Qi Fengqin, 43 years old, was a Falun Gong practitioner in Liaocheng, Shandong Province. She was a steadfast believer of Dafa and a diligent cultivator. Before her death, she was an accountant at the Liaocheng Agricultural Department and a member of the Communist Party. She was fired from her job in 1999 due to practicing Falun Gong. One day in early September of 2000, she went out to pass out truth-clarifying flyers such as "The Truth about Falun Dafa and How Its Practitioners Have Been Persecuted." As a result, she was arrested and thrown in jail. A month later (around October 11, 2000), the news that she had passed away came out.

The authorities refused to release her after she finished her term at the detention center. Instead, they continued to hold her at the local police squad, where she protested by six days of hunger strike. The cause of her death is not clear at this point, since only scattered information has been received. One theory is that the police killed her when they tried to force-feed her and the feeding tube punctured her lung. Another report claims that the autopsy discovered a large area of her stomach had been chemically burned. After her death, the authorities froze her body without giving her loved ones a chance to pay their final respects. The authorities also tried to prevent the news of her death from getting out. Practitioners who knew what happened were all thrown in jail within days following her death. In addition, her husband has vanished. The authorities have also extended the prison term of a fellow practitioner with the surname of Li, who was locked up in the same jail cell with Qi Fengqin.

In addition, after October 1 (the Chinese National Day), countless local practitioners have been thrown into various jails and prisons. Once the practitioners are locked up, it becomes very difficult to have them released, and their friends and family members are not allowed to see them.

As I am writing this, the smiling faces of the fellow practitioners keep popping into my head. These people, who are as dear to me as my own family, have all been arrested one by one. The evil forces are presiding over this ancient city. The conditions in the prisons are extremely poor, and nobody knows how the practitioners are doing right now.

A Falun Gong Practitioner from Liaocheng, Shandong Province

October 19, 2000