Mr. Yang Yongjiu, in his sixties, was a farmer in Shiling Town in the Yanjiang District of Ziyang City, Sichuan Province. He began practicing Falun Dafa in 1995. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, he was arrested and detained several times because of his peaceful appeals on behalf of Falun Gong. He was subjected to severe persecution and died at the end of 2002.