Ms. Wang Dongjiao Arrested Eight Times and Sent to a Mental Hospital

Name: Wang Dongjiao
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Datang Village, Ruichang City, Jiangxi Province
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 15th, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Ruichang Detention Centre
City: Ruichang
Province: Jiangxi
Persecution Suffered: Arrests, home ransacked, interrogated, forced labour, brainwashing, beatings, administration of unknown drugs into meal, incarcerated in a mental hospital

Practitioner Ms. Wang Dongjiao has suffered persecution repeatedly because of her belief in Falun Gong. Between March 18th, 2000 and June 2005, she was arrested eight times and was detained in detention centres or forced labour camps. On one occasion, she was sent to a mental hospital.

Benefiting Mentally and Physically Through Practising Falun Gong

Ms. Wang Dongjiao was born in a very poor family. Her father, 77, was paralysed and bedridden because of a stroke he suffered in 1992. Her mother, 76, lost her eyesight in 1993. Her parents were incapable of taking care of themselves. In 1994, Ms. Wang was diagnosed with complex kidney disease, which caused oedema due to excess water in her body. This caused discolouration of her skin and difficulty breathing. Her condition continuously worsened despite trying all types of medical treatments, including Chinese medicine, western medicine and folk medicine. She had two children, 13 and 8. Her husband was unable to handle the burden. He took their two children with him and left her in 1995.

In June 1996, Ms. Wang Dongjiao started to practise Falun Gong. Soon, all her illnesses were gone. She gained energy and was able to tirelessly do farm work in the field. People in the village all witnessed the miracle in her and said, "Falun Gong is indeed good. It's miraculous to see the changes in her!"

Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong

Three years later, on July 20th, 1999, Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started their persecution of Falun Gong. Falun Gong and its founder were slandered and framed. The situation at that time was overwhelming. Ms. Wang thought, "I was given a new life by Falun Gong and now they are treated unjustly. I must take a stand and explain the facts about Falun Gong." She and more than 30 fellow practitioners from Ruichang City went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on July 21st, 1999. They all returned home safely. On March 12th, 2000, she went to Beijing again, which was the start of her miserable experiences--being arrested eight times and suffering brutality and mistreatment.

On March 12th, 2000, Ms. Wang and three other fellow practitioners went to Beijing. On March 18th, they finally found the Beijing Appeals Bureau. They were detained in a room in the appeals bureau first and then were sent to Ruichang City Liaison Office in Beijing. After being detained there for four days, they were escorted to Ruichang City and were detained in Ruichang Detention Centre. Hearing that Ms. Wang was arrested, her 85-year-old father took his own life by poisoning himself. The deputy head of Ruichang Police Department Zhou Zuolin rejected her request to attend her father's funeral. At the detention centre, she persisted in her belief and refused to be brainwashed. She was finally released after being detained for 64 days.

One morning in early July 2000, some police officers, including Zhang Xuyong from Saihu Police Station, broke into Ms. Wang's home and took her to the police station. Her left hand was cuffed to a window for the entire afternoon. She was then sent to the detention centre around 7:00 p.m. She was detained there for 15 days.

On October 8th, 2000, Zhang Xuyong and other officers from Saihu Police Station broke into Ms. Wang's home again. They searched her home and took away Falun Gong books. Ms. Wang and her blind mother were taken to the police station. She was interrogated and refused to cooperate with the police. It was not until late into the night that both of them were released.

In January 2001, Zhang Xuyong from Saihu Police Station, Fan Kang from the Domestic Security Bureau and some other officers came and arrested Ms. Wang. She was sent to the detention centre and suffered forced brainwashing again. She was released after being detained for 15 days.

On the afternoon of May 8th, 2001, Chen Xiaoming from Saihu Police Station and Fan Kang from the Domestic Security Bureau arrested Ms. Wang again. They also took her and her 84-year-old blind mother to the police department. She refused to give a statement renouncing her belief. At 9:00 p.m., she was detained in Ruichang Guest House and suffered interrogation the entire night by several policemen. She refused to tell them where she obtained her informational materials. Officer Fan Kang hit her viciously in the temple. He also took off his shoe and repeatedly beat her legs with it, creating bruises all over. The next day, she was sent to the detention centre. This was her fourth time being detained. After being detained for four and a half months, she was sentenced to three years of forced labour on September 21st, 2001, and was sent to Majialong Forced Labour Camp in Jiujiang City.

Unknown Drugs in the Majialong Forced Labour Camp

In the forced labour camp, Ms. Wang Dongjiao was detained in the No.8 Cell of No.4 Women's Division. The guards, the drug offenders, and the collaborators (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) attempted to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] her. No matter what means they used, she persisted in her belief of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The first half of November 2001, she started having strange symptoms. She often felt dizzy and threw up after eating. She couldn't find any reason or cause for it and suspected that there was something being put into her food. Once she asked to exchange her meal with inmate Dong Juer, who was assigned to monitor her, but Dong adamantly refused. Once, another practitioner, Ms. Chen, ate Ms. Wang's food by mistake and she had similar symptoms of severe stomach pains while Ms. Wang had didn't have these symptoms after the meal. Ms. Wang was convinced that there was some kind of unknown drugs being put into her food in order to "transform" her by causing her state of mind to be unclear. The next day, she started a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. She exposed the scheme when she was called to the office by Xi Hui, head of the division. She was then transferred to the No. 6 Cell.

Sent to a Mental Hospital

A few days later, Ms. Wang Dongjiao was sent to No. 5 Hospital in Jiujiang City. She noticed many patients there with mental problems and realised that it was a mental hospital. She went through several medical checks. One of the examinations was the asking of the same question repeatedly. When a psychologist asked her questions, she told the doctor her story how she changed mentally and physically through practising Falun Gong. She asked the doctor, "Doctor, please tell me with your conscience, do I look like someone with a mental problem? They failed to 'transform' me. So they want to send me to this mental hospital...." She was rejected by the hospital and was sent back to the labour camp again. Several days later, people in the labour camp were told that she had a mental problem and had to be sent out. Ms. Wang was released at the end of November 2001. At that time, she was very skinny due to the mistreatment she suffered in the labour camp.

Several More Arrests

On February 3rd, 2002, police officer Chen Xiaoming from Saihu Police Station and police from Ruichang Domestic Security Bureau arrested Ms. Wang, claiming that she was distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. She was detained for one month in the detention centre.

On September 29th, 2002, Chen Xiaoming from Saihu Police Station and the guards from Majialong Forced Labour Camp, kidnapped Ms. Wang and sent her back to the forced labour camp. She was detained in No. 8 Cell of No. 4 Division. She refused to wear the inmate clothes or to cooperate with any other requirements. She was released on the afternoon of April 7th, 2003.

In August 2003, Chen Xiaoming and other officers from Saihu Police Station arrested Ms. Wang and sent her to Ruichang Detention Centre. After being detained for eight months, when she was on the brink of death, her family was notified to take her back home. Her sister carried her on her back as they left the detention centre.

In June 2005, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials, Ms. Wang was arrested by police in Quilin Police Station and was later sent to Fanzhen Police Station. Then she was detained in Ruichang Detention Centre for one month. She was subjected to two years of forced labour by police from the Ruichang City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and Ruichang Domestic Security Bureau. However, she was rejected by Majialong Forced Labour Camp and was sent back to the detention centre. Every day, she called out "Falun Gong is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good." She also went on a hunger strike to protest the detention. Finally, she was released in September 2005.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/11/30/90383.html