Pan Xiang and his daughter are well-known musicians from Jiangsu Province, China. They yearned for the chance to see a Shen Yun performance. He suffered years of persecution under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). His so-called “crime”? Asking the local authorities to return a letter written to him by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. His family has now publicly quit the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers of the CCP.
Born into a poor family, Pan Xiang is a talented, self-taught instrumentalist. He is also the founder of the “Hong Kong International School of Music Baoying subsidiary branch.”
Through Pan Xiang’s determined guidance, his 10-year-old daughter, Pan Ting, quickly became a well-known prodigy. She won the top prize “Gold Award” in the World Zither Competition, successfully launched a zither performance in Hong Kong, and performed with the New York-based “Overseas Chinese Orchestra” in Hong Kong.
The media in China widely reported on Pan Xiang and Pan Ting’s achievements and talents. Yangzhou Television especially regarded Pan Ting as the “pride of the city.”
Pan Xiang found out about Shen Yun in Hong Kong
On one of his trips to Hong Kong, Pan Xiang found out about Shen Yun Performing Arts and greatly admired their dance and music. He said: “I feel that the music performed by Shen Yun is of the highest quality and represents what I want to pursue. I hope my daughter has the opportunity to perform in this orchestra.”
Pan Xiang’s aspirations soon resulted in his family’s application to leave for New York. However, he failed to obtain the relevant documents. Following this, Pan Xiang wrote an appeal letter in February 2008 on behalf of his daughter, Pan Ting, to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Pan Xiang later found out that Premier Wen had written a response to his letter, but that it was seized by the local bureau in charge of petitions. “Premier Wen Jiabao personally signed the official letter to my daughter, yet it was confiscated by the local authorities.
If the Premier’s rights and dignity cannot be upheld, the human rights and dignity of the 1.3 billion people in this country are thus non-existent,” said Pan Xiang.
His repeated requests for the Premier’s letter resulted in his persecution. On April 22, 2009, Pan Xiang was illegally kidnapped by local authorities and locked up in a psychiatric hospital for nearly two months. He nearly died from forced injections and medications.
In 2010, Pan Xiang helped 18 other petitioners in Baoying County post information on the Internet about illegal and secret jails set up by the local authorities, also infamously known as “black jails.” He was consequently locked up in the mental hospital again.
Pan Xiang said: “I now clearly understand that the CCP destroyed the 5,000 years of Chinese traditional civilization. The CCP is the most evil of any political parties in history. Everyone in our family has quit the Communist Youth League and Young Pioneers [of the CCP].”
He also mentioned that he could feel “evil” exist in the whole political system, starting from the highest level, the CCP Central Committee, down to the mid-level of the Jiangsu provincial authority, and finally to the lowest level, Baoying County.
“The political persecution upon me was actually increased gradually to push me toward the brink of death or insanity,” said Pan Xiang. He added: “More importantly, it harms my daughter’s physical and mental health.”
The authorities spread rumors and I have no income now. Fortunately, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD Television) has an international influence and more people can thus know the CCP for what it really is. This then awakens the people in Mainland China. This is also what I want to achieve.”
Pan Xiang suffered the loss of his income, as his school had to be closed down after he was labeled “mentally ill” by the authorities.
