Ding Ke: Why Did They End Up Like This? — My Former Classmates and Colleagues

Illustrative Image: Dark clouds looming over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

[People News] Zhang Yue was my middle school classmate. He transferred to our school, Beijing No. 27 Middle School, around 1972 from another region. Later, I learned that his father had been transferred from the 38th Army to serve as a military representative in the Beijing Public Security Bureau. Zhang was about 1.76 meters tall and always dressed in a green military uniform. He wasn’t much of a talker but loved sports, especially swimming.

When we joined the Communist Youth League in our third year of middle school, I was his sponsor.

In our third year, we and several other classmates rode bicycles to Hebei Province, visiting places like Shashiyu and Panjiayu in Zunhua County for a social investigation project. The trip lasted two to three weeks, covering over 300 kilometers.

Before graduating from high school, Zhang joined the army. Unlike other classmates who became soldiers, he was the only one stationed in Beijing.

In 1978, while I was a student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, I attended a figure skating performance at the Capital Indoor Stadium. There, I unexpectedly ran into Zhang, who was still serving in the military. He told me he was a medical orderly in a unit under the Beijing Garrison Command and was not required to stand guard or patrol.

After that, we lost contact for more than 20 years. It wasn’t until around 2016 that I saw news about him again: as an ally of Zhou Yongkang, Zhang Yue, the head of the CCP's 610 Office and Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission, had been sentenced to 15 years in prison and was serving time in Qincheng Prison.

At first, I couldn’t believe this was the same person as my former classmate. His appearance had changed somewhat, and his birth year was listed as later than his actual age. It wasn’t until I found recordings of his speeches online that I confirmed he was indeed my old classmate.

Appearance changes can be achieved through plastic surgery. Birthdates can be altered as needed since basic population data is controlled by public security authorities.

The 610 Office is the CCP’s specialized agency for suppressing Falun Gong practitioners. As the head of this office, Zhang must have borne immense blood debts. It was likely these very debts that propelled him to the position of Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

However, waiting for him in the end was a 15-year prison sentence in Qincheng Prison.

*** *** *** *** ***

Peng Bo was a fellow newcomer when I joined the Central Investigation Department of the Communist Party of China in 1982. He graduated from Peking University with a degree in journalism from the Chinese Department, was a CCP member, and was the same age as me. After completing the three-month training period, he and a few others were sent to the University of International Relations to study English, preparing to work as foreign correspondents under the China Youth Daily.

The next time I saw him was during the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement. According to him, someone else had been chosen as the China Youth Daily correspondent in the United States. Unwilling to retreat to the background, he sought advancement. China Youth Daily was ready to promote him, but the condition was that he had to leave the Ministry of State Security. To pursue a career in the Party hierarchy, he gave up his overseas posting opportunities with the Ministry.

I remember at the time we planned to co-translate a book by real estate tycoon Donald Trump. However, due to the June 4th crackdown, the translation project stalled after I completed my portion.

When I noticed him again, he had aligned himself with the CCP during the crackdown and was climbing the ranks. He first became the editor-in-chief of China Industry and Commerce Times, later moved into the Central Propaganda Department system, and ultimately became the deputy director of the CCP’s 610 Office. However, his tenure as deputy director of the 610 Office marked the end of his political career. In 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in Qincheng Prison.

*** *** *** *** ***

Li Xing was my classmate in the English Department at Beijing Foreign Studies University. She was born in East Germany in 1957, the daughter of professional CCP diplomats. Shortly before graduation, she was selected by the newly established China Daily to study journalism at the University of Hawaii.

In 1985, during my tenure as the U.S. correspondent for Guangming Daily, she and her husband stayed for a few days at our press office in Washington, D.C. When I heard about her again in 2011, she had been appointed as the chief correspondent for China Daily in Washington. Tragically, not long after taking up the position—before she even had time to buy a car—she was rushed to the hospital and passed away.

Back in university, she was an accomplished long-distance runner. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was recommended to participate as a torchbearer in the Olympic relay. Despite being a capable and energetic CCP cadre, she passed away at just 54 years old.

Why did she meet such an untimely end?

I searched for information about her past on Google and was surprised to find that she had received the China Journalism Award and the New Long March Pioneer title for publishing defamatory reports about Falun Gong in China Daily.

Again, it was linked to the persecution of Falun Gong. Her abrupt and pale conclusion seemed all too stark.

⋯⋯ ⋯⋯

Three of my classmates and colleagues met unfortunate ends, all tied to their involvement in persecuting Falun Gong. Was this coincidence or inevitability?

If they had the chance to restart their lives and knew the dire consequences of persecuting Falun Gong, would they still have followed the same path?

A line from the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West comes to mind:
"Human life is hard to obtain, being born in China is rare, and encountering the righteous path is even more difficult. To possess all three is a great blessing."

Given how precious these blessings are, to persecute the righteous path inevitably leads to disastrous consequences. Their fates, therefore, are not surprising at all.

January 1, 2025, in the United States 

(First published in People News)