Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Gao Shuqin, age 51, was a teacher at No.12 Middle School of Daqing City.  She was named an Outstanding Teacher of Daqing City. She lived in Room 601, Unit 4, Building 27 of Kejiyuan, Rang District, Daqing City. Between 12 pm and 12:30 pm on March 27, 2004, she accidentally fell from a building and died while trying to escape persecution.  Following is the Ms. Gao Shuqin’s story:

On January 1, 2000, Gao Shuqin went to Beijing to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. Before arriving in Beijing, the police on the train examined her ID card and illegally arrested her and sent her to Shanhaiguang Detention Center. Because she refused to provide her name, the police brutally beat her. After the beating, the police cuffed her hands behind her back with one hand across one shoulder and the other hand pulled up across her back. Soon the metal from the handcuffs cut into her flesh. She held a four-day hunger strike and escaped. She walked for nine days and nights before arriving at Tiananmen Square, where she did the Falun Gong exercises. She was again arrested and sent to the Qianmen Police Department. The police took turns beating her because she refused to give her name. The police rammed her head against the wall and poured cold water on her before releasing her after midnight.

On June 4, 2000, Gao Shuqin again went to Beijing to appeal and was detained for 75 days. She was later sent to a brainwashing class held by the educational training center and was detained there for two weeks. She was forced to pay 2,450 Yuan for the two weeks of room and board while in the class. She was released after a five-day hunger strike.

On November 28, 2000, Gao Shuqin went to Beijing for the third time to appeal for the end to the persecution. After she returned to Daqing City, she was forced to leave home to avoid persecution. On May 5, 2001, she was arrested at the home of a fellow practitioner in Honggang District. Because she refused to give her name and address, the police slapped her face and forced her to stand for a long period of time. Later, they sent her to Daqing City Detention Center, where she held a 19-day hunger strike before being released.

At midnight on July 19, 2001, three police officers broke into Gao Shuqin's home and took her away. They sent her to Sa District Detention Center where she held a 36-day hunger strike. Because she refused to cooperate with the force-feeding, the guards verbally abused and beat her every day. Around August 25, she was sent to Harbin Women's Drug Rehabilitation Center. She didn't pass the physical exam, so she was sent to the district administrative detention center and held for two days before she was released.

In September 2002, the persecutors of Falun Gong began ransacking the homes of Falun Gong practitioners, as well as abducting them. On the evening of September 9, the police broke into the home of Gao Shuqin, put a black bag over her head and took her to the city detention center.  While there, she held a hunger strike. The perpetrators then sent her to Harbin City Drug Rehabilitation Center to continue to persecute her. At the Drug Rehabilitation Center, she was nearly tortured to death and her body was covered with bruises. The bruises on her wrists from handcuffs were clearly visible for a long time afterwards. In early October, she fell unconscious. Because her abusers were afraid of being held responsible for her condition, they asked her family to take her home. Her sisters took care of her due to the fact that for several days she was unable to move. As a result of the severe beatings, Ms. Gao suffered brain damage which caused slurred speech and partial loss of control of her limbs during most of that year. Besides her sisters, only her elderly mother-in-law was at home to assist her.

On the morning of November 27, 2003, Sun Shaomin, the head of Rang District Police Department and police officer Liu Yupeng abducted Gao Shuqin from home. They sent her to the city detention center where she held a hunger strike. During the detention, she was tortured with an "iron chair" [The iron chair is made of iron pipes. Victims are restrained on the iron chairs with both arms and legs tied for a long period of time] for many days, and she had to rely on others to help her eat, drink and relieve herself. She was unconditionally released on January 19, 2004.

On March 26, 2004, Gao Shuqin's husband, Li Lin, was abducted while distributing information that explained the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong. At midnight, police officers went to Gao Shuqin's house and locked the door from the outside. At noon the following day, Gao Shuqin, realizing that she had been locked inside her home, made several calls for help but received no response. The locksmith refused to come when he learned that she was a Falun Gong practitioner.  Her neighbors, who had a key to her home, would not open the door.  With no choice left, she tied a bed sheet to a window and tried to climb down. Unfortunately, the sheet tore in half while she was in midair, and she fell to her death.

Many people were present at the scene.  Despite the facts, the police lied to Gao Shuqin's family and told them that Gao Shuqin had locked herself inside her home and then jumped off the building.  After the incident, an attempt was made by police to open the door of Gao Shuqin’s home, but special tools used by riot police were necessary to open the door.

Within the month of March alone, four Dafa practitioners - Li Yuanguang, Yang Quanyong, Wang Guofang and Gao Shuqin - died from persecution in Daqing City. Ms. Gao’s husband, Li Lin, was sentenced to three years of forced labor for his belief in Falun Gong, and was unlawfully held at Daqing Detention Center.

The Persecution of Gao Shuqin Caused Financial Difficulty

From June 4, 2000, when Gao Shuqin first went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, until her death, her employer didn't allow her to work and didn't pay her any money. The perpetrators deprived her of her basic right to maintain a living and return to her job as a teacher. The school's accounting records indicated that Gao Shuqin was paid 677.9 Yuan every month, which equalled at least 27,116 Yuan in salary; however, all the money was seized by school officials. Had Gao Shuqin not been illegally detained and persecuted, she would have earned at least 60,000 Yuan in salaries and bonus money. However, the officials of Gao Shuqin's workplace considered the fines imposed on her and the money spent on travel by officials to Beijing to be Gao Shuqin's responsibility. Therefore, they claimed that Gao Shuqin owed her workplace over 40,000 Yuan.

Gao Shuqin made attempts to maintain employment.  Back in July 2003, when the labor camp term imposed on Gao Shuqin expired, she went to her school to ask for her job back. However, the school officials asked her to write a “guarantee statement” which states that one will relinquish the practice of Falun Gong.  Gao Shuqin refused to write the statement.  Ma Yongwei, the Party secretary of the school, then asked her to write a return-to-work application, which was a “guarantee statement” in disguise. However, Gao Shuqin again refused and did not write the application.

The eventual death of practitioner Gao Shuqin has deprived her son and daughter of a mother, and the community of an outstanding teacher.

type=Case, Death; type=Case, Women; type=Case, Arbitrary Detention; type=Case, Freedom of Expression; type=Detention Center, Daqing City Detention Center; location=Heilongjiang, Daqing;