Chinese University Student Detained, Threatened With Expulsion for Removing Propaganda Poster

Falun Gong practitioners call for an end to the persecution of the spiritual group in China, during an event marking 24 years since the launch of the persecution, on Capitol Hill, on July 20, 2023. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

An undergraduate student at Guangdong Pharmaceutical University in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, has been subjected to detention by local police after she allegedly tore down a poster on campus in January, according to a report on Minghui.org. University authorities have also threatened to expel her, the report states.

Xie Xiaoting saw the poster on campus on the morning of Jan. 9 and was allegedly captured by a surveillance camera removing it, according to Minghui.org.

At around 11 a.m. the same day, three administrators from the university—a senior official surnamed Li from the educational organization’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee and two student counselors surnamed Cai and Huang—compelled Ms. Xie to go to the Shigu Police Station, the website claims.

Third-level educational institutions in China are equipped with student counselors, also known as “political counselors.” The major functions of such counselors in Chinese universities include indoctrinating students with CCP theories and daily monitoring of students.

The police interrogated Ms. Xie, threatened to expel her from school, and forced her to sign statements renouncing her beliefs. They also pressured her to provide information about Falun Gong practitioners in her hometown, which Ms. Xie refused to do.

She reportedly told them that she removed the poster because it was misleading and contained hate propaganda.

The poster was part of the CCP’s recent nationwide propaganda campaign to slander Falun Gong and enlist the public’s support for the ongoing persecution targeting the spiritual practice, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

The CCP initiated a massive campaign in 1999 targeting Falun Gong under leader Jiang Zemin, who sought to eradicate Falun Gong within three months. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice that teaches truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance as the core principles. The persecution is ongoing in China.

While Ms. Xie was detained, local police entered her dormitory and confiscated her laptop and mobile phone. She was released after 11 pm. Her laptop and mobile phone have not been returned to her, according to the report.

Since then, local police and the university’s three administrators have randomly detained Ms. Xie for hours at a time at the police station and in the offices of the university’s CCP party committee, Minghui.org’s report claims.

Each time, Ms. Xie said she tells them that she has benefited from practicing Falun Gong and that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is illegal, including its state-sanctioned live forced organ harvesting.

Due to its immense moral and physical enhancements, Falun Gong spread quickly in China from 1992 to 1999, with official estimates of 70 million to 100 million Chinese followers before the CCP’s persecution began in July 1999.

On April 24, Ms. Xie was forced to go to the “security workstation” that the local police had set up on the campus. Her parents’ home in Xingning City was raided by police on the same day. Her father, Mr. Xie Yujun, was abducted the following day, and the local police notified Mr. Xie’s wife to pick up the formal arrest warrant issued against Mr. Xie on May 27.

Mr. Xie is also a Falun Gong practitioner. He was twice detained in Sanshui Labor Camp and was sentenced to five years in Meizhou Prison. Mr. Xie suffered severe torture in both the labor camp and the prison in Guangdong Province in southern China.

The reason for Mr. Xie’s recent arrest is unclear.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Shigu police station for comment.

On June 13, The Epoch Times contacted the “security workstation” on the campus by phone. An officer with the surname Shi answered the call. Mr. Shi said that he was not aware of Ms. Xie’s case, adding, “If you are really so concerned [about the case], you should personally come to the campus to investigate.”

In December 2000, just a year after the establishment of the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, more than 30 staff members of The Epoch Times were arrested by the Chinese communist regime over their reporting on China. Some were severely tortured in Chinese detention centers and prisons and some were sentenced to 10 years in prison for their reporting.

Harassment by School, Police ‘Unlawful’

Wu Shaoping, a former Chinese human rights lawyer now residing in the United States, told The Epoch Times that university authorities and local police have violated Chinese law by harassing Ms. Xie.

Ms. Wu said the removal of the poster was “based on a citizen’s awareness, societal observations, and value judgment.” In a recent interview with the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, Mr. Wu said, “She removed something she deemed incorrect without causing any so-called negative social impact. This was done based on fundamental rights of freedom of opinion and expression, and she did not break the law. The Chinese Constitution stipulates that basic rights are protected.”

Mr. Wu also said that it was “unlawful” that the police and the university authorities have continued to harass Ms. Xie.

According to Mr. Wu, the harassment by the police and the university against Ms. Xie constitutes “an infringement on her personal rights,” and their expulsion threat “infringes on her right to education.” Furthermore, forcing her to write a statement to denounce her beliefs is a “violation of freedom of religion” and their action has “exceeded their authority.” In addition, their confiscation of her laptop and phone is considered “illegal possession.”

Articles 35, 36, 37, and 46 of China’s Constitution stipulate that Chinese citizens enjoy “freedom of speech,” “freedom of religious belief,” “personal freedom,” and “have the right and duty to receive an education,” respectively.

It is also stated in Article 37 that “No citizen may be arrested except by decision of a people’s procuratorate or a people’s court and executed by a public security organ. Unlawful detention or deprivation or restriction of citizens’ personal freedom by other means is prohibited.”

Students Brutally Persecuted

The Chinese communist regime has targeted university students who practice Falun Gong.

According to a 2022 report by Minghui.org, at least 456 practitioners, including undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, have been subjected to abduction and persecution by the CCP’s various legal and law enforcement entities.

These images show a collection of depictions of various tortures used in China's labor camps. (Minghui.org)

These organizations include the CCP’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission at various government levels, including the 610 Office—an extralegal organization set up on June 10, 1999, to exclusively persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

The report says that 94 universities, including the prestigious Tsinghua University, are involved in the persecution of student practitioners of Falun Gong, according to the Minghui report. Among the 456 students persecuted, 101 were illegally detained in labor camps, 77 were unlawfully imprisoned, at least 23 have been tortured to death, and one has been left disabled.

Due to strict censorship, it is extremely difficult to collect information about the CCP’s draconian laws and the extent of the persecution in China. The actual number of students persecuted for their beliefs and practices could be much higher than the recorded number.

Zhang Zhenzhong, 22, an undergraduate student of Shandong University, formerly known as Shandong Industrial University, was abducted by police in Tangyin County in China’s central Henan Province in May when he and three other Falun Gong practitioners were handing out pamphlets on a “false fire” on Tiananmen Square, which was staged by the CCP to frame Falun Gong practitioners, according to the 2022 Minghui report.

Mr. Zhang and the other three Falun Gong practitioners were tortured by police in Tangyin Detention Center, and they went on a hunger strike to protest against the brutal treatment. The police tied him to a bench on the sixth day of their hunger strike and inserted a tube through his nose to force-feed him. The police failed four times to insert the tube, and when they tried for the fifth time, a fatal wound caused Mr. Zhang’s death.

Zou Songtao, a 28-year-old PhD candidate at a maritime college in Qingdao City, China’s eastern Shandong Province, was subjected to torture and died in a local labor camp on Nov. 3, 2000, two hours after the detention police chief had a private talk with him, the report states.

Minghui published a 437-page book “Minghui Report: The 20-Year Persecution of Falun Gong in China” in 2020, which records persecution information in China from 1999 to 2019 based on investigations by the nonprofit.

The book “is a unique, extraordinary, and comprehensive study that is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library Falun Gong collections and supplemental studies reading lists,” wrote Michael J. Carson of Midwest Book Review.

Congress Calls for Persecution to Stop

On April 25, Falun Gong practitioners held rallies in various cities in the United States, marking the 25th anniversary of a peaceful mass gathering of Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing to petition the government to practice freely.

Yin Liping testifies before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, on April 14, 2016, on "China's Pervasive Use of Torture." Ms. Yin is a Falun Gong practitioner who survived torture, forced labor, and sexual violence in Masanjia and other forced labor camps in China. (Lisa Fan/Epoch Times)

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China voiced its support, demanding that the CCP end its decades-long persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

“25 years ago today, Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully in Beijing, asking to freely practice their religion. Instead, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] launched a campaign of detention, torture, and harassment. The PRC [People’s Republic of China] must end its quarter-century-long persecution of Falun Gong,” the chairs of the commission stated on social media platform X on April 25.

Aaron Pan and Frank Fang contributed to the report.