I will continue Exhibiting my Paintings and bringing Goodness to Different Places around the World

My name is Zhang Cuiying and I am an artist from Australia. I have loved drawing ever since I was young. I have held art exhibitions in many countries around the world and was rewarded numerous prizes for my work.

I appeal to you today because I want to call upon the help of all kind-hearted people to assist in an SOS rescue operation to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Every minute, there are Falun Gong practitioners suffering persecution in jails; every moment their lives are under threat.

Seven years ago I suffered from severe arthritis which made eating and walking difficult. I even lost the ability to paint and I felt that my life was not worth living. Practising Falun Dafa cured my illnesses and gave me a second chance in life. I was so happy that I could enjoy painting again. I could not accept that such a good practice, which brought me so many benefits, was being persecuted and slandered in China. I wanted to talk to Jiang Zemin and tell him the truth about Falun Dafa using my personal experiences. However, what I received in return was eight months suffering and torture in four different prisons.

On December the 31st 1999, while watching a national flag-raising ceremony in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, I was dragged into a police car and beaten by three policemen who suspected me of being a Falun Gong practitioner. I had blood all over my face.

On January the 26th 2000, I was practising Falun Dafa exercises in Beijing’s Rending Lake Park when police officers arrested me and brutally beat me until they were exhausted. They jailed me in Beijing’s West Detention Centre without any legal procedures.

On February the 4th 2000, after my husband and I were eating in a Beijing restaurant, we were secretly followed. More than 20 officers from the Public Security Bureau arrested us and sent us to the highest security prison of Beijing – Beijing City Detention Centre. We were locked up with inmates who were on death row; they did not let us sleep for four or five days. In the middle of the winter, I was forced to stand barefoot on freezing concrete with both of my hands up in the air. Four or five policemen surrounded me and tried to force me to give up my Australian Citizenship. They threatened to destroy my family.

On March the 5th 2000, China held the People‘s Congress Meetings and I wanted a just word to be said for Falun Gong. However, as soon as I set foot on Chinese soil the police searched my bag. After discovering some Dafa books and my letter to Prime Minister Zhu, one officer slapped me on in the face so hard that it made me dizzy and I was unable to hear for several days. Later, without any legal procedures, I was inhumanely detained for five months. After a phone call from Jiang Zemin, another three months were added to my sentence.

For seven months, I was not allowed outside. Eating and going to the toilet was all done in the same room. I did not see daylight or breathe fresh air, causing me to have skin problems. The police beat me, insulted me and splashed water on me; I told them that there is nothing wrong with practising Falun Dafa. They brutally threw me from the bed onto the floor, kicking and punching me until my body was covered with black and blue patches. At night the pain kept me awake and this was worsened by the heavy rusty shackle that I was forced to wear.

I was thrown into male prison cells. When I showered I was seen by male inmates and police who insulted me both mentally and physically. I was forced to sleep on the freezing concrete floor with my head next to the toilet. All I ate was leftovers from other inmate’s bowls and I was not allowed to touch the drinking water. My basic human rights were taken from me, and I was robbed of 2000 Yuan (approximately four months salary of an average urban worker). I had no money to buy anything, even toilet paper. After the Australian Consul found out about this, he travelled six hours from Guangzhou City to Shenzhen City (Guangdong Province) to bring toilet paper to me. The prison guards took away my pens and paper, so I could only use toothpaste to write the words, “Falun Dafa is good - Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” on my clothes. In front of surveillance cameras watched by male guards, they forcefully ripped off my clothes and I could only use my hands to cover myself.

The police also commanded prisoners to hit me and told them that their sentence would be reduced if they did so. An inmate named Zhang had embezzled 1 million Yuan and she should have been imprisoned for 5 to 15 years, but because she hit me she was released after one year.

Lying next to me in the cell was an inmate with mental illness. She had faeces on her clothes 24 hours a day. Whenever I opened my eyes, I saw her sordid clothes. How could I live like this? I said to the prison head, “You are torturing me like this. How can I live a life in hell? Look at me! My skin is inflamed. In the name of human rights, you must let me return to Australia.” He laughed wickedly: “Unless you give up Falun Gong, you will have to stay here forever, living your life in hell.”

They also forced me to do heavy labour, sometimes more than ten hours a day. Once, I worked from 7am to 11 pm. Other prisoners were asleep because they were so tired but I was forced to work by the prison guard who threatened me with an electric baton. He claimed that all the products needed to be finished by the next day. If someone came to inspect the cells, the products were hidden under the beds. I went on a strike to condemn such unlawful enforced labour. The jail guard called over the custodian and I said to him, “I will sue you for this forced labour.”

The reason I have this chance to talk about my experiences today is because I was saved from the edge of death by the Australian Government. However, there are tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China who are subjected to worse torture and inhumane treatment than I was, yet they do not have a chance to expose the wickedness of Jiang and his criminal associates. Some practitioners were beaten to death, some were abused until they mentally collapsed and some female practitioners were raped by criminals and male officers. Despite all this, Jiang secretly passed an order to the national police that, “If Falun Gong practitioners are beaten to death, say that it was suicide.”

In order to let more people know about Jiang’s treacherous and cruel persecution of Falun Gong, I am selling my paintings and donating all the money to the SOS rescue operation for practitioners in China. I am moving from one country to another, telling all kind-hearted people, governments and media in the world about my ordeals in Chinese jails.

I have travelled to around 40 countries and more than 100 cities. Whenever journalists, government officials and kind-hearted people hear my story, they say with a pained heart, “We cannot bear to hear more.” In the 21st Century, what country would so insanely persecute its own people, especially people who follow “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” and only want to be good people. These kind-hearted people, after hearing my story, said that Jiang must be condemned for his actions. Around 60 officials, including the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Australia and Members of the Australian Parliament, have all stepped forward to condemn Jiang Zemin’s actions. Many countries’ governments and media have all said that they can no longer stand and watch; they will try their best to stop Jiang Zemin from torturing and commit crimes against the Chinese people. I am happy to see that my suffering and pain have opened the heart of thousands of people in the world to the best human qualities: Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Care and love from kind people has helped to heal the scars on my body and remove the pains from my heart.

Currently, Falun Dafa practitioners in China are losing their jobs, families, and even lives in order to protect their righteous belief in these best human qualities. Hereby I sincerely ask once more for all kind-hearted people, governments and media to reach out a helping hand and stop Jiang Zemin from persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. Let’s end this tragedy now. Let the Chinese people enjoy the same freedom of belief as people in the rest of the world and enjoy their belief in Truth, Compassion, Forbearance.

Zhang Cuiying

Find out more about Zhang Cuiying and her paintings at http://www.zhangcuiying.org/indexframe.htm