University Student Expelled for his Practice of Falun Gong Exposes the Persecution He Faced in Beijing's Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp (Part 3)

By Gong Chengxi, a 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 Forced 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 belief by using various forms of torture, such as forced standing, squatting, used of the electric shock batons, forced-feeding and deprivation of sleep. He did not waiver once even though he was one of the focal targets for brainwashing and transformation attempts. Even though Gong Chengxi 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 Forced Labour Camp with dignity in 2003. Unfortunately, he was arrested again in August 2003 and his whereabouts are not known at this time.

We hope that Dafa practitioners and people around the world will pay attention to Gong Chengxi's experience, expose the persecution and help to rescue him. The following is his story.

In April 2001, several foreign reporters were planning to visit the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp. The whole labour camp, from the top levels down to the lower levels, began their customary acts of deception, forcing practitioners of all groups to repeatedly watch those internally-produced video programmes entitled, "60 Questions and Answers for the Foreign Reporters." They drilled practitioners, forcing them to be consistent in speaking these astonishing lies. For example, if asked whether the detainees here were verbally abused, beaten or physically abused, the answer must be "no." Practitioners were forbidden to say that the reason for their detention was for practising Falun Gong; instead, they had to say that they were detained for "having interrupted the social order." If asked how the food was, the answer had to state the amount of flour, oil, meat and vegetables per person per month. All these mandatory replies were utter nonsense, to deceive foreigners. Besides, each practitioner who had not given up the practice was threatened not to "talk casually," or otherwise the practitioner would be held "responsible for the result."

Police officer Ni Zhenxiong threatened us during the meeting, "If the reporters ask questions, you are not allowed to say you are being beaten in the labour camp, let alone mentioning that there is such a place as the 'Dispatch Centre'."

That day, a reporter went to the Third Team, located on the first floor of the east building. In fact, the Third Team had transferred dozens of those who did not give up Falun Gong and those who did not satisfy them, to quarters located north of the Intensive Training Team. What the reporters saw, therefore, was only a pre-arranged charade. Whenever there were visitors, the labour camp meal for that day would be upgraded. In addition, the routine, public physical torture of Falun Gong practitioners would be cancelled and replaced with a ball game. As soon as the visitors went out of the gate, the physical torture would resume.

The means that officials in the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp used to deceive the outsiders were infinite in number and were very despicable. For example, vast capital has been invested to improve the infrastructure of the labour camp in order to cover its crimes of trampling on the basic human rights of steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. To present their façade of "civilization," the labour camp officials recently put into practice a policy of "different treatment for different classes of detainees." They classified detainees into five categories. The highest category was even promised eggs and milk for breakfast, a meat dish, plus a vegetable dish for lunch. They might be workers, peasants or students on probation. They were also allowed to rest during the weekend. In fact, only a very few had this special treatment, although the numbers were greatly exaggerated by the official propaganda. Meanwhile, the practitioners who wouldn't give up Falun Dafa were all classified into the lowest category -- those who were strictly monitored. They were subjected to all manner of physical and psychological torment, including high-pressure brainwashing and night-long physical torture sessions. They were sent to the Intensive Training Team, locked up in small cells, tied up with ropes, given nothing to eat but corn flour buns, and forbidden to buy food or even daily necessities. However, the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp attempts to cover up these cruel torture methods behind the façade of their "new policies."

The locales of persecution -- "Intensive Training Team" and "Attack Building" -- were never open to the public. Visitors were never permitted to see any of the practitioners who dared to clarify the truth. Therefore, the official reports were based on sheer deception. For those who refused to give up Falun Gong, the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp is just a "hell on earth."

On May 27, 2001, to protest the savage brainwashing and the lengthy sleep deprivation, I went on a hunger strike again. Without any reaction or protection from the police, Ni Zhenxiong and Team Leader Zhao forcibly carried me to the Intensive Training Team.

The Intensive Training Team was a totally isolated, freestanding building. It was gloomy and horrible, and was specifically used to torture the firmly resolved Falun Gong practitioners. Without special authorization, this evil place did not even admit access to the labour camp police, let alone admit any reporters or visitors from the outside. More than a dozen common prisoners were on duty around the clock. The Falun Gong practitioners being detained were locked up like a caged animal, and were not allowed to talk to each other or have any kind of freedom. The day when I was locked up in the Intensive Training Team, a criminal named Li Daiyi who was arrested for prostitution violently scratched my private parts. This happened in front of Liu Jinbiao, leader of both the ITT and Security Team, as well as the chief of management section and Ren Baolin. This gross violation to my body hurt me to the extreme. However, Liu and Ren not only pretended to have seen nothing, but instead ordered the criminals to tie me tightly to a bed board for 24 hours with several ropes, and put me in a narrow and airless small cell. I was tied up for a month, though it was stipulated in the Temporary Labour Camp Regulations that continuous use of a torture instrument/method should not last longer than seven days. I was then locked in a small cell that was narrow and sweltering.

The cell was about 2 meters long (6 feet) and 1.5meters (5 feet) meter wide. No daylight entered. I was not allowed to wash, let alone have a bath. Even when I needed to urinate, they only uncoiled the ropes from my upper body and let me sit up. I was tied up again right after urinating. At that time it was very hot. Not only did I suffer the pain from not being able to turn over, enduring the pressure on my internal organs, I also maintained my hunger strike, refusing to eat or drink water. I suffered from the deadly quiet and loneliness, and I had sores all over my body. The sores on my back and buttocks had started to ulcerate. Despite these conditions, every day I was roped like a criminal waiting for execution, and pulled out for force-feeding. A rubber tube was inserted through my nose into my stomach. Whenever the rubber tube touched the mucous membrane in my nose, I burst into tears because of the great pain. However, criminal Li Daiyi often viciously pulled the rubber tube from my stomach back and forth in front of the police. That made me vomit heavily and I almost suffocated. Five or six days later, one of my nostrils was seriously swollen, because the rubber tube had repeatedly irritated the mucous membrane.

Another Falun Gong practitioner, Wu Jun, who was also tied up, went on a hunger strike to protest the camp's illicit extension of his term by six months. Under the instigation of police officer Liu Jinbiao, prisoners Li Daiyi, Song Wanjun, Li Peng and others pulled Wu Jun out at 4:00 a.m. every morning. They tied his arms and dragged him, forcing him to run. Wu Jun refused and was beaten over his entire body until he was black and blue. When Wu Jun asked to have an examination in a hospital, Liu Jinbiao said publicly, "Your skin is so tender that any touch would make it bruise." With encouragement from the police, the criminal inmates often did not allow Wu Jun to go to the toilet. Li Peng tortured Mr. Wu, who was tied up on the board, with a method called "Na Ma," causing him to lose consciousness (in this torture, the nerves in the neck are squeezed for a long time, and soon one will go into a coma). Li Peng once derived great pleasure from slapping Wu Jun violently, making him suddenly fall to the floor. Wu Jun was continuously tied up for three months. He has been subjected to all this torture for refusing to write the "guarantee statement" to give up practising Falun Dafa.

Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/19/45270.html

Part 2: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/2/20/45228.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/2/1/66123.html