Torture Used by the Chinese Communist Regime: Scalding with Boiling Water

Pouring boiling water on followers of Falun Gong is one of the favourite tactics used by the Chinese Communist Party in attempts to coerce practitioners of the peaceful spiritual practice into renouncing their beliefs.

The following is a summary of cases where the practitioners have died or been severely injured by such torture.

Head Cavities

Mouth

Police arrested Mr. Gai Chunlin from Liaoning Province in April 2005. In less than three weeks, his family was informed that he had died of a heart attack suffered at a brainwashing centre.

His family observed severe burn marks on his face and chest, and asked for an autopsy. The result indicated that tissue in part of his digestive tract was “cooked” and would peel off at the touch of a finger, indicating that he had died as a result of being force-fed boiling water.

Ms. Zhao Shuyuan from Karamay, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, was sentenced to a nine-year prison term in 2002 for practising Falun Gong. She stayed on a hunger strike for more than three years to protest her detention. In response, the guards ordered inmates to pour a whole bowl of boiling water into her mouth, scalding her flesh. Strands of her flesh fell off afterward. Ms. Zhao's oesophagus was pierced during the force-feeding process, and she couldn't speak for a long time afterward.

Ears

Mr. Qiu Qinghua from Liaoning Province was arrested while distributing Falun Gong literature in January 2006. When he refused to comply during an interrogation in a brainwashing centre, an agent from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) poured a glass of hot water into his left ear, which damaged his hearing and started an infection that eventually led to severe meningitis. He eventually became incoherent, and was unable to recognise his own family.

Eyes

Mr. Wang Zhong was transferred to Handan Forced Labour Camp in Hebei Province in November 2005. A guard tried to coerce Mr. Wang into giving up his faith by beating him to the ground and pouring hot tea into his eyes, an action which almost blinded him.

The Head

Mr. Liu Zhibin, nicknamed Liu Jieyun, was locked in a storage room in Qi County Prison on July 21st, 2004. The guards stripped and handcuffed him to a bed and then beat him, while a prisoner poured boiling water onto his head.

Mr. Liu died an hour later. According to his wife, Mr. Liu's body was covered with cuts and bruises. Handcuff marks were clearly visible on his wrists, along with many scars from electric batons.

In an attempt to coerce Mr. Kong Xianyong into giving up his belief, the guards in Fangqiang Forced Labour Camp in Jiangsu Province boiled many kettles of water and repeatedly poured the boiling water over Mr. Kong's head.

Ms. Chen Shaoqing, an elementary school teacher, was arrested in March 2007, and locked in solitary confinement in a “Legal Affairs School” (brainwashing centre) in Zhanjiang City. She knocked on the door to protest the persecution, and the principal punched her in the temple. She collapsed as a result. To wake her up, the principal poured hot water on her head. Her face became swollen and she was unable to eat.

In a cell in Weibei Prison in Shandong Province, a guard instructed five prisoners to torture Mr. Chu Liwen in order to force him to give up the practice. The prisoners poured boiling water onto his head. This torture session lasted for several days in August 2004.

Ms. Liu Li from Heilongjiang Province was taken to a police station because her sister was caught distributing Falun Gong literature. As soon as she arrived at the police station, a policewoman splashed a cup of hot water on her face and beat her with a broomstick until it broke.

Hands and Arms

Television presenter Mr. Li Guang was tortured in Weibei Prison in Shandong Province for refusing to give up Falun Gong. Four prisoners wrapped towels around Mr. Li's arms and poured hot water on the towels and over his neck. The excruciating pain had Mr. Li screaming and rolling on the ground.

Mr. Li died on December 3rd, 2012, at the age of 36, due to the torture he suffered.

When Ms. Guo Wenshuai was locked in Jilin Women's Prison, every morning the guards forced her to put her hands into scalding hot water. One time, the guards soaked a towel in boiling water and wrapped it around her arm. She screamed and jumped, and her arms were covered with blisters afterward.

Feet and Legs

Guards in a forced labour camp forced Mr. Yang Baochun to stand on the snowy ground without shoes or a jacket during the winter of 2000. After suffering frostbite on his feet, they put his feet in hot water. As a result the tissue on his feet festered, and his right leg had to be amputated.

Mr. Wang Xinchun fell into a river while being chased by police during the winter of 2002. The temperature that day was well below freezing, and ice quickly formed around his legs after he got out. The police arrested Mr. Wang two days later. Knowing that Mr. Wang had frostbite on his legs, the police put his feet into a basin of very hot water.

When Mr. Wang got home, both of his feet began to develop blisters, with pus seeping out. Ten months later his lower legs gradually rotted away, leaving him permanently disabled.

In January 2005, the guards at Suzhou Prison of Anhui Province tortured Mr. Hu Enkui by pushing his legs against water bags filled with boiling water for a long time. As a result both of his legs suffered severe burns, and part of his bone tissue was permanently damaged. He is now disfigured and disabled.

Ms. Han Shuhua was put in Dalian Rehabilitation Centre (forced labour camp) in 2001 for doing Falun Gong exercises in a park. The guards soaked towels in boiling water and wrapped them around her legs. Both her legs were severely burned and blistered.

The guards subsequently dragged her around on the floor, which opened up the wounds on her right leg and exposed the flesh. The blisters became infected, and without giving her anaesthetics, the doctor peeled off the skin on the infected area.

Sometimes the guards targeted practitioners who were paralysed and couldn't resist the torture.

Mr. Wang Hongrong was beaten in a confinement cell in February 2007. As a result he became incontinent and lost feeling in his lower body. When the general manager from his company visited him in April, he demanded that he be sent to a hospital. Before going to the hospital, Mr. Wang wanted to wash up. Enraged by the request, a prison guard ordered inmates to force his feet into a bucket of boiling water. His feet immediately swelled up. Half a day later his feet festered, and blisters developed.

Mr. Lin Zehua fell in Jiamusi Prison in Heilongjiang Province and became paralysed from the waist down in November 2008. Claiming to help him wash his feet, a prisoner placed his feet in boiling water. Mr. Lin didn't realise what was happening until he saw that his feet had blistered and festered.

This same prisoner used this torture method on Mr. Lin a second time.

Various Body Parts

Salted Bath Water

While locked in Shuangkou Labour Camp, guards routinely beat Mr. Tang Jian right before he had to bathe. They burned him with cigarette butts and beat him until he had open wounds. They added salt to the hot water, and held Mr. Tang down in the water for over an hour. Mr. Tang died in July 2004 at the age of 39.

Trunk

The guards at Zhongba Labour Camp in Guizhou Province physically abused Mr. Wang Zexuan until his body was covered with wounds. When the guards grew tired of beating Mr. Wang, they poured a kettle of scalding hot water on him while he was too weak to get up.

Neck

Mr. Lin Fengchi was brutally beaten and tortured in Sanshui Labour Camp in Guangdong Province, during the winter of 2002. After four days of torture, he was covered with wounds, and fell unconscious. The guards then poured boiling water down his neck to wake him up, causing severe burns on his back and chest. Several days later, Mr. Lin’s wounds festered, and the guards scrubbed the wounds with toothbrushes.

Breasts

In January 2004, Ms. Wu Yueju was arrested and sent to Dalian Forced Labour Camp. The guards instructed an inmate to jam Ms. Wu's mouth with dirty socks and sanitary pads, so that she could not be heard when screaming. The inmate then prodded her groin with a toothbrush and poured boiling water on her breasts. As a result Ms. Wu's breasts became infected and festered.

Armpits

The guards at Xishanping Labour Camp tied up Mr. Zhang Zhiqiang’s hands and hung him up with his toes barely touching the ground. An inmate was then ordered to pour scalding water into a cup and press it against Zhang's left armpit. The inmate refilled it with hot water and scalded Mr. Zhang at the same spot repeatedly. As a result, Mr. Zhang developed a blister the size an egg, and the wound remained infected for months.

Waist

Ms. Chen Yulian was incarcerated in Jiangxi Women's Prison for her belief. One day during the summer of 2012, encouraged by the guards, an inmate took a full cup of boiling water and poured it around Ms. Chen Yulian’s midsection.