Ms. Liu Rangying Recounts “Stretching” Torture and Other Abuses at Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre

Ms. Liu Rangying was arrested in October 2011 while seeking the release of her sister, who had been detained for raising awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong.

The following is Ms. Liu Rangying's account of the torture she suffered at the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre during her two-month detention.

1. The 852 Farm arrested me in collusion with Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre

On October 13th, 2011, my elder sister was arrested when she went to the 852 Farm to clarify the facts about Falun Gong. She was taken to the Hongxinglong Detention Centre.

I went to the 852 Farm to ask for my sister's release. Lu Jiang, head of the police station in the No. 1 Sub-Farm and security agent Niu took my bike and tried to take to me the police station. I refused to go with them. I grabbed my bike and rode home. They followed me and sent people to monitor me around the clock.

I then went to the Political and Judiciary Committee of the 852 Farm to demand my sister's release. Deputy head Jiang said, “Your sister will be heavily sentenced.” Bao Zhendong, head of the farm police department threatened me, saying, “If you don't leave, we'll arrest you too.” Political head Dong then said some slanderous things about Falun Gong. A man named Wang Shuang videotaped me the whole time.

Qu Meng, wife of security agent Guo Yong, followed me everywhere and reported my activities to team leader Wang Jun, who threatened, “If you keep asking for your sister's release, we'll break your legs.”

They sent people to monitor me 24 hours a day. I felt helpless and frightened being constantly followed and watched.

My sister went on a hunger strike at the Hongxinglong Detention Centre and was later taken to a hospital for emergency treatment. I tried to go see her right away, but was intercepted by police on the way. A month later my sister was sentenced to five years in prison.

On November 14th, 2011, police officers Lu Jiang, Tian Zhongxing and a security person came to my home and lied, saying that they would take me to visit my sister. I refused to go with them. Lu Jiang said, “You will come with us, like it or not.” They handcuffed my hands and took me to the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre. The little store my sister and I ran to support ourselves was closed down, which caused us a direct loss of about 10,000 yuan¹.

The 852 Farm and the police paid the brainwashing centre 10,000 yuan as an “education fee” and asked them to detain me for two months. The brainwashing centre also paid wages to those who helped with the “transformation” (brainwashing), ranging from 50 yuan to 80 yuan a day, and the money was paid out of the “education fee.”

The brainwashing centre and the political and judiciary committee of the farm also deceived the families of Falun Gong practitioners and told them that their loved ones would not be sent to labour camps or prison if they were taken to the brainwashing centre. Some family members believed them and paid the fees to have their relatives sent to the brainwashing centre.

2. Persecution at the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre

Coercive brainwashing

I was locked in a small, damp room at the brainwashing centre. All practitioners were detained in separate rooms so that we could not see or talk with one another. There were three beds in each room: the middle one was for the detained practitioner, the other two were for a police officer and a “baojia” (monitor). I was kept under watch all the time and wasn't allowed to step out of the room. They deliberately created an atmosphere of terror to wear down my will.

On the evening of November 14th, police officer Tao Hua tried to force me to write the “three statements” to renounce practising Falun Gong. I refused.

I went on a hunger strike to protest the unjust detention. Police officer Jin Yanpeng took me to a place out of range of the surveillance cameras and hit and kicked me hard. He threatened me and said that people were “transformed” by force, not “education” at the centre.

They took turns trying to brainwash me with slanderous propaganda materials all day long. They also threatened and scolded me and forced me to answer their questions. When I refused, Jin Yanpeng twisted my arms violently. They forced me to stand without moving from morning till night and I was not allowed to sleep at all until I could no longer stand.

“Stretching” Torture

I refused to eat. They said, “We'll give you injections, at 500 yuan each. Your family will have to pay, even if it means they'll have to sell your house.” Seeing that I still refused to write the “three statements,” they resorted to torture.

One evening, instructed by Fang Yuechun, head of the brainwashing centre, police officers Jin Yanpeng and Zhou Jingfeng came to my room with handcuffs and electric batons. Fang Yuechun told Fang Xiumei, “No one is allowed to come in this room.”

Fang Yuechun and an officer cuffed my hands to the poles of two beds, then they pulled the beds further apart so that my arms were stretched out. I was forced into an awkward squatting position. Officer Jin Yanpeng pulled the beds even further apart so that I would be in more pain.

Fang Yuechun kept slandering Falun Gong and threatened me with electric batons, “I'll shock you if you don't write the statements. It's quite easy to make you die.” He also kept poking me in the eyes.

Officer Tao Hua brought in a portrait of our Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, and put it underneath me, thinking that when I could not squat any longer, I would sit on the portrait. Such a base approach was even more painful than humiliation and physical torture, because we Falun Gong practitioners immensely respect our Teacher and we would never do anything disrespectful to our Teacher.

My arms and hands were in excruciating pain before they went numb, and my legs were extremely sore. I was in great discomfort. The torture lasted for one and a half hours and the pain was unbearable.

After the stretching torture, two staff members took turns trying to brainwash me with lies from 7:00 a.m. to midnight.

At the brainwashing centre, I was under enormous mental pressure and fear every day and could only relax a bit in my sleep at night. The mental torment was much worse than the physical torture. After I came out, for over a year, I felt downhearted and could not work, live or study normally.

Repeated Brainwashing

Practitioners who were forced to “transform” were still subjected to persecution. If you were “transformed,” they would make you brainwash other newly arrested practitioners. If you refused, they would think that your “transformation” was fake and would continue to torture you. They would also force you to betray your fellow practitioners by demanding that you tell them their names, phone numbers and addresses so they could persecute more people.

The first thing we were forced to do every morning was to write the “three statements” before being allowed to have breakfast. In the morning, they forced us to watch slanderous programs and commentaries against Falun Gong, and in the afternoon we were forced to write our “impressions” of what we had watched. If our “impressions” failed to meet their standards, we would be further persecuted. In the evening, we were gathered together to “share our thoughts,” and sometimes we were forced to read out loud what we had written.

Towards the end of the “study,” the police would seek permission from Fang Yuechun before they called the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) or police station to pick up those who had been “transformed” and settle the account. They also forced them to write to their own farm and the police department to apologise for the trouble they had brought them.

In Tao Hua's office in the brainwashing centre, the details of all those who had been “successfully brainwashed” were on display, including their names, addresses, family members and other connections, as well as the “impressions” and “comments” they had written under pressure. The perpetrators held discussions every evening to work out brainwashing plans for each individual with reference to their personality, their weaknesses and strong points and their family situations. Once Tao Hua even proposed to find me a partner in an attempt to keep me and work for them.

3. My Whole Family Suffered Persecution

I was released two months later. When I got home everything was frozen and in ruins. I was shivering with cold and all the food in our small store was ruined. I felt very sad and helpless.

The police continued to harass me and tried to make sure I did not resume practising Falun Gong. To avoid further persecution, I left home and began to live a destitute life.

My mother, Guo Shangyun, was overwhelmed emotionally, with her eldest daughter sentenced to five years in prison and with me detained in a brainwashing centre for two months. She could no longer endure the series of emotional blows, the anxiety and mental torment and she passed away on September 6th, 2012. Because of living away from home to avoid arrest, I didn't know my mother had passed away and couldn't come home to say goodbye to her. I was later told that she called for me and my sister as she was dying.

4. Harassed after I lodged complaints against the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre

I felt depressed for a long time after I was released from the brainwashing centre. Having been forced to renounce my belief, I was overcome with mental anguish. On December 5th, 2013, I asked my lawyer to file complaints against the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre for detaining me.

On the morning of January 2nd, 2014, more than ten practitioners, our family members and four lawyers went to Heilongjiang Province Procuratorate's Land Reclamation Region Office. We filed complaints against Qinglongshan Brainwashing Centre for detention and the Jiansanjiang Procuratorate for dereliction of duty.

A few days later, Lu Jiang, head of the local police station called me and said, “Don't join the legal action. Who wrote the complaints for you? You could not have written them yourself. You won't get anywhere. What's the point? You'd better go home and get your household certificate done, otherwise you won't get 38 mu of land for farming.” I kindly clarified the facts to him and told him, “I didn't do anything wrong, but you arrested and detained me. You are the ones who have committed crimes.”

Note

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