Transcribed from the following eye-witness account:
[Minghui Net] Hebei Province's Zanhuang County is located in an impoverished area of the Taihang Mountains. The people there are simple and kind.
Lei Zhenmin, (pseudonym) used to suffer from breast cancer, and had surgery on December 23, 1991. (Date on the Chinese lunar calendar) The operation left her with a 10 mm long (approx. 3.9 inches) scar. The wound seeped pus constantly and the incision didn't heal. She underwent chemotherapy and physical therapy numerous times at No. 4 Hospital of Hebei Province, but the treatments had no effect. In 1993 she was afflicted with heart disease, osteoporosis, ruptured discs in her back, and a gynecological disease. These diseases advanced to such an extent that she was unable to do basic household chores and personal care tasks, such as cooking and taking showers. During her illness, she went to the No. 4 Provincial Hospital for treatment of her heart disease, and at one time spent 5,800 Yuan [about $700, average monthly income in rural China is about $25] on medication, which later proved to be ineffective. She also went to a military branch hospital five times for treatment of her back problems. Even those treatments did not improve her medical condition. In addition, she used expensive special medicines and practiced a kind of qigong for over one year to alleviate her ailments. In spite of all these expenses of time and money, none of her illnesses showed any improvement. Seeing that the huge cost of medical treatment was eating away her meager family savings, and being so disabled and "good for nothing," she became so desperate that she even wanted to commit suicide.
However, in February of 1997 she found and began to practice Falun Gong. In less than half a year, all of her symptoms had miraculously disappeared. After she had whole-heartedly embraced Falun Gong and Dafa cultivation, Jiang Zemin and his followers suddenly labeled Falun Gong as [slanderous words omitted-translator] and shamelessly made up rumors and lies about it. Jiang and his cronies did everything they could to prevent more people from cultivating "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" [the three guiding principles of Falun Gong, the Universal Law --translator]. In order to prove that Dafa is good and to clarify the truth to people, Lei Zhenmin went to Beijing with several other Dafa practitioners in December of 1999 to appeal for Falun Dafa, as permitted by Chinese law under the Chinese Constitution. However, she was escorted back by the police, illegally detained for over one month, and fined 2,300 Yuan (about $260.00). One day in July 2000, when she was doing chores at home, people from the local police station arrived at her home and, under false pretenses, took her away. The police officers said that she had to go with them to attend a "study class." [designed to brainwash practitioners and persuade them to give up Falun Gong --translator] She was again detained over a month. On September 15th, 2000, around 4:00 pm, Feng Jiangjun (the head of the local police station), who is the nephew-in-law of the deputy head (Qin Xinguo) of the county police department, led a group of police to illegally search her house. They also told her they were going to hold a meeting for Falun Dafa practitioners, and thereby tricked her into going away with them for the second time. Right now she has been illegally detained over half a year, with no indication from the police of when she will be released. She has held two hunger strikes, which totaled 35 days.
Her relatives have gone to the County Police Department and the County Politics and Law Department numerous times, attempting to get her released. The police answered the relatives' questions regarding her release with "she has to pay a fine of 5,000 Yuan [about $600.00; the monthly income in rural areas of China is $25.00. This sum of 5,000 Yuan represents about two year's income of a rural Chinese citizen] and we won't release her until she pays. Furthermore, she will have to admit her 'mistake' on TV."
Right now, a lot of Dafa practitioners are still being detained in the Zanhuang County detention center. After paying these illegal fines, many families in this poverty-stricken area of Hebei Province are already penniless. Those who can't afford the fine have to stay in detention and suffer. I hope kindhearted people will help us to get justice and that good people will pay attention to Dafa practitioners' ordeals and stand up for their rights.
April 30, 2001