In Memory of Ms. Gao Rongrong, Who Died Three Years Ago

On June 16th, 2005, Ms. Gao Rongrong was killed while in detention as a direct result of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policy of "eradicating the practice of Falun Gong." Three years have passed, and the injustice has not been exonerated. Through reading the Clearharmony website, people can see that the CCP is still intensely persecuting practitioners, and continuing to mislead people around the world. But, bright sunny days will show up after this haze! Practitioners' firm belief in the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance and their magnificent feats in resisting the brutal persecution will be forever remembered by future generations.

Ms. Gao Rongrong worked in the Accounting Office of the Shenyang Luxun Art Institute. After she stared cultivating Falun Gong, she was given an "outstanding worker" award by her employer. Later, Ms. Gao took the initiative to give the award to a colleague who wanted the honour.

After the CCP regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Gao went to Beijing to petition for the right to practise Falun Gong. For this she was arrested, detained, and sent to forced labour camps several times. When she returned to her job at the Institute, she was always under surveillance and treated unfairly. She was forced to change from working in the Audits Office to working as a teller in the Accounting Office. Rongrong used her wisdom from cultivation in Falun Gong, and within six months studied accounting and qualified as a mid-level accountant after taking the national tests. Her colleagues were amazed at her ability to learn so quickly. However, the authorities at the Institute stuck to the policy of persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, and did not allow Ms. Gao to do accounting work.

In July 2003, Ms. Gao talked to a graduate student in the Institute about the goodness of Falun Gong's teachings. That student's wife reported what Ms. Gao had said. Principal Wei Ershen, CCP Secretary Zhang Chen, and others at the Institute called the Shenyang Police Station and the 610 Office¹ to come and arrest Ms. Gao, and send her to a detention centre. Ms. Gao was again incarcerated in a forced labour camp for three years. She was sent to Shenyang Longshan Forced Labour Camp.

Since the CCP regime and Jiang Zemin [former leader of the CCP] launched the persecution on Falun Gong, the Longshan Forced Labour Camp, Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning, and other prisons became the front runners in maltreating Falun Gong practitioners. While Ms. Gao was detained in the Longshan Forced Labour Camp, she suffered various mental and physical tortures. At that time, a lot of female Falun Gong practitioners were held at Longshan. Even in that vicious environment, numerous practitioners still adhered to their faith.

Longshan police officers Li Fengshi, Wang Jinghui, and Tang Yubao worked hard to persecute practitioners every day. They brutally tortured and deprived practitioners of sleep, and ordered other prisoners to beat and monitor the Falun Gong practitioners. They were also made to work extra hard or longer hours. Ms. Gao resisted the persecution with righteous thoughts. She did not participate in the "re-education through labour," and refused to attend meetings at which Falun Gong was slandered. She also refused to have her picture taken.

After several years of actively persecuting Falun Gong, leaders of the Longshan Forced Labour Camp wanted the camp to be promoted to a provincial level camp. To do this the prisoners were forced to fabricate things such as "thought reports" of prisoners who had been detained there years ago, as well as write fake repentance statements for Falun Gong practitioners. Every practitioner was ordered to take a picture and post it on the door of each cell.

Ms. Gao refused to post any pictures or to do slave labour. During a meeting, she shouted, "Falun Gong is great!" As punishment, guards Li Fengshi and Tang Baoyu handcuffed her to a heater, and shocked her with electric batons. During this time, Ms. Gao talked about the benefits of Falun Gong to the people around her.

In the beginning of 2004, the Shenyang City 610 Office staff organized an "Assisting Education Group" led by Shi Fengyou from the Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp. The group went to every prison and forced labour camp to subject detained practitioners to brainwashing sessions. Longshan Forced Labour Camp selected 20 or more practitioners from the first and second teams and sent them to the brainwashing class, and Ms. Gao was one of those sent. She endured the physical torture, the punishment, and 20 or more days of sleep deprivation, but did not agree to stop following the beliefs of Falun Gong.

To force Ms. Gao and several other practitioners to participate in "education through forced labour," reveal where they had got Falun Gong articles from, and give up the practice, on May 7th, 2004, guards Tang Baoyu and Jiang Zhaohua used electric shock batons to repeatedly shock these practitioners from the morning until late at night. Ms. Gao's face was severely swollen and charred from the torture.

After that, Ms. Gao tried to escape by jumping out of a second floor window, but unfortunately she fractured one leg and sustained other injuries. The camp guards secretly sent her to the Shenyang City Army General Hospital in the night, without informing her family.

Ms. Gao was later transferred to the Shenyang City Medical University hospital. The heads of the hospital, the doctors and nurses of the osteopathy department, and the patients were warned of Ms. Gao's arrival by staff of the Politics and Judiciary Committee of Liaoning Province and Legislation Bureau. Four policemen guarded her room. Additionally, agents of the Legislation Bureau, Politics and Judiciary Committee, and the 610 Office patrolled the area.

Practitioners were worried about Ms. Gao's safety and asked her if she wanted to expose the picture of her deformed face to the world. She thought for a while and said calmly, "We should expose the evil. Through the years, fellow practitioners have suffered more severe torture than I have, yet most of the evidence has not been exposed. Practitioners in Manhattan [NY, USA] are telling people facts about the persecution, so give mine [evidence of torture] to them." Ms. Gao also decided to use a mobile phone so she could be interviewed by overseas media. Finally she said, "I hope all the kindhearted people will pay attention to the persecution of Falun Gong that was launched by Jiang Zemin personally."

After serving her term, Ms. Gao returned home and was free for five months. However, she was arrested again sometime between March 8th and 9th, 2005--by June 16th, 2006, she was dead.

Three years have passed since Ms. Gao Rongrong was killed. Her suffering is astonishing, yet the persecution of Falun Gong is still going on today.

I dedicate this article to Ms. Gao Rongrong and all of the other practitioners who have been killed during the persecution. I miss them. I hope the people of China will see through the Chinese Communist Party's evil nature and learn the truth.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/6/18/180480.html