The Chinese Communist Party Makes Excuses for Persecute Falun Gong

I have a friend who was a government official at the level of assistant department head. He practised Falun Gong, but few people knew it. Later, someone filed false charges against him. When the police ransacked his home, they confiscated his Falun Gong books, and arrested him. However, the police claimed to his family that he had been arrested for corruption. It was obvious that the police ransacked his home because he was a Falun Gong practitioner, so why did they say that it was because he was involved in corruption? When his family talked with some informants, the reason became clear: It was because he was a high-ranking official, and if he were arrested for practising Falun Gong, it would have caused quite a commotion. Therefore, they covered it up by falsifying a crime.

The Clearwisdom website once published the case of Mr. Yang Hengqing, who was the vice president and an electrical engineering professor at Xi'an University of Science and Technology. He was also an official at the level of assistant department head. He started practising Falun Gong when he was vice president of the school. In 2000, he wrote letters to Shaanxi Province Committee and spoke up about the truth of Falun Gong. Because of this, he was criticised severely and a critical notice about him was circulated throughout Shaanxi Province. At that time some officials sent out a message saying, "Find an excuse to punish him!" In 2002, Mr. Yang and his family were all arrested, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was later released for medical care because his health had deteriorated while in prison. Actually it was Liu Jing, one of the heads of the central 610 Office, who had instructed the local police to arrest Mr. Yang. Though Mr. Yang has been released, the local police are still looking for an excuse to follow the instructions from the central government and punish him.

Then what excuse did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials use to punish him? Mr. Yang Hengqing's eldest son, Mr. Yang Zhaojun, owned a private company, the Guangsheng Company, which was legally registered with the Shaanxi Province Commercial and Industrial Administration Bureau. In September 2007, the Xi'an City Procuratorate accused the Guangsheng Company of embezzling public funds. They hastily filed a case, arrested Yang Zhaojun, and confiscated all of the company's funds, amounting to almost one million yuan¹.

The officials in charge of the case clearly forced Yang Zhaojun to plead guilty by using the fact that his father was a Falun Gong practitioner. They coerced the witnesses to change their testimonies, and they threatened the lawyers to give up the defence. They even threatened Mr. Yang Hengqing to give up his appeal for his son. In the end, Yang Zhaojun was sentenced to ten years in prison.

The Shaanxi Province 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) is supported in its persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. As long as they follow the CCP and persecute Falun Gong, all of the excuses they use become legal. This is how the CCP conducts the persecution. It solves political issues by non-political means, and it solves non-political issues by political means.

Falun Gong is a spiritual practice. However, when the CCP decided to persecute Falun Gong, they claimed that Falun Gong was a political issue, as an excuse. When they implemented the persecution, they used non-political methods such as economic pressure.

Faun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Qingzhi was a geography teacher at the Children of Shuanghuan Group Workers High School in Dongmafang, Yingcheng City, Hubei Province. She was persecuted by Long Hui, president of the local Education Bureau. In August 2007, the Yingcheng Education Committee held an exam and reassigned teachers according to the results. The top 60 per cent were sent to teach at Chengguan, Yingcheng City, while all of the village-level high schools were closed.

It's strange that all of the teachers except Ms. Chen Qingzhi were required to take the exam in fields related to their subjects. Ms. Chen, also a geography teacher, had to take an exam for politics and history. Among all of the geography teachers who took the exam, only Ms. Chen failed. She graduated with a degree in geography from Huazhong Normal University and taught geography at an advanced level for 20 years. The other three teachers all passed the exam, even though they didn't have degrees in geography and had never taught geography in a high school.

When Long Hui was asked why Ms. Chen as the geography teacher had not been given the corresponding exam, his answer was, "There is no reason. It's necessary for the work, and the direction came from the higher-level government." Before the exam was given, Zuo Xianghai, the director of human resources at the city education bureau, called Ms. Chen and said, "You will be allowed to teach anywhere you want if you think right." What does it mean to "think right?" It means that they were trying to force her to give up her belief and practice of Falun Gong.

The politics and history exam has questions about Falun Gong. If Ms. Chen were to answer the Falun Gong questions according the CCP's policy, she might pass the exam, but would be denying her belief. If she were to answer the questions truthfully, she would definitely fail the exam. As a result, the CCP officials used this as an excuse to persecute Ms. Chen by preventing her from teaching.

Then, is depriving a teacher who practises Falun Gong of her right to teach a political issue or a non-political issue? The local officials explain it however they want. They might say that you have a political problem, and then use a non political method, such as an ordinary exam, to solve it.

During the past eleven years, the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong using different methods, all of which are actually just excuses.

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/2010/10/11/230818.html