(Clearwisdom.net) Yu Yaou, a Ph.D. student from the South China Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned Falun Gong in the acknowledgment section of his PhD thesis. Soon after, Mr. Yu's PhD thesis defense, which was set to be held on February 4, 2010, was canceled. His graduation has also been canceled until he removes the acknowledgement to Falun Gong in his thesis.

The various persecutory methods used by the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 610 Office and personnel from the South China Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences to threaten and harass him have been exposed on the Clearwisdom website. The South China Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences have tried to use both the "Student Registration Management" and "Rules for Student Management" to accuse him of not following correct student procedures according to their rules, so that they can shift the responsibility of canceling his thesis defense back onto him.

On March 20, the person in charge from the notorious 610 Office came to Jinan to pressure Yu Yaou's family, saying that they were "giving him another opportunity." They sent their notice via the Chinese Academy of Sciences. All the methods used by the 610 Office are attempting to pressure Yu Yaou and his family so that he will go back to Guangzhou for the his much awaited "thesis defense." But when his family asked whether it's safe for him to go back to Guangzhou, the 610 Office agent replied, "There is no safety issue, but he may be sent to a study class (brainwashing session)."

The real goal of the 610 Office is to get Yu Yaou to go back to Guangzhou, so they can brainwash him and try to force him to give up Falun Dafa.

Strange Notices Sent

The Education Department of South China Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences sent a notice to the company where Yu Yaou's father works on March 8. On March 9, the notice was also sent to Yu Yaou's home via express mail. It says, "According to requirements of the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Science's notice on March 5, 2010, registration for the graduation certificate for graduates in Spring session 2010, the Garden needs to report the registration by March 12, 2010." "According to your request for thesis defense in Spring 2010, we ask that you return to the school before March 11, 2010, to finish the thesis defense for your graduation."

Before receiving this notice, the director of the Education Department repeatedly emphasized, "Your information has been submitted to the graduation information database. This database will be closed on February 15. Please finish the thesis defense before that date." So Yu Yaou requested that the Education Department director send a request for extension to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His request was denied, so Yu Yaou discussed this with his professor and decided to set the date of February 4 for his thesis defense.

Yu Yaou replied to the notice by fax, "The graduate school has submitted my graduation information to the database in 2009 after my confirmation. So my graduation process does not need to follow the additional registration reporting rules and notice sent out by the graduate school. Additionally, South China Botanical Garden canceled my thesis defense which was set to be held on February 4, 2010, without any legal basis, simply because of one sentence in the acknowledgment section of my thesis. It also delayed my graduation process. I urge the South China Botanical Garden to arrange my graduation according the rules, and not delay without a legal reason."

Strange Phone Calls

After the Education Department received his fax, he received two phone calls from his professor and a person in charge of the Education Department. His professor said, "Without taking out the sentence, you cannot do your thesis defense. Due to political sensitivity, no one can agree to let you go ahead with your thesis defense. It's not because I want to give you a hard time, its just that this is impossible to do. After you take out that sentence, South China Botanical Garden will let you do your thesis defense. If I did let you go ahead, I would be blamed for going against the government. Even though I agree, the management level will not agree. The result is the same." Yu Yaou pointed out, "I will not give up my thesis defense. I will try my best to finish it. I want the legal rights to which I am entitled. You also have your rights to make a decision. I hope you choose the correct one."

The person in charge of the Education Department called and said, "Additional registration has two meanings. One, we reported the data for those students who received notice and were confirmed for thesis defense in December 2009. Second, for the students whose data has been reported but who have not yet finished their thesis defense, we need to cancel the data during this process." Yu Yaou replied, "I have repeatedly asked for my thesis defense, but my request has been denied." The person said, "The Education Department has documented what you need to do to complete your thesis. We will pass along the notice and assign the tasks. You should do what you should do. If you cannot do it, we will report that you did not finish it." Yu Yaou said, "The date is set for February 4. If your department doesn't let me finish it, your department should be responsible for the consequences. I am not referring to you, I mean that the institute has made a mockery of the system rules."

The person in charge said, "You told me that you have nothing to do with the additional registration. I explained that it is related to you. If I don't receive your confirmation of thesis defense before March 12, I will cancel the data we sent out for you. We told you ahead of time, and told you before the deadline. This period of the time is decided by rules of the Education Department and the institute. We do things according to that. If you don't do it on time, then you need to be responsible for that. The break notice on the website states that all students need to be back for registration before March 1. You have missed the date." Yu Yaou replied, "First, I declared that I have finished my schooling, so I am not on break any longer. There are no break rules to which I need to comply. Second, you canceled my thesis defense without any legal basis, and you need to be held responsible for the consequences! As long as you don't answer my reasonable request to allow me to finish the thesis defense, I will not give up my rights to thesis defense!"

Yu Yaou then sent a fax to the South China Botanical Garden and Chinese Academy of Sciences informing them that he will use the law to protect his rights if the garden does not correct their illegal actions that constitute persecution of him.