I am 40 years old, and I work at the Jiamusi City Textile Printing & Dyeing Mill. I started practising Falun Gong in July 1998 with the goal of obtaining health. Through studying the teachings and Dafa exercises, my numerous illnesses disappeared and I became a better person. In July 1999, while I was rejoicing in Dafa practice, Jiang started to persecute Dafa out of fear and paranoia. In order to clarify the truth, seven practitioners, including myself, went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa on October 5, 2000. The police on the train tried to force me to curse Dafa and the Teacher, and they forced us to get off at Shanhaiguan Railway Station, where they turned us over to the local police. On October 11, the persecutors from the local "610 Office" (1) sent me to the Yonghong Police Precinct in Jiamusi City and then sent us to the Jiamusi City Detention Centre.
I held a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention, and the guards force-fed me. They stuck a finger-sized tube into my stomach through my mouth and force-fed me corn flour porridge with lots of salt. My stomach swelled up after the feeding, and the guards put shackles weighing 65 pounds on me. On December 22, officers from the Yonghong Police Precinct extorted 2,000 Yuan (2) and the detention centre extorted 800 Yuan from my family before they released me. They didn't write us a receipt for the money they took from us. After I returned to work, my work unit fined me 1,380 Yuan to cover the cost of the trip to Shanhaiguan to pick me up, including all the expenses incurred on the trip. From then on, perpetrators from the "610 Office" at my work unit constantly harassed me at my home.
On October 8, 2001, three Dafa practitioners, including a six-year-old practitioner and myself, went to Tiananmen Square where we unfurled banners that read "Falun Dafa is Good." We shouted, "Falun Dafa is good! Falun Dafa is the righteous practice! Restore Teacher's reputation and restore Dafa's reputation!" A plainclothes policeman grabbed the collar of my shirt from behind and pulled me toward a police car. Two more plainclothes policemen arrived and pulled the three other practitioners into a police car. A policeman started beating the other practitioners and I shouted at them to stop. The plainclothes police officer glared at me and made a gesture as if he was a going to beat me. They drove us to the Tiananmen Police Station, where a female police officer stripped off our clothes and searched us. They requested our names and addresses, which we refused to give, so they put us in a metal cage. Two fellow practitioners from southern China were already in the cage. At about 6:00 p.m. we were taken to the Shunyi Detention Centre in Beijing, from which point we were sent to different police stations for interrogation. I was sent to the Mapo Police Station. I refused to answer their questions, so they tortured me with a method called "riding an airplane" [In this torture, the head is bent down until it cannot go down any further, while the hands are pulled up and held up to the highest point. The hips have to point up. One is forced to keep this position unchanged for a long time. The body in this position looks like the shape of an airplane, which is how this torture was named]. I still refused to speak so the police cuffed my hands behind my back and shocked me with two electric batons.
One police officer said as he was shocking me, "If you don't tell us, we'll be laid off. If I lose my job because of you, I won't let you off easy, either." I struggled, and they pushed me to the ground. One police officer sat on a chair that was put on my body, while another police officer that looked like an official gave instructions. Five other guards tortured me with two electric batons. I bit my lips and didn't cry out. The officer who sat on me said, "Open her mouth!" They took off my socks and put them in my mouth. They also shocked the soles of my feet and the sensitive parts of my body with the electric batons.
It was almost midnight by then, and the police officers went to have dinner. They split into two groups. One group took a break while the other continued to torture me. One electric baton shocked an officer, so they used the other one to shock me until it ran out of power.
One officer became furious. He walked up to me and ordered me to take off my coat and pants, so I was wearing only underwear. He cuffed me to a long bench. My hands were swollen like balloons by now. Two officers carried me outside and poured cold water on me. It was an early morning in October in Beijing. Two officers with military coats observed me from inside a car. I looked up at the sky, looked at the moon and the stars and thought about many things. The head police officer again ordered me to be taken inside. He took off his boots and hit me with them. He then took a fly swatter and hit me with it. The fly swatter broke, so he took a bamboo broom and continued to hit me. It also broke, so he took out my belt and whipped my legs with it. The scars are clearly visible to this day.
Seeing that I still refused to speak, the head police officer slapped my face. Another officer stopped him, saying, "Don't leave any evidence [because her face will show the torture]." I realized they were afraid of having their crimes exposed. The head policeman ordered two officers to carry me out and pour cold water on me. By this time my body was covered with cuts and bruises. The wounds caused excruciating pain when cold water was put on them, and the cold wind left me shivering.
About one hour later, the sun came up. They took me inside, and the head officer ordered me to put on my coat and pants. I was still shaking. At about 7:00 a.m. another officer approached and shocked my face and neck with an electric baton. I was exhausted.
At about 8:00 a.m. another group of police officers came in. One officer who was around 40 years of age talked to me but I didn't say anything. Another older officer asked me questions and faked kindness, but I still refused to answer. I began to clarify the truth to them and told them about the tortures I went through last night. As we talked, the officer occasionally asked in an apparently nonchalant manner, "Where do you live? What's your name?" I refused to fall for his trick.
After lunch he could no longer keep up the façade. He signaled to a woman police officer, who left the room to prepare for what was to come. They asked me to stand up but I suddenly experienced a stomachache. They shouted, "Who told you to sit? Stand up!" I told them my stomach hurt. Soon I could not stand up and rolled on the ground in pain. The police became flustered and sent me to a private hospital. Two officers put me in a bed and told the doctors about my situation. They asked for my name and said I would not be treated unless I gave my name. About one hour later my symptoms were alleviated and they took me back to the Mapo Police Station. I was exhausted from one day and one night of abuse and torment, and eventually gave my name and address.
At around 6:00 p.m. I was sent to the Shunyi Detention Centre. The doctor there examined me and said to the police, "How could you beat her like this?" The next day, fellow practitioners in the same cell with me saw that I was covered with injuries so they reported it to the guards. The guards were afraid of taking responsibility, so they asked the doctor to write a physical exam report. They said, "We wrote that if you die, we wouldn't be held responsible because we didn't beat you." I said, "That's not right! If you accept me, you shall be responsible for any problems I have here, otherwise don't keep me here!" So they didn't write the "assuming no responsibility" part. On the fourth day of my hunger strike they sent another practitioner and me to a hospital. We were in handcuffs and shackles. I had a dizzy spell and had to keep a hand on the wall in order to walk. They gave me forced injections and force-fed the fellow practitioners.
On October 17, persecutors from the "610 Office" of my work unit came to pick me up. I said to them, "I haven't eaten in seven days. They beat me so badly that I can't even walk. If you can guarantee my life, then take me, otherwise don't [because I may die]. It's for your own good." The officer thought about it and discussed it with his colleagues, and four practitioners including me were taken to the Jiamusi City Liaison Office in Beijing.
On the afternoon of October 19 I was sent back to the Yonghong Police Precinct in Jiamusi City, where they recorded my words. I was feeling dizzy, had difficulty breathing, and could not sit up straight. Despite my condition, the head of Jiamusi City's Textile Printing & Dyeing Mill, and officers from the factory security division, six people in all, took me to a detention centre. I didn't pass the physical exam, so the detention center refused to take me. Then they took me back to the Yonghong Police Precinct. After more than 20 minutes of discussion, they sent me home and planned to arrest me after a few days. They had already decided to sentence me to two years of forced labour.
I saw through their tricks, so I left home to avoid arrest. My work unit owed me three months salary and deducted 1,000 Yuan from my salary to pay the expenses incurred in picking me up. Fellow practitioners who went with me were sent home because they didn't pass the physical exam.
On the evening of December 9, 2001, while two fellow practitioners and I distributed Dafa truth-clarifying materials in Baixing Village, Wuji Township of Yilan County, we were arrested and sent to the No. 1 Detention Center for Yilan County. The three of us started a hunger strike that lasted 17 days.
The lawless officials in Yilan County's "610 Office" tried to extort 1,000 Yuan from each of our families. Our families didn't cooperate with them and told them, "Do not persecute good people! They did not violate any law. They just want you to know the truth and it's all on your behalf; but you detain them illegally and still do not release them after they haven't eaten for such a long period of time. You will be responsible for the consequences."
On December 5, a hunger-striking practitioner was tormented to death in Yilan County, which made them a little bit hesitant. In the end, we were released on December 26 after paying 200 Yuan each. The 500 Yuan cash and the wristwatch that were taken away during the body search in the detention centre, and the mobile phone the township people took were not returned.
In April 2002, nearly one hundred practitioners in Jiamusi City were arrested. On June 17, 2002, while I was reading a book in an apartment, I heard several people trying to pry open the door. I began to put my materials and books away. Right then, police officer Guo Weishan from the Yonghong Police Precinct broke through the door and into the room with a handgun. Pointing the gun at me he shouted, "Don't move Falun Gong member!" The Yonghong Police Precinct assistant police chief Liu Libo and two other police officers rushed into the room as well. I was abducted and taken to the precinct without any legal procedures. Many Dafa books and materials were taken away. Guo Weishan seized my mobile phone, my pager, 100 Yuan in cash, and other things. So far, these things have not been returned to me. After 4:00 p.m. that day I was taken to another room, where I saw the fellow practitioner who shared the apartment with me. He was arrested downstairs in the building where the rental apartment was. The police thought he was a key person and concentrated on interrogating him. I was taken to a room to make a statement. I began to get dizzy and had a convulsion, with both hands and arms stiff. I lay on the ground but the police did not care whether I lived or died. After 11:00 p.m., they forcibly dragged me to the Jiamusi Detention Centre, where the inmates often verbally abused me. I started eight days of a hunger strike there.
On July 4, I was sent to the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp. Because of my persistence in Dafa, I was assigned to the Assembling Division. Every morning at 6:00 a.m., we were forced to assemble at the sports ground to practice military marching. Since there were many older people, we were not able to walk in an orderly fashion. Police verbally abused us, even further so Dafa and Teacher. To stop them, on July 8, all of the more than 50 practitioners in the Assembling Division refused the drill. No matter how the police commanded, we stood still. At 8:30 a.m., the head of the Female Division, He Qiang, held an urgent meeting. At 9:00 a.m., he led a group of police to attack us. Some older practitioners were dragged to the rooms on the second floor; some were beaten brutally and then dragged back to the rooms. Finally there were four of us left who refused to yield. We were cuffed in the innermost room on the west side of the building, on the second floor. During the daytime we were forced to sit on the ground with our wrists handcuffed behinds our backs, attached to a bed frame. At night we were handcuffed to a bed frame from the front.
We went on a hunger strike to protest this torture. The authorities were afraid to have their deeds exposed and covered the windows and door glass with paper. It was very hot in July, and all the windows in the room were closed. We found it difficult to breathe. At night, the mosquitoes and bugs bit our faces and hands, but we couldn't move to drive them away. On the sixth day, a fellow practitioner and I had heart attacks and our lives were in danger. When the doctor came they had to open the handcuffs to release us. Since that time, the police officers' verbally abusive behavior improved significantly.
On October 23, 2002, the Female Division started an intensive brainwashing session for the steadfast practitioners. Practitioners were forced to sit on small stools from 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. Except for mealtime, we were forced to place both hands in our laps and sit with backs straight without any movement. Seventy to eighty practitioners were held in a less than 60- square-meter room. In the evening they continuously played videos that slandered Dafa. Every day police called several practitioners out to torture them, to try to force them to give up their belief.
On November 1, police officer Gao Jie called me out, and with the other police officer Lin Wei, they tortured me. I was forced to sit on the ground and was handcuffed to the bed. My hands were forcibly pulled together behind my back, with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. I was thus immobilized with one pair of handcuffs. The extreme pain was unbearable. I was cuffed in such a way for over two hours. On November 8, I wrote a statement to declare that the "Dissociation Statement" (3) that I had written under this savage torture was void. I handed it to police officer Hong Wei, who became very angry and called another police officer named Wang Guili to bring handcuffs. They cuffed me like before for over one hour. They tore my statement up and questioned me whether or not I would write it again.
In February 2003, the labour camp forced practitioners to write the "Five Statements." (4) On February 25, police officer Hong Wei called me out from the workshop and commanded me to write the "Five Statements." After I refused, they again handcuffed me with one arm over the shoulder. Hong Wei even kicked my cuffed hands. The pain I suffered is difficult to describe.
On March 7, 2003, police officer Hong Wei requested that I write a "thought report." Later officer Zhang Yan and inmate Wang Jie cuffed me like before. New injuries were added before the old ones had recovered. The pain made me almost pass out.
The food in the camp was steamed buns made of rye or corn; the soup consisted of salted water with radishes. Practitioners all looked like they suffered from lack of nutrition, but the labour camp forced us to perform extensive labour, with a certain quota to be reached. If we couldn't finish the amount of work required, we would be verbally abused and forced to finish the work before resting.
This is how the officials in the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp treat Falun Gong practitioners, which they call "Education and transformation like life-giving spring breeze and rain."
On September 23, 2003 I was released from the labour camp and returned home. My old work unit had claimed bankruptcy and the city government was working with the issue. During the time I was in the labour camp, the work unit fired me, using "absent from work" as an excuse. I overcame my attachments of fear and went around clarifying the truth of Falun Dafa to different colleagues in related departments. At the end of December, the work unit resumed my employment status and now I receive the basic living expenses paycheck of 120 Yuan each month.
This is what I have endured since July 20, 1999, when the persecution began. This is evidence of the foul treatment that many Falun Gong practitioners have experienced during the persecution, which can be used when the perpetrators are brought to justice for their crimes.
Notes:
(1) "610 Office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
(2) Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.
(3) "Dissociation Statement" - A statement to declare dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
(4) "Five Statements" - Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write these as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the "610 Office," the statements include a letter of repentance, a guarantee to never again practice Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/2/78496.html
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