Mr. Wang Deqian, 60, a Chinese Folk Artist, Still in Jidong Prison for Practising Falun Gong

Name: Wang Deqian
Gender: Male
Age: 60
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Folk artist, employed by Linqingsi High School
Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 12th, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison in Tangshan, Hebei
City: Tangshan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, forced labor, brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denied visitation

Mr. Wang Deqian, a Chinese folk artist, used to be a highly celebrated schoolteacher at Linqingsi Middle School in Laishui County, Hebei Province. He is known to be a man of kindness and integrity. He is highly accomplished in music and fine arts.

Mr. Wang was sentenced to four years in Jidong Prison in 2009 for refusing to renounce his belief in Falun Gong and remains incarcerated to this day. Years of imprisonment have caused Mr. Wang to become very frail. His family has grave concerns about his health.

On March 12th, 2008, the Domestic Security Division in Yi County, Hebei Province, arrested Mr. Wang Deqian without a legal order. They detained him in Yi County Detention Centre for 19 months before sentencing him to four years in prison. On October 18th, 2009, Mr. Wang was transferred to Jidong Prison in Tangshan, Hebei Province. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he faced solitary confinement for long periods of time. He was not allowed to talk to anyone or see his family. Isolation is a severe form of psychological torture. It can lead a normal person to collapse mentally and is equally as cruel as physical torture.

On May 18th, 2011, when Mr. Wang's family visited him, they saw that he was so weak that someone else had to hold his arm when he walked.

Excellent Teacher and Folk Artist

Mr. Wang is especially good at sculpting and is famous for his unique calligraphy style. He is also famous for his integrity, writing for free for folks to decorate their homes. He is talented at strings and wind pipe instruments and crafted many folk instruments.

Very diligent in his work, he taught music, art, and physical education. He treated his students like his own children and charged very little for his pipe music classes so that many people could learn to play.

Arrested and Tortured Four Times

Ever since the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, Longmen Township government and police station harassed him at his home during holidays or when events were going on. The school principal, Liu Tiecheng, stopped him from teaching in 2001 and withheld most of his pay, allowing him only a very small stipend. Soon after, township employee Xu Huanyu deceived him, tricking him into a brainwashing session that lasted more then 12 days, while extorting 3000 yuan¹ from his family.

In August 2002, police ransacked Mr. Wang's home, arrested him, and took him to a forced labour camp. He was released in June 2004 when he lost the ability to take care of himself as a result of being tortured. Mr. Wang was very healthy before being arrested. After cultivating Falun Gong, he felt very light, that walking was easy, like the wind. During those two years, handcuffs dug deep into his flesh and his was beaten with rubber batons until he incurred a lower back injury.

Longmen Township Police Station Director Ren Mengtian extorted 3000 yuan cash from Mr. Wang's family and detained him in Laishui County Detention Centre. Because Mr. Wang was forced to do heavy labor for more than 10 hours every day, his hands swelled and bled. He was given only two meals per day. There were mouse droppings mixed in the cornbread and that soup had dirt in it. After being detained three months, he was taken to Balizhuang Forced Labour Camp. He was tortured, locked in a small cell for seven days and cuffed on a bed with his arms and legs spread apart. The guards didn't allow him to move one bit, which resulted in excruciating lower back pain, muscle atrophy in his legs, and difficulty walking. Right before he was about to be released on June 10th, 2004, Guard Liu Lijie shocked him brutally with an electric baton. His screams were heard by the entire labour camp, even on the other side of the exercise grounds. He had to be carried into the vehicle when he was taken home.

On July 24th, 2007, the police ransacked his home again. He was forced to leave home to avoid being arrested but was arrested 45 days later and detained in Laushui County Detention Centre again. Mr. Wang went on hunger strike to protest, was tortured until he could not take care of himself, and was released after 48 days. Police extorted 1500 yuan from his family.

On the afternoon of March 12th, 2008, Yi County Domestic Security ransacked Mr. Wang's home, arrested him, and took away his art works. They sentenced him to four years in prison, a sentence he is still serving.

Mr. Wang's Family Is Suffering

After Mr. Wang was fired from his job, his family had to survive on his wife's income as a nursery school teacher. She has endured huge mental and financial pressure. A Longmen Township Chinese Communist Party worker threatened her, saying, “If you refuse to cooperate with us, your job will be gone as well.”

The couple has two daughters. The older one was dismissed from school after exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to her teacher. Her grandma, who is over 80 years old, is paralyzed, and her younger sister needs someone to take care of her. She calmly shouldered household chores while her father was detained. After Mr. Wang was arrested in 2008, she was detained as well. Her younger sister could not endure this and tried to kill herself by hitting her head against the wall. Things are very difficult for the family, and tears are frequent.

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/2011/8/30/246053.html