Many Chinese citizens traveled to Beijing, capital of China, to plead their cases in time for Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. At approximately noon on Dec. 8, Chen Mingguang of Hubei Province came to the famous business district in Beijing and disseminated a thousand fliers. He came to voice his displeasure with the Wuhan City officials and to tell his experiences to the people. Many people at the scene quietly read the fliers.
When Chen Mingguang was interviewed by The Epoch Times, he said sadly, “Yesterday at 11:50 am, I threw out a thousand leaflets at Da Shilan, west of Qianmen street at the west large fence, south of Tiananmen Square. During this moment, the local authorities were trying to get me, and they wanted to brutally punish me. If I were captured, they would torture me to death after they put me in jail. I am already prepared for that mentally. I have nowhere to go and am currently hiding wherever I can in Beijing. My wife is still jailed and forced to attend brainwashing classes. I will use my own way to fight [the government] to the death.”
Chen Mingguang was the owner of a trendy fast food restaurant in the District of Jianghan, Wuhan City, in Hubei Province. On Oct. 27, 2004, the Jianghan District government came with many people, without any authorization or formality, to forcefully tear down Chen’s restaurant. They not only tore down that property, which Chen had relied upon to live, but they also assaulted his wife, Wang Guilan.
Chen Guangming said, “When they came to tear down our building, many people surrounded my wife and beat her. My young son, who was still a minor, was also there. They tore a huge chunk of hair from my wife’s head. Every time she brings it up, she gets very sad. [At that time] I was tied to the ground. After they finished beating my wife, seven or eight big men threw her into a heap of garbage.”
To get his lawful rights back, Chen Mingguang repeatedly went to Beijing to appeal. The authorities had him put in jail six times [for appealing]. His wife is still being held in prison in Wuhan City.
Chen Mingguang said, “There was no such thing as our human rights being protected in these four years. They continuously put me in jail. They do not help us solve the problem [of having our property taken away]. I’ve been in jail for a total of 260 days up to now. While being locked up, they also beat me.”
Since Nov. 15, over 60 people from households that have been torn down in Wuhan City, Hubei Province have continuously gone to appeal in Beijing. In recent days, the Wuhan authorities had been stopping, abducting and taking the majority of them in detention to so-called “re-education classes.”
When Chen Mingguang and 13 others were jailed and held in detention, they protested with hunger strikes for two days after blocking the doors with their beds. The officials sent 30 policemen with sledgehammers to break down the doors, and violently beat them up. Some policemen pushed the faces of the hunger strikers to the ground and went on assaulting them.
When the jailed citizens were taken back to the Wuhan City train station, Chen Mingguang escaped from his police followers and went into hiding. He couldn’t go to the hospital for fear of being captured and beaten again.
He told us that at that time, his whole body was covered with bruises. Some of the bruises still hurt to this day. The local officials also boasted, saying, “When you return to Wuhan we’ll punish you to death.” The methods of torture by China’s communist authorities are well documented, and those that suffer their wrath are thrown in jail, or held in “mental wards” or forced labor camps.
Chen said, “Ordinary people like us do not have money or rights while facing government officials. All I have is my life. I don’t mind sacrificing my life for my wife, my son, my property and my rights. I don’t mind fighting them to the end.”
