Elderly and Disabled Practitioners Are Persecuted in Maoming City, Guangdong Province

Mr. Chen Binggang and Mr. Lai Liang are residents of Poxin Town, Maogang District, Maoming City, Guangdong Province. Mr. Chen's wife died many years ago, and he lives with his two adult sons, who both suffer from mental illnesses. Mr. Lai is a middle-aged handicapped man: he has a raised chest and a hunched back. He is short, as if he were a child. They both have suffered from the persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials simply because they practise Falun Gong to improve their physical and mental health. They steadfastly follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to improve themselves. The following are their personal accounts of the persecution that they have suffered.

1. Mr. Chen's account

I am seventy-seven years old. I used to suffer from illnesses such as rhinitis and arthritis. My life was very hard. However, after practising Falun Gong, all the illnesses that I suffered from before were healed. I felt grateful and was determined to cultivate in Falun Gong.

Since the persecution began in 1999, I have been arrested more than 20 times, held for a total of over 1,500 days. My residence has been searched and ransacked over a dozen times. The first time, the town government officials asked me if I practised Falun Gong. After I replied positively, they arrested me. Later, I was arrested numerous times, even when I was sleeping in my bed. Since I knew that I had not done anything wrong by following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, I refused to submit to the vicious pressure from the government; I refused to write any statement to denounce Falun Gong. I have been tortured many times. The tortures that I suffered include being hung up and brutally beaten.

Before the Olympic Games in 2008, I was detained at the Maoming City Brainwashing Centre. Xue Weihua from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) hung me up onto a window frame. After two months, my legs became swollen, but they still refused to set me free. During this time, I was unable to relieve myself for three days. The doctors said that I had kidney stones and needed to be hospitalised. Only after that was I released.

In 2009 before the National Day, I was detained at the brainwashing centre once again for five months. My two sons, who have mental illnesses, were so hungry that they fought with each other and suffered from various ailments. Since nobody was looking after them, they became seriously ill to the point where their lives were in danger. Finally, the officials let me go home. When I returned home, my sons told me that some practitioners had bought cooking oil, salt, rice and vegetables for us. I felt very grateful. I would not have been able to survive the years of persecution without help from fellow practitioners.

Being the sole bread-winner of my family, I have to take care of my sons while working in the field. They cannot do anything independently. Because I was arrested and detained, there was no one to work in the fields. In one year, two acres of corn rotted out in the field since no one was harvesting them. In other years, the rice was left in the field to rot because I was detained. Dozens of litchi trees died because nobody cared for them. Several cows and pigs were also stolen from my house because I was not home.

2. Mr. Lai's account

Before practising Falun Gong, I was full of illnesses. My back always hurt and I was handicapped. After practicing Falun Gong, I knew what to do to be a good person. I was determined to be diligent, and I studied the Fa and practised the exercises wholeheartedly. However, I have been severely persecuted and arrested several times.

At the end of November 1999, while I was with a fellow practitioner at his residence, Zhu Pengchun and his gang arrested me. I was detained at the Dianbai Detention Centre, where I was deprived of sleep and interrogated at 5:00 a.m. the next day. I was lifted up and dropped down several times. Afterwards, the section head viciously hit me on my legs and feet with a smoking pipe. He hit me so hard that the pipe was broken. My legs and feet were covered with bruises and I was in great pain. I was detained there until January 6th, 2000. The centre officials extorted 800 yuan¹ from my family before releasing me.

However, in 2000, I was arrested twice while at home. I was first arrested on January 17th, and they took me to Zhijiang Headquarters Farm in Poxin Town. I was detained for three months. Then, on July 14th, I was detained first at Dianbai No. 2 Detention Centre, and then transferred to the No. 1 Detention Centre and detained for a month. I was forced to do hard labour 18 hours a day, and forced to pay 400 yuan before I was released.

On January 6th, 2001, I was arrested again and detained at the Dianbai No. 2 Detention Centre until October. I was forced to do hard labour. One day in June, guard Wang Tingfeng forced all of us working in the workshop at 10:00 p.m. to go outside and kneel down on the floor, just because we had not finished all the tasks for the day. He brutally beat us on our backs, and struck me three times extra hard on my hunched back. My whole body ached for a long time afterwards. Later, I was transferred to Maoming City Brainwashing Centre, where I was deceived and coerced into being "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. The centre forced me to pay them 600 yuan before releasing me.

In 2002, I was detained at the brainwashing centre for two months and forced to pay 800 yuan.

Before and after politically sensitive days such as national holidays, they would come to my house to harass me daily or arrest me. I have been detained several times at the town building.

Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, I was arrested and detained in Maoming City Brainwashing Centre, where I was deprived of the right to practise Falun Gong. The guards verbally abused me, and I was beaten by Yan Qingmin and Li Xiaoyan. The guards would not give us food, so I often had stomach aches, back pain, and severe headaches. They detained me for four more months. I was not released until after the Special Olympics were over.

In May 2009, before October 1 National Day, the head of the 610 Office, people from the Armed Forces Division, and officers from the Poxin Town Police Station broke into my house and tried to force me to write a statement to stop practising Falun Gong. I refused. On May 15th, Poxin Town 610 Office head Wu Zai and the head of the Armed Forces Division Huang Qing came to my residence three times on the same day, attempting to arrest me and take me to the brainwashing centre. I had no choice but to leave my home and go from place to place to avoid persecution.

The years of persecution have caused great losses for me. I was forced to give up my gas business, which had been prosperous. My elderly father was terrified after seeing me being arrested so many times. He became mentally disoriented, his body began to shake continuously, and he was unable to sit still. Eventually all these problems worsened and he developed Alzheimer's disease. His illness became very severe after I was arrested before the Olympic Games in 2008, and soon after that, he passed away. My two young children have also suffered tremendously as a result of the persecution.

In 2000, Zhou Ming, who was in Poxin Town at the time but is now the head of Maogang District Police Department, said, "You're a group of people who like to eat the rotten rice. We're lucky that Jiang Zemin made this quick decision to persecute you, otherwise everybody in China would've begun practising Falun Gong and following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and nobody would gamble, fight and rob anymore. If that had happened, what would have happened to the policemen? Should we all return home and work in the fields?"

Former head of the Brainwashing Centre of Maoming City, Wen Ruxong said, "I can have murderers, drug dealers and other kinds of criminals bailed out, but if you are a Falun Gong practitioner, I can't."

Participants in the persecution:

Head of Maoming City Brainwashing Centre, Ke Yaxong, 86-13702867663(Mobile)

Head of 610 Office, Li Kangrong, 86-13929770003

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/1/28/217095.html