Professor Wu Xiaohua: My One-Year Detention in a Hefei City Mental Hospital

A Healthy Person is Abducted by Police and Committed to a Mental Hospital

I was illegally detained in the Anhui Province Female Labour Camp. One day, a police officer suddenly came to the confinement cell where I was detained and said to me, "We are going to take you somewhere." Even those prisoners who were ordered to monitor me 24 hours a day didn't know where I was going. I could see by the looks on their faces that they were afraid. I was forced into a police car and was secretly taken to a mental hospital. The destination was Section 5 of the No. 4 People's Hospital of Hefei City, Anhui Province. After placing me into Section 5, the police left immediately and I never saw them again during the whole year that I was there. The hospital authority did not ask me to sign any documents when they accepted me and rejected my repeated requests to see my family. Ten days after I was sent to the hospital the doctor told me, "The female labour camp has found your husband and asked him to sign your admission form, which he did, therefore, don't expect your husband to come here to take you back home. You have to stay here. If you don't break with Falun Gong, you will stay here until you have served your term. If you are not obedient, you will stay here forever till you die. In any event, your work unit is willing to pay the cost." When I met my family members later, they told me that the female labour camp compelled them to sign the admission form, and under coercion, they had no choice but to do so.

I found it odd that no one in the hospital interviewed me or diagnosed me when I first arrived. I was sent directly to a ward. The head nurse issued an order to the other nurses, who immediately swarmed around me and tried to strip me. I called loudly to the nurses, "You are medical personnel and should abide by your professional ethics. I am very normal and very clear-minded. I don't need your medical treatment!" The head nurse said, "It's not us but the police who sent you here." I answered, "Even though you are under orders, you should still at least first diagnose me to see whether I have mental problems. If I do, you can keep me, if not, you have the right to refuse to accept me. How can you force me to stay at this hospital without any basic medical check-up procedure? I am very normal and I won't stay at the hospital." The nurses all came at me together when I was less alert. Li Wan, a female doctor, looked very fierce and she started to verbally abuse Teacher Li and Dafa while asking others to hand her the scissors, "Give me the scissors. I'll do it myself." She forcibly cut open my undergarments. Then I was forced to wear special hospital clothes for mental patients, which I wore for a whole year. For several months after I was admitted to the hospital, the hospital authorities and the doctors never allowed me to view my medical records.

Forcibly injected with drugs that damage the central nervous system

For nearly ten months during my yearlong stay, I was forced to take or be injected with drugs that damage the central nervous system by the so-called doctors and nurses. During the first stage of my detention, I was forced to take pills three times a day, amounting to a handful each time. They refused to tell me the names of the pills. Some of the drugs were imported. During the second stage of my stay I had to take medicine three times a day, four pills each time. Some of those were imported as well. Later, besides taking those medicines three times a day, one or two pills each time, I was also given an injection and an IV infusion. I had frequently asked the hospital administrators to stop giving me medicines, but my requests were completely ignored. As a result, my physical movements became sluggish. I slept long hours and had difficulty waking up. My mind was foggy. My menstrual periods (normal when I first entered the hospital) had stopped. My reactions were slow, and I felt uneasy whether sitting or standing. (I recovered after resuming my practice of the Dafa exercises later.)

Forced to undergo electro shock therapy

During the persecution I was also forced to undergo electro shock therapy. Five or six nurses and assistant nurses tied me down on the bed for several days, using five cloth strips to immobilise me, with my arms and legs stretched out wide. When they gave me daily electro shock therapy, the electric needles were inserted into my temples. The nerves of my whole body started to seize and I was in extreme pain. All the pores of my body were in agony and my hair felt as if it were being pulled off my scalp. When they applied electro shock, I was tied to the bed, spread eagle. The doctor-in-charge Li Wan said to me, "If you don't cooperate, I will increase the voltage." Although some other doctors such as Huang Bao advised her not to do so, she personally administered the electric shocks. Electric shocks are much higher in voltage than electric needles. When shocked, my nerves twitched; horror scenes in blue and green colours appeared in my head and I could hear a strange, hoarse sound, like wind. They used a microphone-shaped black device to administer the electric shocks. Li Wan pressed the black hammers against my temples, sometimes harder and sometimes softer, which made the process more horrible. She told me, "We have plenty of ways to deal with you if you don't eat, and we will use the means for dealing with insane people. If you don't cooperate, you will stay here for a long time and will not be allowed to go home."

Force-fed with medicine and food

I was tied flat to the bed, immobilised with my arms and legs stretched out wide while a nurse force-fed me. The nurse's mind was poisoned by Jiang Zemin's propaganda and she verbally abused Dafa as well as threatened me. Without waiting for me to swallow a bite of food, she would stuff the next bite in. The food was spewed everywhere - on my eyes, face, neck and clothes. They also inserted a tube through my nose into my stomach to force-feed me. If I resisted, they would tie me up, pull my hair, or slap my face. (The one who slapped me is a nurse surnamed Zhou, and she is also the one who cursed at Dafa the most; the one who was most skillful in threatening and deceiving is the head nurse surnamed Wang)

Sometimes I was forced to sit on a chair while being force-fed. They pushed my face against the back of the chair, pinched my nose and pulled my hair. And they would grip my lower jaw and quickly insert the tube into my nose when I was less alert. If they failed to insert the tube, they would become angry and started cursing; if they did it successfully they would be pleased with themselves and say some derogatory words. (Nurse Zhuo and the head nurse Wang were the major culprits.) They treated Dafa practitioners as political prisoners. One of the head nurses said to me more than once, "You are not a mental patient. You are a special patient in our hospital. In fact you are a political offender."

In the beginning when they force-fed me through my nose, the doctor wanted to insert the tube all the way into my stomach. That way, my nose and stomach would feel the maximum pain. The end of the tube was wrapped with gauze and tied to my hair in front. The tube hung in front of my face and made me look ugly. I was not insane but was persecuted and made to look like an insane person. These medical personnel were deceived by Jiang Zemin's propaganda against Falun Gong and they persecuted me and forced me into this state. I refused their force-feedings. By then I had been fed through the nose twice daily for nearly 20 days. My nasal cavity was lacerated, bleeding and swollen, which caused more pain when the tubes were inserted. Doctor Li Wan said to me, "If you refuse to eat, I will leave the tube in for a long time. The rubber tube can become toxic and cause cancer. I would like to see what you do then. We will not let you go home." As it became harder and harder to insert the tube through my injured nose they had to switch to infusion. However, my veins had become so thin that every time they gave me an infusion it would take at least five or six tries to find the vein, sometimes seven or eight tries. My arms and the back of my hands were covered with bruises.

When I refused to take medicine I was often verbally abused and threatened. Once, Supervisor Wang Li ordered five or six nurses to surround me, and they dragged and pulled me around. I told them, "You all know I don't have any mental disease. It's illegal to hold me in the hospital. Every citizen has a right to choose medical treatment. You are treating me like this and I will sue you when I get out." Wang Li said, "Sue us if you wish, but we are not afraid at all." Not only doctors in charge talked like this, the nurses also spoke similar words more than once. I frequently repeated my statement to the head of the hospital and his assistants when they inspected wards that I had no mental problem and it was illegal to hold me in the hospital. They all avoided my request, and I was kept in the hospital all that time. I was often tied up, about 30 to 40 times during the year I was in the hospital. Sometimes it lasted 20 minutes and other times it would last more than two days. My hands were swollen from tying and the swelling would last two or three days.

One day after I was held in the hospital for over half a year, doctor Li Wan told me in person, "I have observed you for a long time. Indeed, you don't have any mental disorder." About nine months after I was sent to the hospital, doctor Li Wan said to me again, "I went to talk to the Political and Judiciary Committee and people from the "610 Office" and told them that you didn't have any mental disease. I even told them to talk to you in person and told them that in less than half a year they would see themselves that you are not a mental patient." I asked her, "Then why do you continue to give me the drugs that are used to treat mental disorders?" She said, "You are under direct control of higher authorities, who issued orders for me to give you the medicine and the doses were also decided by them. Their orders are that you must take them."

While in the hospital, I kept asking to see the leaders of my work unit, but no one came. Doctor Li Wan and my family members told me that the authorities and the leaders of my work unit told them to tell me that if I wrote a statement to say I would not practise Falun Gong any more, I would be released immediately and they would resume my teaching position in the institute, otherwise I would have to stay there.

After I was allowed to leave the hospital, I was detained at a female labour camp and was monitored 24 hours a day. There were no follow-up visits from the hospital. Because of being detained at the hospital for so long, I had a horrible memory of the environment at the mental hospital, the scenes, the things and even their names. My family, too, would avoid mentioning anything related to that hospital. They also suffered physical and mental pain. They had nightmares and worried that I would be discriminated against in society and suspected by others. They suffered depression and were scared. After I came back home, I persisted in diligently studying the Fa [the teachings of Falun Dafa] and practised the exercises, and my damaged health is now recovered.

Mental hospital involved in the persecution:

No. 4 People's Hospital of Hefei City, Anhui Province (Section 5)
Address: Huangshan Road, Hefei City
Telephone: 86-551-3636082, ext. 2065 (Section 5), ext 2011 (the head of the hospital)

Name and position of those who participated in the persecution:

Li Zeai, head of the hospital
Li Xiaosi, assistant to the head of the hospital (also in charge of the hospital's "Office 610"*)
Li Wan, physician-in-charge

Work units responsible for the forceful admission to the mental hospital:

Anhui Province Female Labour Camp

Sang Lianhua, head of the labour camp
Pan Lei, head of the labour camp

"610" Office

Anhui Institute of Architecture & Industry:

[Note: The then president and party secretary Wu Jiagui has recently left his post and vice president Xia Luping is now in charge of daily work. Wang Shiming is in charge of the Discipline Inspection Committee. Head of Security Department is Luu Changwei and section head is Hong Houlai. Hu Chuanjian took up the position of party secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee later on]

Hong Houlai, 86-551-3513102 (work), 86-551-3510203 (home)
Xia Luping, 86-551-3510061
Wang Shiming, 86-551-3510190
Hu Chuanjian, 86-551-5107760 (home), 86-551-3522903 (work)

Victim

Name of victim: Wu Xiaohua, female, 50 years old

Time of persecution: From October 23, 2001 (date of admission to the hospital) to October 8, 2002 (date of discharge from the hospital)

Residence: Hefei City, Anhui Province
Education: Technical college degree
Profession and position: Associate professor

Medical history of mental disorder: None

Family medial history of mental disorder: None

Number of days held in the mental hospital: 350 days

The reason for being sent to the mental hospital: Because of practising Falun Gong, I was illegally detained at the female labour camp, and went on a hunger strike for 10 days to protest against the detention.

*The "610 Office" is an agency specifically established to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/12/27/63440.html