The Persecution of Ms. Zhao Xuemei and Her Family in Shandong Province

Officers from Fangzi District Domestic Security Division (DSD) in Weifang City, Shandong Province broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhao Xuemei and her husband, Sang Minggang. The couple lives in the employee dormitory of the Fangzi District Finance Bureau. The arrest took place on December 25th, 2008. The police took all cash and valuable personal belongings.

Shortly before 7:00 a.m. that day, the couple's daughter got ready for school. Just as she opened the door, a group of security agents forced their way inside and arrested Mr. Sang Minggang and his wife, Ms. Zhao Xuemei. They handcuffed Ms. Zhao Xuemei's arms behind her back, covered her head and face, and took her to the Fenghuang Police Station in the Fangzi District. They held Mr. Sang Minggang in the Fangzi District Police Department. Eight secret agents were involved in the arrest, including a male agent called Ju; a female agent, Li Hong; and agent Bi Xiaochen.

The police transferred the couple to the Weifang City Police Training Base and held them in separate rooms. DSD chiefs Shang Jingyuan, Wang Quanfeng, and Zhao Chenglin, as well as other officials, interrogated the couple. Shang Jingyuan kicked Ms. Zhao's feet and said, "We can't make her too comfortable here." They tried everything to get information from her. Wang Quanfeng was Ms. Zhao's classmate in middle school. He pretended to be friendly but actually tried to extract information about other practitioners from her. When she didn't cooperate he said, "Anyone can handcuff you here!" They did not let her sleep. She explained that it was bad for them to do wrong to good people, but a driver slapped her face and almost smothered her with thick quilts.

Shang Jingyuan, Wang Quanfeng, and Zhao Chenglin also instructed Fangzi District DSD officials to go back and ransack Ms. Zhao's home that same day (December 25th) when no one was home. The agents did not have a search warrant. They took all of their Falun Gong books, calligraphy and painting scrolls, about 5,000 yuan¹ cash, a medical insurance card, a mobile phone and a pager, two sets of keys, and car keys.

Several days later the police went back and demanded that Mr. Sang Minggang's neighbour, Zhang, give up the keys to the car he had bought with Sang Minggang. Zhang refused, and the police arrested him and held him until he submitted the keys. The police drove off with the car without issuing a receipt.

The couple's 12-year-old daughter, Sang Zixuan, could not open the door when she got home after school. She waited in the yard in the freezing weather until someone spotted her at 8:00 p.m. and brought her to her grandmother's home.

The police transferred Mr. Sang to the Zhangqiu Labour Camp in Jinan City right before the 2009 Chinese New Year without telling his family. Ms. Zhao regained her freedom, but she did not return home to avoid further arrest. Their daughter now lives with her 70-year-old grandmother.

Ms. Zhao Xuemei was an outstanding Chinese language teacher at the No. 12 Middle School. She used to suffer from severe Meniere's disease; could not work for six months, and could barely take care of herself. Ms. Zhao went to many doctors and took lots of medications, but they failed to help her. She recovered quickly, however, after practising Falun Gong for one month in 1999, and fully devoted herself to her students. She conducted herself according to the principles of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance and loved all of her pupils. She helped poor students financially and paid extra attention to students who struggled academically. Her selfless love for the students won their hearts, and she was awarded the title "Most Beloved Teacher" many times. During a teachers' contest held in the Fangzi District in April 1999, her lecture "Inquiry and Knowledge" won the top prize. She also won numerous awards with her education research papers.

Ms. Zhao's family was plunged into misery after the persecution began on July 20th, 1999. School principal Liu Qingjian frequently pressured her to give up Falun Gong and to turn in her Falun Gong books.

Ms. Zhao was again called into Liu Qingjian's office the morning of March 14th, 2002, as she prepared for class. She was told she had been fired, and her salary would be stopped beginning that month. In the afternoon, Fangzi District 610 Office² agents Zhu Yanlin and Ding Wenke ordered Principal Liu to deceive Zhao Xuemei into getting into a vehicle with officials from the Education Bureau. They drove her to the Weifang Brainwashing Centre. Her students were shocked and upset when they learned their beloved Ms. Zhao was taken away. Students in one of her classes cried; students in another one went on strike. They strongly demanded that the officials release Zhao Xuemei and let her return to school. A few parents went to the 610 Office and demanded her release. The officials knew how great a teacher and person she was, but they went against their conscience and continued to persecute her.

Zhao Xuemei was held at the brainwashing centre for nearly two weeks and suffered a relapse of Meniere's disease, due to exhaustion, round-the-clock badgering, and being banned from doing the Falun Gong exercises. Once again at home, Wang Quanfeng and Zhao Chenglin harassed her, demanded a 5,000 yuan "fine" from her husband, and threatened to send her to a labour camp if they did not get the money. The couple refused to pay this extortion. Agents from the 610 Office and school officials planned to send her to the brainwashing centre again.

To avoid another round of persecution, Ms. Zhao decided to leave home. She went to the kindergarten on May 8th, 2002, and tearfully kissed her five-year-old daughter goodbye. The 610 Office personnel instructed her school to send school officials on holiday in Qingdao, Longkou, Mianyang, and Leshan, among other tourist spots, while claiming they were looking for her, and charged all the expenses incurred during their travels to Zhao Xuemei's account.

Police in the Kuiwen District arrested Ms. Zhao at her home in late October 2002 and held her at the Weifang Detention Centre. She went on a one-week hunger strike and was subjected to savage force-feeding, but the officials' attempt was unsuccessful because of her struggle. They sent her to the brainwashing centre. She continued the hunger strike to protest the detention. She hovered at the brink of death after six days in the brainwashing centre. The officials reluctantly let her go home, in order to shirk any responsibility for her death.

In 2003 Ms. Zhao went to the Education Bureau and her school and asked that she be re-instated. The officials never gave her a straight answer. Huayuan Middle School principal Wang Zhiqiang told her to come to his school, promising her a teaching position. District 610 Office agent Zhu Yanlin had instructed him to say this, so they could arrest her. Her husband, practitioner Sang Minggang, worried it might be a trap, so he accompanied his wife on the visit. 610 Office agents Zhu Yanlin and Ding Wenke, who were waiting at the school, immediately arrested Mr. Sang and held him at the police station for several hours. They released him only after strong protests from his family.

Zhu Yanlin and Ding Wenke then went to the school accounting office and took Zhao Xuemei's withheld salary from her previous teaching job and her salary card. Fangzi District 610 Office agents withheld her salary. She hadn't had a job since her salary was first suspended in April 2002, and her entire family relied on the income of her husband, who worked odd jobs to make ends meet.

A happy family's financial wellbeing and their family life was ruined because of the persecution. The husband is now being persecuted at a labour camp, and the wife is drifting from place to place to avoid arrest. Zhou Xuemei's mother is not only separated from her daughter and son-in-law, but also has the full responsibility of taking care of her granddaughter.

It's a shame for any civilized society to treat its most upright citizens as criminals, and it's a shame for the world to turn a deaf ear. We call on everyone to extend a helping hand in freeing Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Sang Minggang, so he can reunite with his family.

Contact information for officials:
Yu Ting, Fangzi District 610 Office head: 86-13906369997 (Mobile), 86-536-7918896 (Home)
Shang Jingyuan, Fangzi District Police Department DSD head: 86-536-7602829 (Home)
Wang Quanfeng, Fangzi District Police Department DSD: 86-536-7602765 (Home)

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.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/19/199243.html