(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhang Jian, 71, from Xianning City, Hubei Province, has been detained for more than 13 months for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhang, a retired chemistry teacher who taught at Yongan Middle School, talked to people about Falun Gong after 9 a.m. on September 22, 2023, when three men and one woman suddenly surrounded him. The four plainclothes officers beat him and took him to a local lockup. His home was also raided. About one month later, he was transferred to a detention center, where he remains.
This is not the first time that Mr. Zhang has been targeted for his faith, which he took up in June 1996. He was previously detained seven times and his wife divorced him in 2004, fearing that their daughter would be implicated because he practiced Falun Gong. The couple later remarried.
In 1998, Mr. Zhang’s school needed a teacher to temporarily serve as a lab technician. While others tried their best to avoid the “lowly” job, Mr. Zhang said yes without hesitation. When he purchased lab equipment and supplies, the vendors all offered to write higher amounts on the invoices so he could pocket the difference when he was reimbursed. He always declined the offer even though this is a common practice in China. Another time, his school was used for adult learner exams, and the students offered each proctor 100 yuan in bribes. When he declined the other teachers ridiculed him for being foolish.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, however, Mr. Zhang was given low marks on “ethics” during the annual teacher evaluations. The school administration said while Mr. Zhang excelled in other aspects, his practice of Falun Gong was the reason for low his ethics score.
In 2004, then principal Yu Dezhi persuaded the local education bureau to reassign Mr. Zhang to an elementary school so he didn’t have to “deal with” a Falun Gong practitioner-teacher. Yu soon regretted his decision as no other teachers were willing to organize and coach students to do some mandatory lab experiments required by the education bureau. He ended up bringing Mr. Zhang back to the middle school, even though he and the other school officials continued to give Mr. Zhang low ethics scores (which resulted in no pay raises or promotions).
In 2001, Mr. Zhang wrote a letter to a colleague explaining the facts of Falun Gong. Then principal Yu reported him to the Yongan Police Station, which notified Captain Zeng Guohua at its supervising agency, the Xian’an District Domestic Security Division. Zeng arrested Mr. Zhang on April 29, 2001, and held him at the Maoershan Detention Center for 31 days, during which time he was temporarily brought to a beer factory to do hard labor without pay.
Mr. Zhang mentioned Falun Gong in a class in 2002 and a student reported him to principal Yu, who in turn notified the police. Captain Zeng arrested Mr. Zhang on November 4 that year and kept him at the Maoershan Detention Center for 33 days.
Under the directive of Hu Guoqiang (secretary of the Xian’an District Political and Legal Affairs Committee), the school administration took Mr. Zhang to the Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center (located in the capital city of Wuhan) on September 3, 2004. Two people monitored him around the clock and recorded his every move and word. They ordered him to renounce his faith. When he refused, they verbally abused him or deprived him of sleep. Unable to cope, Mr. Zhang wrote a statement against his will to renounce Falun Gong. He was released 31 days later.
Mr. Zhang was taken to the same brainwashing center again on February 21, 2006 and held there for 41 days. Wang Puxiang and Chen Shengli, head and vice head of the Xian’an District 610 Office ordered the arrest. The monitors at the brainwashing center spit phlegm on Mr. Zhang’s face and forced him to watch videos and write reports smearing Falun Gong and its founder. A total of 4,100 yuan was deducted from his pay to cover the 100-yuan daily expenses.
Yao Xiong, vice head of the Xianning City 610 Office and Chen Yuansheng, vice head of the Xian’an District 610 Office instructed the police and then school principal Chen Jin to arrest Mr. Zhang on May 16, 2012. They took him to a brainwashing center in Xianning City and held him there for ten days. Prior to the arrest, Chen begged Mr. Zhang to report to the brainwashing center himself as the school was pressured to make him renounce his faith. When Mr. Zhang said no, the police came and took him away.
Captain Zeng of the Xian’an District Domestic Security Division and officer Yang Fan from the Yongan Police Station arrested Mr. Zhang on May 15, 2013 and held him at the Maoershan Detention Center for 11 days.
Between 2017 and 2022, Yao Xiong (head of the Xianning City 610 Office) and Zou Yu (vice captain of the Xianning City Domestic Security Division) instructed the local police to harass Falun Gong practitioners in their jurisdictions. Mr. Zhang was harassed numerous times by Cheng Shengli (Xian’an District 610 Office), officer Xu Chengzhong of the Xian’an District Domestic Security Division, Shihaoqiao Police Station officers, and community staffers.
On September 5, 2022, a man surnamed Ouyang and a woman surnamed Huang from the local community showed up at the door. Mr. Zhang demanded to see their IDs and condemned them for harassing Falun Gong practitioners. They attempted to go inside and take a look. Mr. Zhang firmly refused to let them in.
Eight police officers broke into Mr. Zhang’s home on the night of September 21, 2022. They confiscated his laptop, cell phone and all his Falun Gong books. He refused to go with them and his neighbors came out to see what the commotion was about. His daughter, who happened to be visiting, tried to stop the police from taking him away. The police seized her as well. Her mother warned them, “My daughter is still nursing her baby. I will fight you if anything happens to her!”
The police let go of Mr. Zhang’s daughter but put a black hood on his head. They took him to the Tongshan County Detention Center and did not release him until September 28, 2022.