Cruelty to the Extreme: Handcuffed and Hung on a Steel Post for Days

I began practising Falun Gong in October of 1998. At that time I had many diseases, including emphysema (a common disease of the lungs), stomach problems, tracheitis (inflammation of the trachea, or windpipe), and asthma. For more than 30 years, no medical treatment could heal any of my diseases. After I obtained Falun Dafa, I conformed to the standards of practitioners and three months later all my diseases were gone.

Everyone who knows me saw the amazing transformation happening to me both mentally and physically since I began studying the teachings of Falun Dafa, and all praised Dafa as being good.

On July 20, 1999, the Jiang regime started the brutal persecution of Dafa practitioners. The local police station often came to my home to harass me and ransack my home. They took my Falun Dafa books away, and didn't allow us to do the exercises. In June of 2000, the village police station suddenly broke into my house and took me away; they detained me for one day, and didn't release me until later in the afternoon. I was told they would come back the next day. I told them that since they didn't allow me to be a good person, I would go to Beijing to appeal. That same night we headed for Beijing. On our way to Beijing, police arrested us. The next day our local police station was notified, and we were sent back there. Police from our local police station beat us. Every practitioner was dragged to a room, where they were kicked and punched. The police beat me with a rubber stick, causing black and blue marks all over my body. On that same afternoon, five of us were sent to the detention centre.

At the detention centre, the police searched us and took away all our money. Later that same afternoon, our wrists were handcuffed to our ankles with our heads aimed towards the ground. We were forced to remain in this posture until one or two o'clock in the morning. During this period of time, our sleeves were rolled up so that mosquitoes and other bugs could easily bite us. The next day, we were forced to kneel down and crawl on the burning hot concrete. It was over 40 degrees Celsius (104oF) and there was hot sand on the concrete. At noon, police forced us to roll our pants up above our knees, then kneel down and crawl on the ground; our knees were so seriously burned that they were covered with large blisters. Later that afternoon, we were forced to stand on the concrete in our bare feet, and jump with our hands behind our heads. Our feet were seriously burned and covered with large blisters, and we were not allowed to stop jumping until we were completely exhausted. Our feet bled profusely, completely covering the ground with blood. We were also covered with sweat.

When we jumped too slowly, the police stepped on our feet with their heavy shoes, pressing extremely hard. The skin on my knees was broken from kneeling down and ran with pus. When I couldn't move any more, a female police officer then stepped on my toes, and forced me to kneel down. When I couldn't crawl in a straight line, I was beaten with a rubber stick. When I collapsed, I was dragged to a wall. Two other Dafa practitioners joined me. Another practitioner was in so much pain that he lost consciousness and fell to the ground, was dragged by his feet, and then slammed against the wall. Because the police didn't allow us to drink, our mouths were so dry that they were covered with big blisters, and our throats were so dry that we couldn't talk. At night, practitioners were deprived of sleep. As long as we refused to write a pledge promising to give up cultivation, practitioners were forced to line up in the yard, with legs straight, then bend at the waist, with fingertips pointing towards the toes, and stay in that position until one or two o'clock in the morning. If you didn't stand steady, you would be beaten. Whoever recited Master's articles, said that Dafa was good, or did the exercises would be handcuffed to a steel post, with their mouths gagged, and hit with a rubber stick.

There were two mornings that I did the sitting meditation, and I was caught by the police, then I was dragged, handcuffed, and hung on a steel post for over 10 hours. When I was released that afternoon, my body was numb. My fellow practitioners helped me to eat. Under such cruel torture, police would ask us again if we would continue to practise. If we said yes, then we would be hung up with both arms and legs out-stretched. Some steel posts had two practitioners hanging from them at the same time, or even three or four practitioners. Hanging up like that for over 10 hours made practitioners' arms numb and swollen, so much so that the handcuffs left permanent marks on their wrists. Some practitioners were hung in different ways. After being repeatedly hung, their arms were in such condition that they couldn't put on handcuffs, only then were they released. This kind of torture lasted for over 40 days; every day was the same torture.

Our relatives brought gifts for those in charge, in order to be allowed to visit us. The person in charge of the centre didn't allow any visiting unless visitors brought enough "gifts". Some families borrowed money to have their family members released. Some brought 5000 Yuan, [Yuan is Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 Yuan] some brought 10,000, so that their family member could be released. However, if they didn't give up cultivation, they would still be detained, or sent to a mental hospital and forced to take large quantities of injections and medication, many times more than that the amounts administered to mental patients. They were, in fact, tortured into mental disability. Under such cruel torture, I couldn't stand any more; I wrote the so-called pledge, and was released. At home, I received Master's new articles "Rationality" and "Serious Teaching." I finally understood, and I decided to do my best to make up for what I had done wrong. I will cultivate to the end.

Within a month after I returned home, I was seized by the village police station again, and sent to the city detention centre. I was hung up in handcuffs, beaten with a leather stick, and shocked with an electric baton. I was tortured more severely than the last time. One day in September, I was hung up on a steel post with two other practitioners. Suddenly a thunderstorm came but we weren't released until our clothes were all wet. When we returned to the cell, we weren't allowed to change clothes; instead, our hands were cuffed behind our backs until noon.

Whenever new practitioners were abducted, they would be handcuffed and hung up. Then they would have to endure the same jumping punishment described earlier.

One day, police brought an article defaming Falun Gong and asked a male practitioner to read it out loud. He refused, then he asked me to read it and I said that I couldn't read. A policeman with the surname Wang dragged me outside the room. It was raining, he forced me to take off my coat, and only in my shirt, he forced me to jump in the rain, I refused, then he beat me. That evening, when it stopped raining, six of us were forced to bend at the waist with our fingertips touching our toes. I wasn't wearing much, and had only a pair of slippers on my feet. It was very windy and chilly outside, both of my feet were frozen, and it was midnight before we were sent back to bed.

In October, we were forced to shell peanuts in our room, from 5 a.m. to noon. Each bag contains over 30 kilogrammes (66 lbs.) of peanuts, and we had to finish shelling all of them overnight. We didn't stop clarifying the truth to the female inmates, and we recited Teacher's writings while shelling the peanuts. There were over 40 practitioners in the detention centre. Some shelled peanuts in their cells, some were dragged outside to be beaten and hung up.

My mother is 76 years old, and after hearing that I had been detained, her hair turned grey overnight. One day, my husband came to see me; the female person in charge pointed at me and said, "Your husband does not beat you, I will beat you for your husband to give vent to his anger." Then her hand started falling on my face like raindrops, she was beating me and swearing at me non-stop. While she was beating me, she was asking, "Do you still practise or not?" I said, "Yes!" She then continued. Then she asked again, "Do you still pass out flyers?" I said, "Yes!" Then she carried on again. Later she asked, "Do you still go to appeal to the government?" I said, "Yes!" She used this same method on another Dafa practitioner. After she finished beating us, she hung us up on a steel post for four or five days and we suffered tremendously.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/6/11/52047.html