Duan Zhou was born in 1939 in Xintian Village, Huangguan Town, Nanzheng District, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province. He was an illiterate farmer with 4 acres of fields under his cultivation. There were four people in his family, including two daughters who later married their respective husbands from the same town as them. 20 years ago, his eldest daughter’s family left for Xinjiang, running a business there, while his second daughter stayed at her hometown, working as a farmer. 10 years ago, Duan Zhou’s wife went to live with her second daughter. As Duan Zhou suffered from some chronic diseases such as hypertension, he stopped cultivating his cropland five years ago, leaving the idle cropland to be cultivated by other villagers. Being supported mainly by his eldest daughter, Duan Zhou lived a relatively good life without much worry. Although Old Duan lived by himself on a high slope of 900 meters above sea level, feeling lonely and isolated, he was reluctant to go and live with his eldest daughter, much less leave his old adobe house where he had lived for so many years.
In March 2019, Duan Zhou died at his own house. At noon on March 14, 2019, Duan Zhou’s eldest daughter, having handled his father’s funeral, came to the village committee, where she recalled, "In 2018, my father came to Xinjiang to live with us under my persuasion. Afraid that he would do 'that thing' again, I repeatedly reminded him not to do it, and he indeed no longer did it. But he was unwilling to stay at my home all day, so he knelt and begged me to send him back to his native place." After the Spring Festival in 2019, Old Duan was sent back to his old native place by his eldest daughter.
What is "that thing" mentioned by Duan Zhou’s eldest daughter?
In the early 1990s, the evil cult of Sanshu Jidu (the Christ of the Third Redemption), also known as Mentu Hui (the Society of Disciples), Mengtou Hui (Society of Head Covering), Erliang Liang(Two Liang of Grains) and Kuangye Zhaimen (the Narrow Gate in the Wilderness), was spread in the village where Duan Zhou lived. Some people who followed the evil cult blindly had been warned and educated by the public security authorities. Almost 30 years have passed since then, but the residual poison left by the evil cult was still lingering in the minds of some elderly people like Duan Zhou who lacked such abilities as reading and discernment.
Being an old man living in a remote mountainous area, Duan Zhou neither watched TV nor listened to the radio, leading a monotonous life with no entertainment. Therefore, he was targeted by the cult followers preaching the "Gospel". After joining the evil cult, Duan Zhou insisted on not taking medicines or injections when he was sick, believing that with the protection of "god", he would have more and more grains at his home even without farming.
"I’ve seen them kneeling and praying, not knowing what they were mumbling," recalled Duan Zhou's eldest daughter. Although his wife and two daughters always opposed him believing in evil cults or attending superstitious activities, Duan Zhou, a stubborn old man, insisted that he was doing "good deeds". Sometimes he would go to attend a gathering in one place; other times he would go to preach in another place. He spent his time at ease, believing he was living a full and happy life. As an empty nest old man, Duan Zhoug lost his ability to make reasonable judgments whenever someone asked him or called him for an appointment. Duan Zhou took the words literally of the Sanshu Jidu cult members, who deluded him not to take injections or medicines when he was sick.
After the Spring Festival in 2019, Duan Zhou returned to his native village from Xinjiang, with his hypertension complications occurring frequently. On March 4, an old man also addicted to the Sanshu Jidu cult came to Duan Zhou's home and found that she was too ill to walk. Then he asked Duan Zhou to shout at the sky and pray for the blessings of "Heavenly Father". As time went by, minute after minute, Duan Zhou’s conditions got worse instead of better. Seeing that Duan Zhou was in a bad way, the old man picked up Duan Zhou's mobile phone to contact his eldest daughter in Xinjiang, informing her of her father’s critical conditions. The old man also told Duan Zhou’s eldest daughter that he was one of Duan Zhou’s fellow church members. With that, the old man went out of Duan Zhou’s home and disappeared.
On the morning of March 5 in the chilly spring, after receiving a message about Duan Zhou’s condition, the leader of No.9 Team of the Xintian Village climbed over mountains to Duan Zhou’s house, only to find him curled up in front of the kitchen door. He had already stopped breathing and died at the age of 80.
Caption: On March 20, 2019, Xintian village party branch held a meeting informing all the party members and team leaders of the tragedy of Duan Zhou’s death
The tragic death of Duan Zhou sounded the alarm for other villagers who believed in evil cults rather than science, arousing great attention from the village party organization. On March 20, 2019, the Party Branch of Xintian Village, Huangguan Town, Nanzheng District, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, held a meeting attended by all the party members and team leaders from the village, informing them of the tragedy of Duan Zhou who died for believing in praying treatment instead of medical treatment for his illness.
