Guan County's Persectution of Good People

Situated in southwest Shandong Province, along the borders of Hebei and Henan Provinces, Guan County is a large county of plain fields. The social customs here value sincerity and simplicity. From the time when Teacher Li once taught here, many kind people have felt blessed after obtaining the Fa [Principles of Falun Gong]. As a result, people have generally become more kindhearted. In those days, Falun Dafa practitioners could turn in their farm produce to the authorities without their produce requiring inspection. Whenever Falun Gong people were brought up in a conversation, folks would recognize that they were surely good people. The widespread proliferation of the practice had brought forth an improvement in the moral standard of society. The Buddha-light illuminated everywhere in Guan County.

Since July 20, 1999, however, our county has been ravaged by evil persecution. A large number of Falun Dafa practitioners have been illegally sent to forced labour camps, many beaten to the point of serious injury or disability. Others were forced to leave their homes to avoid being arrested. Falun Dafa practitioners have been randomly blackmailed, and had their property confiscated. Now, some of them do not even have enough money to buy food. People that practice cultivation to become good, kind persons have had their families broken apart by the evil persecution.

Not long after July 20, 1999, a Falun Dafa practitioner asked a Guan County supervisor, "In the past few years, has there been even one Falun Gong practitioner who has violated the law, disrupted the peace or evaded paying
taxes on produce?"

The supervisor replied, "We know that you are all good people, but we have orders from our superiors to stop you guys from practicing. What else can we do?" This is how the persecution of innocent, kind people began.

After July 20, 1999, by instruction of certain people in other units, towns and villages, the lawless authorities began either illegally arresting Falun Dafa practitioners, or collecting a "deposit" of an amount ranging from 500 to 1000 Yuan [The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is about 500 Yuan, but only 200 Yuan for a rural worker.]

The persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners later escalated and was put in the hands of public security offices. In October 2000, a large number of Falun Dafa practitioners again legally appealed to the central government, validating
that Falun Dafa is a righteous practice, that it is a good cultivation practice and that it has benefited both the country and the people. Assistant Police Chief Wei Lujian, along with Feng Shuhe and Zhao Jiyao, illegally arrested and fined some steadfast Falun Dafa practitioners and sentenced them to a forced labor camp. They extorted a total of over one hundred thousand Yuan from the practitioners' families, all without writing a single legal receipt.

After that, the persecution was again escalated. Wei Lujian instigated the state security unit to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners. While suppressing Falun Dafa practitioners, state security unit members Xue Lianchun and Chen Yuezhi also extorted money from the practitioners' families. Although the arrested Falun Dafa practitioners were innocent, the police still demanded two to five thousand Yuan from their families to ransom each release. In order to
obtain the release of one practitioner, the practitioner's family member was forced to give Chen Yuezhi "the three gold items" (a gold ring, a pair of gold ear rings and a gold bracelet). He also had to pay an additional 2000
Yuan in "fines" (without a receipt) for the practitioner's release. Some practitioners had paid Chen 3000 Yuan, yet he claimed that he had received only 2000 Yuan. Some had paid him 2000 Yuan while he claimed to have received only 1000 Yuan. Although they have homes of their own, many pactitioners could not return home without facing more persecution. More than one hundred people in Guan County have been illegally sentenced to forced labor camps, and more than two thousand have been kidnapped and blackmailed. According to incomplete statistics, the criminal police have extorted more than one million Yuan worth of gifts and fines from Guan County Falun Dafa practitioners, families over the past few years, and all without a single receipt.

This past March, Zhang Xuedong, of the City Police Department, led some people in breaking down a practitioner's front door and room doors to search his
house. Just prior to April 25, 2002, "610 Office" personnel [The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems] arrested a female Falun Dafa
practitioner. Because she refused to give up her cultivation practice, however, Deputy Director Ma instructed four other "610" officers to severely beat her with rubber hoses. After several months of torture, her body now has the appearance of skin and bones. In July 2000, Xue Lianchun and Chen Yuezhi instigated City Police Officer Zhang Xuedong to direct Team Leader Ma Guoqiang
and eight of his mid-unit officers to forcibly remove a male and a female practitioner from their homes and place them under arrest. While the two famished Falun Dafa practitioners were struggling but unable to keep food down
for four days, they were illegally "sentenced," without any legal procedure, to three years in a forced labor camp. Xue Lianchun and Chen Yuezhi instructed some death row inmates to badly beat the male practitioner, severely wounding him on the head, face and body. Xue grabbed the female practitioner by the ear, while kicking and beating her.

For over two years now, too many crimes have been committed in this county. A Falun Dafa practitioner was blinded due to severe beating. The police refused to release an old, female practitioner who had become so weak and feeble, as a
result of the persecution, that a forced labor camp had rejected her. Another practitioner was robbed of all his food supplies. The authorities could not find anything to confiscate at one practitioner's home, so they stole a tree. The persecution here has escalated to include the "610 Office" hiring a gang of thugs to dominate the area, blackmailing and robbing suspected practitioners. They would frequently harass any family who had ever practiced Falun Dafa. They now use "preparing the area for the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China," as an excuse to arbitrarily search one family' home after another. Whenever Falun Dafa books or materials are found in the home, the family is sent directly to a forced labour camp. Whoever admits to "practicing" will be sent to a brainwashing center. People have been arrested for no reason at all. Even ordinary people are furious, but none dares to speak up. There is a popular saying in Guan County now, "Capture, release, recapture and re-release. Without catching and releasing, no money can be made." What has been mentioned here is just the tip of the iceberg.