By Gong Chengxi, a Dafa practitioner in China
Note: Dafa practitioner Gong Chengxi (male), aged 25, was a student in the department of administration management at China University of Political Science and Law. He was born in Wulumuqi City, Xinjiang. He was the president of the student union and a class monitor at the university. He was known to be honest and kind, and exhibited excellence in his conduct and academic achievements. He was expelled because he practises Falun Gong.
Gong Chengxi was sent for detention to the infamous Tuanhe Labour Camp in Beijing around the end of 2000 when he was distributing truth-clarifying pamphlets in Beijing. He was sent to brainwashing sessions twice under the persecution, with one of them lasting for more than 10 months. During the two-year-long detention, the guards attempted to force him to give up his faith by using various forms of torture, such as forced standing, squatting, electric shock baton, forced-feeding and deprivation of sleep. He did not waiver once even though he was one of the focal targets for brainwashing and transformation, he received an unimaginable amount of torture both physically and mentally. He was one of the most determined Dafa practitioners at the Tuanhe Labour Camp.
Gong Chengxi walked out of the Tuanhe Labour Camp with dignity in 2003. Unfortunately, he was falsely arrested again in August 2003 and his whereabouts are not known at this time.
We hope that Dafa practitioners and people around the world pay attention to Gong Chengxi's experience, expose the persecution and help to rescue him. The following is his story.
On January 22, 2001, a policewoman sentenced me to labour camp for one year without trial or the opportunity to present any defence. I asked her what legal basis she had for sentencing me. She hedged, saying, "Go check it yourself," so I refused to sign the verdict sentencing me to a labour camp.
The next morning, Changping detention centre handcuffed me and four other Dafa practitioners and sent us in a police car to Beijing labour camp distribution centre (near Tuanhe Labour Camp in Daxing district). When the car entered the gate, ten or twenty policemen stood in two lines, holding electric batons, and handcuffs. We were put between them. One policeman sternly ordered us to obey their every command: "Practitioners cannot lift their heads while standing and walking. They must lower their heads with both hands in front of their abdomens. Practitioners must cross their hands and clasp the back of their heads while squatting down (during roll call, waiting for meals, talking with the police, etc.). Practitioners must put their elbows inside their thighs and get their heads into their crotches. When in that position, they are not allowed to lift their heads. When the police call practitioners, they must shout, 'Hello captain,' and then squat like this in front of the policeman. If anyone resists 'transformation' he is shocked with an electric baton. Practitioners must walk perfectly straight and take small steps. If anyone resists even a little bit, the staff will shock, and beat you." After the men and women were separated, the staff forced the practitioners to read the regulations and write a pledge promising, "not to practise or teach Falun Gong, not to go on a hunger strike, and not to injure themselves." Any practitioner who refuses to write this is shocked, and beaten. Then the practitioner's hand is held down firmly for them to write.
I was assigned to the second class of the second team. The police assigned one or two criminal inmates to each practitioner. We were not allowed to talk with each other and they monitored our activities. In the first few days, we were forced to do drills in formation in the winter cold, always standing several hours. We were required to shout insults during "Report" ("report" must be shouted before each meal, before answering a question that a policeman asks, while doing drills in formation, and before going to bed). We were forced to sing transformation songs, and whenever we met a policeman, we were required to lift our head and shout, "Hello captain," and then lower our heads. After getting rice, using the toilet, or even being shocked by the police, we were forced to shout, "Thank you, captain." At night we were forced to learn the regulations by heart. If we did not pass this test, we were not allowed to sleep until midnight.
After several days, we were forced to work. The work was to wrap wooden chopsticks with a layer of paper. "Sterilized" was printed on the paper. In fact it was not hygienic at all. Detainees who had hepatitis, venereal disease, and other illnesses also had to work. None of us were ever asked to wash our hands before work. About 40 detainees were crowded in one room, and the chopsticks were piled up on the ground and on our beds. Hygiene was minimal. For example, every morning and night there was only a few minutes for detainees to use the toilet. Even when we didn't have use of any facilities to clean ourselves, we had to work. We were not allowed to have a shower until it was found that many detainees had lice. Then we were allowed to have a shower once, when several dozen detainees were squeezed into one bathroom with only two taps available. In the summer of 2002, an epidemic of hepatitis broke out in the distribution centre.
The distribution centre went crazy attempting to gain the greatest benefits from the detainees. Each person had to wrap from 7,500 to 10,000 chopsticks each day. It was nearly impossible to finish, even if we worked from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight. Not only did we have unendurable back pain, but the police and prisoners both abused and beat us. Every day was the same thing for over one month in the distribution centre. Because their eyesight was poor, several older practitioners, Dao Wanhui, Yang Juhai, Li Xueliang, Chen Jingjian, Jia Lin etc couldn't finish their assignments no matter how fast they worked, so the captain forced them to work for many hours outdoors in the freezing cold. If they still couldn't finish, they would be deprived of sleep. Usually they were allowed to sleep only for three or four hours.
A policeman burned a practitioner's nipple with a cigarette stub. Xu Huaquan, who was a translator, and had a Masters degree, aged about 30, refused to do labour beyond his physical strength, so a captain named Zhou of the second team shocked him with three electric batons. After that he was tied to a bed for 24 hours. Captain Zhou ordered the inmates not to let him sleep, and to force him to write a self-criticism. The prisoner who watched Xu Huaquan was specially permitted to eat in the small mess. Knowing he had the support of the captain, the prisoner openly abused and tortured Xu. In order keep Xu awake, the prisoner shot him in his eyes and face with rubber bands. When I questioned captain Zhou about why he didn't allow Xu to sleep, he told me that I was "opposing the government."
In the meantime, the distribution centre tried to brainwash me. In February, with a large numbers of electric batons in hand, the distribution centre forced hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners to watch video tapes slandering Falun Gong, and asked the practitioners to write their understanding. After the "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation" was broadcast in CCTV's "Focus Interview," we were forced to watch it on TV every night. We were also forced to write our understanding about it.
On March 2001, I was sent from the Beijing labour camp distribution centre to the second team of Beijing Tuanhe Labour Camp. The main task at the camp is to transform Falun Gong practitioners, that is to use brainwashing, sleep deprivation, electric batons, beating, physical punishment, mental manipulation, and torture to force practitioners to give up their belief and write "four letters" to denounce Falun Gong and support the Party. They also videotaped practitioners when they were reading their transformation pledge. They artificially set Falun Gong up as opposing the Party.
They used their own false slander as the excuse to persecute Falun Gong. Under the instigation of policemen Jiang Wenlai, Ni Zhenxiong, Wang Hua and others, we practitioners suffered all kinds of torture because we refused to give up Falun Gong. Every day we were forced to sit in a baby chair for 18 hours, and were brainwashed savagely. We were not allowed to sleep until 2 a. m., although we had to get up before 6 a.m.. Sometimes we had to stay up all night for over ten days in a row. We only slept for at most half an hour at night, and usually couldn't sleep at night at all. As soon as we dozed off, the prisoner on duty woke us up. I lost so much weight that I looked like a mere skeleton and my spirit almost collapsed.
At the suggestion of the captain, the criminal inmates would go from one brainwashing session to another one in order to torture the practitioners who refused to give up cultivation. I was forced to squat for many days, for 18 hours in succession per day. I was not allowed to sit, get up or move, except for two or three times to go to the restroom, which had to be reported to the supervisory prisoner. They would not dare to do this if the police didn't instigate it, as it was against labour regulations.
After a few days I was in extreme pain. My feet swelled badly. I couldn't wear shoes and couldn't even walk. The police did not feel guilty at all. Instead, they even tortured me more. In the brainwashing session, several prisoners surrounded me and read materials slandering Falun Gong. I covered my ears and refused to listen to their lies. They held my arms and forced me to listen. One time they almost broke my fingers. When I tried to get out of their grasp, they savagely beat my face and head many times. They even beat me until my mouth was bleeding because I pointed out their lies. One prisoner caught hold of my head and slammed it against the wall. Another prisoner fiercely beat my lower jaw with his fist. This kind of violence, to force Falun Gong practitioner to accept brainwashing, happened all the time, but the policemen on duty never did anything about it.
The untransformed Falun Gong practitioners were forced to clean toilets and the garbage of the building in which over 160 people lived. Policeman Ni Zhenxiong told us this was because we were "not transformed well." They were intent on transforming people from believing Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance to betraying their beliefs, fellow practitioners and Teacher. If we resisted, they would torture us savagely.
Policeman Wang Hua from the second team often talked to me when he was on duty until 3:30 a.m., and I only slept one or two hours. With his connivance, the prisoners from the sixth session often punished me physically and threatened me right in front of him. In April 2001 I was transferred to the fifth class. A prisoner named Li forced me to stay up all night as his "assistant." He often beat me, slandered Falun Gong viciously in front of me to mentally disturb me, and cursed me for no reason. I reported to Wang Hua about it. Wang Hua instead instigated his own persecution. In May 2001 the second team made practitioners go for brainwashing sessions every day. It consisted of the police reading lies about Falun Gong. I refused to attend and went on hunger strike to protest. Wang Hua had me do heavy work even though I had no food the whole day, and wrote down that I resisted transformation. In June 2001 I was tied up for 24 hours during "group training." Wang Hua hinted to a prisoner to commit further violence against me. This prisoner told me about it later on.
Please see Part 1 on
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/19/45270.html
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/1/31/66122.html
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