(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Hu Hexiang, a Dafa practitioner from Badaohe village, Qinglong County, Qinhuangdao City, was 58 years old. He was very healthy, and was able to ride several hundred miles to Beijing on a bicycle to appeal for Falun Gong. Mr. Hu died after being cruelly tortured and persecuted psychologically on many occasions by the authorities.

Mr. Hu began practicing Falun Dafa in 1996, and his mind and body improved a lot. After July 20, 1999, the cultivation of Falun Dafa was publicly demonized, devastating the practice environment. Mr. Hu felt very bad about this, so again and again he went to the village office, the county office, and the appealing office to explain the benefits of Dafa. But, he was arrested each time and local government officials claimed they were just following orders from the top. On December 28,1999, Mr. Hu decided to travel to Beijing via bicycle to appeal for Falun Gong. In Tiananmen Square there were plain-clothed and uniformed police stationed every few feet. No sooner had he arrived at Jinshui Bridge, Mr. Hu was taken away in a police van and then, on Chinese New Year Day of 2000, he was sent to the Qinglong County Detention Center. The police committed many atrocities at the Qinlong County Detention Center to persecute Dafa practitioners. Tortures such as forced squatting for extended periods, lashing with leather straps, forcing practitioners to jump like a frog while hands and legs were shackled, etc. were used. More inhumanely, in the cold winter, the police poured water on the ground to make ice and then forced practitioners to lie face-down on the icy surface to freeze. The hands and legs of many detained practitioners became so swollen from the tortures that they were unable to walk; the handcuffs and shackles cut into their flesh, causing bleeding and infection, which became necrotic due to lack of medical care. The practitioners were forced to write and sign "Guarantee Letters" [A statement declaring that he or she regrets practicing Falun Gong and guarantees not to practice Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and to never associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.] or get their families to pay enormous fines to obtain their release.

Qinglong County is known as one of the poorest mountain areas of China. Due to their poverty and lack of money for medical care, many villagers began learning Falun Gong, as it was free of charge. They soon found that it was effective in making them healthy. Therefore, many local people became Dafa practitioners. Now the evil regime even deprives the people of the basic human right to practice Falun Gong to improve and maintain their health. Most people in this area are extremely poor and survive on a day-to-day level. How could the families get extra money for the illegal fines? Thus, because he refused to give up the cultivation practice, Mr. Hu suffered many cruel tortures. This almost 60-year-old practitioner kept his firm belief and went on hunger strikes. After several months of torture in the detention center, he was finally released when he was near death. Mr. Hu was sent home only because the detention center feared being held responsible for his death. After his release, the police still forced him to attend a brainwashing session and tried many ways to make him write a Guarantee Letter.

On July 16, 2001 at a fellow practitioner's house, Mr. Hu Hexiang was abducted by six people from the Village Secretary General's office and the local police station. They beat and kicked him terribly on the way to the detention center, where he was tortured again. For example, the warden hit and broke Mr. Hu's rib, which left him unable to move. This persecution lasted several months until Mr. Hu was on the verge of death from the repeated torture. One month after he was sent home, Mr. Hu Hexiang passed away on December 16, 2001 of the lunar calendar.