The Persecution of 80-Year-Old Ms. Deng Meizhen

Ms. Deng Meizhen, an 80-year-old practitioner, lives in Shuidongwei, Dianbai County, Guangdong Province. This is her story:

Benefited Both Mentally and Physically after Practising Falun Gong

My health was already bad by the time I was in my early forties. I had rheumatic aches in my bones. Moreover, I had been hit by a motorcycle, and my two lumbar vertebrae were fractured. Later I developed osseous swelling (bone selling) in my injured left foot, making it difficult for me to walk. I sought out many cures and spent lots of money; but without success. In 1996 when I was 67 years old, fortunately I learned Falun Gong. I am healthy after practising Falun Gong. Some relatives and friends witnessed the miracle of Falun Gong and began to learn Falun Gong or introduce it to others.

Persecuted for Standing up for My Belief

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong. My relatives were afraid. My husband beat me, and the leaders of my workplace attempted to force me to write "transformation¹" statements, and give up my cultivation. I had personally experienced the goodness and benefits from Falun Gong; it was absolutely impossible for me to give up the practice.

I went to appeal for Falun Gong's human rights in Beijing, to tell the authorities my personal experience of benefiting from Falun Gong. But I was arrested. Zhang Huifen from the Dianbai County 610 Office² took 3,000 yuan³ from me without giving me a receipt.

I was taken back and detained at the Dianbai County No. 2 Detention Centre for 17 days. Sometime later I went to Beijing to appeal again. I was again brought back and detained at the Dianbai County No. 2 Detention Centre. I was handcuffed to a window frame, deprived of sleep for five consecutive days and nights and not allowed to use the toilet. I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and they brutally force-fed me. One time, the deputy head of the detention centre, Yang, who was in his 40s, pushed me and I fell down hard. He violently kicked me several times in the abdomen. Other personnel and practitioners quickly pulled me out, fearing I might die from his brutality. Another time, Deputy Head Liang pushed me and made me hit a cement bed.

The personnel of the 610 Office decided to send me to a forced labour camp for two years. I talked with the responsible people and exposed their actions. They did not send me to a forced labour camp, but they sent me to the Maoming Brainwashing Centre for one year. When I had been tortured until I was in very poor health, they released me after extorting 12,000 "yuan" from my family.

In the brainwashing centre, I was beaten and kicked for doing Falun Gong exercises. Once, a security guard beat me. I thought that as a practitioner, I should be fine. I did not feel any pain when he beat me, but the guard cried out in pain. He stopped beating me with his hands, but grabbed a lock to continue the beating.

After I was released, personnel from the CCP monitored me for two years and harassed me regularly. They also held back five years of my retirement pension. Later they returned a small amount to me.

Note

1. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

3. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/5/15/200932.html