Remembering Mr. Yu Zhou and His Wife, Ms. Xu Na

I first met Mr. Yu Zhou and his wife, Ms. Xu Na, on a mild winter afternoon. Both wore simple but unique winter jackets, standing gracefully next to each other in complete accord.

Ms. Xu Na had just been released from the Beijing Women's Prison several months prior. She was thin, but her eyes were bright. I knew some of the suffering she had gone through during her five years in prison, and I tried to inquire into some of her experiences without recalling too much of her suffering. Instead of talking about herself, she revealed how practitioner Dong Cui had been tortured to death at the prison. We talked about many things, from the wide dissemination of Falun Gong in China prior to 1999, to the persecution of many familiar practitioners after the regime's oppression began. Ms. Xu also spoke of practitioner Mr. Cao Dong and his wife, Yang Xiaojing, from Gansu Province, who was imprisoned for meeting with the vice president of the European Parliament. Ms. Xu said, "They gave me a lot of help. After the persecution began, because we were constantly being detained, it became difficult to get together with them again."

Mr. Yu Zhou listened intently during the conversation and made a comment now and then. He talked most about his father-in-law, Xu Na's father. The couple lived with Xu Na's parents, who always worried about her. Yu Zhou told his wife, "During the five years you were detained, your parents suffered terribly. It was hard for them." Xu Na said because she was very determined in her belief during those years, the prison warden and team leaders did not inform her family about her for a long time, just to torment them. Her father suffered as a result and worried that Xu Na might die. After her release from prison, officials from the Beijing Prison Management Bureau and from the 610 Office¹ constantly harassed her family. They also urged collaborator² Yao to call Ms. Xu, trying to get information from her. Xu Na's family was not allowed to live in peace.

Later we met again. We treasured the opportunity of practitioners getting together. Yu Zhou was most interested to discover how to effectively inform people face to face about the persecution of Falun Gong and dispel the state propaganda attacking the practice in order to help more people understand the truth. He was active in distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution in residential buildings. This also gave him opportunities for direct contact with more people. He always hoped to do better explaining the truth face to face.

Ms. Xu Na is a renowned painter. During her imprisonment, a Taiwan businessman bought all of her paintings. Some of them were published as illustrations in books. Xu Na was eventually accepted as a graduate student in the Painting Department of the Central Arts College. Her professors and many people in the industry praised her artistic talent. She said, "It is Falun Gong that makes me physically and mentally pure and righteous. Falun Gong makes my artistic creations have more depth."

Yu Zhou, a musician, was tortured to death by the Communist regime on the eve of the Chinese New Year. According to the report (http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200803/43621.html), on January 26th, 2008, police blocked Yu Zhou and Xu Na's vehicle on their way home, arrested them, and took them directly to the Tongzhou District Detention Centre. On February 6th, 2008, their family received notice to come quickly to visit Mr. Yu in the Qinghe Emergency Centre. When his family got there Mr. Yu, age 42, was already dead, and his body was covered with a white sheet. An oxygen mask was still on his face, but his legs were icy cold. The detention centre authorities refused to let his wife, Ms. Xu Na, attend his funeral.

This was such debilitating, sad news for Yu Zhou and Xu Na's parents, their relatives and friends, and Yu Zhou's fans. The regime had killed another kind person, a practitioner, who believed in the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."

It was one of several well-planned operations to persecute practitioners under the pretext of ensuring "stability for the Olympics." Prior to Yu Zhou and Xu Na's arrest, she said certain people from the Beijing Prison Management Bureau and from the 610 Office had called her parents' house and then called her. They demanded to speak with her, but she refused. According to inside information from the Beijing Women's Prison, after the information about practitioner Dong Cui's torture death was published on the Internet, prison officials suspected Xu Na had leaked the information. Plain-clothes agents had followed Xu Na several days prior to their arrests.

The kind and talented Yu Zhou is now dead. His wife, Xu Na, is still being held in Chongwen District Detention Centre in Beijing.

Note

1. "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.

2. "Collaborators": [former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.]

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/6/24/180717.html