Ms. Zhang Xiuling Arrested by Police in Laishui County, Hebei Province

Name: Zhang Xiuling
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 23rd, 2012
Most Recent Place of Detention: Unknown
City: Unknown
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Detention

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Xiuling from Beiqiulan Village, Yongyang Town, Laishui County, Hebei Province, was arrested by Laishui County police on April 23rd, 2012. The police also harassed practitioners Cheng Shuli from Seshu Village, Shiting Town, Laishui County, and Di Haisheng from Shiting Village and ransacked their homes.

Ms. Zhang began to practise Falun Gong in May 1999. Before that, she used to suffer from neurotic headaches, neck pain, peritoneal adhesions from an appendectomy, chronic arthritis, and irregular heartbeat. A month after she began the practice, all of her illnesses disappeared. Furthermore, her family conflicts were resolved after she followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Ms. Zhang used to be short-tempered and argued with her husband and daughter all the time.

In order to avoid further persecution, Ms. Zhang was forced to leave home and become destitute in April 2007. At that time, her daughter was in elementary school. It has been six years since Ms. Zhang has seen her daughter, who is now in high school and still without a mother to take care of her. With no one to help him do the household chores or work on the farm, Ms. Zhang's husband has to work all day to support the family.

Ms. Zhang's exact whereabouts are unknown.

Becoming a Good Person after Practising Falun Gong

Soon after Ms. Zhang began to practise Falun Gong, she had a severe toothache. She went to see a doctor and brought home some medicine. When she was about to take the powdered herb, she accidentally dropped it. That night, she went to group Falun Gong study with a toothache. As soon as she entered the room, the toothache lessened. After she calmly studied the Falun Gong teachings, her tooth no longer hurt. She also realized that she should follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance when talking to others. After that, her tooth never hurt again.

Ms. Zhang's conflicts with her neighbours were also resolved. She began to talk to her neighbours and told them about the beauty of Falun Gong and the persecution in China. She became a trustworthy person in the neighbourhood. A neighbour once left the logs he needed to build his house with her. When it snowed, she even covered the logs with a plastic sheet so they wouldn't get wet.

Another time, Ms. Zhang went to the market and bought a bunch of green onions. After she left the vendor stand, she felt the green onions seemed heavier than they should be and weighed them on another vendor's scale. They weighted two pounds more than what she had paid for. She then returned the extra green onions to the vendor, who was very happy. Ms. Zhang told him that any practitioner would have done the same.

She once bought beer for her husband. The store owner offered to find her a pack that was tightly wrapped so they wouldn't fall apart on her way home. At home, her husband told her that the store owner had given her the wrong brand and that it was more expensive. She went back to the store and paid the difference.

In 2005, there was a road construction in her village, so every household needed to pay a portion of the cost. At that time, Ms. Zhang and her husband had just been in a car accident and had spent thousands of yuan¹ in medical expenses. They really didn't have to pay for the road repair, but Ms. Zhang still borrowed money to pay her family's share. The local authority publicly praised her for doing so.

In the past, she often argued with her husband when he went out to gamble with his friends until late at night during the winter holiday. After she practised Falun Gong, she realized that her husband had a stressful job and simply wanted to relax when he had extra time during the holiday. She didn't want to deprive him of his hobby and freedom, so whenever her husband came home late, she patiently waited for him and cooked him a hot meal. After a while, her husband gambled less and came home earlier.

Note

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