Wife of Imprisoned Practitioner Cao Xinrui Recounts the Hardships She Now Faces

Mr. Cao Xinrui from Ningjin County, Hebei Province was arrested by police officers because he practised Falun Gong. He was sentenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for three years. He is currently detained in Jidong Prison.

Mr. Cao's wife is left alone to support their mentally and physically disabled son and two young daughters. The authorities from her village, township and local administration bureau refuse to acknowledge her situation, as her husband is a Falun Gong practitioner. She took her children to the prison to demand the release of her husband, but the personnel there were very cruel to her. The following is a personal account of Mr. Cao's wife experience:

My name is Guo Jianfen. I'm a resident of Sujia Village, Jin County, Hebei Province. My husband Mr. Cao Xinrui was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for practising Falun Gong and for being a good person. He is currently detained in the No.1 Team, No.9 Section in Jidong Prison (formerly known as Nanbao Prison).

Since my husband's arrest, my life has become very difficult, having to bring up three children on my own. Especially my son, who can't take care of himself at all. Who will be able to help us?

When my husband began practising Falun Gong, he became a very diligent worker and always thought of others. Because of this, he was highly praised by his colleagues. He didn't smoke, drink, or gamble, and held himself to a practitioner's standard. He took care of most of the household chores, which was very rare to see before he began to practise. However, such a great husband and friend, a wonderful person in most people's eyes, was sentenced to prison.

During these difficult times, sometimes I just cry. Our disabled son cannot speak or sit up, and needs someone to feed him. When my husband was at home, he would patiently look after him. Now I have to take care of everything at home. What am I going to do? As I was desperate, I had thought to leave my two daughters with a relative, then take my son and go somewhere, anywhere, or I just wanted to never wake up from my sleep. However, if I were to end my life, and with my husband not around, who would have taken care of our children? Who would take care of my elderly parents? So, really I have no option, but to be strong and carry on until the day my husband returns home.

Unfortunately, reality can be brutal. My children need to be taken care of; they need to go to school, they need to buy schoolbooks and school supplies; there are living expenses to support my family. I can't manage to cover everything. When my husband was at home, he always took care of everything; I didn't have to worry about anything. Now that he is not around, I feel as if the sky will fall. For a long time my children and I have been supported by our friends and relatives. I have hardly bought any meals for my children, and we live a very frugal lifestyle. As I have no job or income, I have to keep asking others to lend money to me, especially when my children were sick. Now I can't open my mouth to ask for their help again. One time, my son had a fever, but taking medicine didn't help. When I took him to the hospital, they charged me 300 yuan¹ a day to keep him there.

For people in financial difficulty there is now a low-income subsidisation policy in place. So I went to talk to the authorities responsible in our village, but they told me that I did not qualify for this. Then I went to the township government, where I was told that the policy did not apply to families of those who practise Falun Gong. When I went to the Civic Administration Bureau, they told me that they couldn't process my request without an application submitted from either the village or township government. I had reached a dead-end. I just don't understand what is wrong for my husband to practise Falun Gong? He became much healthier and was a good person who followed Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. But he ended up in prison, and as a result, my children and I lost our guardian in life. Now I find it difficult to continue. I had planned to make some money to cover our living expenses by gluing paper boxes together at home. After a month of hard work, I only earned about 100 yuan, which was not enough to cover the cost of my children's meals.

As I was always depressed and over-worked, I often felt dizzy. I lacked strength and did not have an appetite. I even didn't have the strength to feed my son. I felt that I couldn't carry on anymore, and that scared me. What if I were to drop dead while my husband was still in prison? I knew I must try to be strong.

On TV it often promoted how the CCP benefits its people, and is considerate of its people. Therefore, I assumed that they would take care of my family. With this thought, I borrowed some money and on August 18th, 2009, took my children to Jidong Prison, with the intention of letting them know my family's situation. I asked them to release my husband so that he could take care of his family.

At Jidong Prison, I first met Mr. Li, the person in charge of the team where my husband was detained, and Mr. Yang, the person in charge a the division in the prison. When I told them of our situation, they said I should talk to the local government or Civic Administration Bureau. I told them that neither of these places would take responsibility. I said that my children and I have been leading a very difficult life, and that is why we came here to look for my husband. I asked them for help. They said that they would take me to the train station and pay my travel expenses back home. I told them that this did not solve my problem. I asked Mr. Yang to phone his manager, so that I could talk to him. At the train station, another person called Yang said that he called his manager, whose last name was Dou, and that he would come to meet us shortly. A moment later, Yang changed his story and said that his manager was in a meeting and that he couldn't come. Later he said, "It's nearly time for me to leave. I will pay for your ticket. You are too stubborn. If you don't go home I will not take care of your business." I insisted on talking to his manager. He refused and started to walk out of the train station, ignoring the fact that I was trying to run after him, while carrying my son and my two daughters were running behind us.

We followed Yang for about 5km, and when he realised that he couldn't get rid of us, he phoned and got an officer called Wang, another person in charge of a division, to meet him. They talked for a while, and then Yang left. Wang said that I was giving Yang a hard time, and then he threatened me. "What you are doing does not help your husband. If he could be detained at our prison for one more day, I would not allow him to leave any earlier. I'm more familiar with this area than you are; if you want to follow me you won't be able to keep up." I said, "I came here because I can't make ends meet. If you run away I'll still find your manager. As for what you just said about my husband, that is for the prison to decide; not you." A short while later, Wang quickly walked into a supermarket while talking on his mobile phone. My two daughters could no longer keep up and sat outside the East entrance of the supermarket. I quickly followed him into the supermarket, then saw him walk out of the West entrance. I was afraid that if I tried to catch up with him, I would end up losing my daughters, so I stopped. They knew that I only had 20 yuan on me, but they still left us alone. This is the behaviour of CCP members.

People who witnessed this incident tried to comfort me. It was getting dark, and I had to find a place for us to stay the night. But with only 20 yuan in my pocket, how could I find a hotel? After much painstaking effort, there was a kind-hearted lady who ran a hotel and invited us to stay for one night. As I had no money for our travel expenses either, I decided to return to the prison the next day.

In the morning of August 19th, a kind-hearted person gave us a lift to near the prison. After that, we had to walk a bit further to get there. A police officer with ID number 1310812 met us. He said, "This prison strictly follows orders. We can't release anyone freely. You'd better go back and find your local County Court; have them put the situation in black and white, then report level by level to the provincial government. If it was then said that your husband could be released, then we'd follow it." I told him, "I have talked to all of them. They told me that because my husband was currently detained in prison, it was out of their control, and suggested that I come to talk to you. Now you are asking me to talk to the court. I have travelled with my three children from the countryside, it has not been easy, and you are all trying to play games with me. Yesterday, Mr. Yang said he would pay our travel expenses back home, but we didn't go." He replied, "OK, get in the car and I will take you to see Mr. Yang." When we arrived at the No. 9 Section I met a Mr. He, who still offered us 200 yuan and told us to go home. I said to the police officer who drove me there that we would not go home if our problem was not resolved.

Back at the train station, the police officer shouted at us to get out of the car, which attracted a lot of attention. I told the people around us how my husband became a good person by practising Falun Gong, yet he was detained in prison, and my children and I can't make ends meet. The bystanders began to chat amongst themselves. Some people said that we were so sorry to hear this; others said that practising Falun Gong was not something bad, and they might as well have him released. Then the police officer called for assistance. When other police arrived, they took a look at us and said, "They are not violating the law. We were told to maintain a 'harmonious' society." Hearing this the police officer seemed to be upset. He took us back to the entrance of the No. 9 Section at the prison, then he threw our luggage on the ground, breaking a bottle inside. Then he forcefully dragged me out of the car. I shouted, "What are you doing? Are you going to beat me? You will have to pay for my water bottle. You are abusing the law with violence." After hearing that, he just left.

This was a remote area, and my children and I had not eaten for the whole day. When the police were about to finish for the day, the officer returned dressed in plain clothes. He didn't say anything to us, but had us get into the car with another driver. After a while, another person, with a bald head, got in to the car. I asked them where we were heading, but nobody answered. I was afraid that they would dare to do anything to us. Then they stopped by the roadside, and said that Tangshan City was in front of us. They ordered us to get out of the car and go home. Seeing that it was dark, and we were left in a strange place with no money, I refused to get out. Two of them then threw my luggage out of the car, and then tried to drag me out as well. I was afraid that they would just dump us on the road and then drive away, just like before, so I tried my best to hold onto the car seat and not let go. Then they dragged my children out of the car, making them so scared that they began to cry. I was very upset, "How can you treat my children like this?! I already have a sick son. If you scare my children, I will be even more difficult." Seeing that my children were terrified and crying, I asked them to take us back to Nanbao train station, but they were afraid that we would return to the prison. In the end, I had no way out but to take my children to Tangshan City.

I had heard people talk before about how officers of the CCP lacked humanity and were unreasonable. This time I finally learned for myself what they are like. They put people in prison for following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and have corrupt officials pick on ordinary people at will. Is this what the CCP calls socialism and a harmonised society?

My children and I still have financial difficulties, and we have nobody to turn to, so I'm sharing my experience, to urge people who have a sense of justice to help us.

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.org/mh/articles/2009/11/11/212432.html