Shi Yan is a girl born in a small mountain village in Zhirui, Keshiketengqi, Chifeng city. Due to her academic efforts, she was enrolled at Inner Mongolia University in September 2010. She was the best student in her village and envied by her schoolmates and praised by other villagers. However, instead of having a bright future, she suffered from psychiatric problems.
The problem was caused by her mother whose name is Ma Suhua. Ma was born in 1965. She and her husband Shi Yingchen have one son and one daughter. Shi Yan is 6 years older than her brother. Both Ma and her husband are farmers. Shi Yingchen often went to do odd jobs and seldom stayed at home, so Ma had to do all the work including farming, raising the two children and taking care of her parents-in-law. Because of all the hard work, Ma suffered physical problems from 2009. She lost her appetite and felt weak (It was later determined that Ma had thyroiditis, which would become better as long she kept a good mood). Living in rural areas, it’s key to have a strong body, especially for Ma who had to support her two children, so Ma worried a lot. She had many medicines and even visited “God”. Nothing changed because she didn’t go to hospital to get the right treatment.
In October 2009, a villager named Zhang Xiuyan visited Ma and said, “You have to believe in ‘God’ and let ‘God’ protect you and evict the ‘devil’ in your house. Then you will get well. Only when you believe in ‘Almighty God’ can you live a good life and go to heaven instead of hell.” Zhang gave Ma books such as “Almighty God is truly good”, “God’s creation and origin of human corruption”, and “Advice before disaster”.
Ma was moved by what Zhang said. The book said, “Now Jesus manifests himself in the image of an oriental female. She is dominating the universe with limitless wisdom and almighty power. Human beings will be exterminated and only by believing in Almighty God can you go to heaven. Whoever refused her will be eliminated.” After reading this, Ma believed in Almighty God without any doubt and began to join gatherings. After a period of time, she got well thanks to her relaxed mind and thoughts. Ma attributed this to God and believed firmly in Almighty God.
After that, Ma was like another person. She read “God books”, poems and said “prayers” as long as she had time. Despite opposition from her family, she went around to enroll more believers. She said, “Doomsday is coming in 2012. Darkness will last for several days. Only God can save us. Almighty God is a true god. It created human beings and dominates the world. It blesses us. Believers can have things to eat without doing anything.” Her neighbors were not interested in her words and kept her at a distance.
At the beginning of October 2010, Shi Yan suffered from headaches shortly after she arrived at university. The headaches became worse when she read books. Ma thought this could be solved with the protection of Almighty God. She took Shi Yan back home on October 14 instead of sending her to hospital or telling her husband. She persuaded Shi Yan to believe in Almighty God.
With the incitement and pressure of both Ma and Zhang, Shi agreed to believe in Almighty God. Still having doubts about the Almighty God, Shi didn’t devote herself to it. Without psychological hints, her headaches didn’t improve with time. She asked Ma to take her to hospital. However, Ma, who was very loyal to Almighty God, thought that if Shi quit, she would not get well and would be punished by God. She criticized Shi angrily, saying that Shi was too young and ignorant. She used every means such as seduction and intimidation to prevent Shi from quitting Almighty God. When those didn’t work, she deprived Shi of freedom and didn’t give her things to eat. One month passed, but instead of getting better, Shi, who was a stubborn girl, looked haggard, sluggish and distracted.
On December 26, 2010, Shi Yingchen rushed back home after finding out what had happened to his daughter. He sent her to hospital despite opposition from his wife. Their daughter was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
A simple and minor illness had turned into a complicated and difficult disease.
(Editor in charge: Yuan Jun)
