Liu Renfang's corpse had been thrown into a river before it was found.
To Liu Renfang's family, the end of 2000 represents a black memory that will haunt them forever: in Sanhe, Hebei Province, Liu's corpse was abandoned to destroy the evidence of a crime.
Leaving for Beijing to "Protect Fa (Law)," Only to Disappear
Born in October 1948 in Baochun Village, Tangyuan Township, Pixian County, Sichuan Province, Liu Renfang was an ordinary farmer. To improve her health, she started to practice Falun Gong in February 1998. Early on the morning of December 18, 2000, Liu Renfang secretly left home for Beijing with some fellow practitioners from the same area, planning to "protect Fa (law)" and "achieve fulfillment" in Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on New Year's Day. Her family members back home had lost track of her ever since.
Consumed with anxiety, her family members had looked for her in every possible place, but had failed to find her. In early March 2001, Ji Yueqiong, who had gone to Beijing with Liu Renfang to "protect Fa" and been sent back, with a troubled conscience on hearing that Liu's family were still anxiously inquiring about her whereabouts, told the local police about the death of Liu Renfang far from home. Guided by Ji Yueqiong and others to the apartment where the practitioners had stayed, in Yanjiao Town, Hebei Province, the police found no sign of the body Liu Renfang in the sittingroom where it had been left.
The Corpse Was Discarded to Cover Up the Crime
On the morning of February 13, 2001, Bian Wenjiang, a farmer of Gaogu Village in Ciqu Town, Tongzhou District, Beijing, was passing by the Liangshui River, when he saw a blue human-shaped plastic bundle floating on the water. He reported this to the police immediately. The police found the corpse of a woman of about 50 in the bundle, bound with adhesive tapes at the head, neck and knees. No wound was found on the corpse. Not bejing able to identify the deceased, the police immediately sent the corpse to the Forensic Examination Department of Tongzhou District, where it was stored.
In April 2001, during investigation of a case of disturbance of public order by Falun Gong practitioners, a Beijing security organ happened to learn that they had thrown a woman's corpse into the Liangshui River in Tongzhou District in mid-February 2001. Further investigation and DNA identification made by the doctors of the Material Evidence Identification Center of the Ministry of Public Security revealed that the dead woman was Liu Renfang. Then how did her corpse end up in the river?
According to Ji Yueqiong, in December 2000, Liu Renfang and five other Falun Gong fanatics went secretly to Yanjiao Town in the proximity of Beijing. "When we reached Yanjiao Town," Ji Yueqiong recalled, "we were put up in a three-bedroom apartment in a residential building. At that time, there were already 17 or 18 fellow practitioners in the apartment." The overcrowding, foul air and practicing of Falun Gong in the succeeding days brought on an attack of Liu Renfang's chronic tracheitis. She gasped for breath. On December 27, she said to Ji Yueqiong, in private: "I feel as if a knife were being twisted in my head, and I feel cold." However, fearing that the other practitioners would accuse her of lack of faith in Falun Gong, Liu Renfang went on to say, "It's the 'Master' [Li Hongzhi] eliminating karma for me. I took up Falun Gong practice late, so my karma is very heavy. This suffering will do me good." In the following days, Liu Renfang ate little. Ji Yueqiong said, "On the evening of the 30th, she had a lot of phlegm in her throat, but could not spit it out. She was too weak to do that, and could only utter low moans. The other practitioners showed no concern. They just ignored her. After midnight, she stopped moaning."
On the morning of December 31, when the fanatical Falun Gong practitioners were getting ready to leave for Tian'anmen Square to "protect Fa" and "achieve fulfillment," Ji Yueqiong brought a bowl of porridge, and called to Liu Renfang. When Liu didn't answer, she shook her. But she was still motionless. Ji Yueqiong told the others about Liu's condition, but they just hurried out, ignoring her. Ji Yueqiong hurriedly dressed Liu Renfang, covered her with a green quilt, and put a white towel over her face before leaving.
In early February 2001, a secret "prayer meeting" of Falun Gong practitioners was held in Tongzhou District. At the meeting, a woman practitioner reported that at the end of December 2000, when several hundred Falun Gong practitioners had gathered to "protect Fa" in Beijing, a woman practitioner in Yanjiao Town had died suddenly, and that her corpse had not been disposed of. According to her, a lot of books on Falun Gong and other things had been left in the apartment, which needed to be disposed of appropriately, to avoid harming the reputation of Falun Gong.
Zhao Guifeng, alias Zhu Xin, who was attending the meeting, asked Zhang Yu, a key member of the Falun Gong organization in the U.S., for instructions via the Internet. They got the reply: "The 'Master' knew about the matter three days ago. Do what you think best. Don't bother the 'Master' with such trifling matters again."
Early the following morning, Zhao Guifeng, Zheng Libin, Jiang Tao and two others got together to discuss about how to deal with the corpse. Jiang Tao recalled, "When we entered the room, I saw the corpse lying straight on the floor. It had been there for over 40 days, and was already decomposed. The room reeked with an abominable odor."
Zhao Guifeng said to them, "We can't take it to a hospital. Let's remove it, and bury it somewhere. " Thus Liu Renfang's "fellow practitioners" wrapped up her corpse, together with the quilt, in a large sheet of plastic cloth, put it into the trunk of a car and took it to the north bank of the Liangshui River. Ma Hongyun recalled, "I was very anxious, for it was my car. So I told them, 'Let's throw it in right here. I'm not going any further.'" Zhao Guifeng agreed. Then the five Falun Gong practitioners dragged the corpse to the riverbank, and rolled it into the river. Before they parted, Zhao Guifeng warned them again and again: "Don't tell anyone else about the disposal of the corpse. The fewer people who know about it, the better."
Two or three days late, Zhao Guifeng called Zhang Yu in the United States with the help of Zhou Genzheng, and told him, "The matter I mentioned last time has been satisfactorily settled. Please let the 'Master' know." Thus ended the horrifying incident of destroying evidence the inhumanly discarding a corpse.
Liu Renfang's corpse had been thrown into a river before it was found.
Liu Renfang with her family members before her tragic death.
Liu Renfang's husband say indignantly: "Falun Gong is far from bejing 'truthful, benevolent and tolerant'; it is truly cruel!"
