Since the ban of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist government in July, 1999, the universities in China were affected as well. More and more students and teachers in the universities across China have been or are facing persecutions such as being expelled from school or removed from work because they insist on their beliefs of Falun Gong. This is yet another persecution the Chinese scholars are suffering from since the Cultural Revolution. The Tsinghua University, being one of the most prestigious universities in China, becomes one of the key targets for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese communist government among institutes of higher learning. Here, we have collected the information we know of about the persecution received by Falun Gong practitioners in the Tsinghua University. We hope this will attract attention from the international societies, and they can help to free them from the predicament.
It is reported that since July, Lanqing Li, the vice premier of the Chinese communist government, has been staying in the Tsinghua University, investigating and dealing with the "Falun Gong problem" personally. Under the pressure from the central authorities, the Tsinghua University is severely punishing students and professors who insist on their practice of Falun Gong. Yet, the majority of these students are excellent students all around. They are now suffering this persecution only because they want to persist in their beliefs.
At noon of October 21st, in the woods west of the swimming pool in the Tsinghua University, some practitioners from Beijing, other cities and the Tsinghua University held an experience sharing conference. Towards the end, police suddenly arrived and arrested 34 practitioners, among whom 14 were from the Tsinghua University. At the police substation, while the police searched for Falun Gong books from the practitioners, they beat and handcuffed two female practitioners who tried to protect their books. A male practitioner was also handcuffed and beaten because he said "do not beat people". Later, practitioners from other cities were taken away, only the 14 practitioners from the Tsinghua University remained. The police ordered them to crouch and hold their heads with both hands. They were forced to stay in this posture for about 4 to 5 hours. After meal, the practitioners cleaned the place, they were then taken into a room separately to be interrogated. Six practitioners were released that night. The remaining eight practitioners were forced to crouch from 10PM that evening till 3AM the next morning. Afterwards, they were allowed to go into a room to sit down. At about 3:30AM, the police took 2 practitioners away and beat one of them. At 8AM, the practitioners were ordered out of the room and from 10AM, they were forced to crouch again. At noon, the police brought lunch, and the practitioners began hunger strike. Because the practitioners refused to write the letter of guarantee (for not practicing Falun Gong anymore), some were forced to fill in the application for withdrawing from school. The practitioners were forced to crouch until 5PM, then the 8 practitioners were released. A Ph.D. student was believed to be the organizer and was detained for 30 days. A young female teacher Tong Chu has been detained in the Beijing Qiliqu detention house till now because she opened up a banner on the gate tower at the Tiananmen Square. It was heard that she would be sentenced.
The situation got worse after October 25, 1999. The Tsinghua University forcefully suspended about 25 students (including 10 undergraduates, 7 Ph.D. candidates, 7 Masters, and 1 MBA) for two months without any formality. They also telegraphed the students' parents and asked them to come to school to take their children home. One young teacher was also taken home by her parents. Basically all the students who persisted in their practice were taken home. Two graduate students withdrew from the Communist Party under the pressure. One of them, Yue Yao's (a 1996 Masters student in the institution of Microelectronics) application for withdrawing from both the Communist Party and the university has been approved. In fact, this institute has already tried to push her out. They transferred her residence registration and records away even before she went through the formalities. Another Ph.D. student, Yixiang Li, was detained.
At the beginning of December, the university required that all students who were already sent home to write self-criticisms. The self-criticisms must be written with some "depth" (for example, including something stating that Falun Gong is a "cult"). Those who refuse to write the self-criticism, or whose self-criticisms were not "deep" enough, will be formally suspended until the beginning of the next term. They have to report to the university next term. If they can write a satisfactory self-criticism, then they can resume their studies.
After Yixiang Li (Male, a 1995 Ph.D. student in Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronic Technology, Tsinghua University) was released from the house of detention, his mother and brother came to Beijing trying to persuade him (to give up his practice). He was then sent to attend a "one-person" education class near south Changping (the base for the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technolody of Tsinghua University). Around 20 teachers (with the university vice secretary of the Party Committee, Zaixing Zhang being the group leader) surrounded him everyday trying to persuade him to give up his practice of Falun Gong. During this "education class", under the pressure, he wrote a lot of material against his will, but the university asked him to write even more. He was used as an example and broadcasted on the CCTV news (although he was not named on the air). Later the People's Daily published his article "exposing and criticizing" Falun Gong, which was perhaps based on what he wrote pieced together with something expressing the official will. This student first attracted attention from the police because his "statement of withdrawing from the Communist Party" written in July was posted on the internet. It was heard that while Yixiang Li was on hunger strike in prison, some food was poured down his throat forcefully.
After this incident about Yixiang Li, the central authorities praised the success of the Tsinghua University. They ordered the Tsinghua University to grasp a typical case among its faculty members. At present, Jiuchun Wang (a female teacher for the Tsinghua technology development department, aged over fifty) is regarded as a "key figure in the Beijing city". They put her in an education class, which uses the form of attacking from all sides, and force her to write some materials. Up until December 18th, the university had already put Jiuchun Wang and three other students who persisted in their practice of Falun Gong: Wenyu Liu (male, a Ph.D. student in Dept. of Thermal Engineering), Zhigang Zhang (male, a graduate student in Dept. of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering) and Jinmei Yu (female, a graduate student in Dept. of Chemical Engineering) in the so-called "study and transform class", to "re-educate" and "brainwash" them. The three students were put in separated house arrests. Jiuchun Wang was not house-arrested, she had to go to these classes during daytime, but she was allowed to go home at night. The daily schedule and content of these classes are roughly the following: "study" materials that slander at Falun Gong, then talk to the "leader", then write about their "understanding". The class lasts about a maximum of 20 days. During this time, any "understanding" written that could be utilized would be pieced together to form a so-called "report on a change of mind". It was reported that the article by Yixiang Li was put together in this fashion.
Now, some students have written some "understanding" against their wills under the tremendous pressure from the university and their families. They were allowed to resume their studies by the university, the rest of the students were still suspended. To give a few examples: Chunyan Li (a student in Dept. of Engineering Physics) is at home and suspended because she refused to write any guarantee or understanding. Yan Ma (a student in School of Architecture) applied to withdraw from the university, but the university did not approve the application and suspended her. Zhimei Liu (a student in Dept. of Chemical Engineering), Xiaodan Li (a student in Dept. of Chemical Engineering), Peng Qin (a student in School of Economics and Management), etc. are all still suspended because their "understanding" did not satisfy the university's requirement. Yang Lin (a student in Dept. of Hydraulic and Hydropower Engineering), Yidong Pan (a student in Dept. of Chemical Engineering), Xin Wang (a Ph.D. student in Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology), etc. are still at home and suspended because their "slow understanding". Cunman Zhang (a student in Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology), Weiyu Wang (a Ph.D. student in Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology), Kui Huang (a Ph.D. student in Dept. of Precision Instruments and Mechanology) already had some so-called "understanding", but the university still required them to "study and understand" further, so they have not completely resumed their normal studies yet.
It is said that in order to keep a watch on the acts of those students who practice Falun Gong, the University has transferred their personnel files to the local police station. Ms. Yuxia Jiang once returned to the University without the schools permission, so the police substation confiscated her ID in order to prevent her from leaving. In order to get back her ID, she is required to change her opinions on Falun Gong and reach the Universitys standards, or she will be expelled from school. The police threatened her that if she was expelled from the University, she would be arrested and required to write a "Guarantee". And she may be sent to labor camp if she refuses to cooperate.
It is estimated that now the three students that are under the education of special "classes" may be expelled from school if these "classes" fail to change them. Jun Meng, a teacher of the Department of Electronic Engineering in Tsinghua University, is not allowed to teach and has to wait for the decision of penalty because his point of view on Falun Gong has not reached the Universitys standards. It is said that he may be expelled from school if he cant reach the standards before the beginning of next term. Min Li, an employee of the University-owned enterprise, was required to be taken home by his father. After he returned from home, he wrote some "Understanding and realization", but he didnt "expose and criticize" Falun Gong. Therefore, he still couldnt meet the Universitys requirements, so he may be discharged from the Chinese Communist Party during the Communist Party reorganization.
Yue Yao was taken away by the Street Administrative Office under the excuse of invalid working certificate on January 19th. She has disappeared since then, and no one knows her whereabouts. (note: she came back in Jan. 21 after this file received )
Dazhong Wang, the President of Tsinghua University says that this struggle with the students is a long-term one and it needs to be carried through.
Falun Gong practitioners abroad
January 20, 2000
Attachment:Tsinghua Universitys Views on How to Treat Those Students Who Insist on Practicing Falun Gong
The Views on the Treatment of the Student Status of A Few Students Who Are Required to Introspect at Home because of their Practice of Falun Gong
Recently, according to the gist of higher authorities, the university has adopted some measures on a few students who practice Falun Gong. These measures include asking them to go back home with their parents and introspect for some time. Some students have changed their opinions to different extents. Now after some discussion, Tsinghua University authority has the following views about the treatment to those students status at school:
- All these students must hand in some written materials. These materials have to cover the following points: the students own criticism on "Falun Gong", their introspection on the error to join the Falun Gong activities, their promise to abide by the laws and rules in the future, and other questions that the university requires them to talk about.
- Those students who have had quick changes in opinion and good introspection view on Falun Gong can be allowed to return to school and resume their studies in the near future. The time they spent at home will not be treated as skipping school. They will be examined in all of their courses according to the usual requirements and these students have to be responsible for their own course performance.
- Those students who have failed to make significant progress in their opinions about Falun Gong will not be allowed to return to school. The university asks their parents to cooperate with the school to help them continue introspecting at home. And their parents are also required to go through the procedures to suspend these students schooling without losing their status as students. The time of suspension is temporarily set to start from the day they went back home to the end of this term. Whether or not these students will be allowed to resume their studies next term will depend on the change of their opinions.
- Those students who insist on withdrawing from the school have to submit a formal application to withdraw as required by the university. If the university discusses and agrees to treat them as normal cases to withdraw from school, their parents can come to school to go through relevant procedures with their applications.
School of Graduate Studies
The Tsinghua University Administrative Office
The Tsinghua University Student Affairs Office
November 16, 1999
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
