On April 25, 2009, Zhang took the 3-hour-long morning train to Berlin. After nine years, he was finally able to stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate, under the warm spring sunlight, and reveal his secret wish through microphone—his wish to quit the CCP. His words were translated into German so that German citizens could understand his heartfelt wish.
“I spoke up for Falun Gong nine years ago, and the CCP persecuted me. I was forced to leave my beloved country, and was forbidden to return,” Zhang raised his voice, “The day the CCP collapses will be the day I return home!”
An Act Nine Years Ago
In 2000, while the CCP suppressed all activities of Falun Gong, Tianjin TV reported a man named Yang Quan, who jumped off a building and committed suicide. It was reported that Yang committed suicide because of the teachings of Falun Gong. “I was shocked by this blatant lie!” said Zhang, who was Yang’s coworker and neighbor as well. “Everyone knew that Yang had femur bone necrosis. He couldn’t work for several years, and was in deep debt because of the medical bills. His work refused to help pay for it. In the end, nobody wanted to lend Yang any money. Yang wasn’t a Falun Gong practitioner, his wife was. His wife lost her job in 1999 after the persecution of Falun Gong started, and thus his family had lost both sources of income. He had a mother and a young child to feed. To reduce the financial burden in the family, Yang jumped off the building,” said Zhang.
After hearing of Yang’s death on TV, Zhang wanted to find out what really happened. He found Yang’s wife, and she informed him the regime had set everything up. Zhang narrated, “After Yang died, local authorities went to his house and had Yang’s employer pay 30,000 Yuan (approximately US$ 4,850) of his medical bills. The regime quickly helped Yang’s family to move to a bigger house in anther suburb. Yang’s family, under financial stress, accepted the regime’s offer and went on TV to confirm that Yang jumped off the building following Falun Gong’s teaching,”
Not long after Yang’s death hit the news, 20,000 fliers titled “Truth behind the death of a Falun Gong practitioner” were delivered to citizens in Tianjin city. The fliers came from Zhang and five of his coworkers. They photocopied them using the copier at work and delivered them secretly. “The City of Tianjin lied to its 13 million residents, and I totally resented it,” Zhang explained his motivation, “I wanted to tell everyone what really happened. I couldn’t investigate into all the reports about Falun Gong in China Central TV Station, but I did in fact experience the slanderous incident in Tianjin. People would think a white piece of paper were black if the communist regime told them everyday it were. I wanted to tell everyone its white.”
Detained for a Month
One day, in September 2000, soon after Zhang’s fliers got people talking and speculating, police from Hebei Police Sub-bureau in Tianjin came to Zhang at work and arrested all six involved in circulating the fliers.
Recalling life in the detention center was still painful for Zhang, “Forty of us were stuffed in a 5x5 square yard room. Before we went to sleep, we had to tighten the bottoms of our pants and the cuffs of our sleeves so bedbugs couldn’t get in. Everyone slept right next to each other on his/her side. If one went to the bathroom at night, there wouldn’t be room left for him when he returned. We ate rough corn noodles, which tasted awful.” Zhang developed sores all over his mouth during that time and couldn’t eat anything. He decided to go on a hunger strike. Seven days later, when Zhang was at his last gasp, his brother bailed him out for medical treatment.
Exile Overseas
The worse was yet to come. In March 2001, police delivered a subpoena to Zhang’s house. He was charged with “subverting socialism.”
“I knew if I report to the court, I would never make it back. I went to a friend in Jilin province (northeast part of China,) and later with the friend’s help, took off for Germany,” Zhang remembered, “My five coworkers were all charged with the same crime, and were sentenced five to seven years in prison. One of them died in prison.” Even Zhang’s brother, who bailed him out, went to prison for three years.
Ashamed of the CCP
In 2000, as Zhang witnessed how the CCP blatantly lied to the 1.3 billion Chinese people, he had mentally broken away from the CCP. “I was a CCP member. After what happened in 2000, I denied that I was a member when people asked me.”
The CCP’s suppression of Falun Gong and his imprisonment for speaking up for Falun Gong made Zhang ponder what the CCP really was. He had wanted to stand up and quit the CCP when he was detained in 2000, “I never got a chance to do so until several months ago. Someone gave me a phone number for the Service Center for Quitting the CCP in the United States. I went online and quit with my real name.”
Read original article in Chinese.
