Alumnus Calls for Doctor's Exoneration

Name: Chen Jing
Gender: Female
Age: 34
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Doctor in Jiamusi Central Hospital
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Nancha Police Department
City: Yichun
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Extortion, fired from workplace, physical restraint, interrogation, detention, beatings

Ms. Chen Jing is my college friend and a Falun Gong practitioner. She was born in 1979. She was accepted into Jiamusi University’s Medical College in 1998 and upon graduation became a doctor in Jiamusi Central Hospital. Bowing to police pressure, the hospital fired her after she accompanied a child to visit his parents, who were detained for their belief. Despite experiencing brutal persecution, Ms. Chen's faith in Falun Gong is unshaken. When we met recently, she spoke with a calm demeanor, and even with a grin on her face.

The following is her story in her own words.

1) Worry no more after becoming a practitioner

After passing college entrance examinations, I was struck by two events: My high school friend who had failed the exam suddenly died of an acute disease, and another high school boy who was just accepted by a highly ranked university was hit by a car and died. I was shocked by how vulnerable humans were, and wondered what the meaning of life was.

Shortly after that, I had the good fortune to learn about Falun Gong and began a brand new life. The first time I went to a practice site, I was overwhelmed by a strong energy, and my heart was filled with joy and hope. After reading the Falun Gong book Zhuan Falun, my heart was deeply touched. All of my questions and doubts about life were resolved. I was full of hope for the future. I knew how to live the rest of my life.

2) Explaining the facts in school; whole family persecuted

In college, I dedicated most of my after-school time to Falun Gong study and exercises. Falun Gong gave me both physical health and intelligence. Four months into my freshman year, I passed the national level English exam with the highest score in my university. The score broke the university record.

Once I bought an expensive facial soap, but a roommate used it every day as if it was her own. One day she told me, “Your soap slipped into a big water tank and could not be retrieved.” Then she went to bed immediately. Everyone in the dorm was disgusted by her behaviour and expected to hear my criticism. But my first reaction was: The tank is for drinking water, and the soap would spoil the water and harm everyone. All of my roommates were moved, thinking that Falun Gong practitioners were indeed special; even when others took advantage of them, they still put others' interests before their own.

Unfortunately, on July 20th, 1999, before the end of my freshman year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong. Despite huge pressure from family, friends and society, I decided to tell people the facts about the practice and the persecution.

At the end of 2001, 36 foreign practitioners went to Tiananmen Square to unfurl a banner that said “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.” I made flyers about this news and distributed them in my college. A college official found out and informed medical school deputy head Yang Zhirong. Yang and several other school administrators brought me to the library and confiscated two Falun Gong books and dozens of flyers.

Yang banned me from attending classes by locking me in a small room. He told me to write a statement on my understanding of Falun Gong. To his dismay, I wrote the facts about my own benefits after practising Falun Gong. He became nervous after reading my story and believed that I was being political. While keeping me locked up, he talked to my roommates and told them to reveal my contacts and family situation. He also asked my roommates to spy on me and obtained my parents’ phone number.

When my mum received a phone call from the police, she was so scared that she collapsed to the floor. My dad was deeply saddened and was in tears. They took a long train ride to see me. Yang threatened to terminate my schooling and hand me over to police, which would guarantee a jail sentence. He also showed my parents the confiscated books and flyers and my written statement, and told my parents that my actions jeopardized the school’s entire faculty and staff.

Under pressure, my parents paid Yang a 1,000-yuan¹ "fine," but he still insisted that I write a statement denouncing Falun Gong. I firmly refused.

Yang then forced my parents to take me home for “education.” However, the day after I got home, he called to inform me to return to school for a final exam. But he imposed a condition: My parents must accompany me for the school year. My mother was in poor health, but had no choice but to comply. My parents and I returned to Jiamusi the next day. I felt sad: As a consequence of my doing the right thing, our whole family suffered financially and psychologically.

3) Fired from work and detained by police

I began to work as a doctor in a hospital after graduation. I have a good work ethic and easily get along with people. All of my colleagues liked me.

In mid-December 2005, a practitioner was arrested for distributing flyers. To find out his circumstances, I went to the local police station with his young child. Songjiang Police Station head Liu Dujun not only denied our inquiry, but also refused to let me leave. He treated me like a criminal, hitting and kicking me, and searching my backpack. He also threatened to send me to the Jiamusi Detention Centre.

Afterward, the hospital Party members had several secret meetings to discuss my case and decided to fire me from work without any good reason.

The persecution of Falun Gong has caused great harm to my family. It also caused my college friends to think negatively about Falun Gong. The persecution is destroying people’s good conscience in the entire country.

One day in April 2010, a friend and I went to visit another friend in Yichun City. When we had just got off the train, two officers from the Nancha Police Department stopped us. Several plainclothes police were watching. The two uniformed officers pretended to maintain order, and several plainclothes officers came forward to make an arrest. We strongly protested. People gathered to see what was going on. The police officers panicked and started telling people that we were fugitives. My friend loudly told the bystanders, “We are not fugitives. We are Falun Gong practitioners, coming to visit a friend. We have just arrived here.”

The people then began to boo the police. The officers forcibly pushed us into a police van and drove to the Nancha Police Department. They wanted to do a body search and take our photographs, but we refused to comply. When my friend tried to explain the facts about the persecution, an officer slapped her in the face twice. However, we continued to tell the police the facts. We were released from detention four hours later, but the police had confiscated my MP5 player and my friend's e-reader and MP3 player.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.