University Student Tells His Own Story: Dismissed from School for Persisting in His Belief

Preface: I am a third year undergraduate. Because I have persistently believed in Falun Dafa and because I went to Beijing in December 1999 to appeal for Dafa, the university suspended me for one year. In February 2001, the school said that I would only be allowed to go back to school if I wrote a guarantee to stop practising Falun Dafa and "expose" Falun Gong. I said, "I am a student and should be allowed to return to school unconditionally. It is an impossibility for me to write any guarantee." Thus, in March 2001 the school made a decision unilaterally that I had automatically flunked out. I have already attained third year standing, but just because I did not give up practising Falun Dafa, I lost my right to receive and finish my education.

In December 1999, I went to Tiananmen Square to tell people the truth of Falun Dafa and was detained at the Qianmen Police Station for one day. Later I was detained in the Chendu liaison office in Beijing for two days. After that I was escorted by riot police back to Chendu by train. On the way, I was forbidden to talk or move. Even when I went to the washroom they kept the door open. After arriving in Chendu, I was detained in the Qingyang District Drug Rehabilitation Centre for two days. As soon as I entered the Drug Rehabilitation Centre they forcibly searched me. After that, they subjected me to the "sitting board" torture [Every day, practitioners are forced to put their hands on top of their laps, with backs straight and sitting on benches for long periods of time and for many days in a row. Practitioners are also often prohibited from using the toilet and subjected to a harsh environment with poor ventilation and no sunlight], forced me to stand for a long time, or turned the power of the bullhorn to extremely high levels to disturb me. Police threatened me, saying that they were going to deprive me of my right to go back to school. I said I would continue to practise Falun Gong, and then the police relentlessly abused me.

On my second day of detention in the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, I was taken back by the school. The room was filled up by teachers and people from the university police station. They stigmatised Dafa, and tried all kinds of ways to get me to give up cultivation. They even threatened that I would not be allowed to go back to school. I have always been clear-headed. My answer was a simple one, "I want to practise cultivation." As a result I was detained in the detention centre for 15 days.

As soon as I entered the detention centre, I saw several middle age women were being forced to squat on the ground [a form of torture] and an old woman was shackled to an iron column. I saw a look of kindness in their eyes and knew they were Dafa practitioners. In the detention centre, almost everyday police broadcasted radio and TV programmes that slander Dafa and Teacher. Once, as soon as I opened the door I saw dozens of police standing in a circle, fiercely kicking a Dafa practitioner. The practitioner was kicked from one policeman toward another, and then that policeman started to kick him. I felt extremely saddened. All the people in the room saw this atrocious scene. One person shouted to the police who were doing the beating, "It is forbidden to beat people!" She tried to rush out of the room after saying this but as a result, she was shackled to an iron column by the police.

In order to shake the will of Dafa practitioners, the detention centre had those who had written a "guarantee letter" read their "guarantee," and then they released them right on the spot. After the meeting, police called me and asked me whether I still wanted to practise. I talked to them about the truth of Dafa, telling them about the personal benefits we get from Dafa. A policeman tried to break my spirit, "The government of XX country said that Falun Dafa is not good." I thought at that moment, I want to do what Teacher told us to do. So I replied to him righteously, "Dafa is good, I practise Dafa because I want to practise Dafa." The evil policeman's attempt did not succeed. He could only let us go back to the cell.

After the detention term was over again, I was taken back by the school. They sent me to a brainwashing session held by the police station. When New Year's Day of January 2000 was approaching, they said we wouldn't have to go to the brainwashing session on New Year's Day, but everyone had to write a vacation notice and write a note saying, "I guarantee that I will not go to appeal on New Year's Day." We knew it was another trap and nobody wrote it. I could not go home and I was in a lot of pain during that period of time. The leaders of the school saw that I was firm in practising Falun Dafa, so they suspended me from school.

After I was suspended from school, I stayed at home all the time. In May 2000, Mother and I came across many Dafa practitioners in the park, so we talked with them. Suddenly, several police cars drove up. Many policemen carrying firearms walked up to us and caught us. They asked all of those people caught to abuse Dafa and Teacher, and whoever did it would be released on the spot. We were taken to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre and then to the police substation, and finally to the police station house. That afternoon,the police searched our house. Tens of people were detained in a small room of a few square meters. In order to let others sleep, some practitioners held their legs, even during napping, standing or doing exercises.

The lawless authorities feared their crimes would be exposed so at 2 a.m. on the second morning, so they brought a portion of the practitioners to a detention centre and detained them for thirty days. In these thirty days I suffered terrible inhuman torture.

As soon as I went inside they forcibly searched me and separated my mother and I into two different cells. As soon as I entered the cell, the criminals' leader arranged for me to sleep on the ground close to the washroom. Both in the morning and in the afternoon we were forced to receive the so-called "law education." They forced us to do unpaid labour and food processing. Sometimes we worked from morning until afternoon and there was no noon break. One day, a practitioner going to Beijing to appeal was detained there. She refused to recite the jail's rules. The superintendent knew and bellowed, "Put shackles and handcuffs on her!" This practitioner was forced to put on shackles as heavy as over 5 kilograms [11 pounds] right away and her hands were cuffed behind her back. I stood up with anger and said to those police, "You cannot do this!" I restrained myself from shedding any tears. Behind me stood dozens of Dafa practitioners. We clarified the truth with a compassionate heart to the police. Some police were moved. The superintendent became angry and ordered his subordinate to cuff us together two by two (that is, one's left hand cuffed to another's right hand; one's left foot cuffed to another's right foot). I wore handcuffs and shackles, which was in addition to three heavy iron blocks that were more than 5 kg. After they cuffed us, we started to recite Hong Yin [Teacher's poems] loudly. The sound of reciting Teacher's poems carried all the way over to the three female's jail cells. The police were terrified. They turned on the TV and turned the volume to the highest setting, attempting to drown out the sound of us reciting Teacher's poems and articles.

Thus, we twelve practitioners kept wearing the shackles and handcuffs for the whole week. One week later, four couples were released, and two remained cuffed, including me. Later we practised exercises in the exercise yard. The superintendent cuffed me by myself from my back. In the endless one week that followed, sleeping became the most painful thing. I slept on one side first, but as soon as I lay down, my arms became extremely painful. Then I could only sit up right away, and move slowly to the side of the wall, trying to sleep against the wall. After a while, I became extremely tired, and could only compensate by lying on my other arm. After a while I was awakened by the pain so I sat up, repeating in this way. I woke up several times from the pain. When eating, I learned from other practitioners to push the handcuffs up my arms, exerting all my strength to move my hands forward, scooping the food up very hard, and sending it to my mouth awkwardly. Many times the food was not sent to my mouth and dropped back to the bowl. Other practitioners saw our difficulties and fed us. The torture of shackles and back cuffing lasted as long as one week. Later, because we persisted in studying the Fa [the teachings of Falun Dafa], the police elevated the torture to "drag holding the column" [a kind of cruel torture method wherein both hands are cuffed around one leg. Cuffing in this way makes one unable to stand straight, and one's centre of gravity is disrupted completely.] This made walking very hard for me, and even when going to the washroom I needed help from other people.

Not until the day of my release, was my position changed so that I was cuffed in a normal way. The shackles had been kept on my feet for 25 days. When releasing me, the police gave the key to the shackles to my mother and let her open it. But because it was on me for too long, the lock had become rusted and it took a long time to open. Because I had worn this punishment device continuously for 25 days, my hands and feet were all worn out, especially my heels, which formed two deep holes due to grinding. Even the bone could be seen. After going home, it took two months for the wounds to heal. But even now the wounded spots on my heels still cannot be touched.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/16/46584.html