Chen Yunchuan was a Falun Gong practitioner in Canfangying Village, Beixinpu
Township, Huailai County, Hebei Province. The plight of Mr. Chen’s
family is one of the cases the United Nations has paid close attention to.
Chen Yunchuan was the victim of a fatal car accident on January 11, 2009, at
a bit past 6:00 p.m. He died at the scene. It remains to be seen whether this
car accident was truly accidental or intentional, as the driver left the scene
afterwards.
Seven members of Mr. Chen’s family practiced Falun Gong. Mr. Chen and his
wife Wang Lianrong had four children, including sons Chen Aizhong and Chen Aili,
and daughters Chen Shulan and Chen Hongping. Granddaughter Li Ying is also a
practitioner. Chen’s family has suffered brutal persecution over the past ten
years and lost several of its members. Chen Aizhong, Chen Aili and Chen Hongping
died as a result of torture. Mother Wang Lianrong died while in exile. Chen
Shulan is still being held at the Daxing Women’s Prison in Beijing, and her
daughter Li Ying’s whereabouts remain unknown.
 Picture of Chen’s family |  Youngest Daughter Chen Hongping |  Eldest Son Chen Aizhong |
Below is a collection of reports that have been published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom
website regarding the persecution of Mr. Chen Yunchuan and his family.
1. Father Chen Yunchuan Persecuted Constantly
On New Year’s Day of 2001, Chen Yunchuan went to Beijing to appeal for
justice for Falun Gong and was illegally arrested. He refused to
reveal his name and address and was detained in the basement of a police station
for four consecutive days [Note: Because of the Chinese Communist Party’s
practice of implicating and persecuting family members, friends, and work
associates, Falun Gong practitioners often refuse to reveal their names or
addresses when they are arrested]. The windowless, concrete cell in the basement
measured only two square meters. The metal door was shut tight, and there was no
ventilation or sunlight. Lack of oxygen made it difficult for Mr. Chen to
breathe. Not until he was on the brink of death on January 4, 2001, did the
authorities transfer him to the Handian District Detention Center in Beijing.
While there, since the guards still couldn’t get Mr. Chen to tell his name
and address, they incited criminals to strip off his clothes and use a fan to
blow cold air on his nude body for over two hours. At that time Mr. Chen had
already been on a hunger strike for five days. He was extremely weak and cold
and eventually collapsed. Three criminals pulled him up and gave him a severe
beating for more than 30 minutes. They then forced him to eat, threatening that
they would beat him more.
Police eventually recognized Chen Yunchuan and sent him, together with his
two sons Chen Aizhong and Chen Aili, back to the Huailai County Detention Center
where they were jailed for seven months. Huanlai County Court officials
sentenced Chen to two years in prison on July 17, 2000 and sent him to Section
Three of the Fourth Prison in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province on August 27,
2001.
On February 28, 2004, police officers from the Huanlai County Police
Department’s Criminal Team and from the Beixinpu Township Police Station
suddenly broke into Chen Yunchuan’s home, taking away mother Wang Lianrong and
son Chen Aili. They also apprehended Chen Yunchuan, who was on his way home. The
three practitioners were taken to the Beixinpu Township government offices.
According to Wang Lianrong, “Both Chen Yunchuan and Chen Aili were tied
to a bench with their hands cuffed behind their backs. The police covered Chen
Yunchuan’s head with a wool hat and gagged him with a towel, and wrapped the
towel tightly with tape. Even before I could do anything, they also covered my
head with a hat and then wrapped my nose and mouth with tape tightly. I could
barely breathe, and it was extremely painful. I was handcuffed and tied to a
long bench. They didn’t loosen the bandage until it was almost dusk, but they
still kept our mouths sealed. They cuffed our hands to the bottom of the car
seats and drove us to Zhangjiakou City.”
Later, the three were held in a brainwashing center called the Shalingzi
Legal School in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. They suffered inhuman
persecution there and went on a hunger strike to protest. Two months later, Chen
Aili was in grave condition, and only then did the authorities release him. At
the same time they let Chen Yunchuan go home as well, to take care of his son.
But the police put them under house arrest. The persecutors locked the door from
the outside, with police watching them day and night.
Wang Lianrong stated, “They later arrested Chen Yunchuan again and sent
him back to Shalingzi Brainwashing Center. I developed a fever and cough after
being held there for more than six months. They took me to Zhangjiakou City
Infectious Diseases Hospital where I stayed for more than a month. Not only did
my condition not improve but it got worse, and I was often fainting in the end.
They released me on October 19, 2004, seeing that I was near death. Because no
one was home [to take of me], they also released Chen Yunchuan.”
On April 24, 2007, while living destitute and homeless in other region, Chen
Yunchuan was arrested and sent back to Huanlai County. A medical examination
revealed that he had acute tuberculosis. He was released from the hospital about
ten days later.
In mid-July 2008, officers from the Huanlai County Police Department Criminal
Team and agents from the Beixinpu Township Police Station suddenly arrived at
Chen’s home, asking if he still practiced Falun Gong. Chen Yuanchuan replied
yes, and the police ordered him to go with them. When Mr. Chen refused they
forcibly carried him to a police van. It was later learned that certain
villagers were ordered to keep an eye on him so he couldn’t leave home during
the Beijing Olympics.
As mentioned above, at a bit past 6:00 p.m. on the evening of January 11,
2009, Chen Yunchuan was suddenly struck down by a car and died at the scene. He
was just 14 days shy of his 71st birthday. The driver left the scene
of the accident.
2. Mother Wang Lianrong Died
By November 5, 2004, three of Wang Lianrong’s four children had died as a
result of persecution, with her elder daughter in prison. In January 2005, to
avoid additional arrest, Wang Lianrong and Chen Yunchuan decided to leave home
and go into exile. In the following one and a half years, the elderly couple
moved from place to place and suffered from numerous hardships. Wang Lianrong
died on August 4, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. in an out-of-town place, at the age of 65,
after suffering seven years of persecution.
3. Eldest Son Chen Aizhong Died As a Result of Repeated Tortures
In January 2001, Mr. Chen’s whole family, including then 9-year-old
granddaughter Li Ying, went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong and
was arrested.
Eldest son Chen Aizhong was held at the Dongbeiwang Detention Center
for seven days. In order to have him to reveal his name, the guards stripped off
his clothes and handcuffed him to a tree, with his feet buried deep in the snow.
He was left outside frozen for over one hour. The snow around his feet melted
into two puddles. His legs and feet had severe frostbite and lost feeling. Chen
Aizhong firmly refused to tell his name and address, despite the abuse he was
subjected to. The persecutors tried every torture method on him, including
hitting him with sticks, shocking him with electric batons, slapping him on the
face, kicking him, and depriving him of sleep. They once used a 300,000-watt
baton to shock his head, face, arms, inside of his thighs and his genitals. Chen
lost consciousness several times and had blisters all over his body. His legs
were very swollen. He became completely paralyzed and could no longer stand up.
Several days later they transferred Chen Aizhong to the Haidian District
Detention Center where the guards continued to torture him. Again, they stripped
him naked and dragged him to the yard where they buried his whole body in the
snow for about four hours.
Then they subjected Chen to another torture, called the “open
lock.” A criminal held two of Mr. Chen’s fingers tightly while another
criminal inserted and twisted and turned a toothbrush with square edges between
the two fingers. Very soon the skin between the two fingers was broken and bled.
Mr. Chen’s hands were thus severely injured from the torture, in addition to his
injured feet.
On January 9, 2001 the perpetrators sent Chen Aizhong back to the Huailai
County Detention Center where guard Tong Yufu shocked him with electric batons.
On September 12, 2001, Mr. Chen was subjected to three years of forced labor and
sent to the Hehuakeng Labor Camp in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. While in Team
Six, the guards subjected him to various tortures. Guard Wang Yulin and criminal
Liu Zhonghua took turns beating him, shocking him with electric batons and tying
him up with ropes. Mr. Chen went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution.
On the seventh day of his hunger strike, Wang Yulin and criminals force-fed
him Chen Aizhong. He was already emaciated and barely breathing. On the third
day, at 3:30 p.m., they force-fed him again. His heart suddenly stopped beating,
there was no pulse, and his pupils were dilated. Labor camp management officials
and staff from other teams were present and witnessed what happened.
Chen Aizhong thus died on September 20, 2001 at the labor camp, only 33 years
old.
4. Youngest Daughter Chen Hongping Stopped Breathing in her Brother’s Arms
On June 10, 2001, Chen Hongping and her older sister Chen Shulan were
clarifying the truth at the Donghuayuan Train Station when they were
reported and arrested. While held in the Donghuayuan Police Station they were
subjected to various tortures, but they refused to reveal their names. At around
6:00 p.m., Chen Hongping managed to free herself from the handcuffs and escape.
Unfortunately, policemen caught her, handcuffed her arms behind her back and
then hung her up by the handcuffs from the top of a door. Policemen beat her
legs until both legs sustained fractures. She spit blood from the beating, her
hands were swollen, and there were wounds covering her body. A big strand of
hair was also pulled off her head, exposing her scalp. She lost consciousness
from the pain from being hung up.
At 11:00 p.m. that night, the two sisters were sent to Huailai Detention
Center. The two sisters were constantly beaten and threatened at the detention
center. They were also subjected to no-stop brainwashing.
On June 11, 2001 Chen Hongping was sent to the Gaoyang Labor Camp by
Beixinbao Town Police Station head Liu Yufeng and other people. Since her older
sister Chen Shulan was near death, the guards informed Shangping Police Station
officials to take her back. Seeing her condition, Shangping Police Station
agents refused to take her. To shirk responsibility, the guards released Chen
Shulan.
While at the labor camp, Chen Hongping was constantly subjected to
brainwashing and physical tortures. After suffering one and a half years of
brainwashing and torture, she was extremely thin, and her weight dropped from
120 to 55 lbs. Her life was in danger. On January 29, 2003 camp officials sent
Ms. Chen to a local hospital, where she was diagnosed as having four diseases.
The camp officials didn’t want her to die at the labor camp and ordered a guard
to send her home, without even allowing her to put on her coat.
Once at home Chen Hongping had a persistent cough while suffering from a
chronic high fever. She had a blank look on her face and a very weak heartbeat.
She couldn’t eat. She died in her brother Chen Aili’s arms on March 3, 2003. In
her last minutes, she kept reminding her family to persist in their belief. A
beautiful 33-year-old woman thus lost her life.
Her mother Wang Lianrong said, “At a bit past 6:00 p.m. on January 31,
2003, a man named Yang knocked on my door saying Chen Hongping was back. My
daughter didn’t even recognize us. She had that blank look on her face. She didn’t
talk, and any small noise frightened her. Sometimes she just stared at me for a
long time. She didn’t dare to stay at home by herself. There was always someone
by her side. At night she needed me to hold her, as she was afraid to sleep by
herself. Her second brother cried seeing his sister like this. He suspected the
guards at the labor camp had given her harmful medicines. He asked if that was
the case. My daughter said they did give her various medicines. Some were yellow
pills, while other medicine was injected into her. I saw with my eyes how she
died. It was extremely miserable.”
5. Second Son Chen Aili Died as a Result of Torture
Chen Shulan recounted the gross abuse and mistreatment Chen Aili suffered:
On January 1, 2001, Chen Aili was arrested while appealing on Tiananmen
Square and was held in the Haidian District Detention Center for nine days where
he immediately went on a hunger strike. During the medical examination on the
first day he was found to have a heart problem. Then the guards demanded to
photograph him, which he firmly refused. They knocked him down and kicked his
whole body, and constantly slapped him on the face. Chen sent righteous
thoughts, to have their hands hurt. As soon as he thought that, the guards felt
pain in their hands. Then two policemen interrogated him. When he refused to
reveal his name, they pushed his head down and tried to make him kneel. Chen
Aili sat down, to cross his legs to meditate. One policeman poured a cup of tea
on him while another policeman shocked him with an electric baton. Chen Aili
shouted, “Falun Dafa is good,” which stunned the police. One policeman
stopped his buddy saying, “Stop it. He’s not afraid of electric
shocks.” That policeman left. Chen went on a hunger strike together with
other practitioners. The police force-fed each of them.
On January 9, 2001 the abusers took Chen Aili back to the Huailai Detention
Center, together with his older brother Chen Aizhong and his father Chen
Yunchuan.
Chen Aili
The three Chen men were forbidden to practice the Falun Gong exercises during
detention. Driver Qi Wenhai savagely beat them, using his shoes, until he was
exhausted. Then the three of them were detained in different cells.
Chen Aizhong continued his hunger strike. The cellmates brutally beat him.
His injuries got worse by the day. Chen Aili insisted on practicing the Falun
Gong exercises in the cell. Guard Hou Yufu ordered people to handcuff him to the
metal window frame and then shocked his arms with 100,000-volt batons, resulting
in numerous blisters on his arms that kept oozing pus. While Chen Aili still
could not move his arms, the guards attempted to force him to work over ten
hours. When Chen Aili refused, the guards urged criminals to hit his eyes with
shoes. His eyes immediately developed lacerations and bled non-stop. Chen Aili
held onto the window and shouted, “Falun Dafa is good.” The guards
ordered the criminals to gag him with a towel. The guards also ordered the Chens
to wear the prison uniform and recite prison rules. Chen Aili sternly told them
that practitioners are good people, not criminals, and that prison rules apply
only to criminals.
On August 17, 2001 the guards suddenly transferred Chen Aili and Chen
Yunchuan to the Zhoulu Prison where they were held for ten days. While there,
Chen Aili firmly refused to cooperate with the demands of the guards. Once, when
Chen Aili declined to shout “report,” the guards slapped him on the
face over 100 times, resulting in broken teeth and profuse bleeding. The guards
also ordered criminals to forcibly put Chen Aili into a uniform. Chen Aili led
everyone to shout, “Falun Dafa is good,” in unison. In the end the
guards didn’t bother to discipline Chen Aili, as he was not afraid of anything.
Each time officials came for a prison inspection, the guards had everyone
line up, except for Chen Aili, who sat on the floor unmoved. Chen Aili’s
righteous thoughts and actions won praise from many people and created a better
cultivation environment inside the prison.
On July 17, 2001, Chen Aili and Chen Yunchuan were sentenced to two years in
prison. On August 27, 2001, Chen Yunchuan was sent to Ward Three of the prison
in north Shijiazhuang City. Chen Aili was sent to Team 7, Division 5 at the
Jidong Prison in Tangshan City. The tortures he was subjected to at the prison
are too many to count. On New Year’s Day of 2003, Chen Aili suddenly developed a
high fever and had bloody stool amid his hunger strike. The guards gave him an
IV injection, but his bloody stools only got worse. The guards immediately
ordered his family to secure a document from the village, to get him released.
Village official Ren Zhaoxi refused to issue the document. Chen Aili wasn’t
picked up until January 8, 2003 by the local officials.
On February 28, 2004, officers from the Huanlai County Police Department
Criminal Team and from the Beixinpu Township Police Station suddenly broke into
Chen’s family home, taking Wang Lianrong and Chen Aili away, along with Chen
Yunchuan who was arrested on his way home.
According to Wang Lianrong, “Father and son were tied to a bench with
their hands cuffed behind their backs. My son had a yellow plastic bag wrapped
on his head, and his mouth was sealed with tape. They didn’t untie us until it
was almost dusk. We were cuffed to the bottom of the carr seats. They drove us
to Shalingzi in Zhangjiakou. After more than four hours, my son was still alive
without being suffocated by the yellow plastic bag, which was a real miracle. As
soon as the bag was removed, he shouted, ‘Falun Dafa is good,’ and his voice was
loud and clear.”
The three family members were sent to the Shalingzi Brainwashing Center. All
of them went on a hunger strike. More than two months later Chen Aili weighed
only a bit over 55 lbs. and was near death. Only then was he released.
Back at home, Chen Aili was not able to recover. His health deteriorated. He
died on November 5, 2004, after having been homeless for four months. Wang
Lianrong said, “On the night of November 5, 2004, two strangers brought us
Chen Aili’s body. I was devastated!” He was only 35.
6. Oldest Daughter Chen Shulan Still Detained–Her Daughter Li Ying Missing
Chen Shulan and her daughter Li Ying both practice Falun Gong. On April 25,
1999, the two of them went together with the rest of the family to Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square to appeal for Dafa. They did so again on New Year’s Day 2001.
On September 16, 2002, Chen Shulan and her daughter were arrested in
Changping District, Beijing. Chen Shulan was eventually transferred to Division
Seven of the Beijing Police Department before she was sentenced to seven and a
half years in prison. Chen Shulan is still suffering from severe mistreatment
and torment at the Tiantanghe Women’s Prison in Daxing, Beijing.
Having lost her two uncles and one aunt, and her mother and both grandparents
detained, Li Ying was sent to a nursing home by agents from Changping 610
Office in Beijing, and lived there for over two years.
On the morning of September 17, 2002, the then 10-year-old Li Ying was in her
class at Liujie School in Changping, when her teacher took her to a resort in
Chaofengan, Changping, actually a brainwashing center. She saw her mother there.
Li Ying said, “They wanted to take mom away, and I fought hard to keep her
with me. I held tight to mom’s arms, not letting anyone get close. Whoever came
over I kicked them away.” The persecutors lied to her by saying she could
come see her mother once a week and took her mother away.
During a 2005 interview with a Minghui reporter, Li Ying said, “While in
the brainwashing center, the night I saw my mom, they took turns bombarding my
mind with slanderous comments and threatened to “reform” me, otherwise
no school for me. They are so bad. They took Mom and didn’t tell me where she
was. They did not let me to go to school or go home. They also forced me to
watch videos slandering Falun Gong. They didn’t let me sleep until 1:00 a.m. or
2:00 a.m. Wherever I went two or three people followed me. Eight days later, to
resume school, I signed my name on their prepared statements. But they didn’t
let me go home and kept me at the brainwashing center except for attending my
classes. Every day they brought me to and picked me up from school.
“On January 9, 2003, without my consent, 610 Office agents sent me to
the Changping nursing home, about three miles away from school. Every day I
walked to school and was very afraid.
“They promised I could see mom once a week. That was a lie.
I didn’t see my mom again until more than two years later. My second uncle
took me there when he was still alive. That was February 16, 2004, in the
Tiantanghe Women’s Prison. Mom was sentenced to seven and a half years. She was
beyond recognition. Half of her hair had turned gray. She looked much older. My
once young and pretty mom was gone. I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want Mom to
feel sad, so I held my tears back. The visit lasted only thirty minutes. We
could only talk through the big glass partition. I could not express the many
words deep in my heart. The guards were watching from the sideline. How I wanted
a hug from Mom!”
Li Ying said, “I miss Mom. I hope this persecution can end soon. I fear
Mom may be killed — just like my aunt and two uncles.”
Li Ying should be about 17 years old now. We wonder how she is doing and
where she is.
In the fall of 2007, Chen Yunchuan, who had been homeless to avoid further
arrest, attempted to see his oldest daughter; several relatives and friends
accompanied him. The guards turned down their request for a visit under
the pretext he didn’t have proper identification. Chen Yunchuan wanted
to leave money and clothes for his daughter, but this was also rejected.
7. Chen Aizhong’s Family Plight Caught Attention at the U.N.
The plight of the Chen Yunchuan family is just one example of tens of
thousands of other families that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is
persecuting, and has caught attention at the U.N.
On April 1, 2004, at a regular session of the United Nations Human Rights
Council, representatives from International Education Development, a
California-based human rights organization, discussed the plight of Chen’s
family and called for the U.N. to establish a special cases team to investigate
human rights violations in China.
According to human rights lawyer Karen Parker, the U.N. Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention has addressed many Falun Gong cases. However, the actual
number of Falun Gong practitioners arrested and detained is well beyond the
capacity of the working group.
More than 3,000 Falun Gong practitioners have died of persecution, and
100,000 people have been arrested. Those who stand up for Falun Gong cannot have
their human rights safeguarded, either. The communist regime ignores the U.N.
investigation. Chen Aizhong’s family is one typical example. Even though Special
Rapporteur Asma Jahangir and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an
urgent appeal to the communist regime, several members of Chen’s family still
died as a result of torture. One of them is Chen Hongping who
died on March 5, 2003, after suffering from one and a half years of torture.
Since these incidents are beyond what the U.N. can handle, it should appoint
a special commissioner to specifically take care of Falun Gong-related issues in
China. Falun Gong practitioners account for a significant portion of people in
China who are persecuted for their belief and conscience. Any
motion to stop the persecution of Falun Gong in China is of paramount
importance.
Posting date: 16/Sep/2009
Original article date: 6/Sep/2009
Category: News from China