Bai Zijian from Macheng, Hubei Province, Imprisoned for Four Years, His Family in Dire Straits

Name: Bai Zijian
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: No. 10 Hujiajing, next to Macheng City Kindergarten in Hubei Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 22nd, 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang
City: Shayang
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: Brainwashing, imprisonment, extortion, detention

No. 10 Hujiajing, an old, two-story building, is where Mr. Bai Zijian lives. It is next to Macheng City Kindergarten in Hubei Province. Mr. Bai has not been home since June 22nd, 2007, because he is serving a four-year sentence at the notorious Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang, just because he believes in Falun Gong and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

After his four years was up, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agent said that Mr. Bai would be sent to Hubei Province “Legal Education Class” (i.e. Banqiao Brainwashing Centre) for further persecution. During his absence, his elderly mother, sick wife, and young son have been having a hard time making ends meet.

Mr. Bai Zijian has been imprisoned five times and has paid 15,000 yuan¹ in penalties and fees. His wife, Zhang Shuiying, has been beaten by Macheng police officers many times. The stress has caused her to suffer repeated bouts of epilepsy, and, as a result, she has completely lost the ability to take care of herself. Her young son and elderly mother-in-law barely survive.

Mr. Bai had an unusual condition when he was young that was similar to sleep-walking and autism. Although his family was poor, his mother did everything possible to get him treatment, sought medicine everywhere, and even sent him to a countryside temple to become a monk twice, but nothing helped. In 1996, Mr. Bai started practising Falun Gong, and his health was rapidly restored. He became more amiable, and the two unusual conditions that had pestered him for many years vanished.

His wife, Ms. Zhang Shuiying, was diagnosed with epilepsy before the couple married. When the episodes occurred, she fell down, became unconscious, foamed at the mouth, and twitched uncontrollably. There is no permanent cure for the disease. Her family also tried many treatments to control the seizures, but the results were less than ideal. Her uncle asked her to practise Falun Gong when he saw many people’s stubborn illnesses disappear after they began the practice. Falun Gong's powerful influence caused her epilepsy to disappear.

In the summer of 2000, officers from the Longchi Police Station and Gulou Police Station from Macheng Public Security Bureau arrested Mr. Bai and Ms. Zhang in their home without presenting a warrant. Ms. Zhang had recently suffered a miscarriage, and, although she explained the situation to the police, she was nonetheless dragged to a police car. Her new pants were torn and her skin was abraded and bled. The police repeatedly hit her with an electric baton and a rubber truncheon, which instantly produced lumps on her head that bled. The electric baton zapped with visible blue arcs of electricity that caused her body to jump with each shock. She and her husband were held for over two months in Macheng City Detention Centre, where they had to drink tap water that was not purified and shower in cold water. They were also tortured, suffering serious bodily harm. In addition, they paid over 2,000 yuan in fines.

Later, Ms. Zhang went to Beijing to appeal for the freedom to practise Falun Gong, and again was beaten mercilessly, detained for over three months, and had to pay 3000 yuan.

When the police were arresting Mr. Bai on June 22nd, 2007, his wife tried to hold onto him. Eight officers hit her with electric batons, she became unconscious three times, her body was covered in bruises, and her head was seriously injured. More information can be found at:

Macheng City Police Arrest and Beat Hubei Province Falun Gong Practitioners
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/9/2/89183.html.

After Mr. Bai was forced to attend brainwashing sessions and detained in the Macheng No. 1 Detention Centre for a year, he was sentenced to four years in prison. During that time, Ms. Zhang went to the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), national security bureau, and police station to request his unconditional release. The stress of her husband's incarceration and not being able to secure his release took a toll on her health and the seizures began to recur.

Her mother and mother-in-law took her to a hospital, and gradually she was able to practise the exercises a little. She spent over 20,000 yuan on treatments, but her condition became worse, such that she now trembles for two hours after a seizure, she can’t use the toilet on her own, needs others to support and hold her, doesn't have the strength to walk unaided, lays in bed speaking nonsense day and night, and is entirely dependent on her mother-in-law, family, and good-hearted neighbours.

Mr. Bai's grey-haired mother sets up a stall to sell eggs at Gulou Market every day, and the whole family depends on her retirement pension of approximately 700 yuan. The couple's young son is attending primary school, and Ms. Zhang needs money for medical treatment. In 10 years of persecution, Mr. Bai and his wife Ms. Zhang have had 20,000 yuan extorted from them by the police, Mr. Bai's mother has to sell eggs to make a living, and she looks after her daughter-in-law at night. The elderly woman is very thin and recently developed chronic enteritis—indeed, one misfortune after another.

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/2011/7/3/243361.html