My name is Chen Lin, and I live in Datong City, Shanxi Province. I became a carpenter after graduating from middle school in 1979. I once became very sick from being overworked and since then, have not been able to work overtime. After a traffic accident in 1981, I became an insomniac -- sometimes I could not sleep for several consecutive days. My health was generally very poor and I was always taking medications for one thing or another.
My wife, Liu Xiuqing, was afflicted with psoriasis in 1980. When her symptoms were at the peak of severity, her entire body became swollen, and thick, white, dry skin would flake off. Wherever she bent her body, the dry, tight skin would be torn apart, leaving deep, cracks in the skin, which were open wounds that took longer than normal to heal. Severe itching over her entire body constantly tormented her, and although we tried many remedies from different doctors, there seemed to be no cure. There were severe side effects from taking all those medications all year long as well. Her health deteriorated from all the side effects caused by the medications, and it seemed like a case in which "the 'cure' was worse than the cause." Her employer stopped paying for her medical expenses. In April 1997, After feeling she had no hope, a person told her that practising Falun Gong had great curative powers and learning it was free of charge. She was overjoyed to hear about it. Only several days after starting to learn Falun Gong, her skin became noticeably softer. She would get up in the morning to practise the Falun Gong exercises, and read Zhuan Falun in the evenings. One month later, the large patch of psoriasis on her body had begun get smaller. The dry, white skin and red swollen spots had returned to normal. "It is a miracle!" she exclaimed. For sixteen years, she had never worn a dress because of her skin disease. Now she could wear dresses and her appearance had completely changed.
When my wife's skin condition was improving, she asked me to practise together with her. I did not want to exert myself, so I would pretend to be doing the Falun Gong exercises for a little while, and then quickly escape.
One day while I was working, I suddenly felt ill, and after going back home, found that I had great difficulty moving around. I was anxious get better without having to miss any more workdays, so I took some medicine in the form of injections and pills. They still did not enable me to move well enough, however, and I had to be helped when lying down or getting up. My wife said, "Since you can't do anything right now anyway, why not read Zhuan Falun? [main book containing the teachings of Falun Gong] Maybe you will feel better after reading this book."
She went to work while I stayed in bed and quietly read Zhuan Falun. The more I read it, the clearer I felt. I had always wondered about so many puzzles in my life, and this book explained them to me so clearly. As I was reading, some of the characters on the page became images of Buddha, and that was truly wonderful! I felt very comfortable with it, like I wanted to keep reading this book forever. It was so profound! I read Zhuan Falun three times in seven days. There are profound meanings in the book, of which I had seen only a little bit, at the time. After reading the book, I discovered I could get up and down by myself, feeling "a miracle beyond description."
On the eighth day, I went back to work, and also began my true cultivation. I knew that Zhuan Falun was exactly what I needed. I felt that life was worth living again. Three months later, my stomach disease and headaches were gone, I could sleep well again and I no longer felt exhausted from working. I've been rejuvenated from being weak and sickly, to becoming a stronger, younger man; and that is truly a miracle!
Two years later, on July 20, 1999, Jiang Zemin and his rogue regime banned Falun Gong. Falun Gong practitioners who believe in the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" were suppressed. Overnight, the government would not allow people to become strong and healthy. They confiscated their Dafa books and tortured practitioners, depriving them of their constitutional rights to belief, to appeal and to free speech.
Practising Falun Gong, one can reach the ultimate in heath, and thus contribute more to the country by having a good thoughts and a strong body. Why not promote this? In addition, practitioners do not compete with others, but only cultivate their "mind nature" or moral character, to become the best person possible. Why, then, is Jiang so afraid of it? Is it because he fears more people will become good?
Therefore, we Falun Gong practitioners all wanted to raise our heartfelt voices to the government, and appeal for Falun Gong because it was being unjustly persecuted. To our surprise, speaking the truth was not allowed. They handcuffed us, and even sent us to forced labor camps. What kind of law they were following?
On December 19, 1999, my wife was sent back to her work unit at a local chemical plant. The chemical plant's "6-10 Office"1 and security officer Xia Guihe fabricated "crimes" against her and sent her to a detention center. They withheld her 593 Yuan2 per month salary. That was simply an act of robbery, which the rule of law does not tolerate. My family could not survive without her salary; and my son had to quit school and help support the family.
On August 28, 2000, my wife was sentenced to three years of forced labour for handing out materials containing the true facts about Falun Gong. While ransacking our house, the police made a point of peeling our "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" sticker from the wall. It is strange -- why are these police so afraid of people being honest and kind? The police stole our water kettle just like common thieves. All of their behaviour was so contrary to our principles. The authorities had our income stopped, leaving my fifteen-year-old son alone at home with no money on which to live. We are not allowed to believe in Falun Gong or conduct ourselves according to the principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance," otherwise we are accused of "violating the law."
On December 18, 1999, in Beijing, the police at the Shanxi Provincial Liaison Office extorted money from me, and the next day they returned me to my home province, to the Shuipoci Police Substation in Datong City. Because I refused to renounce my belief in Falun Gong, they sent me to the Datong City No.1 Detention Centre.
I never violated the law; I was only exercising my constitutional rights and appealing in Beijing for justice for Falun Gong. Therefore, my detention was illegal, so I refused to comply with the regulations in the detention center. The police then instructed some criminal prisoners to torture me. I was robbed of all my money and possessions, and forced to sit motionless for longer than ten hours per day3. I explained the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong to the prisoners, demonstrated by my own example of conduct that Falun Gong practitioners are all good people and let them see the cruel nature of Jiang and his followers. Several prisoners said they wanted to learn Falun Gong after they were released.
I was released after forty days of being detained. I returned to my home, which had lost all its peaceful feeling, and the persecution continued to escalate. Village security officer Liu Gui closely monitored me, restricted my personal freedom and extorted money from me.
In April 2000, someone informed my boss that I was a Falun Gong practitioners while I was working on a carpentry job at the park. As a result, I was fired from my job as my employer didn't want to attract the wrath of the police for hiring me. The police confiscated my Falun Dafa books and 400 yuan in cash I had in my pocket. They also retaliated against my employer and banned him from his jobsite at the park, thus costing him a huge financial loss.
I found myself once again living an inhuman existence in the detention centre, where we were forced to watch television propaganda programmes slandering our Teacher and Dafa. I had only thin clothes and slippers to wear, regardless of the season. I had no bedding to use, always sleeping by the door with the cold wind blowing through it, which was usually very cold. The police forced me to stand4 outside on the playground during cold winter days. People were unaware of the truth, their twisted minds poisoned by lies. I explained the facts about Falun Gong to them by sharing my personal story, helping many people in the detention centre to learn the truth. I contracted scabies5, and was released four months later.
Upon my return home, village security officer Liu Gui and two lesser village officials forced their way into my house, exclaiming, "You are violating the law if you practise Falun Gong. I will not allow you to stay in my area so you must leave now!" They called a taxi for me and kicked me out of my home by force. It was -20 C (-4 F) in the winter and my scabies were bleeding. After about ten miles, they tried to drop me off in the middle of nowhere, but the taxi driver persuaded them to let me go to a place of refuge. I decided to go to my older brother's home in Dongfen Village. Upon hearing my story, Dongfen Village head, Jiu Shenggen, came to my brother's home and threatened, "I want to harm you before you can harm me." He assigned Bai Cunshan to monitor me, causing my brother's family life to be disrupted.
I realized that I could not stay at my brother's house permanently, and that it was more important to continue clarifying the truth about Falun Gong to the public. As a result, many villagers eventually came to know the truth, that Falun Dafa practitioners were innocent victims condemned by the police who followed Jiang's directives, and soon many began sympathizing with the practitioners. The village police then began to apply pressure to my brother.
As the Spring Festival [Chinese New Year] was approaching, I went back home to spend the holiday season with my son. Under the dictatorship, my life was restricted, and I was deprived of my freedom. The anti Falun Gong policy made by Jiang, to "ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially, destroy them physically" had made living among the general public become even more foreboding. The third day after going back home, on January 24, 2001, the Chinese New Year's Day, Liu Gui came to tell me, "If you want to live at home, you will need to pay me 300 yuan. Otherwise, I will call some gang members to break into your house and you won't dare to live here." When he came again on January 29, I tried to reason with him but he refused to listen, and he beat me. When he came again on January 31, he said, "The Party is like this, and because no one will dare to speak up for you, and I can do whatever I want. Don't you dare try to live here without paying me the money!" So once again, I was kicked out of my own home.
Some relatives were afraid to accept me because whoever let me stay with them would suffer no peace from the authorities. My northern home town is too cold in the winter, so I ended up living a homeless life in order to avoid being arrested at home, and headed south. I was begging for food and sleeping in fields. Wherever I went, I heard of many Falun Dafa practitioners being tortured. Jiang used 25 percent of all State financial resources to persecute Falun Gong, which unfairly created an extremely bad impression of Falun Gong for ordinary people. I clarified the truth all along the way, exposing the persecution with my personal story. As a result, many kind hearted people discovered the truth, and helped me.
At 2 a.m. on March 23, 2001, I was walking along a road in Jinan City, Shandong Province, when several people jumped out of a white van, asked for my identification and wanted to search me. I thought they were robbers, but they were actually plainclothes police. They pushed me into the van, sent me to Qihe County Police Station and handcuffed me to the heating pipes. They sent me to a detention centre the next day without any charge. There were several Falun Dafa practitioners there whose detention had already been extended for three to six months beyond the expiration of their terms of sentence. The police allowed us only two small steamed buns, and a bowl of soup containing only three pieces of spinach. One of my fellow practitioners kindly saved his steamed buns for me, in fear that I might go hungry. Several days later, I was sent to Datong City and the authorities there tried to force me to pay them, 5000 yuan. They were arresting good people without reason, and still wanted us to pay them money! They finally stole the last eleven Yuan that I had.
In Datong City's Pingwang Police Substation, Officer Luo told me, "If you pay us ten thousand yuan, our Director said that you can go home. Otherwise, we will send you to prison or to a forced labour camp." I asked him to explain the reason for requiring me to pay so much money, and he said that the order had come from the Provincial level, and that they had no choice but to comply with the order, simply to keep their jobs.
I was sent to East 6, in the Datong City No.1 Detention Centre, and locked in there for four months, where the daily routine included such things as body searches, bullying, beating, being verbally abused, exposed to the freezing cold outside for long periods, being forced to "sit army style" for long periods of time and having all personal belongings stolen. Some Falun Dafa practitioners were shackled with steel chains weighing over 20 lbs. There were thirty persons locked in a room smaller than 20 square meters (215 sq. ft.). We had to eat, drink, wash and use the toilet, all inside that little room. We had to sleep on our sides, pressed tightly together and would lose our spot if we had to use the toilet in the middle of the night. We had to take turns acting as security guards at night. All thirty of us had a total of less than two hours for bathing and using the toilet for the entire day. When the bathing time was over, even those of us who were then still waiting in line for our turn were not allowed to shower or use the toilet for the entire day. I cannot imagine how many innocently detained Falun Dafa practitioners like myself there must be.
One day, I received notice from the authorities for a one-year sentence to a forced labour camp. They had detained me for four months last time, although my notice showed that it should have been for only three months! It's really no wonder they kept me so long because even after stealing my 400-yuan, they still wanted to extort another 200 yuan from my family. The longer I was detained past my term, the easier it was to extort ransom money from my family.
On July 27, 2001, fellow practitioner Ms. Meng Xianghua and I were both back-cuffed6 and sent to Taiyuan Forced Labor Camp. On the ride to the camp, Ms. Meng began clarifying the truth to the police, and an officer then elbowed her in the throat and held it there. I tried to persuade the police to stop, but they continued pressing against her throat for several more kilometers. They turned the vehicle around and returned us to Pingwang Police Substation, then locked us in a metal cage overnight before sending us to Taiyuan City in ankle shackles the next day.
As soon as we entered the forced labour camp, the police were instructing the criminal prisoners how to torture us. They did not allow us to talk and, while verbally abusing us, denied us our legal rights to fill out a report regarding the abuse we received. Who is truly damaging the law? Who is truly producing disorder, violating human rights and depriving citizens of their freedom of belief?.
The police have no oversight within the legal system, so they are allowed to misbehave with impunity. They force practitioners to curse Teacher [reffering to the founder of Falun Gong] and slander Falun Dafa with all their might, administering tortures such as forcing a practitioner to stand facing the wall for a long time and forcing practitioners to memorize the labor camp regulations within a limited time. Whoever dared to tell anyone the facts about the persecution against Falun Dafa or clarify the truth, was pulled aside and beaten. Imagine how great a strain on a person's heart from being deprived of sleep and then forced to stand for such a long time! It was actually a way of slowly killing a person! They forced us to sit on the stool more than ten hours7, resulting in a loss of equilibrium and bodily functions. The worst-case scenario would result in rendering a practitioner disabled. The police forced prisoners to do revolting things. For example, a practitioner was once forced to eat a piece of steamed bun that had first been dropped into liquid faeces and urine. Practitioners were forced to do calisthenics under the baking sun. If their movements were not good enough, they were kicked or beaten, and anyone shouting "Falun Dafa is good!" was instantly beaten.
One day, I lost consciousness in a brainwashing class because I had been forced to sit all day and was deprived of sleep for a long time. My legs would not move, so some fellow practitioners carried me to the clinic. However, the police still assigned me to mop the floor, clean the cells and wash the open pit toilets. They sent me back to Ward No.3, where they tried to brainwash me again. By the time they finally released me, I was on the verge of death.
On February 15, 2002, I was shocked when first entering the door to our home after my release. The gate and doors were all standing open. The weeds were overgrown and as tall as me. And where was my son? The house was completely empty, dusty and messy, as if no one had lived there for a long time. After cleaning it for three days, the village thug came around again. He said that my going to the labour camp had resulted in a financial loss to him of a 2000 yuan bonus. No wonder they work so hard on the persecution; there's extra money in it for them! Security officer Liu Gui often came to my place after he had been drinking, to humiliate me with a body search, beat me or extort money from me. Police took turns harassing me every several days. They would ransack the place, threaten me, force me to be fingerprinted and restrict my freedom. One day, the police climbed the wall into my yard and ransacked the place. I had nothing left except for my Falun Dafa book. Then they took away my only possession, my precious Dafa book. I often lost consciousness from the intense pain throughout my entire body, especially in my bones. Once, when I regained consciousness, I realized that ten days had passed! Prior to being sent to the detention centres, I used to weigh 160 pounds but now I weigh only 70 pounds, with nothing left but skin and bones. Village security officer Liu Gui once told me, "If you don't give me some money, I can't allow you to live at home." Then he grabbed me by the collar, spun me around several times, then threw me onto the bed. It took me a long while to catch my breath again. He returned later with a number of plainclothes police, unreasonably questioning me and shouting at my son. When I asked them to which branch of which police force they were assigned, they walked away without answering. Although I was not tortured to death, I am now disabled and unable to work.
One day, my son was crying, "Daddy, even though you are like this, the bully still comes to harass us. How can we possibly survive?"
I replied, "There is nothing wrong with cultivating Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. These people have been decieved by Jiang's deceitful policies, and they are unaware of the harm they are doing. The wicked will never reign over the righteous, however. Doing good deeds will be rewarded with good fortune, and doing evil will be punished with retribution. Whoever treats Falun Dafa practitioners with kindness is certain to have a good future!"
My wife was released from the forced labour camp on November 29, 2002. Her employer has now joined the group that harasses our family on a daily basis. The chemical plant's "6-10 Officers" tried to force us to write a "reformed statement"8. When I then clarified the truth to them, they had nothing to say and quickly left. They held a brainwashing session for my wife at her workplace. I have been tortured to the point of disability, and my wife has had two years of salary withheld from her.
I seriously warn all those who would do harm to Falun Dafa practitioners: Stop persecuting Falun Gong at once! Instead, put those wasted human and material resources to better use in building the country! Release all the detained Falun Dafa practitioners! Return to the people their freedom to practise Falun Dafa! Return my Falun Dafa book! Bring Jiang to justice!
Notes:
1. "6-10 Office": A national agency specifically created to persecute and "reform" practitioners, while destroying Falun Dafa. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.
2. Yuan is the basic unit of currency in China, where the average monthly income of an urban worker is 500 yuan.
3. Practitioners are forced to sit on the ground, sometimes called "army style." Their buttocks are often covered with sores due to sitting for such long periods of time. Practitioners are frequently exposed to the outdoors elements, sometimes causing the skin on their faces to peel from sunburn.
4. "Punishment by being forced to stand for a long time" means that the victim has to stand, facing a wall all day long except for the time spent eating, sleeping and to use the toilet. The torture starts from the time he or she arises at 5:00 a.m., until 1 or 2 o'clock the next morning when he or she is allowed to go to bed for a few hours. This abuse usually lasts for several days. Practitioners are frequently exposed to the outdoors elements while standing.
5. Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by a parasitic mite (Sarcoptes scabiei), characterized by intense itching.
6. The practitioner's hands are tied behind their back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The police then apply a great deal of force to pull both hands toward one another and then handcuff them together.
7.Practitioners are tortured by being forced to sit on a stool, ten hours a day for about a month. Even though their buttocks may become festered and painful, they are not allowed to move; otherwise they are beaten.
8.It is sometimes called a "repentance statement," in which the practitioner is forced to sign an admission of remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/16/79513.html
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