Falun Dafa practitioner Xu Chunzhi is a 45-year-old female employee at Huazhong Science & Technology University. On July 22, 1999, the Chinese government announced a crackdown of Falun Gong. On July 27, Xu went to Beijing to petition for Falun Dafa. She was detained and sent back to Wuhan on August 5.
On August 30, Xu went to Beijing again to petition for Dafa. She was arrested on September 1 and detained at Fangshan Detention Center for 11 days before she was escorted back to Wuhan. The University forced her to attend a "transformation and education class" (a type of brainwash tactic employed by the Chinese government) and put her under surveillance. On October 22, the officials from Wuhan Public Security Department asked her, "If Falun Gong is labeled as evil cult, are you still going to petition for it?" Xu firmly replied, "Yes. I will guard Dafa with my life."
On October 24, the second day that Falun Dafa was labeled as "evil cult", Xu went to Beijing again to appeal for Dafa. She went to Tiananmen Square and was arrested. She persisted in Dafa study and started a hunger strike in prison. A few days later, the police were afraid and started to force feed her through a tube inserted into her stomach while keeping both of her hands handcuffed. She endured the sharp pain in her throat and firmly safeguarded Dafa. She was sent back to Wuhan on Nov.4. The University again forced her to go through the "transformation and education class". She stayed firm in Dafa cultivation and continued the hunger strike. On the 12th day of the strike, the official at the Security Department was afraid that her life was in danger and sent her back home. They installed a tapping device at her home and put her under daily surveillance.
On December 22, Xu Chunzhi and some practitioners at the University began the group practice on the campus and it lasted for 8 days before they were all detained. The police from the Department of Public Security in Wuhan City illegally ransacked their homes and confiscated their Dafa books. Xu was again detained, and she started another hunger strike. She was released 7 days later. She continued to participate the group practices on campus with practitioners at the University. It lasted for 37 days before she was detained again on February 22, 2000. When the police asked her, "Are you going to practice Falun Gong again? If you are, we will send you to labor camp for 2 years." She replied without hesitation, "Yes, I am." Then they sent her to Hewan labor camp. They cut off her hair and ordered her to recite the prison rules. She refused and said, "I did not commit any crime and should not recite the prison rules. I practice Falun Dafa openly and did not break any law. I should not be put in prison." She started a hunger strike and was sent to a hospital 15 days later for physical examination. The doctors found that her health condition was very poor. However, the officials at the detention center did not want to release her and brought her back to the prison. She was force fed daily and on the 18th day of the forced feeding the manager at the center thought that she might die and asked her to write a will. She wrote down two poems from "Hong Yin" by the Teacher to express her firmness in Dafa cultivation and determination in safeguarding Dafa with her life. On the 25th day of her hunger strike, the officials at the center was afraid that her life might be in danger and sent her back home.
On April 11, Xu and another 11 practitioners walked to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. On the night on April 14, they were detained on the interstate road 107 at Ci County in Hebei Province, and were locked up at the County's police station. They were photographed and detained at the station. They had a group hunger strike and wrote an appealing letter to protest. They were escorted back to Wuhan on April 18. Xu Chunzhi and Zhao Xiujian were locked in iron cells at the Police Department on the campus. They were not released until the night of April 25. They were on hunger strike for 11 days and suffered numerous tortures during the time.
On July 11, 2000, the police again sent her to Hewan labor camp. Xu again went on hunger strike to protest. During the brutal forced feeding, the officials at the center loosened and knocked off her teeth while prying open her mouth, and wounded her throat while inserting the tube into her stomach. Xu endured the great pain that was beyond one's imagination and remained firm in Dafa cultivation. She safeguarded and validated Dafa with her life.
Until today, she has been on hunger strike for over 100 days, and her life is in danger. Her teenage son was left at home alone. The police do not allow anyone to visit her, including her family members. Her whereabouts and recent condition are unknown.
We urgently call on practitioners to pay close attention to Xu's situation and help by asking the Public Security Department to release Xu immediately.
During the past year when Dafa was suppressed by the evil beings in this human world, Xu participated in a group petition at the government office of Hubei Province on July 27, personally went to Beijing to petition and was detained and sent to labor camp. During this time, she was firm in cultivation and endured great suffering to safeguard and validate Dafa with her life. What she has done demonstrated what the Teacher has said, "Dafa and its students, who have truly been performing as the greatest practitioners of a righteous cultivation way, have passed through this." ("Eliminate your last attachment(s)") and that "All of the students who are clarifying the truth today in order to validate Dafa have done really well. I have thoroughly affirmed this. What they have been doing is absolutely correctthere is no doubt about this. I hope everyone remains clearheaded." ("Suffocate the Evil").
What Xu has done to safeguard and validate Dafa has influenced and inspired the practitioners who were not cultivating as diligently, and could not put down the human mentality and attachment to step forward to join the Fa-rectification process following the Teacher's teaching. "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom, spread the Fa and offer people salvation with benevolencethis is establishing the mighty virtue of an enlightened being." "The actions they are now adopting in the persecution of Dafa and its practitioners are extremely wicked and shameful, and they fear these will be exposed. Their evilness must be made known to people around the worldthis is also offering people salvation. While the evil is being eliminated, you are consummating yourself in cultivation and strengthening the Fa's manifestation in the world. " ("Rationality"}
Practitioners in China
November 12, 2000
