(Clearwisdom.net)

July 3, 2004 was the third day of bike trip for a group of teenage Falun Gong practitioners, ages 14 to 17. They took off from Toronto, Canada and are on their way to Washington, D.C., U.S.A. They call this trip "a Bike Trip for Young People." The goal of this trip is to draw people's attention to the great harm brought to over 14 million Chinese children by the persecution of Falun Gong in China. Many of them have been expelled from school, separated from their parents and some have even died during the persecution. Canadian CBC Radio reported on this activity. Cars that passed the bike group slowed down for the safety of the young practitioners, and many of them gave the bike riders the "thumbs up." The group entered Buffalo, New York on July 4, 2004.

Facts of the Persecution

On the morning of June 30, 2004, the Longfeng District Court in Daqing City unconstitutionally tried Dafa practitioners Liu Fenglin, Zhu Huaying and Han Jianju. The judge never allowed the practitioners to speak or to defend themselves during the trial. After the trial, when a Dafa practitioner's son and a nephew asked for the verdict, the police officers grabbed them and handcuffed them for about 40 minutes before releasing them.

Dafa practitioners Fan Guihuan, her husband Luan Zhiyi and their family suffered all kinds of mistreatment under the persecution since it began in 1999. They were detained many times and were forced to leave home. Luan Zhiyi was unlawfully sentenced to three years of forced labor.

My name is Qi Xiaoping and I was a senior-level teacher at the Dadong Street Kindergarten in Zhongjiang County, Deyang City, Sichuan Province. I was fired because I refused to give up practicing Falun Dafa. In order to avoid hurting my husband and child, because of the government's implication policies, I had to divorce my husband. In September 2001, I was sent to a brainwashing class and held there for over three months. On January 8, 2002, I was sent to the Nanmenwai Detention Center, where the guards hit me with a club a dozen times until the area below my waist turned black and blue. I was also forced to work for 12 to 14 hours daily to make products for sale. I was held at this detention center for one month and then I was sentenced to one year of forced labor, to be served at Zizhong Forced Labor Camp. On the way, other practitioners and I kept sending forth righteous thoughts and we escaped when the vehicle stopped at a gas station.

Sun Ranzhi is a female Dafa practitioner in her late 60s. She lived in Taihe County, Anhui Province. She suffered from numerous illnesses prior to Dafa practice, and the doctor had told her she had only six months to live. After she began practicing Dafa, however, all of her illnesses disappeared. In August 2003, perpetrators from Taihe County's "610 Office" (1) arrested Ms. Sun, her daughter and her daughter-in-law for distributing truth clarification information. Later, the perpetrators constantly harassed Sun Ranzhi until her health declined. In early 2004, collaborator Jia Shuling [former Falun Gong practitioner who went astray after torture and brainwashing] often went to Sun Ranzhi's home to harass her, until Sun Ranzhi passed away in April 2004.

Mr. Liang Xiansen, a retired official from Fuyang City, Anhui Province was detained by personnel from the "610 Office" for practicing Falun Gong. He suffered greatly and passed away on September 27, 2003.

Since the persecution began on July 20, 1999, the perpetrators at Shandong Petroleum University, including the Party Committee secretary of the university, lawless officials for the colleges and various divisions participated in the persecution using underhanded means. In March and April 2004, the persecution cases of 13 Dafa practitioners were reported on Minghui.net (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net). During this period, the university officials tried to force university student Wang Jianhua to give up Dafa practice. Later, the perpetrators notified Daqing Petroleum Corporation Ltd. where Wang Jianhua had been assigned to work, and as a result the company refused to accept him.

Mr. Sha Litian is a 60-year-old resident of Xizhou, Douzhangzhuang Township, Wuqing District, Tianjin City. Mr. Sha was given a second chance at life when he began practicing Falun Dafa. His former illnesses, including high blood pressure, stomach problems, and lack of sufficient blood supply to the brain, all disappeared. After the persecution began in 1999, he spoke the truth about Dafa and the perpetrators ransacked his home, fined him, detained him and sent him to a labor camp. In the wintertime, the guards at the Jianxin Labor Camp in Tianjin City stripped off all his clothes, put him in a wooden cage, opened the window and turned on the fans to blow cold air on him. Mr. Sha could neither squat nor sit in the cage, and he was locked in the cage for seven days and seven nights. During the whole time he held a hunger strike to protest his detention and mistreatment. The guards shocked his mouth and face with electric batons; they wrapped his mouth and head with scotch tape and put a helmet on his head, which almost suffocated him. The perpetrators didn't release him until he was on the brink of death. They told his family to pick him up and extorted several thousand Yuan (2) for "medical expenses."

Notes

(1) The "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

(2) Yuan: unit of Chinese currency; the average monthly income for an urban worker in China is approximately 500 Yuan.