The Chen Guangcheng Report:

Coercive Family Planning in Linyi, 2005

Presented by Women’s Rights Without Frontiers

Reggie Littlejohn, President

Congressional-Executive Commission on China

Hearing of December 6, 2011

“One Year After the Nobel Peace Prize Award to Liu Xiaobo:

Conditions for Political Prisoners and

Prospects for Political Reform”

Women’s Rights Without Frontiers has obtained a report from Chen Guangcheng’s 2005 investigation into coercive family planning in Linyi County, Shandong Province. This report was drafted by celebrated human rights attorney, Teng Biao, and contains fourteen “Notes.”  Chen’s investigation exposed the extensive use of forced abortions and sterilizations in Linyi in 2005.  He was jailed for four years and remains under house arrest.  He has been tortured and denied medical treatment. His health is in serious jeopardy.

Ms. Littlejohn serves as China Aid Association’s expert on the One Child Policy.  It is with great gratitude that Women’s Rights Without Frontiers acknowledges the substantial contributions China Aid made to this report.

Note One: Linyi Family Planning Officials Beat a 59-Year-Old Man for Two Days, Breaking Three Brooms over his Head, because his Daughter Was Not Home for a Tubal Ligation Sterilization Check.

When:              April 18 – 19 2005

Where:          Xishigu Village, Duozhuang Town, Mengyin City, Linyi County, and Shangdong Province

Source: Teng Biao; http://www.douban.com/group/topic/2906598/

At about six o’ clock in the morning of April 18, 2005, Yuanzheng Liu (59 years old) from Xishigu Village, Duozhuang Town, Mengyin County was looking after his daughter’s house. He was still in bed when he heard people knocking at the door. Immediately after he opened the door, a crowd of people (about nine, and one of them was Fengyan Han) rushed in and searched the whole house for his daughter and her husband [to give the daughter a tubal ligation sterilization check]. Since they couldn’t find the couple, they dragged him out of the house, pushed him into their car and drove to the Family Planning office of Shuanghou town. They were Family Planning Officials of Shuanghou town, Yinan City, Linyi County.

They detained him separately in a small room. His son went to the Family Planning office to ask about him in the morning of the next day but was stopped by a warden. His son asked the Family Planning Officials: “Do I have the right to know the truth and the right to make my own choice?” Chengxiu Ji explained: “Ask his daughter to go to the county Family Planning office to take ligation check. If she is not qualified, go to the town Family Planning office to take contraceptive or intrauterine device.” They refused to set him free. When his wife and son went there again to send him food in the afternoon, he was no longer there. His wife and son looked for him in every room of the Family Planning office, but couldn’t find him. No one in the town knew where he was. In the end they had no choice but to go back home to wait.

At about six o’ clock in the afternoon [of the 19^th] he was found lying by the side of Yuncai bridge when his relatives went to the Family Planning office again to look for him. After he regained consciousness, his relatives knew the story: “The Family Planning Officials tortured and starved him for a whole day. Then they asked him to go back to look for his daughter. He asked for food but was refused. At about four o’clock in the afternoon, a female town official (Tingju Zhang) went back with a strong smell of wine. After beating another two elderly persons (seventy years old), she took him to the courtyard and beat his head with brooms. Three brooms were broken.  Then she slapped him in the face. At about five o’ clock she pushed him into a small room. She asked him to sit on the cold cement floor and unbend his legs. She took the lead to stamp on his legs. Other officials followed her and some also slapped on his face and poured cold water on his head. He said:  “I will sue you!” She shouted:  “Sue me in the court if you want. It costs only ten thousand Yuan [approximately $1500] to take your life!  You are the biggest trash of all the forty thousand people in Shuanghou!” He said: “I have been a Party member for over thirty years. I’m not trash!” She said:  “I joined the party in 1998, but I can beat an old Party member like you!” She beat as she shouted. He was detained unlawfully for two days and one night without eating anything.

Chen Guangcheng is a famous local rights protector. He got involved in this case soon. He prepared an indictment after the town police came to record the charge (submitted on April 25, 2005. Accepted and heard on May 9, 2005.)

Yuancheng Liu poured out his experiences the last day Yushan Guo, Bisheng Tu and I investigated in Linyi.  He said:  “I have observed disciplines and obeyed laws all through my life but was beaten in this way. Heaven forbids these brutal officials! Isn’t there anyone that dares deal with that?” I opened Tingju Zhang’s photo on my computer. He recognized her excitedly:  “It was her!”

It was she. More than one villager recognized her. The three of us recognized her too. When we questioned the people who monitored us in the morning of August 14, she was standing in the village with two other women as well. She looked elegant. I could hardly associate her appearance with her outrage.

Note Two: Family Planning Forced Sterilization Campaign

When:              April and May 2005

Where: Linyi County

Source: Eyewitness account by Teng Biao, recorded on 8/20/05

Before we [Yushan Guo, Tianyong Jiang, Bisheng Tu, Chen Guangcheng, Teng Biao] arrived, Li Jian, Jiang Tianyong, Li Heping, Li Chunfu and another two journalists from the Washington Post had come. When Jiang Tianyong and Li Chunfu came, the crime was in progress. In the evening of May 9 2005, Jiang Tianyong and Chen Guangcheng heard someone kick the door of Chen Gengjiang’s house and a child was crying. They ran to the place and saw them (seventeen or eighteen Family Planning Officials).  They got into their cars and tried to escape. One of their cars managed to get away, but the other one was stopped by villagers, who asked them:  “If you are right, how come you are running away?” The so-called Family Planning Officials ran away in a hurry in the darkness.

Because of Chen Guangcheng and other villagers’ rights protecting actions, the violent Family Planning forced sterilization campaign only lasted about twenty days. The Family Planning Officials stopped seizing people on May 13. Although some villagers were subjected to forced tubal ligation [sterilization], there were fewer cases than in other places. Besides, the “tuition” of 100 RMB [$16.00] per day was not charged.  [When a villager was arrested in the detention center, he was required to pay 100 RMB per day as the cost to be in the detention center.  This fee is called “tuition.”]  When we had an informal discussion in the Yinan Family Planning bureau, I [Teng Biao] spoke to Wenbing Liu (vice head of Yinan Family Planning Bureau):  “Firstly, Yinnan is doing better than other towns and districts. But secondly, there are very severe problems here.”

A blind rights protector managed to restrain the overflow of violent “Family Planning” to some degree. But his power is too limited. The “Topics in Focus” [a popular TV program in China  http://video.baidu.com/v?ct=301989888&rn=20&pn=0&db=0&s=8&word=%BD%B9%B5%E3%B7%C3%CC%B8&fr=ala0] takes no notice of the event.  Journalists dare not touch it. Very few lawyers are willing to get involved. A lawyer who took part in a legal program in the broadcasting station of Linyi County picked up the phone but just said:  “It’s illegal but I can do nothing” and hung up in a hurry. Chen Guangcheng told us [Teng Biao and other lawyers] “I was standing by the river bank at that time. But massive crimes were being committed on the other side of the river and I couldn’t stop it. The agony in my heart is beyond description. One person’s power is too limited.”

Note Three: Seven Month Pregnant Woman Forcibly Aborted and Sterilized Following Detention of Twenty-Two Relatives; Several Beaten and Tortured

When:              February 19, 2005.

Where:  Xiajiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Linyi County

Source:  Teng Biao, recorded August 20, 2005

Zhongxia Fang is a villager from Xiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei City, Linyi County. The first time I [Teng Biao] met her was in Duozhuang, Mengyin County, when four people from Fei City came to report. More than twenty people guarded the village where Chen Guangcheng lived. We [Teng Biao and another lawyer] walked through the footpaths between fields and crossed Meng River to escape their monitor and assembled in Fei County.

Zhongxia told us her story briefly. She had repeated it many times:

“The Family Planning Officials inserted an intrauterine device in me after I gave birth to two daughters. I worked in another city since then and didn’t go to the Family Planning Office for the pregnancy check. But I was pregnant accidently again. The Family Planning Officials said I was in violation of the “Population and Family Planning Law of the Peoples Republic of China” and looked for me all around. On the lunar calendar November 9, 2004, they had a conversation with my mother and asked her to pay a deposit of 1,000 Yuan [$157]. My mother hid after that.

“Two months later, they found my mother-in-law. They seized her and smashed her belongings. She was seized and released altogether three times. They did the same to my third elder brother’s wife. On February 19, 2005, they seized my elder sister’s husband (Yongjun Hu, from Beiyan Village, west of Liangqiu Town). He was detained in the town Family Planning Office for a whole week and beaten twenty-seven times. Later they seized my nephew (Qiang Li, 27 years old), his wife and his child Ranran (one year old). My nephew was beaten fourteen times. His toenail was trod down by a Family Planning Official’s leather shoes. After that they seized my uncle’s wife (Shaoxiang Zhu, from the same village as I) and my husband’s younger sister (she comes from another town).

“They seized all my relatives they could find. On March, 2005, they seized my younger sister Zhongyan Fang (pregnant with her first child for three months). Seven or eight Family Planning Officials pushed her into a car and detained her for a whole day. They set her free after she paid 1,000 Yuan. My younger sister’s mother-in-law was also seized for a whole week. They didn’t give her anything to eat or drink. She was released after she paid 1,500 as so-called “tuition fee” [a fee for the cost of detention].

“My younger sister’s father-in-law was detained when he went there to send food to his wife. He was beaten by six or seven people in the Family Planning office. He ran out after one day’s detention. Then my husband’s nephew, my third aunt and her husband (Kaifeng Liu) as well as her granddaughter (not even four years old), my fourth aunt (Deying Xue), my uncle’s wife were all seized. My uncle’s wife was beaten in the car with rubber sticks all the way to the Family Planning Office. They stamped on her with leather shoes. She lost consciousness several times. Her kidney was so injured that she couldn’t do any manual work until now (proven by the medical record prescribed by expert from people’s hospital of Fei county).  They also seized my fifth elder brother’s wife’s younger sister (Xuelan Guo) and my third elder brother’s wife’s younger sister (Yufeng Chai).

“My third aunt’s husband phoned me:  “If you don’t come back, your aunt will be beaten to death.” I was forced to go back on 31st, March. I was already pregnant for seven months at that time and was forced to inject an oxytocic drug. My baby was aborted one day later. I had ligation at 9:00 in the morning of April 13, 2005.  They let my aunt go after that.”

Because of the practice of “implication” twenty-two of her relatives were seized, including three children, one pregnant woman and a woman more than 70 years old. This deeply shocked us. To confirm, I told her that I wanted to see her relatives.

The next day I met with her uncle’s wife Yunxiang Cao in Liangqiu town, Fei County. She said:

“At about 6:00 in the morning of March 9, a crowd of people (Feng, Women’s Section Officer was with them) came to seize me. I was making a fire in the courtyard at that time. They dragged me out and scolded me: ‘We didn’t have any rest the whole night. You benefit from your relative and we benefit from her too!’  Some of them beat me with rubber sticks. They forced me to walk faster. They took me in their car and forced me to lead them to seize my elder sister in Nanyan village.

“I lost consciousness. I crossed my legs and covered my mouth with my hands when I regained consciousness. My sister’s door was locked when we arrived at her home. They scolded: ‘Take the b__ch in the car!’ Later they pushed me down into the car and asked me to find her neighbors. They asked her neighbors to cheat her into coming back by saying that her mother was seriously sick. After she and her husband came back, they took them in the car. She worried about her granddaughter and said:  ‘What can I do with my granddaughter?’

“They took her granddaughter in their car as well. She begged them not to, but they disregarded that. They beat her and her husband in the Family Planning Office. They beat me eight times and detained me for three days. They let me go after I paid the fine. But I left the sequel of gatism [incontinence]. I still feel pain in my back until now. Because of that, my mother-in-law’s sickness got more serious as well. My two children didn’t go to school for two days because no one tended to them. All my piglets starved to death.”

Note Four: Family Planning Officials Detain and Torture Family Members of Pregnant Woman; Force an Elderly Grandmother and her Brother to Beat Each Other.

When:            November 5, 2004

Where: Maxiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County, Linyi City

Source: Teng Biao’s witness interview of August 20, 2005

In the book, “Village East,” written by Wangtai Chu, a seventy-year-old woman made the following accusation:  “My tears have run dry these years. My heart has dried out too. Now I can’t shed tears however heartbroken I am.”  Probably I experienced too few sufferings. I cried several times in Linyi although I thought I was tough. The saddest time was when I heard Huahou Song’s story.

Huahou Song (about sixty years old) comes from Maxiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County. Her daughter-in-law Shanhua Liu gave first birth to a boy. Shanhua was not allowed to have another child but was discovered being five months’ pregnant on November 5, 2004. Shanhua told us that the Family Planning Officials didn’t give her any contraceptive device and the pregnancy was not discovered in several previous pregnancy checks. So it was not her fault. But her relatives began to face disasters.

Huahou was taken to the Family Planning Office on one of the coldest days of the year. The Family Planning Officials asked her to pay the fine. At that time she needed to spend the money for her other daughter-in-law, who lacked amniotic fluid. She begged them to exempt her from the fine. They let her go, but she was seized again three days after that. This time she was detained for four days. It remained fresh in her memory:  “The Family Planning Officials charged me four thousand [Yuan, approximately $620]. But I had only five hundred.  I told them I would have to beat myself to death on the wall if they insisted on charging that large amount of money.” She was released again, but she still needed to hide. As long as Shanhua didn’t come back, she would be seized.

Shanhua told us, on lunar calendar January 8, her elder sister, her fifth younger sister, her first elder brother’s wife, her second elder brother’s wife and her younger brother’s wife were seized at the same time. They were detained for five days. The Family Planning Officials set them free after they paid 500 Yuan each. On January 23rd, her elder sister, her fifth younger sister and her fifth younger sister’s four-year-old daughter were seized. This time they were detained for six days and paid 1,000 Yuan together. Her fifth younger sister dared not come back home but was seized again in another village on 28th. Her sister was detained for eight days and paid more than 1,000 Yuan. Then they seized Zhongchen Fang (Huahou Song’s nephew).

Huahou went to the Family Planning Office and requested to substitute for her nephew. Zhongchen Fang was released. The Family Planning Officials began to put Huahou to torture. “They beat me with rubber sticks and slapped me in the face more than ten times. My teeth began to bleed. I had sickness but they insisted that I was pretending . . . I slept on the cold cement floor at night without any quilt or blanket.

“This time I was detained for twenty-six days. My elder brother’s wife was there for five days. My neighbor Baokun Wang and Dongzhen Fang were also seized and beaten. Then Shanhua Liu gave birth to her second child and paid a fine of 25,280 Yuan [approximately $3955].

Huahou said:  “After my elder brother (sixty five years old) was seized, the Family Planning Officials beat him with rubber sticks and forced me to beat him after that. I said I couldn’t beat my brother but then they forced my brother to beat me.” When I [author Teng Biao] recorded this part, I couldn’t help crying silently. I did not want to let them see my tears. I really wanted to rush out and cry aloud! The moment reminded me of Keqin Wang, who wailed at the dinner table after investigating the slaughter in Dingzhou! The Family Planning Officials persecuted people older than their parents and forced a brother and sister to beat each other. . .

Huahou’s elder brother was detained for eighteen days. His peanuts and sheep were all stolen. Some of his ducks, cows and pigs starved to death. This caused a loss of more than 3,000 [Yuan, approximately $470]. Huahou said:  “My elder brother was angry with me. He refused to see me after he was released. He asked me to pay for his loss, or else he wouldn’t see me anymore.”

Huahou finished telling her story. There was no tear in her eyes. But on her wrinkled face there was evidence that she had cried.

Note Five: Woman Kidnapped and Tortured for 30 Days because her Brother had an “Extra Child”; Family Planning Officials Detained and Tortured Other Family Members and Neighbors, Forcing Them to Beat One Another.

When:              August 13, 2005

Where:  Fei County People’s hospital

Source:  Author Teng Biao, written on August 21, 2005

At about eight o’clock in the evening of August 13, 2005, we went to the Fei county people’s hospital together with Shu Liang to see his wife Jinglan Pei (she comes from Banqiao Village, Shiban Town, Fei City, Linyi County). When we entered the ward, she was laying on the sickbed. Seeing us come in, she sat up with difficulty and talked with us about her sad story.

Her second younger brother (Jinggang Pei, villager of Peijiagou village, Shijing town, Fei county) worked in another city and had an extra child. In the morning of lunar calendar March 5, five people rushed into her house and shouted:  “We are from the Family Planning Office. We are out to get you because of your younger brother!” They took her to the Family Planning Office forcibly. In the morning of the next day, four Family Planning Officials unbuttoned her jacket and covered her head with it. Then they beat her violently. They took off her shoes and scraped her feet with rough bamboo. The whole process lasted for fifty minutes. Her heart was still fluttering with fear as she told us their most painful torture: “The Family Planning Officials pressed on my ribs with their strong hands. This was the most vicious. It was so painful that we burst into tears. Even men couldn’t endure the pain, let alone women.”

She was detained for thirty days. She was interrogated and tortured every day. During the daytime, only when she went to the toilet was she allowed to go out of the room. Four people followed her all the way. At night she was not allowed to go to the toilet at all, however much she begged. Her 51-year-old brother’s grandchild [who was detained with her] had to stand by the side of the window and urinate through it. An aged mother from Gaoyan Village had to urinate in a bowl and poured it out through the window. The captives often got no water to drink. Once her daughter-in-law’s younger sister sent her a pot of tea. She shared the tea with the people detained in the same room. They drank it off in a minute. They said they would have died of thirst without that. When she was released, she said: “My clothes were too smelly to take off.”

There were many rooms used for detention, two in the south and several more in the north. In her room there were about twenty-eight people. The Family Planning Officials didn’t allow their families to send them food. Whoever sent food to them was detained too. Her son (Feng Liang), her son’s fiancée (Li Song) and Li Song’s younger sister were all detained because of this. Her husband’s elder brother and his wife, her nephew and his wife, her neighbor Han and her third uncle’s younger sister were all detained. They were released after they paid the required amount of money.

During the detention, they forced her to lead the way to seize her fourth grandmother and her fourth grandfather. They were seized in the field. But the Family Planning Officials said that she asked them to do so. She said:  “My grandmother believed their words and scolded me. I cried out aloud and knelt down for forgiveness. My grandfather forgave me, but my grandmother is still angry with me.”

Shuhe Liang got to know that it was because of his younger brother that his family members were seized. “In order to rescue my family, I had to look for Jinggang Pei everywhere. I went to Cangshan city, Linyi city and Jilin province, but failed to find him.”

On April 4^th, Shuhe Liang paid 2,600 plus 600 for his neighbor and 1,000 for his son, altogether 4,200. [2600 Yuan is approximately $406].  That was not the end of the tragedy yet. In the early morning of July 27, the Shiban town Family Planning Officials branched out into two columns: one column was led by Zijun Li (vice director) with six followers. They seized Shuhe Liang, Jinglan Pei, Jinggang Pei’s uncle’s wife (Xiying Wen) and his father-in-law (Shaoyu Zhu) forcibly for detention. The other column went to Peijiagou village and seized Jinggang Pei’s uncle (Guangyou Pei), his second sister-in-law (Chengxiu Liu) and thirteen of his neighbors (Guangming Pei, Guanglin Pei, Jiamei Jiang, Honge Liu, Jingyan Pei, Fuhua Liang, Caixia Pei, Huailun Pei, Jingguo Pei, Yinnian Fan, Zhongfang Liu, Fengling Liang and Shanmei Li). At about five o’ clock in the morning, they were tortured with rubber sticks and wooden sticks in the Family Planning Office.

Shuhe Liang said:  “Jingbao Peng (head of the Family Planning Office) felt the hearing was boring. So he asked us to sit on the floor and unbend our legs. Then he taught us how to beat our neighbors and relatives. He forced us to beat each other. He complained that the hits weren’t standard and harsh enough. He demonstrated on us himself. He picked up Jinglan Pei’s uncle’s wife’s leather shoe and hit Jinglan Pei’s insteps fiercely. She burst into tears out of the pain and couldn’t put on her shoes because her feet were swollen.”

Later neighbors were released one after another after they paid a deposit of 100 Yuan. On July 29, Shuhe Liang was set free. But his wife was tortured again. Jinglan Pei described the nightmare:

In the evening of July 29, I was the only one detained in the Family Planning Office. At about ten o’ clock, four drunk Family Planning Officials came back, including Jingbao Peng, Zijun Li and another two (my husband said they were Jingtang Yan and Xiangguo Kong). I went to the toilet and they followed me. When I was about to go to bed, they said: “Take the class in the office!”

I was scared:  “May I take the class here?”

They scolded: “B__ch, it’s not up to you! Go!”

After I entered the office, they shut the door and turned off the light.

I said:  “Please don’t turn off the light, I’m scared.”

They said:  “Do we just listen to you?”

They asked me to lie on my stomach on the floor and didn’t allow me to raise my head. Then some of them pinched my neck while others stood around and hit me. They kicked the lower part of my body and wiped my hip and feet with the soles of their shoes. They said:  “Call more people to beat you later!” Their hits lasted for more than twenty minutes. Finally they shouted to me:  “F_k off!”

My legs wouldn’t listen to me after their hits. I struggled to the room on the south and cried. I placed two desks against the door but Zijun Li broke into and poked my head with his fingers. I cried until four o’ clock. No one came to have a look.

The second day Shuhe Liang received a phone call from Family Planning Officials Fengjun Xie (Town Secretary in charge of publicity. He’s also town commissary in charge of organization), asking him to pick up his wife in the Family Planning Office. “She lay on the bench. Her body was full of bruises. She couldn’t move at all. She had no words but kept on crying.” He questioned Jingbao Peng, but Peng said:  “I didn’t beat her.”

He dragged Peng in front of his wife. She recognized him. In the beginning Peng denied but he acknowledged in the end.

Two weeks later, we copied Jinglan’s case of illness in the town People’s Hospital. On the “Resident Admit Note” of July 31 it is written:  “Action in chief: injury on head and chest with ache for a whole day. Current medical history: the patient had dispute with Family Planning Officials and her head and chest were hit. Immediately she felt ache in the injury and was dizzy. No vomiting or obvious disorder of consciousness, only ache on chest.”

On the “Case Record” it is written:  “The patient had dispute with Family Planning Officials and her head and chest were hit. Immediately she felt ache in the injury. She felt slight ache on the right part of occipital bone and the right part of fore breast. There was slight bruise on toes of both feet and she felt ache when pressed.”

I made a record for a whole day. My neck was almost about to break. We [Teng Biao and other lawyers present] were angry, sad, hungry and tired. We still needed to shake the government officials that were running after us. Hence we parted from Shuhe Liang and Jinglan Liang, got on our van and looked for accommodation in the dark night.

Note Six: Woman Forcibly Sterilized Despite High Blood Pressure, Suffers Complications with No Compensation.

When:            March 10, 2005 of Chinese lunar calendar

Where: Nanxiashi Village, Sunzu Town, Yinan County Linyi City

Source: Teng Biao

On March 10, 2005 of Chinese lunar calendar, Ruixiang Song (Village Secretary of Xiashi Village, Sunzu Town, Yinan County) asked villager Bingmei Hu (thirty-four years old) to have a ligation of oviduct [sterilization by tubal ligation]. He had never mentioned that before. She felt bad about that. He said:  “We will give you a prize of 100 Yuan if you do it today. We give 50 Yuan if you do it tomorrow. But if you postpone until we seize you, you even need to pay for the operation.” She said:  “I’d love to conform to the state policy, but I need to take care of my child (four months old). My husband is working in Guangdong province. I will have the ligation once he comes back.” The first day seven people had a ligation. Three hid to avoid it.

On April 5, she took her child to her mother’s home for an injection. The Family Planning Officials (about seven) went there by car. They asked her where her child was. She told them the child was sleeping in the room. Jihe Yin entered the room and took the child in the car. She [Bingmei Hu] was also pushed into the car. They drove to her village and asked her mother-in-law to take the baby. Then they drove to Shimenting Village. Some of them got out to seize people. She was taken to the town hospital by the village Women’s Section Officer.

They asked her [Bingmei Hu] to do a health check. Her blood pressure was 160 (too high to have a ligation). She waited for more than two hours and checked again, but it was still high. One expert confirmed that it was not suitable for ligation at all. For the sake of safety, the hospital refused to do the operation. One Family Planning Official reported to his leader by phone. Later he got a command and dragged her to the Family Planning Office. Her blood pressure was still 160 when checked again in the Family Planning Office. They asked her to take some hypotensor [medication for hypertension]. But three hours later the result was still the same. The doctor phoned Mrs. Yuan (Vice Officer of the Family Planning Office . . . Her husband is doctor Wang from Type-B Ultrasonic Division), but she said:  “Do it regardless of the blood pressure.”

Bingmei said:  “I have checked in the hospital and the expert said I couldn’t do it. How could you be so bold? You must be responsible for all the problems caused!”

Yuan said:  “F__k off!”

The Family Planning Officials said to Bingmei:  “Do what you are told to. She would be angry about your words.”

Later they seized a full car of people. One Family Planning Official pointed at Bingmei’s nose and shouted:  “Are you going to do it at all?”

Bingmei said:  “I would have done that if I didn’t check in the hospital. But the fact is that my health is not qualified for ligation.”

Then Fengze Du (head of the Family Planning Office) came and asked her:  “Was your child born by normal childbirth or caesarean birth?”

“Normal childbirth”

“Then there would be no problem with such a small operation.”

“You should give me a written guarantee in case any problem occurs.”

The Family Planning Officials pointed at her nose and said:  “Don’t belabor the point. Just have the ligation.” Fengze Du pointed at her nose and said:  “As they said, you have no choice but to have a ligation. If not, we’ll have to hold you on the operating table and do it!”

Bingmei said: “You must put your fingerprint and be responsible for any problem!”

Fengze Du said:  “I will take the responsibility! Just put the doctor’s fingerprint!”

On August 15, Bingmei told us at Chen Guangcheng’s home “I was forced into the operating room, scared and angry. They forced me to sign the form and put my fingerprint before I read it.”

On August 16, when I [Teng Biao] had an informal discussion with the leaders of Family Planning Office, a Vice Officer of the town Family Planning Office emphasized several times that all the people who had a ligation had signed the agreement of their own accord. Then I told him Bingmei’s story in detail. I said: “First, she was cheated and threatened by the Family Planning Officials. Then her child was forcibly taken away. She was insulted by the head of the Family Planning Office at the fact her health was not qualified for ligation. They even told her she must take the operation whether she agreed or not. Can we say that she signed the agreement of her own accord under such circumstances?” On hearing my words, the leader, who was arrogant and domineering during the whole discussion, suddenly had nothing to say.

Bingmei said:  “The day I had ligation was the second day I had my period, so I bled a lot. When I went back home from the operation, I was dizzy and couldn’t move. My legs felt weak. I felt great pain in my abdomen. The Village Women Section Officer came and promised to help me find a doctor. A doctor came in the evening but left very soon.” Bingmei’s mother said:  “They asked my daughter to have the ligation on the condition that they knew she was not in good health. Didn’t they mean to take away her life?” The whole village has known her story.

About seven days later, she couldn’t endure the pain. A swelling appeared on her abdomen. The Village Secretary phoned the Family Planning Office but they said:  “It happens. Take it easy.”

About ten days later, the swelling grew even bigger and the whole abdomen was swollen. She asked the Village Secretary to call the Family Planning Office. He agreed to help but not any news. She phoned him the next day, but he said he had nothing to do with it.

Bingmei asked:  “How could you say you have nothing to do with that? Didn’t it have much to do with you when you led them to my home to seize me?”

He said:  “I did that as the town leaders asked me to!”

Bingmei cried and said:  “You are delighted to serve the town leaders, but why is it so difficult for you to serve the villagers?”

Thirteen days after the operation, the Family Planning Office finally sent a car to take her to hospital. But the doctor advised her to do another operation. She was scared but still followed his advice. She stayed in the hospital for ten days after the operation. But after the doctor took out the suture and checked the condition with Type-B Ultrasonic, a lot of blood stasis was discovered. Fengze Du discussed with other Family Planning Officials and came up with the conclusion that the only way to drain the blood stasis was with a hypodermic needle. She cried on hearing that:  “I’m afraid of that! I’m a human, not a cotton-padded jacket that can add or remove cotton at any time!” He said: “What are you crying for? You just had two operations. Some people had three or four!” She requested to transfer to another hospital. But he said: “Drawing the blood stasis doesn’t necessarily work!” On July 5, she was reexamined in the town hospital. She couldn’t endure the pain after the CT scan. The result was there were already full of bloodstains instead of blood stasis. The doctor told her there was nothing she could do but take good care and recover slowly.

Later she went to Xiangrui Song’s home (Village Secretary) to dispute. But he shouted to her:  “Get out! Take over my post if you could!”

She asked the town government for compensation. Zhenfeng Liu (Town Vice Secretary) said: “No way!”

On August 8, she went to the town Family Planning Office. She waited there for a whole day but couldn’t find them. Actually Fengze Du fled through the back door.

When Mr. Wu (head of the Family Planning Office) talked with us [Teng Biao and the lawyers with him] about her, he admitted the fact that they forced her to do the operation despite her high blood pressure. But he explained: “160 is the breakthrough point, so it’s all right whether she had the operation or not. Her worry and fear are also likely to cause the failure. Besides, no operation is 100% successful.” The Family Planning Officials forced her to do operation regardless of her health condition. They hid, cheated and threatened her after the failed operation harmed her health.

Note Seven: Villagers Detained, Tortured and Required to Pay “Tuition” in Linyi “Family Planning Learning Class.”

When:  April 19, 2005

Where: Shuanghou Town, Yinan County

Source: Teng Biao

There was a “Learning Class” in the Family Planning campaign launched in three districts and nine cities of Linyi County. People who are over fifty years old should be familiar with this term. The “Mao Zedong Thought Learning Class” in the Great Cultural Revolution was called “Learning Class” for short as well. This other “Learning Class” forced people to learn the “Five Constantly Read Articles,” “Chairman Mao’s Latest Words” and “Two Newspapers and One Magazine” repeatedly to eliminate different groups and reach a unified understanding towards Mao Zedong Thought. Later it became more horrible than prison. Countless people were tortured, brainwashed and mentally wrecked in it. Many were beaten to death and many committed suicide. It was a Chinese-style clone of Orwell’s room number 101 and a Chinese-style concentration camp.

In 2005, the ghost of the Great Cultural Revolution rose again from the ashes in Linyi County. But precisely speaking, it has never died out. It has been wandering in the Family Planning campaigns and campaigns combating Falun Gong all over the country. The “Learning Class” in Linyi is so close to me [Teng Biao.]  I saw the physical damage with my own eyes. I heard the horrors with my own ears. I felt strongly the mental injuries from the tearful complaints of victims. All these things deeply shocked me.

Seizing people is the first step of the “Learning Class.” Before this step, the Learning Class is just several offices or vacant houses in the town government. Usually four or five Family Planning Officials (the Family Planning Officials mentioned in this article not only include the formal officials of Family Planning Office, Family Planning Committee and Family Planning Bureau, but also all the officials of the district and all the hired thugs), sometimes even more than thirty drove one or more cars to the villages. They entered a villager’s house to seize people by means of knocking at the door, prying the lock or smashing the door.

Gengjiang Chen from Shuanghou town, Yinan county said:  “It was raining at about 11 o’ clock on 19th, April, 2009. I was looking after my child when I heard a bang on the door. Three people rushed in and shouted at me:  ‘Township leaders want to have a conversation with you.’ Then another two or three people entered (including Yulin Hai and Shenghou Xu). They enveloped me and dragged me out of my house. Some of them pressed my neck and some others twisted my arms.”

Delu Zhang from Dongmingsheng village, Jiehu town, Yinan county told us [Teng Biao and other lawyers] “I was making pancakes at about five o’ clock in the morning. The Women Section Officer knocked at my door with seven or eight people. She asked my daughter (Chengai Zhang) to get into their car: “Get in the car, or else we’ll carry you in!” In the end my daughter was carried into the car and taken to the Family Planning Office for detention.”

As Shouhua Men (fifty-six years old) from Houzhuzi Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County wrote in the letter of accusation:  “(As was implicated by my husband’s second younger sister) At about half past six in the morning of March 4 of the lunar calendar, several Family Planning Officials suddenly broke into my house with wooden sticks. They beat me and forced me into their car and took me to the Family Planning Office for detention.”

Peirong Yang from Houzhuzi Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County wrote:  “I was seized because my son-in-law’s elder brother had an extra child. It was late at night that day. Several Family Planning Officials broke into my house and dragged me out of my bed. Before I was able to let my family know, they pulled me out the door to beat me. Then they pushed me into their car and took me to Lianqiu Town. They beat me there twice a day.”

As elders of the village said, such circumstances only occurred when the Japanese invaded the village. “They are more horrible than the Japanese!” (Regarding “implication” of the extended family in Linyi County.) Villagers were told to “learn” in the Family Planning Office when they were seized, but this “Family Planning Learning Class” is extremely special: no desk, no teaching material, and no teacher. The teaching aids are truncheons, wooden sticks and rubber sticks. It is the right of Family Planning Officials who were trained to “maintain the advanced nature of the CCP” to torture people. The “tuition” was 100 Yuan [approximately $16] per day. To get out of the Learning Class, apart from paying the required amount of “tuition,” treating the Family Planning Officials for dinner is also needed.

Jianfu Zhang from Huading Village, Liangqiu Town said:  “They pushed me into a dark room and beat me with a wooden board and rubber sticks. I fainted, but they poured cold water on me. My body shook all over. They asked me:  “Are you going to tell us where your nephew is at all?” I said I really didn’t know. I fainted again and they poured cold water on me. I was detained for half a month.”

Zonghua Zhang (sixty-one years old) from Liangqiu town said: “I was taken to the Family Planning Office. They kicked me down immediately after I entered the room. Seven or eight Family Planning Officials trampled and kicked me with their leather shoes. My socks bled and my arms were broken. Then I fainted.

Almost every person investigated had once experienced the torture described by Changjun Xu (forty-four years old) from Liangqiu town. “Qinghua Zhang, Shouhui Fan, Liangru Li, Wenfu Liu, Jingdong Pei and Tianbao Li asked me to help look for my uncle’s son Changqing Xu. But I didn’t know where he was. Two of them put a motorcycle helmet on my head. Another two twisted my arms. Another one kicked my legs and the last one forced me to kneel down on a chair. Qinghua Zhang commanded:  ‘Each of you beat him fifty times with rubber sticks.’ All of them followed his command. Then he asked them:  ‘Enough?’ They replied ‘Yes.’  But he said:  ‘More!’ So they beat me again.” Changjun Xu couldn’t stand on his own feet when they let him go the next day. He fell down on the ground the moment they loosened their grip.”

Ruibing Xiao (forty-four years old) from Shangyang village, Liangqiu town recalled the situation of the day:

“In the evening the Family Planning Officials with a strong smell of wine came to torture me. They turned one chair upside down and pushed me on it indiscriminately. One of them pressed my head and beat me with a rubber stick. I argued with them but they beat me even more fiercely. They said:  “It costs only twenty thousand Yuan [approximately $3128] to pay for your funeral expenses.”  Then seven officials beat me with rubber sticks at the same time and I fainted. I had not regained consciousness after three hours, so they poured cold water on me to wake me up. They insisted that I was feigning death. Two people beat me again until I fainted a second time.”

They usually put a motorcycle helmet on the victim’s head, shined a strong light into the victim’s eyes or hid their own faces, which reflected their guilty conscience. This also forecasted their upcoming indulged brutality because the victim couldn’t see their ferocious faces.

Xidong Liu who was once seized by the Family Planning Office of Xinzhuang Town, Fei County said:  “They turned off the light and beat me in this way. I did not want to lie on the chair and struggled. Hence three of them pushed me down on it and beat me. The chair was broken and I lay on the ground. Then they placed the chair on my waist. Two of them stepped on it. Another one stepped on my neck. Another two beat me with rubber sticks while the last one shined my eyes with a torch.”

They invented a variety of cruel tortures in the “Learning Class.”  They asked the victim to take off his clothes and beat him with truncheons; they pressed on the victim’s ribs with their strong hands; they slapped the victim in his face; they plucked the victim’s hair; they stepped on the victim’s head; they hit the victim’s insteps with leather shoes; they covered the victim with a sack and hit; they boxed the victim’s ears with rolled-up newspaper; they hit the victim’s head with wooden sticks; they forced the victim to “horse stand”; they placed continuous hearing [further detention] without giving the victim anything to eat or drink; they built a specialized water dungeon to detain the victim . . . Their violence has become day-to-day. Accompanying the cruel torture are the unending mental threats and insults.

Zonghua Zhang said:  “Every day they pointed at my nose and insulted me. We cried every day. Also because of our wounds, we didn’t feel like eating anything.” Another victim said:  “They cursed my ancestors. They shouted as they beat me: ‘It costs only ten thousand (some say twenty thousand) to pay for your funeral expenses.’” Unfortunately, such tragedies really happened. Some people were beaten to death by them. They just paid some money to dispose of the matter without bearing any legal liability. They didn’t even pay ten thousand, as they promised.

The Family Planning slogans are also full of naked and bloody violence. As the slogan posted in Hujiazhuang village, Xinqiao town, Fei county says: “Allow the first childbirth and have [tubal] ligation [sterilization] for the second child birth.” Shixing Village, Tanyi Town, Fei County posts: “Prescribe heavy penalties on those in violation of the Family Planning law.”  Another is “Induce or abort, but not bear”; “Pull down your house if you don’t ligate as requested. Take away your belongings if you don’t abort as requested.” The prevalent Family Planning slogans in Shandong Province are “We don’t discourage you from taking poison and we provide you rope if you want to hang yourself”; and “Rather ten extra tombs than one extra person.”

The environment of the “Learning Class” itself was a terrible insult to human dignity. Baigao Chen (fifty-eight years old) from Xiapo village, Yitang town, Lanshan district, Linyi city said:  “We were not allowed to go out of the room, not even allowed to go to the toilet. They placed two big urinals in the room, one (on the east side) for men and the other one (on the west side) for women. There were sixty or seventy people in the room. Urine flowed to us from the other side. We couldn’t sleep at night. It was completely not a place for humans to live. They didn’t regard us as human at all. Men and women were detained together. Sometimes we had no water or food.”

Fanzhi Meng from Yitang Town, Lanshan District said:  “That night there were ten or twenty people. There was only room for us to sit. We couldn’t sleep. Men and women, old and young were all in the same room. We were not allowed to go to the toilet, so we had to use the room as a lavatory. We warded off with a board (about one meter high). The place we had meals was only about two meters from the lavatory.”

Xingrong Xia fron Xiajiagou Village said: “More than forty people, men and women, were detained in the same room. They locked the door at about eight o’ clock in the evening and opened the door at about six o’ clock in the morning of the next day. During the night no one cared about what happened in the room. We dared not eat or drink too much to avoid going to the toilet. I lost much weight under their control and hits.”

Shouhua Men from Liangqiu town said: “Namely it’s a Learning Class, actually it’s a “work camp” full of hits and insults.” Zongxi Zhang (disabled and single) was also tortured there. He wrote on his letter of accusation:” It’s like a hell on earth.”

During the Great Cultural Revolution, some Learning Classes carried out their “Forbids Regulation”:  Forbid leaving the barrack; forbid getting in touch with outside; forbid receiving visitors. However, the “Family Planning Learning Class” in Linyi is more cruel than that: “Forbid answering back (beat you more fiercely if you answer back); forbid going out of the room; forbid going to the toilet at night; forbid sending food (those who deliver food are also forced into the Learning Class).

Producing horror — In the beginning they forced the victims to find their relatives or neighbors by means of producing horror.  But later producing terror became their purpose.  Zongxue Zhang from Huading Village, Liangqiu Town was stunned by the Family Planning Officials. They poured cold water on him to wake him up. One Family Planning leader said to him:  “This is beating the dog before the lion. You will be a warning to others.” Other victims told us:  “They beat us whether you told the truth or not; they beat us whether we agreed to help them look for others or not; they beat us whether we found others or not; they beat us whether they were clear-headed or drunk; they beat us whether we handed in money or not; they beat us whether we wanted to sue them or not; they beat us whether we revolted or not; they beat us whether we were local villagers or not; they beat us whether we were young or old; they beat us whether we were sick or not.” They have become sadists. They have become hatchet men. The regime was once leftist and encouraged cruelty. The “Family Planning Learning Class” in Linyi causes us to be aware of the fact that such a regime has not parted from us. But it yet requires further investigation regarding how the Family Planning work by means of producing terror has transformed into the Family Planning work for the purpose of producing horror.

On earth how many people were illegally detained in the Learning Class? According to Chen Guangcheng’s rough statistics, Linyi city has a population of 10,800,000 and 130,000 people (12‰ of the population) were forced to have ligation. Three to 30 of each victim’s relatives or neighbors were implicated. This amounts to 520,000 people if we count 4 for each victim. Everyone was detained 1 to 40 days and in total it was 1,560,000 days (about 4,300 years) if we count 3 days for each person. Each person was charged 100 Yuan each day (some places didn’t charge while some other places charged several times. But most places charged this amount of money). It amounts to more than 93,000,000 Yuan if we count 60 for each person per day. This is just a conservative estimate. But what the farmers’ hard-earned money bought was outrage, humiliation and horror.

The horrors produced by the “Family Planning Learning Class” are still controlling many villagers. Countless villagers wouldn’t like to take part in our investigation, report to the police, sue them in the court or make a sound recording. The horrors spread all over every village of Linyi County and go deep into the soul of every villager who was once tortured in the Learning Class or merely heard of the stories.

Note Eight:  The Practice of “Implication”; a Farmer Commits Suicide when Family and Neighbors Are Detained and Tortured because his Son Had an “Extra Child.”

When:            March 8, 2005

Where:            Xiajiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County

Source: Teng Biao, written on August 22, 2005

The practice of “Implication” in the Family Planning Policy of Linyi County has far surpassed any other such implication policy in history.  A distressed old party member said:  “It is the CCP that does the things even the nine-generation-implication policy in ancient times didn’t do.” Twenty-two of Zhongxia Fang’s relatives were implicated. Her mother-in-law, her third elder brother’s wife, her elder sister’s husband, her nephew and his wife as well as his child (one year old), her husband’s elder brother’s wife’s younger sister, her younger sister (pregnant), her younger sister’s parents-in-law and their grandson, her third aunt and her husband as well as their granddaughter (not yet four years old), her fourth aunt, her uncle’s wife, her fifth elder brother’s wife, her third elder brother’s wife’s younger sister and so on were all detained, beaten and charged the “Learning Fee.” Anyone who was discovered to have a blood connection with her was implicated. Many of them got to know how they were implicated several days after they were seized.

That’s not even the whole story. Apart from relatives, neighbors were also implicated. The local policy is that people living within several dozen or even several hundred meters around the person’s home are all implicated. Some implement the ten-family policy, which means that if one family is in violation of the policy, ten related families are punished. The scope is said to be fifty meters sometimes, two hundred or five hundred meters once in a while, and even the entire village in some cases. As long as one person in the village “has any problem,” all the villagers in sight are seized.  (“Has any problem,” as villagers put it — actually only a very small proportion out of all those who have hidden or fled have more than one child. Besides, according to the Family Planning Law, no one has the privilege to implement forced abortion. Most of them have hidden to avoid forced ligation [sterilization]. Nevertheless, every citizen is entitled to the right by the law to choose safe, effective, and appropriate contraceptive methods.)

Things were even worse sometimes. In some extreme cases, no one in the village dared stay at home at night. They slept in the farmland for several continuous nights. As Menshou Hua from Liangqiu Town, Fei County wrote:  “Officials of the Town and the County assembled and formed the temporary so-called “Family Planning Work Group.”  This Group dispatched cars to every Village round the clock to seize and rob villagers. If one person fled, they seized his relatives, neighbors, relative’s neighbors, people living within 150 meters of his home, and even anybody they met in the village. This drove everyone crazy. Even cocks and dogs were not in peace. No family dared turn on the light at night and they would rather sleep in the farmland, which is exactly the same as avoiding Japanese invaders in the War of Resistance against Japan.

A retired soldier in Fenghou Village, Tanyi Town called Shi Mingli was seized because of his son, who has more than one child. He was set free after his other son (an officer in the army) pleaded mercy for him. However, that’s not the end of the story. The Work Group seized his daughter and his son-in-law in another village instead. His son-in-law climbed up the house and managed to run away through the roof of his neighbor. Consequently, the poor kind-hearted neighbor Zhengang Ji was seized. Being irritated by the unfair treatment, Zhengang’s wife went to Mingli Shi’s home and scolded him every day. Feeling deeply sorry and ashamed, he requested to take the place of Zhengang. But not only was his request rejected, he also heard Zhengang’s scream through the phone when the group afflicted this poor man. Meanwhile, Zhengang’s wife came to rebuke him again.  Unable to endure the torment of shame, he took farm chemicals and ended his life.

Sometimes the Family Planning Officials intentionally asked relatives and neighbors to lead the way, even if they knew the way. They did so to shift their responsibility (“It’s your nephew that led me to seize you, not me”) and to break the relationships in order for them to produce horrors more effectively.

Jingshan Xia’s story (from Xiajiagou Village, Liangqiu Town, Fei County) typically reflects this:

In the early morning of lunar calendar March 8th, seven or eight Family Planning Officials seized my wife and I, and pushed us into their car.  They asked me where my second elder brother was. I told them he was working in another city. They went to his home and pried his lock. They left, as no one was in the house. They beat me with rubber sticks and forced me to lead the way to seize Jingwei Xia and Chuanyun Xia. Jingwei Xia was seized. Then they went to Chuanbang Xia’s family and seized his daughter-in-law. In the evening of March 10th, they interrogated me about where my second elder brother had gone. I told them I didn’t know. So they beat me with rubber sticks and forced Yungang Cao (he was also seized by them) to beat me. I couldn’t endure the pain and shouted. Shouhui Fan (Family Planning Official of Liangqiu Town) hit my mouth. I couldn’t move after their torture, but they still forced me to lead them to seize people. We went to Jingfa Xia’s and Jinghe Xia’s family but no one was at home. They scolded me:  “F__k! Why are you leading us to places without anyone home?” At about ten o’ clock we went to Jingjiang Xia’s family home. They pried open the lock and smashed the door. His mother was sleeping but he was not at home. Then they smashed the neighbor’s door, but didn’t find anyone there. Then they went to Chuancai Xia’s family home and broke all the glass on the windows and the door into pieces. Then they went to Jingchun Xia’s and Jingcheng Xia’s family……Qinghua Zhang (Family Planning official of Liangqiu Town) commanded them to seize one more person. I told him there was nobody to seize. They said:  “There’s no lack of people!” Then they seized Xingdai Xia and asked me his sister’s address. One of them said that his third elder sister’s husband was a butcher and was not safe to seize. So they decided not to go there……then they went to seize Jingjiang Xia’s first elder sister. I was not sure about her family’s address. They rebuked me:  “F__k!” They kicked me and forced me to knock on the door, although I was not sure if it was her family. It turned out to be her neighbor’s family. Even so they still pushed the man of the family into the car.

Xingrong Xia from Liangqiu Town, Fei County said:

“It’s not a big deal to lose 1,000 Yuan, but my second daughter-in-law has decided to break off all relations with me. She said:  “I don’t care if you make contact with me or not. I will break off all relations with you and I won’t support you when you are aged.” All my children have broken off with me. I will settle it with the government. My children won’t support me when I’m aged, so I have to rely on the government to support me.”

During the time Jinglan Pei from Banqiao Village, Shiban Town, Fei County was detained, they forced her to lead the way to seize her fourth grandmother and her fourth grandfather. They were seized in the field. But the Family Planning Officials said that she asked them to do so. She said: “My grandmother believed their words and scolded me. I cried out aloud and knelt down for forgiveness. My grandfather forgave me, but my grandmother was still angry with me.”

Xidong Liu from Jinjiagou Village said:  “I scolded my husband’s younger brother and his wife after they came back with their second child. They wouldn’t like to talk to me any more.” This is the Learning Class, which aims at destroying the foundation of social human relations in rural areas. It divides brothers and sisters, breaks off relationships between parents and children, and turns friends and neighbors into enemies. It infects the harmonious rural areas with hatred and misunderstanding, and injects poison into unsophisticated folk customs.

Thirty years ago Zhixin Zhang was sentenced to death and her family members were forced to attend the Learning Class. Her former husband, who was forced to divorce from her, as well as her underage daughter and son were all forced to show support for the court decision and make a clean break with her. Now this evil spirit of the Great Cultural Revolution continues to wander on the land of China with the help of the outrage of the Family Planning Officials, the potential poison of the autocratic regime, and the evil human nature provoked by the autocratic regime. It has gone beyond the fundamental baseline of humanity and is declaring war on humans and human nature.

Note Nine:  On the Road with Chen Guangcheng and his Investigative Team:  Constant Police Monitoring and Harassment.

When:            August 23, 2005

Where:            Shuanghou Town, Linyi City

Source: Teng Biao, written on August 23, 2005

When we [Teng Biao and the rest of Chen Guangcheng’s investigative team] investigated the Family Planning work in Linyi, two things shocked us: one thing is the outrage itself, while the other is the officials’ reactions toward the matter and toward us.

We had been monitored by the Town Government Officials the day we arrived at Chen Guangcheng’s home. We planned to go to the Yinan Family Planning station for investigation but were stopped by Town Family Planning Officials. They said the head of the town wanted to have a conversation with us. After we shook them off, we were followed by officials of the Propaganda of the County Committee. Later we divided into three teams to break loose and arrived at the Family Planning Office in the end. At noontime two Family Planning Officials tried to stop the people we investigated from writing us letters of authorization. We coped with them but then they tangled with our driver. Luckily, the driver was not afraid of them at all.

We met with Wenbing Liu (Vice Chief of the Yinan Town Family Planning Bureau). He had to end the conversation in a hurry because villagers countered his lies and bureaucratic tone fiercely. In the evening we struck our path across the fields and went barefoot through the Meng River to shake their monitor.  We arrived at Mengyin County to meet with local villagers.

During the days we were there, Dongshigu Village, Shuanghou Town, Yinan City where Chen Guangcheng’s family was located was closely guarded by twenty or thirty people every day. They divided into groups of two or three people. They set up visible, invisible, fixed and flowing sentries to monitor us around the clock.  Two or three cars followed us wherever we went. Sometimes they followed us secretly. When we accelerated, they did the same. When we stopped, they also had some rest around the corner. Sometimes they even followed us publicly. Their cars were very close to ours, to explicitly reveal their tasks to us.

When we met with Baigao Chen from Xiapo Village, Lanshan District, Linyi County, he had just been called for a conversation. In the beginning he dared not tell us his experiences.  He said:  “I will never ever talk about the event (Family Planning event).  One Villager from Xiazhubao Village was beaten five or six days ago and his legs were broken because he reported on the guilt of the Village Secretary of the Party Committee.” Our investigation in Lanshan District was destroyed by people tailing us. A police car followed us immediately after they saw us. We shook their track after weaving our way through the pathway.

When we stayed at a hotel (the only time we stayed at a hotel), thirty or forty people rushed into our room, including Fali He (Vice Chief of Linyi City Justice Bureau), Wenbing Liu (Vice Chief of Yinan Town Family Planning Bureau) and people who called themselves officials of Vice Squad of the Public Security Bureau. They threatened us, took Xiao Su and Xiao Liu away into another room and messed about [translation unclear] Chen Guangcheng, who is blind. Actually some of them had lived in our adjacent rooms. Villagers recognized them. A lot of cars and plainclothes police were downstairs. We were afraid that they might take our materials (notes, sound records and photos) away violently.  If so, it would be too big a loss. But there was nothing we could do.  We were very likely to be seized if we went out to copy the materials, since that would expose what we were trying to hide from them.  (Later things proved they didn’t know that what we cared about most was those materials.)  They would have been able to take measures to confiscate the materials if we were to send them by post.  The Family Planning Campaign in Linyi has proved that there is nothing they cannot do with the help of public power.

The most funny was the last afternoon’s track. They covered the two license plates of their van with red paper. After following us to the courthouse, they tore the paper down and left it on the ground. We discovered the van and the red paper when we came out, so we picked up the paper and took photos. We headed for the passenger station and they followed too. They got out of their car separately when they arrived. A woman pretended to be buying vegetables. A man stood by the bus stop and pretended to make a phone call. Another woman pretended to wait for the bus. At least six or seven people monitored us, but all these were clear to us.

We walked across the road to have supper and the first woman followed us. We slowed down and asked her why she followed us but she denied it. I asked her where she was from. She told me she is from Junan County. Later I asked the other woman. She told me she is from Yishui County and she didn’t know the first woman. But I saw clearly they talked with each other. The station was full of people monitoring us. The boss of the restaurant told us that outside the restaurant there were always people looking inside. Actually, the two sitting next to our table were also monitoring us. So we intentionally had an idle conversation. After supper we saw the two women again in the shop next door. We greeted them. They appeared to be embarrassed. But they still followed us and kept a very short distance. They seemed to be telling us:  “It’s our task. We’ll monitor you even if you recognize us.” I gave them my business card and told them to feel free to contact me. I made fun of them: “Monitoring us is not your regular work. You could refuse or ask for overtime compensation.”

When the Yinan Family Planning Officials had an informal discussion with us, what the head of Family Planning Office said most was:  “China has too large a population and the right to existence is the biggest human right.  Shandong province is the hometown of Confucius. Having no male heir is the gravest of the three cardinal offences against filial piety. Farmers are traditional and conservative.” He also said:  “It takes only ten minutes to have the [tubal] ligation [sterilization]. It’s only a small operation.  People feel ligation is harmful to health. But from the perspective of medical science, it’s good to women’s health.” (I once talked with a friend working in Family Planning Department. In that place the family planning work is well enforced under the principle of voluntarism. But no one has had voluntary ligation!) As for the sufferings of Bingmei Hu and Xifeng Xu (villagers of Shuanghou Town, Yinan County. She was affected with hyperthyreosis but was still required to undergo forced [tubal] ligation [sterilization], which left sequel after the operation), they didn’t give any sympathy at all. In their eyes, the most important thing is accomplishing the Family Planning Quota passed down from the higher authorities. They do not care whether people live or die. They never dare to face the consequences.

. . . .

As mentioned in “Implicating Ligation [Sterilization] in Ten Generations in Linyi City,” the head of Tanyi Town announced publicly:  “We would rather shed rivers of blood than have one extra child.” A friend phoned the Justice Bureau of Lanshan District, Linyi, but they replied:  “Family Planning is a national policy. Although it’s a little bit rude, it’s not in violation of the law as long as there’s no death or disability caused. That’s it.” While the reply from the National Family Planning Committee was:  “It’s in violation of the law, but there’s nothing we can do. Please resort to local Public Security organs for a solution.” But actually there’s no solution from either the National People’s Congress or the Public Security organs.

After we went back to Beijing, officials of Linyi came to Beijing as well. They came for backdoor deals. They divided into two groups. One group looked for a shield from high authorities while the other one imposed pressure on the work units of the investigators. They did not want us to mind their business. After we left Linyi, they convened meetings all over the villages. They had 24-hour duty, and Party members were not allowed to accept any investigation.

Chen Guangcheng was almost put under house arrest. They followed him wherever he went. Villagers who accepted our investigation were cheated and threatened as well. They almost disregarded the cost of their monitor. They hid the facts with taxpayers’ money and the heavy “Learning Class Tuition Fee” levied.

Note Ten:  Linyi’s Family Planning Campaign Has Declared War on Human Nature; Teng Biao’s Tribute to Chen Guangcheng.

When:              August 24, 2005.

Where:            Shuanghou Town, Yinan

Source: Teng Biao

Zhisheng Gao gave one of his articles a good name, “Who Has Ever Won Over Human Nature?” He said: “There has never been a power that has ever won over human nature since human beings came into existence, and there never will be. The violent Family Planning campaign in Linyi has declared war on human nature. I have witnessed too much sorrow, humiliation, injury and death, but I have never witnessed the surrender of human nature.”

Chen Guangcheng has lived in darkness since he was three years old. The world has been unfair to him, so it should have let him feel the warm, bright and beautiful side through sounds. But what has he heard? He has heard countless heart-broken stories. He has heard Family Planning Officials smash glasses and beat people. He has heard children and elders weep. He has heard the lies and dirty words of the officials. However, he still responds to the world with his joyful voice, patience and love. He plants various flowers and trees in his courtyard. He raises cats, dogs and birds. He knows which of his Chinese roses are yellow and which are red. He learns law on his own and safeguards legal rights for the disabled, which is very fruitful. He knows how to use a computer, fax and photocopier. He understands English and has friends from many different countries of the world. He keeps a large number of phone numbers, sounds and ways in his mind, so he doesn’t need anyone to accompany him whichever family in the village he visits. Actually people with discerning eyes like us often ask him for help to point the way. His phone is just like a legal advice hotline. This time he sees injustice again and has decided to expose the dirty tricks of the violent Family Planning.  On the phone his voice is always warm and optimistic even when he is wiretapped or when his freedom is restricted. One time he shed tears after he heard Siyi Li’s story.  [Siyi Li was a three-year old girl who lived in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province.  She died of starvation.]  I [Teng Biao] held his hands and comforted him. I was quite tired that day and he massaged my neck. I think his prestige not only lies on his knowledge of law and his courage, but also on his sensitive and nurturing heart.

Note Eleven:  Analysis of How Coercive Family Planning and the Practice of Implication Break Chinese Law.

When:  August 2005

Where:            Shuanghou Town, Yinan

Source: Teng Biao, written on August 24, 2005

Yongjun Su is a simple and honest villager. He accompanied us throughout the whole investigation. One day in the morning, he wrote several full pages of paper with pencil, saying that he would hand them out to more Villagers. I admired him a lot after reading his article called, “Is it right to implicate the ten generations with ligation [sterilization]?  The article goes like this:

First, let’s have a look at the Constitution of the PRC:

Article 37: The freedom of person of citizens of the People’s Republic of China is inviolable. Without the permission or decision of the People’s Procuratorate or the decision of the People’s Court, and the dispensation of Public Security organs, no citizen can be arrested. Unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens’ freedom of person by detention or other means is prohibited; any unlawful search of the person of citizens is prohibited.

Article 38: The personal dignity of citizens is inviolable, and insult, libel, false accusation or false incrimination directed against citizens by any means is prohibited.

Article 39: The residences of citizens are inviolable; and unlawful search of, or intrusion into, a citizen’s residence is prohibited.

Article 41: Citizens of the People’s Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or functionary. Citizens have the right to make to relevant state organs complaints and charges against, or exposures of, violations of the law or dereliction of duty by any state organ or functionary; but fabrication or distortion of facts with the intention of libel or frame-up is prohibited. In case of complaints, charges or exposures made by citizens, the state organ concerned must deal with them in a responsible manner after ascertaining the facts. No one may suppress such complaints, charges and exposures, or retaliate against the citizens making them. Those who have suffered losses due to the infringement of citizens’ rights by state organs or government functionaries, have the right to compensation according to law.

Let’s have a look at the Criminal Law of the PRC:

Article 234: A person who intentionally inflicts bodily injury upon another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance. A person who commits a crime under the preceding paragraph and causes severe bodily injury to another person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than ten years; and if causing another person’s death or, by especially cruel means, causing severe bodily injury to another person, thus resulting in severe deformity, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment or death. Where this law has other provisions, such provisions shall govern.

Let’s have a look at the Population and Family Planning Law of the PRC:

Article 19: Family Planning shall be practiced chiefly by means of contraception. The State creates conditions to ensure that individual citizens knowingly choose safe, effective, and appropriate contraceptive methods. Where Family Planning operations are performed, the recipients’ safety shall be ensured.

Article 39: Any functionary of a State organ who commits one of the following acts in the work of Family Planning, if the act constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with law; if it does not constitute a crime, he shall be given an administrative sanction in accordance with law; his unlawful gains, if any, shall be confiscated

(1) infringing on a citizen’s personal rights, property rights or other legitimate rights and interests;

（2）abusing his power, neglecting his duty or engaging in malpractice for personal gain;

（3）demanding or accepting bribes;

（4）withholding, reducing, misappropriating or embezzling funds for Family Planning or Social Compensation fees.

Article 44: Citizens, legal persons or other organizations that believe an administrative department infringes upon their legitimate rights and interests while administering the Family Planning program may, in accordance with law, appeal for administrative review or initiate administrative proceedings.

Let’s have a look at chapter one article three of the “The People’s Republic of China Population and Family Planning Technical Services Management Regulation.”

Family Planning Technical Service adheres to the principle of combining government guidance with the wishes of the masses.

There are many other articles standardizing the Family Planning work. We don’t list them all here. In general, individual citizens have the right to choose appropriate contraceptive methods. It’s illegal for Family Planning Officials to forcibly require contraceptive methods.

At present the Family Planning Officials have been in serious violation of the Constitution of the PRC, the Population and Family Planning Law of the PRC, the Civil Law of the PRC, the Population and Family Planning Regulation of Shandong Province, and the Criminal Law of the PRC. Their actions have constituted crimes. These so-called Government Officials and Family Planning Officials rack their brains to get appropriation funds for Family Planning and use the money to do wicked and illegal things that seriously go against democratic human civilization. They abuse their power, in order to detain, beat, abort and fine people illegally. What we should do is to pick up the weapon of the law to protect our legal rights and fight to the end.

Note Twelve:  Villagers Conquer Fear, Resist Harassment, Substitute Themselves for their Loved Ones.

When:            August 2005

Where:            Shuanghou Town, Yinan

Source: Teng Biao, written on August 24, 2005

More villagers have conquered fear. They dare to protect their legal rights. Moreover, they have found some viable measures under the leadership of Chen Guangcheng. The resistance in the morning of August 14 [2005] was the most gratifying during our whole journey. The day before that day we were forced to leave the hotel. It was already two o’ clock in the morning when we arrived at Chen Guangcheng’s home.  About 20 people monitored us. Their hearts were very gloomy. They shined the trees with torches to cause dogs to bark aloud the whole night. Nobody in the village was able to fall asleep. In the morning of the next day, we went out for breakfast and planned to talk with them about that. At the sight of us, they divided into groups of two or three people and tried to flee. We questioned them:  “Are you local villagers?” “What duties are you performing?” “Now that you are here, is there anything you can’t say?” They just equivocated and fled quickly. Then we went to another group (later I knew Tingju Zhang was there):  “It’s odious of you to scare and harass villagers by means of teasing the dogs!” Another group hurried into an alleyway at the sight of us. We kept up with them and questioned:  “Are you local villagers?” They said “yes.” At the moment many villagers arrived and said: “You are not!” The villagers were indignant and scolded them. We warned them:  “You should never harass villagers whichever official asked you to do so. The same is not allowed to happen again tonight!”

Then we “greeted” another person. Gengjiang Chen and Yuzhi Xu recognized that he was Shenghou Xu, who rushed into their house and beat them:  “It was he that beat us and took our cranking bar [tool for starting a tractor] away.” He said: “I didn’t beat you!” Gengjiang Chen said: “You pressed my head. It was you!” Yushan Guo took out a digital voice recorder and said: “You should be responsible for what you say!” He said:  “I didn’t take his cranking bar!” We asked: “You worked in the operation office, didn’t you? Was there any excuse for you to rush into the villager’s house?” He fell into silence. We asked him:  “Dare you admit in the future what you are saying now?” He said, “Yes.” Chen Guangcheng questioned him closely: “Did you rush into Gengjiang Chen’s house at all?” He bowed his head and didn’t say a word. At that moment the aggressive Shenghou Xu was confounded.

Two people walked toward us. We asked them what they came for. They told us they came to buy trees. Some other Family Planning Officials who once seized and beat Villagers were also recognized. We questioned them together with villagers, who have conquered fear. In recent months, villagers let off their anger accumulated during the past several dozen years in a temperate, evidence-based and strategic way. One villager told us he had worked off his anger even if he couldn’t win the lawsuit! The villagers might have never appeared so proud and self-confident in front of those officials before that morning. (The next day the Town Family Planning Bureau picked us up. The driver told us he didn’t know which family to go to. So he went to the Town government first to get someone to lead the way, but no one dared to go.)

Many implicated relatives and neighbors who were detained, beaten and fined came to us together and told us they had no estrangement or hatred toward each other because they knew who was alienating their relationships, abusing violence and amassing money. Without any hesitation, they took the risk of torture and insults to substitute themselves for their parents, the sick, the aged and the more innocent people. Baigao Chen from Xiapo Village substituted himself for his daughter-in-law together with his son. Ruibing Xiao’s father from Shangyang Village substituted himself for his son. Huahou Song from Maxiagou Village substituted herself for her nephew. Mingli Shi from Fenghou Village substituted himself for his neighbor Zhengang Ji. There were many such examples.

The villagers were very friendly to us. We didn’t feel any distance since the first time we met. When we were about to leave, Gengjiang Chen’s wife gave a pair of shoe-pads embroidered by herself to each of us. Her shoe-pads were elaborately designed with nice patterns and fine workmanship. How could those that declared war on humanity prevail over such an exquisite heart?

The implication policies which went against humanity, the outrages which forced family members to beat each other (I was intending to call it “brutality,” but I couldn’t think of which kind of beast would ever force fellows of the same kind to beat each other) and the Family Planning campaigns which produced horrors did not change the unsophisticated, benign, tough characteristics and the hospitable folk customs of the Chinese farmers; the glory bursting out of the plain human nature has never been destroyed. . . .

Note Thirteen: Commentary on “Linyi Municipal People’s Government’s Decision on the Strengthening of the Population and Family Planning Work,” Issued on July 9, 2004.

When:            August 25, 2005.

Where:            Linyi, Shangdong province.

Source: Teng Biao

The sufferings and crimes recorded in this report are less than one tenth of the materials in hand. The number of people we investigated is fewer than one hundredth of the people that agreed to accept the investigation and fewer than one thousandth of the total victims. It has gone beyond the description of “too numerous to inscribe on all bamboo strips.” If the evils were carved on bamboo, I’m afraid that even a whole train could not hold them!

I’d like to list all the three districts and nine counties of Linyi here: Lanshan District, Luozhuang District, Hedong District, Linshu County, Fei County, Cangshan County, Yinan County, Mengyin County, Tancheng County, Junan County, Yishui County and Pingyi County. We cannot forget the crimes of the Family Planning Officials, just like we will never forget the sufferings people from Linyi went through.

. . . Many scholars have questioned the Family Planning Policy before. It has caused the high sex ratio and the growing population of elderly. Drowning and trafficking of children are getting increasingly serious. Extensive phenomena that trample on human rights in connection with Family Planning work have been seriously condemned by international societies. Members of the Chinese “Family Planning Committee” are regarded as “cruel torturers” by some countries and may not be allowed to enter these countries.  Massive cases that enforced the law brutally exist in Family Planning work but very few people have borne legal liability. . .  I’d like to come up with only one question that confuses many readers: why are the Family Planning Officials so brutal?

. . .

The            survey respondents, Chen Guangcheng and the Family Planning Officials who had informal discussions with us all mentioned one document issued in Linyi City in 2004. This document is the origin and the “legal” proof of the massive brutal Family Planning campaigns in Linyi. When we requested to read this document, the Family Planning Officials concealed and refused to provide it to us, but it is available on Internet. This document, named “Linyi Municipal People’s Government’s Decision on the Strengthening of the Population and Family Planning Work,” was issued on July 9, 2004. It has altogether more than seven thousand words. But it is not as ferocious as we had thought (I can’t say there is no ferocious word in the document issued by the CCP and the government, but most words are courteous). The document describes the grim situation the Family Planning work in Linyi is facing, and the causes to the problems are described as:  “Population and Family Planning work encounters many new problems and challenges with the issue and implementation of the Population and Family Planning Laws and Regulations, the abolition of one-child-birth approval, the simplification of marriage registration procedures, the implementation of unified household registry, the decrease in receipts and increase in expenditure, the more intensified efforts towards incentive-oriented mechanism and the implementation of informed choice of contraceptive methods.” (Article one) Besides, “Some officials are not accustomed to the requirements of the new situation in terms of understanding and method of work. To some degree they are overwhelmed and reluctant to work. On the other hand, they have a Pollyanna and lax attitude. The Family Planning work is in the key time that either forges ahead or gradually falls behind (article two).”

Consequently, they [the Provincial Government] came up with a series of indexes to control the Family Planning work strictly: Make sure the overall legal birth rate is over 97% and the natural population growth rate keeps within 6‰.” “Achieve overall excellence in Family Planning work in the whole City by 2008.” “Stabilize the sex ratio of newborn babies at a normal range.” “Control the handicap rate of newborn babies within 6‰.” (Articles four to six.)  The measures they took are:  “For those who give birth to a child illegally, collect Social Compensation Fees according to the ‘Population and Family Planning Law of the PRC’ and the ‘Population and Family Planning Regulation.’  For those with the ability to pay but who refuse, the Family Planning Department should appeal to the People’s Court for compelling enforcement.” (Article twelve). “The Village Party Secretary and Head of Village Neighborhood Committee are the first responsible people for the Village Family Planning work. Five responsible people (Party Branch Secretary, Head of Village Neighborhood Committee, Village Accountant, Village Family Planning Director and Village Family Planning Servant take charge of the Village Family Planning work together.” (Article fourteen) “Carry out choice of contraceptive methods with informed consent and implement the contraceptive methods. Stick to the “six principles” (education is the foundation, knowing the situation is the premise, guide is the key, long-acting method is the first choice, independence is the core and satisfaction is the objective).  Advocate the principle of “the first choice is intrauterine device after the first birth and [tubal] ligation [sterilization] after the second birth”; implement safe and long-acting contraceptive methods” (Article seventeen).

Mobilize the power of every department and set up the system: “Party and government leaders take part in the administration and take the overall responsibility to implement active administration” (article twenty six). Family Planning work is a “one-hand project” [a project which headed by the Number One Leader].

The document lists the key emphasis in the work of supervision, personnel, finance, civil administration, public security, health, education, Family Planning and so on. For example, the people’s court should “accept and hear the Family Planning Department’s applications for compelling Social Compensation Fee collection and take measures to improve the enforcement rate.” (Article nineteen) (The document, however, does not mention anything about prosecuting Family Planning Officials’ administrative acts in violation of law.)

The document emphasizes the evaluation of leaders of all levels. That is to say, [success at Family Planning work] is closely related to achievements in their official career and change of their official position [career advancement]. Family Planning work is not only the veto power (if it’s not well accomplished) that is likely to take their position away, but also the impetus (if it’s well accomplished) that brings a successful official career:

“The Personnel Department should bring the Family Planning work into the annual evaluation of officials and regard it as an important basis for their promotion.” (Article nineteen)

“Implement the Responsibility System under the guideline of ‘line management counterpart assessment [direct management, department to department] and orderly announcement’ in the Family Planning Departments, including the City Prefectural Commission for the Discipline Inspection Supervision Bureau. Inspect the performance of the lower level and assess the performance of the higher level, and carry out cross-department assessment to improve the division of labor; award the well-behaved and punish the bad-behaved.” (Article twenty)

“The Party Committee and Government should be concerned with the Family Planning Officials in terms of politics, work and life. Give priority to them in promotion, further study and awards. Make sure a certain proportion of Family Planning Officials is included when nominating the Party Representative, National People’s Congress members and members of the CPPCC National Committee [Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference].” (Article twenty-three)

“Perfect the Objective and Responsibility Evaluation System of the Population and Family Planning Work. The Party Committee, Government and all Family Planning Departments should sign the ‘Responsibility Documents of Population and Family Planning Objective Management’ to set up explicit objectives, awards and punishments. They should reward units and individuals that meet all the objectives and obviously improve their performance. They should confer a ‘Family Planning Special Contribution’ award to units that make good contributions for successive five years and a ‘five-duty responsible person’ award to individuals with good performance for five successive years. They should give warnings or [more serious] yellow card warnings to backward units and individuals. They should implement ‘Emphasis Management and one-vote-down’ in serious cases [Under the ‘one vote down’ practice, an official cannot be promoted for the sole reason that he did not perform adequately regarding Family Planning].” (Article twenty-seven)

“A Family Planning Awards and Punishments Annual Meeting should be convened to reward advanced units and publicize backward units. For the units with warnings or yellow card warnings, a time limit of one year should be set to change their passive situation. During this period of time, the track management system of monthly schedule, quarterly report, half-year assessment and annual evaluation should be implemented. Meanwhile, the warned units should not be nominated as ‘Family Planning Advanced Unit’ of the year.  Give yellow card warnings to the units that remain backward in the following year.” (Article twenty-eight)

“If a unit is given a yellow card warning and after it is nominated as ‘Family Planning Advanced Unit,’ suspend the nomination and impose a fine of 5,000 Yuan [approximately $780]. The relevant Family Planning responsible person should bear 10% of the fine and should not be promoted or transferred within one year. If the unit fails to change the passive situation within one year, take it into Emphasis Management. The Emphasis Managed unit and responsible person should submit a written self-criticism and be put on record. No nomination should be granted to the unit within one year. If it has been given the ‘Family Planning Advanced Unit’ nomination, suspend the nomination. The relevant Family Planning responsible person should not be nominated as ‘Family Planning Advanced Person’ or be promoted or transferred. Give the unit a fine of 10,000 [Yuan, approximately $1560] and the relevant responsible person bears 10% of the fine. If the passive work is still in Emphasis Management after one year, dispose of the matter according to relevant regulations.” (Article twenty-eight)

“The Director of Village Family Planning Office should pay the Village Family Planning Officials with a block grant or subsidy for loss of ‘working time’ [loss of time worked at whatever other employment they might have]. The money is calculated into the town budgetary outlays.” (Article twenty-nine)

. . . .

Note Fourteen:  Use of Quota Systems

When:            2005

Where:            Linyi, Shandong Province

Source: Teng Biao

To accomplish the quota passed down from higher authorities, seize the opportunity of gaining an award or promotion and avoid punishments, every level of official (from Municipal Party Secretary and Mayor to Village Director and Village Women Section Officer as well as the hired thugs) are all motivated. Their purpose is controlling the population, but they go to every expedient to achieve it.

According to one managing director of Yinan Family Planning Bureau, the [birth] quota assigned to Yinan Town in 2005 was 11,600. [The town was allowed no more than 11,600 births for 2005.] But seeing from the actual circumstance of this year, it’s already almost 11,000 people. It’s no problem at all for them to accomplish their task. The figure he provided is, almost 7,000 cases of [tubal] ligation [sterilization] have been implemented from March to August this year. (We can reckon Chen Guangcheng’s statistic from this figure. It’s quite accurate that 12‰ of the total population was required to undergo forced sterilization.) But why must forced sterilization be required?  Mr. Wu (head of Yinan Town Family Planning Service Station) majored in medical science and said: “Ligation is good for health.” Chen Guangcheng hits the mark with a single comment:  “They want to diminish the victims’ fertility forever!” This is the precise meaning of the “first choice is long-term measure” mentioned in the document!  I’d like to ask:  “If a person is required to undergo forced sterilization after the first child birth, but her/his spouse and child pass away, then she/he marries another person who has just entered the first marriage, how could his/her right of birth be guaranteed?”

They don’t care so much; in a regime that is only responsible for higher levels but disregards the lower levels, accomplishing the quota passed down from higher authorities is official’s first priority. The right to give birth, human rights and suffering are not worth a cent. Officials can’t pass the assessment [of job performance] without treating the people brutally. The legitimate fertility, natural population growth rate and net increase of population are all subject to compulsory quotas: the Central Government passes it down to the Provincial Government, the Province to the City, the City to the County, the County to the Town…It is passed down from one level to another through the “Responsibility Documents of Objective Management.”  In a regime without free speech or an independent judiciary, the common people have to suffer the oppression.

As mentioned in the book “China by the Yellow River,” written by Jinqing Cao, a Family Planning official who worked in township government for eight years acknowledged frankly:  “To implement Family Planning work, I once seized people, took away their cows, demolished their houses and did a lot of other illegal things. It would be within reason if the court were to give me a sentence of 20 years.” In China several hundred thousand Family Planning Officials commit crimes. This also could be a native juristic resource [law textbook]. As for the housebreaking, the demolition of property, the unlawful detention, the kidnapping, the blackmail, the illegal courts, the extraction of confessions by torture, the forced abortions and the forced sterilizations, these are all outcomes of a regime that is “responsible for higher levels but disregards the lower levels.” Wenguang Sun from Shandong province wrote in his book, “Disaster of the National Policy,” “These behaviors that infringe personal liberties are absolutely against the law and the runners should bear legal liability. But the root cause of the grass roots-level officials’ illegal behaviors is the inappropriate policies made by higher authorities. ”

As a result, head of Fei Town could announce publicly on the town TV station:  “We would rather shed rivers of blood than have one extra child.”  The Justice Bureau of Lanshan District could announce: “As long as no death or disability is caused [by forced abortion or involuntary sterilization], other circumstances are not in violation of the law.” The Family Planning Officials could announce when they put victims on torture:  “It costs only twenty thousand [Yuan, approximately $3130] to pay your funeral expenses.” (A friend told me that the officials of his Town said in a meeting that it [death] is ok so long as it’s not intentional homicide.) The government can hire hatchet men to beat people. People with high blood pressure and hyperthyreosis can also be required to undergo forced abortion. Women with eight or nine months’ pregnancy could also be required to undergo forced abortion. Family Planning could implicate nine generations or even the whole village [of a “violator”].

“The autocratic regime is very cruel, but in theory, its intention is to do good things.” (Ping Hu). The original purpose of the government is to control the population and improve people’s living standard, but the means they adopt disregard human rights and lowered down people’s living standard. (Besides, the national policies established under insufficient democracy are usually inappropriate and are not doing “good things.”) Lacking an independent judiciary and freedom of the press makes the [Communist regime’s] mechanism effective every time. . .

The Family Planning Officials discovered a benefit from the achievement-driven Family Planning campaign: substitute a fine for the law, in order to accumulate wealth through the national policy. They set up the “Learning Class” to collect the “learning fee,” deposit, fine and so on. They take bribes and sell ligation certificates [stating that the bearer has undergone tubal ligation sterilization] and birth-allowed certificates.

. . . .

Postscript by Teng Biao:

When I listened to villagers of Linyi tell their sufferings, I was filled with sorrow. When I wrote down their tragedies word by word, I was filled with hatred. But I must keep my rationality. It is really painful to be a legal scholar in this age. Sometimes I think: Haven’t we got enough thoughts and spiritual resources to prevent us from being swallowed by hate and fear? Haven’t we got enough power to endure such humiliation and suffering?

I would like to talk about forgiveness: forgive those brutal outrages, forgive the evil of human nature, because these people who exert violence are also victims of the regime. But I have no right to forgive. In front of the innocent lives claimed, in front of the brothers who were beaten in the Family Planning Office, in front of the elderly who were insulted every day, in front of the sisters who were required to undergo forced abortion, in front of the villagers who are still detained in the Learning Class and in front of the people who are still bleeding and crying, how can I have the right to say “forgiveness”?

The purpose of my words is not to forgive, but to accuse. This article will be handed over to the Ministry of Public Security of the PRC and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC and serve as a Letter of Accusation. Most of the Family Planning Officials mentioned in this article have been in violation of the Criminal Law and their acts have constituted crimes. As for how many Family Planning Officials of the 181 towns and counties of Linyi who are suspected of committing crimes, we will also undertake investigations, for justice . . .

“No future without forgiveness” (Desmond Tutu); but the premise of forgiveness is truth. When they [Family Planning Officials] are hiding the truth, telling lies publicly, threatening villagers and hindering the investigation, how can we talk about forgiveness?

How precious the truth is in our society. How precious it is to live in the truth.

I’d like to give special thanks to Chen Guangcheng, Yushan Guo, Bisheng Tu, Jian Li, Jiang Tianyong, Heping Li, Chunfu Li, Zhenyu Wang, Zhiqiang Pu, Gao Zhisheng, Yafeng Fan, Zhiyong Xu, Han Xiao, Chu Cai, Li Xia, Yali Li, Yongjun Su, Naichun Liu, Gengjiang Chen, Yuzhi Xu, Zongxian Zhang, Xingyong Zhang, Hongling Zhou, Wangtai Chu, Zhaoyong Du, Fei Wu, Yan Wang, Dengxiang Jiang and so on.

This article is dedicated to my child who will come to the world three months from now. I keep on talking, reading and singing to her every day. I often listen to her fast and strong heartbeat and stroke her. She often wriggles and kicks me through the abdomen. She’s got senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. She’s got memories as well……How I hope the world she lives in is a safe, free and love worthy world.

Teng Biao, 2005-8-25

Note:

1. The Family Planning Officials mentioned in this report not only include the officials of Family Planning Office, Family Planning Committee and Family Planning Bureau, but also all the Officials of the District and all the thugs employed.

2. The testimonies in this article are documented by sound recordings, photos and documents of accusation.

3. Some person names and place names are replaced with homophonic renderings.

4. Local villagers usually use the traditional Chinese calendar and occasionally use the Gregorian calendar. All the dates mentioned are subject to the oral account of the person concerned.