Calligrapher Mr. Gao Zongzhen Tells of His Experiences Under the CCP's Persecution

By Gao Zongzhen

(Clearwisdom.net) I am a member of the Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Association and the Chinese Public Relations and Artists Committee. I am also the "Loving Ambassador" for the Universal Peace Charity Foundation. My calligraphies have earned many national awards, and many were published in renowned magazines and newspapers. In 2006, I donated 100,000 yuan to the Universal Peace Charity Foundation along with ten of my calligraphies. The foundation engaged me as "Loving Ambassador" and I received a gold medal.

I have practiced Falun Gong for about ten years, beginning in 1997. In April 1999, He Zuoxiu slandered Falun Gong in a magazine in Tianjin City. Dafa practitioners appealed in Tianjin. The police subsequently arrested more than 40 practitioners. On "April 25," practitioner Zhang Zhenyuan and I went to appeal near Zhongnanhai (the central government compound in Beijing) where more than 10,000 Dafa practitioners participated in the appeal. Practitioners were peaceful and well-meaning. We left the Zhongnanhai area at 9:30 p.m.

On the evening of July 19, 1999, I had gone to Zhang Zhenyuan's home to study the Fa and heard from him that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) planned to start persecuting Falun Gong. Zhang Zhenyuan and I went to appeal at the National Appeals Office. The police sent us to Fengtai Stadium where many practitioners had been taken. The police kept us under surveillance from morning to night without providing us food or water. Meanwhile, in the afternoon the police divided the practitioners based on their home districts. In the evening we were forced onto buses. Some practitioners were dragged and beaten into the buses. When we got to Guan City, Hebei Province, the police pushed us off the bus and left.

In November 1999 when practitioners Zhang Zhenyuan, Liu Shuxia and Xie Guangde and I were studying the Fa at Zhang Zhenyuan's home, the police found us, confiscated our books, and took us to the local police station. They claimed they would treat us worse if we continued to study Falun Gong.

Since the Chinese Communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong, the police have often interrogated me, and I was dismissed from the company I worked for due to my Falun Gong practice. I was very puzzled as to why the regime persecutes and bans this great practice.

I gradually realized and understood the evilness of the CCP. Along with our local practitioners, Zhang Zhenyuan, Liu Shuxia, Lu Hongqi, Li Yan, Zhong Jianxia, Ma Shuchun and Liu Shuhua and I used different approaches, including distributing truth-clarifying materials and giving speeches, appealing to clarify the truth about the Communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong.

In December 1999 I hung a huge banner reading, "Falun Dafa is the Righteous Fa" on the Huayi Bridge (known as "the First Bridge at the Gate of the Country") at the airport. The banner told foreign friends who came to visit China about Falun Gong practitioners' aspirations, the determination for their cultivation practice and their perseverance in the face of persecution.

On December 31, 2000, Li Yan, Zhong Jianxia, Li Baoxia, Wang Zhengyi and I went to Tiananmen Square. Right when we got there, we saw the police beating another two practitioners. I shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" They then brutally beat me. Li Yan and others came to stop the police, and they were beaten as well. Zhong Jianxia's forehead was bleeding from the beatings. She fainted right there on the square. The same night, the five of us were sent to the Tianzhu Police Station and were locked up for 24 hours without food or water. We were also forbidden to use the bathroom. The night of January 1, 2001, the five of us were sent to Nihe Detention Center and were illegally detained there for 15 days. Li Yan was detained for 30 days.

On January 16, 2001, after 15 days of detention, we were due to be released. But the police didn't let us go. They took us to the Tianzhu Police Station. We were locked up together with practitioners Ma Shuchun, Liu Shuhua, Wang Guiying, and Gui Shihua, who had been arrested at their homes. People from the 610 Office attempted to brainwash us and force us to "reform." They tried to force us to give up practicing cultivation and Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. They attempted to force me to read articles slandering Dafa. I then took out "Zhuan Falun" from my pocket (the book was brought in the detention center by other practitioners. I had it with me at the time) and started reading. The people from 610 Office ran out to call the police. Police officers came in to take away my book. I said with determination, "I will not give the book to you, even if you kill me." Other practitioners all came to protect the book. The policemen didn't know what else to do. They then said, "You go out of the room. We need to talk to you!" I then gave the book to Ma Shuchun and said, "Continue to study." I walked out of the room with the police. Because I took the lead to study Zhuan Falun, I was viewed as a leader and was detained in a solitary confinement cell.

On the morning of January 23, 2001, practitioner Ma Shuchun took advantage of the police's inattention and ran out of the police station to appeal at Tiananmen Square. The agents at the Tianzhu Police Station started watching us more closely. They called for a very evil policeman, Yang Dongguang, to deal with practitioners. On the afternoon of January 23, Yang Dongguang and another seven or eight policemen took me to a room. They beat me, kicked me and stepped on me. When I tried to stand up, they pushed me to a corner. I stared at these despicable officers. Yang Dongguang shouted, "Close your eyes!" I said, "I am not even allowed to have my eyes open. You are too evil." He came to slap me and shouted as he was slapping, "Close your eyes, close your eyes..." He didn't stop until he was finally tired. He handcuffed my hands behind my back and took me to a room, about 13 square meters in size, with a window on the west side. There was a bed each on the south, west and north side. Several practitioners were sitting on the beds. After the police otook me to the room, they had me squat, facing the wall. Yang Dongguang said to me, "Gan Zongzhen, are your handcuffs tight?" I said, "No matter how tight they are, I will not give in for you evil police. I will not give up on my belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." He then raised my hands from my back and tightened the handcuffs more. I immediately felt great pain. He pushed me to the bed on the west side and forced me to bend over and pushed me under the bed.

Soon after that, Ma Shuchun, who had gone to Tiananmen Square in the morning, was taken back to the Tianzhu Police Station. Police Station head Mao beat, kicked, handcuffed and forced him to bend over and go under the bed on the north side of the room. At around 5:00 p.m. the police took several of us to a solitary confinement cell and forced us to stand for the whole night without food and water. At 2:00 a.m. the police ordered us to write a statement. When they opened my handcuffs, I noticed my badly swollen hands. I wrote, "I don't want to get political, but I want to say from the bottom of my heart: Falun Dafa is good. I am willing to use my life to stand up for the belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." After the police read my statement, they handcuffed me again from the back and sent me to the solitary confinement cell, to force me to stand again. The next morning Liu Shuhua had a bad nose-bleed and fainted on the floor. They then stopped making us stand. As a result of police torture, practitioner Zhong Jianxia suffered two broken ribs.

When the police and people from the 610 Office realized that the physical tortures did not work on us, they started attacking us mentally. They went to my home to deceive my 80-year-old father and my wife. They attempted to force my father and wife to cooperate with them. My father and wife had read Zhuan Falun. They knew that Dafa is good and refused to cooperate. So the police threatened my family and said, "Gao Zongzhen practices Falun Gong. Your family will have a hard time finding jobs. Your child's school and job will be affected as well. If you can convince Gao Zongzhen to give up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, your family will not be impacted."

My aging father, in ill health, couldn't endure the harassment and threats. He had fallen down on March 2, 2001. When my wife asked them to release me to take care of my father, they forced my wife to pay a 20,000 yuan "fine" and did not provide a receipt. At around 8:00 p.m. on March 5, 2001, when I returned home with my wife, my father had already lost consciousness, and he passed away the next morning.

The company I worked for dismissed me for practicing Falun Gong. While I was looking for a job the police created havoc at many companies, and they were afraid of being implicated. I was unable to find a job for a long time. Teachers at school discriminated against my daughter Gao Yang because of her Falun Gong practice. In June 2001, my friend Qiu Liquan hired me to work for his company. While working there I was followed, and the police monitored me. My phone was tapped as well. It made my life and work greatly inconvenient. During those days, my daughter and I tried to find a way to evade the persecutors' monitoring in order to distribute truth-clarifying materials. We used our mouths to tell people the truth of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong.

In April 2004, the police didn't like the fact that my place of employment was far away from my home, and it was difficult for them to keep me under surveillance. So they harassed my company and I thus lost my new job.

On December 15, 2006, the police arrested me and took me to the Tianzhu Police Station. They insisted that someone had reported me for distributing truth-clarifying materials. They asked me for the source of the materials and where I stored them. I said, "I do not have any materials." They then sent several policemen to my home to search. When my daughter heard that the police had arrested me, she immediately moved the materials to another practitioner's place. The police were unable to find anything. Without any evidence, they had to let me go home.

After I eventually came to Australia with my daughter, we had great experiences meeting the kind-hearted and noble Australian people and government. There are countless examples. Once, my daughter and I were lost on an Australian street. Someone pointed us in the right direction. My landlord knew that we had just come to Australia and that I had not yet found a job, so he offered help and support and made life convenient for us.

The Chinese police found out that my daughter and I had gone to Australia. They threatened my wife, "If they make any comments in Australia, you will suffer. There are many Chinese spies in Australia who will monitor their activities."

But I believe that righteousness will defeat all evil. I will work with the practitioners in Australia, with the Australian people, and with the people of the whole world to expose the evil CCP's crimes.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/4/16/152877.html

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