Elderly Couple From Chaoyang County, Liaoning Province Suffering Long-Term Harassment by Police

Lalatun Village, Chaoyang County, Liaoning Province is the home of an elderly couple, Mr. Li Guifang who is 75 years old and Ms. Xi Qingjie who is 72 years old. Their children do not live with them so they have to depend on each other. Before practising Falun Gong, neither of them was in good health. Especially Xi Qingjie. She had heart disease, she couldn't move her hands, her waist and foot were painful, she frequently coughed up blood , and she could not stand on the ground for very long. Due to the fact that they were sick and often needed to have medicine, Li Guifang depended on soy as a source of income. After cultivating Falun Gong, they changed a lot physically. Especially for Xi Qingjie, she recovered from all kinds of diseases. She could work normally with both of her hands. Her grandson was also living with them so she could take care of him. When the persecution was launched against the Falun Gong practitioners, they told the people that were deceived by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies about the spiritual and health benefits from cultivating Falun Gong. However, they were reported by their landlord. When the policemen from Nanta Police Department tried to extort 500 yuan¹ from them, Xi Qingjie said, "We cannot afford to give you 500 yuan." But the policemen wouldn't leave until they received the money. So Xi Qingjie checked all their possible resources while the policemen were waiting. In the end, they barely gathered 400 yuan. Having seen that they did not have extra money, the policemen walked away with the 400 yuan they just took from this family.

In 2001, while Li Guifang was selling his soy sauce, he found that someone had written something bad next to "Falun Gong is good" which was already written on the wall. Li Guifang tried to wipe it out, but he was noticed by someone from the Zhannan Police Station. Four or five policemen took Li Guifang and the cart to Zhannan Police Station. Four policemen started to torture him, kicking him down to the ground with their leather shoes and then kicking him down again after he stood up. His body was beaten until he was black and blue and then he was thrown into a detention centre for half a month.

After Xi Qingjie heard the news, she went to the detention centre to try to find out where her husband was. The personnel from the detention centre told her, "It is useless to look here, you need to go to the Zhannan Police Station." It took Xi Qingjie quite a while to find the Zhannan Police Station. After she told her purpose for being there, one policeman took her to the fourth floor, where a policeman with the last name Qi started to question her. Xi Qingjie asked him, "What do you expect me to say? I did nothing." It left policeman Qi nothing to say so they refused to compromise for a long time.

Later a policeman with the last name Li came in and said to Qi, "Don't let her go. Get some money from her or detain her." But Xi Qingjie had no money with her so she told Qi, "I went out in the early morning, my little grandson will return from school soon. The door is still locked and the child cannot get in. What can we do?" Qi insisted that she give him 200 yuan before he would let her go. At that time, Xi Qingjie worried so much that she could not remember her son's phone number. It was past 7 p.m. and he still did not let her go. Xi Qingjie said, "Let me go out and try to borrow it."

Officer Qi followed her and they went to a former co-worker of Xi's husband (before Li Guifang was retired, he was an officer of the Heiniuyingzi Forestry Bureau). She borrowed 200 yuan and gave it to Qi. On the way back, it cost them 2 yuan for the ride. Qi asked Xi Qingjie for that also. Xi Qingjie said, "I really don't have any money. How about if I take off my jacket and use it for the fee for the ride." Seeing that Xi did not have any money, Qi then gave up.

So Xi Qingjie went back home in a very sad mood. The next day, she was trying again to find her son, but still could not remember her son's number due to so much worry. She even could not find her son's home which she often visited. Later somebody else helped her to find her son's home phone number at the phone company. Her son picked her up and took her to his home. In the end, the Zhannan Police Station again extorted the Xi Qingjie family 1000 yuan before they released her husband. There were still black and blue marks on Li Guifang's body half a month after he went back home. After being threatened and beaten, Li Guifang's health had deteriorated.

In the fall of that year, Balibao security head Shi Zhaoming and Zou Laowu told them to go to a Xidayingzi Brainwashing Class with the threat that if they didn't go they would force them to move out of Balibao. So this elderly couple had no other way but to move to Lalatun. Xi Qingjie stayed home to take care of Li Guifang, who was in bad health.

During the Olympic period, on the morning of June 17th, 2008, the village head of Lalatun, Li Jun, and security head, Hou Zhongren, led the head of the Liucheng Police Station, Pan Shihuo, policeman Wang Hongwei and others to break into their house for the second time that day, taking away two practitioners by force and searching their home. At about 1p.m., Hou Zhongren and two other policemen came again claiming that they needed to do a thorough search. After having their home broken into three times in one day, Li Guifang trembled as he sat on the bed. He became weaker and could not take care of his personal needs. That night, he fell to the floor from the bed bruising his face. Xi Qingjie was so scared by the policemen that her heart was palpitating and she felt very weak. When she saw her husband lying on the floor, she had no strength to hold him up. She wanted to call her son but the policemen took away her phone book, At that time, her mind was so confused that she could not remember her son's phone number. So Li Guaifang lay on the cold floor that whole night.

Before the Olympics , Houzhong led vice president of Liucheng Police Station Zhang Yan and policeman Wang Hongwei broke into Xi Qingjie's house. They tore up all the Falun Gong materials and threatened them not to go to Beijing. Actually, 75 year old Li Guifang had difficulty walking due to being tortured so how could he go to Beijing?

At 10 a.m. on August 22nd, 2008, Hou Zhongren and policeman Wang Hongwei broke into Xi Qingjie's house, holding Xi Qingjie's hand, to forcibly take her fingerprints. They threatened her and claimed that they would come to the her house at anytime and even if they did not detain her, she would receive the same treatment at home as the other practitioners who were detained.

On October 30th, 2008, Hou Zhongren and policeman Wang Hongwei suddenly broke into Xi Qingjie's house, forcing her to be photographed and fingerprinted and told her to write down her identification information. Xi Qingjie replied that she did not know how to write. Wang Hongwei said that she would need to draw if she had to draw. So during the Olympic period, the president of Liucheng Police Station Pan Shi and Wang Hongwei and other policemen, as well as village security head Hou Zhongren broke into Xi's home to threaten the elderly couple and search the house many times. They intimidated and threatened the couple again and again, making it impossible for Li Guifang and Xi Qingjie to live normally. Xi Qingjie said, "Li Guifang has fallen three times already, and I don't have any money to seek medical assistance for him. If the policemen keep doing this, he may not live much longer."

Currently the police continue to enter this elderly couple's home again and again to harass and intimidate them.

Security head of Lalatun Hou Zhongren: 86-421-3304090
President of Liucheng Police Station Pan Shi: 86-13942110208(Mobile)
Policeman Wang Hongwei: 86-13942132827(Mobile)

Note

1. "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.ca/mh/articles/2008/11/19/190017.html