“We Came from the State Protection Team to Look for Some Leisure Books”

Qiaolian Shi, from Yaochun Town, and Gaiying Jiao, from Xizhang Village, Linzhou City, Henan Province, were both Christians. In the afternoon on May 12^th, 2003, they were worshiping at Jiao’s home. Village official Chaibao Zheng led two police come.

“Where did you go recently?” The police asked.

“Nowhere,” Shi answered.

“We came from the State Protection Team to look for some leisure books.”

Immediately, the police started to ransack the house. Finally, they found two hymns, three CDs and a notebook. With the charge of “believing in cult”, the police escorted them to Yaochun Town Police Station, where they were interrogated separately. But they did not tell any thing. Then the police sent them to Linzhou City police department, where they were interrogated again.

The police said, “What do you believe? The case would be more serious if you believed in Eastern Lightening or Falun Gong.”

Seeing Jiao’s face turned to yellow because of car sick, the police suspected her having SARS and released her. Shi was sent to Linzhou City South Detention Center. Her family spent more than 1000 RMB (~$125) to try to get her out but failed.