Yao Guolang died on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1997. He committed suicide by drinking pesticides. At the end of his life, he said that he did so to seek "consummation".
Before that incident, Yao Guolang had committed self-harm and suicidal behaviors repeatedly, such as bumping into a wall and jumping into a river. As those behaviors hadn’t caused much harm to him, he thought he had "succeeded in cultivation" - he "realized" it from the scriptures of "Master" Li Hongzhi.
The villagers both sighed and were puzzled about his death. They sighed because Yao Guolang, a former a leader in the village, died in such a confusing way; they were puzzled because they couldn’t understand why a sensible person or a benchmark figure like Yao Guolang had committed suicide for being obsessed with Falun Gong?
When it comes to the belief of rural people in cults, the first thing that comes to our mind is that they are ignorant and backward, and it is hard to associate what they do with what regard as sensible people. Unluckily, Yao Guoliang became a believer in an evil cult and got so obsessed with it.
Yao Guolang was a villager in Team 6 of Yaotan Administrative Village in Zhoukou City Development Zone, Henan Province. He had been working as a farmer at home after graduating from junior high school. In the eyes of the villagers, he was a positive person, smart, enthusiastic, and energetic. He was elected by the villagers as the leader of Team 6 of Yaotan Administrative Village.
During his school years, Yao Guolang was very motivated in his studies and ranked among the top in academic performance. After graduation from school, he earned a good reputation in the village, but unfortunately, he seemed to have turned into a different person after becoming a Falun Gong believer. He neither interacted with other villagers nor did anything at home or in the fields. Furthermore, he no longer took care of his senior parents.
"When Yao Guolang served as the leader of Team 6, we often held meetings at his house. At that time, he was very progressive in his thinking, united with his comrades, and was willing to help others. Team 6 was a relatively large team with 200 to 300 people, but he took the lead in all kinds of work. He once went to Li County of Baoding City by chance. After he came back, I heard that he had become a Falun Gong believer. From then on, he no longer served as the leader of Team 6, nor did he work both at and outside the home. After he practiced Falun Gong, his health was getting weaker and weaker. Afterward, he seemed to be possessed by demons. He said that even if he threw himself into a well or jumped into a puddle he wouldn’t get drowned because he had protection from Master’s law bodies,” said Yao Zhiqing, a village leader who had worked with Yao Guolang for many years.
Yao Guolang got involved with Falun Gong in 1997. In fact, the story was quite simple. In the beginning, someone gave him a few Falun Gong pamphlets. After being exposed to Falun Gong, he immediately got obsessed with it; then, he did as "Master" taught and soon embarked on the road to death. It took him only about half a year from his contact with Falun Gong to his death.
When Yao Guolang went to Li County of Baoding city that time, a group of young people from his village also went there with him. After going there, they worked at a construction site. As farmers, they were not afraid of hard work, believing that only through hard work could they earn money. However, the intense, monotonous work could easily produce a sense of boredom. Just at that period, some “Dafa disciples” who spread the “Fa" everywhere targeted Yao Guolang, giving him several Falun Gong books to lure him into the cult.
According to Yao Zhiquan, a neighbor of Yao Guolang, Yao Guolang soon became fascinated with those Falun Gong pamphlets. In the beginning, he would pick up the books and read them when he got off work. However, through reading the books, he gradually felt that it was useless to work. Later on, he no longer worked. He was addicted to those books that he even skipped meals.
At this time, Yao Guolang had nothing but "Master" and "Dafa" in his mind. He had been talking about "Master", “karma elimination”, "law bodies", "consummation", "heavenly world", and other heresies of the Falun Gong cult. While he made “further advancement” in studying “Fa”, his health weakened gradually, showing vague signs of illness. However, he indulged in the exhilaration of his upcoming "consummation", so much so that he was unaware of those signs.
Yao Peixuan is the current leader of Team 6 of Yaotan Administrative Village. He and his fellow villager Yao Eisheng once escorted Yao Guolang back to his hometown from Li County of Baoding City. Even though they were careful, something unexpected happened on the way. When they arrived at the Yellow River Bridge, Yao Guolang suddenly demanded to see "Master". Before they knew what was happening, Yao Guolang had jumped into the Yellow River. Without any hesitation, Yao Peixuan and Yao Eisheng also jumped into the river to rescue him. After a lot of effort, they finally dragged Yao Guolang to shore.
When Yao Guolang reappeared in front of the villagers, he had become a completely different person, no longer cheerful and enthusiastic. What remained of him was a numb body whose soul had been possessed by "Dafa".
According to Yao Xinnian, Yao Guolang's younger brother, Yao Guolang had no major health problems when he just returned from Baoding, although he was not in a good mood. Later, as he kept reading Falun Gong books every day, his physical condition deteriorated day by day. His health was completely ruined.
On one occasion, Yao Guolang walked to the bridge at the village entrance and banged his head against the bridge railings. He didn't stop even after his head was broken and bleeding, and he refused to listen to others who advised him to stop banging his head. On another occasion, Yao Guolang went to a pond beside the village and jumped into the water. When the villagers knew it, they rescued him in time. However, Yao Guolang attributed his survival to "Master" and "Dafa", believing that he had "succeeded in cultivation” and was about to "achieve consummation”.
On August 15, tragedy finally struck when Yao Guolang drank pesticides to go to the "heavenly world” under the evil temptation of “Master”. His two nephews immediately sent him to the hospital but failed to have his life saved in the end. A once vibrant man was thus deprived of his life by Falun Gong.
The villagers regretted and deplored Yao Guolang’s death, which also increased their understanding of the evil nature of Falun Gong. They said, "The so-called 'consummation' preached by Falun Gong is actually to deceive people into hitting the wall, jumping into the water, and drinking pesticides."
