workplace to suspend her full pension and pay her only 300 yuan a month, which brought great financial hardship to her family.

On Chinese New Year's Eve of 2001, more than ten officials from the police department and 610 Office² of Lanzhou City ransacked Ms. Zhang's home, arrested her, and took her to the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Center for three months. In the meantime, police ransacked the home and the medicine shop of her eldest son. They also ransacked the home of her middle son twice on the same night and detained him at the Police Department. He was not released until 8 a.m. the next day.

In July 2004, directed by Xi Mingjie, then deputy chief of the 26th Section of the Police Department of Lanzhou City, the Qilihe CCP Political and Judiciary Committee, the Qilihe National Revenue Bureau and the Qilihe Police Station jointly demanded 7000 yuan from Ms. Zhang's former employer to pay for her brainwashing. They again detained Ms. Zhang in the Gongjiawan Brainwashing Centre of Lanzhou City and confined her in a small dark cell, where she was hung by her handcuffed hands. After more than 10 days of this torture, Ms. Zhang, in her 70s, became unable to walk, suffered from incontinence and lost consciousness many times. Thinking that she might die, the police instructed her family to take her home.

In July 2004, not long after her release from the Gonjiawan Brainwashing Centre of Lanzhou City, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to forced labour. In order to escape further persecution, Ms. Zhang had to leave her home and live with one of her friends in another place. She has remained homeless ever since 2004.

During the past 9 years Ms. Zhang has been arrested 7 or 8 times and was subjected to all kinds of cruel torture. Besides the salary suspension and extortion of money from Mrs. Zhang's employer, the CCP directly extorted more than 8,000 yuan from her family. It is not difficult to imagine how stressful life has been for a family with handicapped members who are already leading a very hard life.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/11/6/189298.html