The Truth About the Suicide of Li Youlin, A Peasant from Jilin Province

Atheism is a propaganda book published by the Chinese [party name omitted] Party to attack Falun Gong. The following is one of the stories from the book:

Case Number Two:

Li Youlin, occupation peasant, from Jilin Province, hanged himself. Li Youlin was a 47 year old male resident of Chengren Village, Anshu Town, Dongliao County, Jilin Province. Here is how Li Jinfeng, Li Youli’s wife, tells it: “In 1999, Li Youlin brought home a book from his place of work called Zhuan Falun, after which he started reading the book and began doing meditation at home, sometimes all day and night. He became hooked on Falun Gong to the point where he even tried to persuade our son and me to practice. In May 21 this year he told me, ‘Tomorrow is my master’s birthday, I will burn some incense to celebrate.’ On the evening of May 22 he practiced meditation at home. He was not there when I woke up during the night at 2 AM. He was found later, hanging from a microwave transmission tower on Xingshulin Mountain. People also found a picture of Master Li Hongzhi and seven incense sticks at the site.”

Li Jinfeng went on to say, “Li Youlin was a good person who had no mental problems. But after practicing Falun Gong, he gradually lost interest in our son and me. I don’t blame anyone but Falun Gong for his death. Several neighbors also said that Li Youlin was normal and a good person and no one noticed anything strange about him. His suicide is the result of practicing Falun Gong.”

The Actual Truth of Li Youlin’s Suicide: It Was Not Related to Falun Gong

I am an ordinary citizen of Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province. I want to clarify the circumstances of and true reasons for Li Youlin’s suicide.

I was Li Youlin’s neighbor. The Li family moved to Liaoyuan City ten years ago. Before they moved here, he used to be a peasant in Anshu Town, Dongliao County in Jilin Province. Because he was lazy and didn’t want to do hard work in the field, he moved his family to Liaoyuan City. The family was very poor. Li Youlin was trying to make ends meet by repairing bicycles on the street.

Since he had no business license, he maintained no permanent business location. The police chased him away on several occasions. On May 22, 1999, Li Youlin went to the city with his tools and cart to find repair work. The city management department confiscated his tools along with the cart. Having lost the tools and the means of making a living, Li Youlin lost hope. He drank a large amount of alcohol and while everyone was asleep, he committed suicide on the mountain. Some passers-by found his body the next morning and called the 110 police emergency number. When the police arrived, the neighbors also witnessed the scene. Li’s wife heard the news and went to his suicide site to cry. She told everyone why her husband killed himself. She even indicated she would sue the city management department for causing his suicide by not allowing him to work. The spectators all expressed sympathy. I was there. Later the police lowered his body and sent it to the family’s home.

In the afternoon, the police came and carried Li’s corpse back to the mountain. They also placed a picture of Master Li Hongzhi and some alcohol there. Having done that, they hung Li’s body up again and then took pictures and videotapes of this staged scene. By now his wife no longer talked about his real cause of death and claimed that Li’s death was linked to Falun Gong. The police and the civic welfare department had persuaded Li’s wife to change her story. We now realize exactly why they wanted to do this. It gave them a perfect opportunity to slander Falun Gong.

I also found several other loopholes in this report:

1. The story in the book says that Li Youlin is a peasant. The story claims at the same time that he obtained Zhuan Falun from his workplace. I was Li’s neighbor for ten years. He had no workplace; he never went to work at any company. How could he bring home a book from his workplace?
2. The book says that he was mentally normal, but all his neighbors knew that he had psychological problems.
3. Li Youlin never practiced Falun Gong. All his neighbors knew that.
4. Anyone with basic knowledge about Falun Gong knows that no practitioners smoke or drink alcohol. But the police displayed some alcohol when they were shooting the video footage. It seems that the police lacked basic understanding and knowledge about Falun Gong. They fabricated these loopholes when they made up the story. Furthermore, Li drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Based on this alone, it was quite clear that he was not a [Falun Gong] practitioner.

Li Youlin’s so-called “suicide case” is used as an evidence of a “crime” to condemn Falun Gong. In order to slander Falun Gong, this story was repeatedly reported on radio and TV. In order to justify its crackdown on Falun Gong, the government even turned this forged evidence over to the United Nations Human Rights Commission Meeting. But Li’s death has nothing to do with Falun Gong. We as ordinary citizens don’t agree with the government’s approach in persecuting Falun Gong. That’s why we just want to present the truth. We encourage people to come to visit us and to learn more about the truth.

Written by a citizen in China

April 22, 2001