Persecution in the Shunyi District near Beijing Conducted by Officials Claiming to Be "Safeguarding the Olympics"

The Shunyi District is north-east of Beijing and was to host the rowing and long-distance swimming competitions at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park for the 2008 Olympics. Officials from various bureaus and committees in the Shunyi District had meeting after meeting to decide what they should do to secure "social order" for the Olympics.

The demand to consolidate security during the Olympics had been passed down from the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party. The order was to use all human and technical resources to safeguard a "zero-problem" Olympics. It was not permissible to have any potential problems left unattended and uncontrolled. If any incidents were to occur, wherever the problems appeared, whoever was in charge would be immediately dismissed. The Chinese Communist Party perceived Falun Gong practitioners, protesters, democratic advocates and Tibetans as the major threats to the Olympics. They tried various ways to silence this group of people during the Olympics.

Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners

The police from the Shunyi National Security Bureau and the Domestic Security Division had compiled the documents of local Falun Gong practitioners into a special file, which included their names, ages, family members, acquaintances, and contact details. This was then passed to all the Street Administration offices, Residents Committees, County and Town governments, village committees and police stations in each area, requesting them to make appointments with these Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners then had to write a guarantee statement promising that they would give up practising Falun Gong, and they would not go out during the Olympics. Those who wrote the statement would be re-visited, every two or three days, to make sure they kept their promise. Just to be safe, people were hired to monitor these practitioners 24 hours a day. Those who refused to write statements or cooperate with the police would be arrested, with no formal reason given. During, and even before, the Olympics police were monitoring practitioners' telephone calls to obtain any information they could.

From March 2008, to July 2008, there were several dozen arrests of Falun Gong practitioners. These are listed as follows:

On April 3rd, 2008, Ms. Xu Junzhi from the south Xixin area, near Shunyi, was arrested and taken away by police officers. They took her computer and other personal belongings.

Zhu Jinzhong, about 56 years old, from the Wulicang area near Shunyi, was arrested by six policemen from the Shiyuan Police Station. They broke into her home, took her computer and printer and arrested her. Ms. Zhu is currently held in the Nihe Detention Centre in Shunyi.

At about 10 a.m. on April 2nd, 2008, Li Zhijun, 56 years old, from Chenxin Village, Shunyi, was arrested by ten policemen from the Shengli Police Station and Beiwu Police Station. They broke into her home and forced her to go with them.

On March 9th, 2008, Wu Ming, about 40 years old, was arrested by policemen from Renhe Police Station in the Shunyi area. She worked for the Niulanshan Winery in the Shunyi area. Before her arrest, police officers had already visited her twice and asked if she would continue practising Falun Gong. Her answer was always "yes". This time she was arrested and taken to the Nihe Detention Centre in Shunyi.

In March 2008, policemen from the Niulanshen Police Station in Shunyi went to several villages nearby, including Beisun village, to search for and investigate Falun Gong practitioners. They arrested four practitioners: Ms. Cai Fengxia, Ms. Zhao Zixia, Ms. Liu Shuchen and Ms. Xiao Lan (alias). Ms. Cai and Ms. Liu were sent to the Beijing Women's Labour Camp for one year.

Ms. Yang Xiuzhi, over 50 years old, used to suffer from cirrhosis of the liver, but regained her health after practicing Falun Gong. On October 24th, 2004 she was sentenced to forced labour for two years and released on the same date in 2006. At about 11 a.m. on April 18th, 2008, policemen from the Shengli Police Station in Shunyi arrested her again. They broke into her home and took her belongings, including 10,000 yuan¹ in cash; they gave no reason for the arrest.

Mr. Yang Jinghui, who lived on the eleventh floor of an apartment building in Dongxingyi District, Shunyi, started to practise Falun Gong in 1996 and fully recovered from a cervical vertebra ailment, Meniere's disease, and a gastric ulcer. On April 18th, 2008, police officers went to his workplace to arrest him. According to a witness statement, at about 11:40 a.m. while he was alone in the office, several policemen violently attacked and arrested him. The police then went to his home and took his computer, printer, and Falun Gong books and flyers. Mr. Yang is currently in the Shunyi Detention Centre. His teenage daughter now has to stay with relatives.

On April 25th, 2008, Mr. Chen Sheng, a taxi driver from the Binhexiao District, Shunyi, was arrested by nine policemen while waiting in front of the entrance to the Branch of the Niushan First Middle School. The police took his house keys and then ransacked his home.

Ms. Liu Guijin had previously been tortured by officers from the Public Security, which left her disabled. She is currently in the Nihe Detention Centre in Shunyi. The police also announced that they would send her directly to the labour camp.

On May 13th, 2008, about eight or nine policemen from the Beijing Domestic Security Division and the Shengli Police Station in Shunyi broke into Ms. Liu's mother's apartment in the northern part of Jianxin District, Shunyi. Police officers arrested her and took her two printers, a laptop, and two paper trimmers. Officers from the Shunyi Public Security Bureau said she was a "criminal suspect" and would pass her case to the Beijing Procuratorate.

On May 27th, 2008, practitioners Mr. Yang Minghua and his wife were arrested at their home in Shunyi.

In the afternoon of May 15ht, 2008, officers from the Shunyu Domestic Security Division arrested Ms. Lian Shuyin at Houshayu Village, Houshayu County, Shunyi. Ms. Lian is currently in the local detention centre.

On the morning of June 10ht, 2008, officers from the 610 Office², Domestic Security Division and the Guongming Police Station went to the Shunyi District near Beijing to arrest Mr. Sun Hui at his workplace. The police informed him that someone had reported him to the police. The police later ransacked his home and arrested his mother. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

At around 11 a.m. on June 29th, 2008, Mr. Cai Zhong from Shunyi was called to his office. When he arrived there, he was arrested by ten policemen from the Shengli Police Station. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

At around noon on August 7th, 2008, Ms. Zhang Xiufeng from Shunyi was arrested by agents from the 610 Office, the Shunyi Domestic Security Division and the Mulin Police Station, while she was working in her orchard. They also ransacked her home and took her to the Shunyi Detention Centre. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Mr. Shi Qingwen was arrested on July 18th, 2008 by eight policemen from the Guongming Police Station, Shunyi District, Miyun County. After the arrest, police took him back to his home in Shunyi and took his belongings. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

Ms. Liu Jingshu was arrested at her home in Shunyi on July 9th, 2008 by police officers from the Dongcheng Police Station, Beijing. Ms. Liu used to be a nurse in the Xiyuan Chinese Medical Hospital in Beijing, but was dismissed because of her belief in Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness- Benevolence-Forbearance. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

On July 19th, 2008 Ms. Liu Shuhua was arrested at her home in Shunyi by officers from the local Domestic Security Division. She is currently in the Shunyi Detention Centre, where they are planning to sentence her to forced labour.

The above cases are only a minor reflection of the recent mass arrests of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Due to the difficulty in obtaining information in China, it is hard to find out the exact number of practitioners who have been arrested.

High ranking officials in the Shunyi District Chinese Communist Party are responsible for the arrests of the above mentioned cases. Their information is listed below:

Xia Zhanyi-Secretary of the Shunyi District Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Zhang Yankun-Chief Executive of the Shunyi District Government
Zhou Haichen- Deputy Executive of the Shunyi District Government
Zhou Yingbo-Secretary of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs
Yang Humin-Head of the Shunyi "610" Office
Xi Le, Li Fuguo, Yan Lei, Zhou Xu- Heads of the Shunyi Domestic Security Division
Zhang Xinjun-Director of the Shunyi Public Security Bureau
Pong Hongwei-Chief of the Pre-trial Division
Sun Shaohuai-Deputy Chief of the Pre-trial Division
Wang Zhongcheng-Head of the Crime Team, Vice Squad
Li Xuejun-Head of the Vice Squad
Chen Haipo-Head of the Detention Centre
Zheng Jinzhi-President of the Shunyi District People's Court
Li Cunhai-President of the Criminal Tribunal
Liu Jun-Vice President of the Criminal Tribunal
Wang Ning (female)-Deputy Director of the Criminal Tribunal
Yang Jianmin-Chief Judge
Jiang Jiayu-Chief Judge
Shen Xiaoyun- General Procurator of the Shunyi District People's Procuratorate
Ma Rongyao- Deputy Procurator of the Shunyi District People's Procuratorate

Note

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

2. "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/2008/8/17/184237.html