(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Zhang Huifang [phonetic spelling] was a dancer with the Yichang City Dancing and Singing Group of Hubei Province. She had retired before she died. Before practicing Falun Gong she was in poor health and had been diagnosed with a brain disease. She told people that while dancing, she would become dizzy, which affected her vision and at times she lost consciousness. Her legs and feet began to suffer from different kinds of leg ailments, which in turn affected her ability to walk. Therefore, she no longer could dance.

She began to practice Falun Gong around 1996. At the beginning, since she could not walk very well, her husband would take her to a group practice site. Because of practicing Falun Gong, she quickly regained her health. Very soon, she could walk to the practice site by herself. Practicing Falun Gong let her regain a rosy complexion, and she again could move gracefully and easily. People around her noted that she looked younger. She became a happy person. Her husband was very happy about the changes he saw in her and thus very supportive of her practice. She enjoyed a happy family life.

After Jiang's political group begans its persecution campaign against Falun Gong after July 20, 1999, Zhang Huifang suffered much because of the persecution. Police officers from Yunji Police Station, Yuchang City harassed her frequently. Hu Tao was then the deputy head of Yunji Police Station. Because of such pressure, Zhang Huifang could no longer to practice her Falun Gong exercises freely like before the persecution started and it became difficult for her study the Falun Gong principles with other practitioners. She became very distressed.

Gradually, her health deteriorated and she took a turn for the worse. She no longer retained the good health she had gained from practicing Falun Gong. Her brain disease recurred, and she was hospitalized in the Yuchang Cancer Hospital. From that time onwards, she was unable to continue practicing Falun Gong. Those who visited her at the hospital told us that because of the medical treatment she had received, her head had been shaved and half of her skull had collapsed due to the brain surgery. People could not recognize her at first. This was not the healthy look they remembered when she practiced Falun Gong. There was no comparison between what she looked like now and what she looked like before. People felt deep sadness for her situation.

Zhang's family is not wealthy. To treat her disease, they spent about 70,000 yuan (the monthly salary of a rural Chinese worker is about 500 yuan), which included the money set aside for her son's wedding. She died in 2003. Leaders of Zhang's former working unit and her former colleagues are all disgusted with the police officers that constantly harassed her.

Another family who had enjoyed a happy life because of practicing Falun Gong has thus been destroyed by Jiang's political group's campaign of persecution.

2004-4-14