My Experience of Long-Term Imprisonment in a Chinese Mental Hospital

It was a humiliating experience that is painful to remember.

After the Spring Festival in 2000, I went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, but I was imprisoned for 40 days at a detention centre in my hometown. Following this, the local public security staff sent me directly to a mental hospital, where I continuously suffered physical and mental persecution for almost 20 months.

When the police forced my relative to fill in a hospital admission form, she was so afraid that her hands could not stop shaking and she couldn't put pen to paper. A nurse asked, "Do you want him hospitalized or not?" Scared to death, she answered, "If he's not hospitalized, they won't let him come home. What can I do then?"

I said, "You should look at your conscience. How can you imprison a completely normal person here?" The policeman responded, "We are just executing an order." It was the first time since my 40-day imprisonment that I had seen my relative at a loss for words. With tears in her eyes, she was forced by the police to leave quickly.

Having fallen into this mental hospital, I became worried and restless. Some of the patients there were singing and crying loudly; some could not control their bowel and bladder movements, creating a stench all over the bed and across the entire room; some had disfigured faces and drooled uncontrollably. I felt so uncomfortable that I wanted to vomit.

The first time when I was forced to take some unknown medicine, a nurse said wickedly, "As the authorities said, we all know your situation. You must take the drugs, otherwise we will feed you through the nose!" I had been threatened with nasal feeding at the detention centre, but I did not expect that it would also be the same here. Two nurses watched me closely and forced me to swallow the drugs. After that, they would check my mouth to see if there was anything left. A while after the drugs had settled in my stomach, I felt very uncomfortable and dizzy, and then felt as though I was losing consciousness.

Early next morning, someone came to tell me to have breakfast. I said that I felt uncomfortable and dizzy. That person left without saying anything. When the doctors came to work, I was sent to different areas to undertake physical examinations. Everything looked normal. However, they forced me to have intravenous injections with antipsychotic drugs, such as chlorpromazine, triazolam, risperdal, trihexyphenidyl (artane) and tranquilizer pills. They used these toxic substances to harm me. I went to see the doctor in charge and said, "You saw that I came in as a normal person, and the physical examinations also showed that my state of health is normal, yet you use these substances to harm me ..." The doctor interrupted me and said, "All patients who come here say that they are not sick." He did not pay any attention to me.

When my family came to see me and saw that I had gone from healthy to weak, they went to ask the doctor, "What drug did you give him to make him become like this?" Later, the doctor became a little scared and reduced the dosage. But after having taken the drugs for so long, my head felt heavy and the back of my brain felt numb. My reaction was especially slow. I took the drugs three times a day. Whenever I heard them shout that it was time to take the drugs, my heart became strained. One day, a nurse reported to her superior that I had not taken the drug. As a result, they increased the dosage the next day to punish me.

Every afternoon, when family members came to visit the patients, the patients could usually go beyond the locked front entrance with them for a walk. When my family proposed this request to the people in charge of me, they answered, "If he was really sick, then that would be okay. The problem is that he is not sick. We cannot afford to risk this responsibility." This revealed what they were really thinking, and even my right to take a walk was taken away. I stayed in the cold, damp hospital ward all day. From a scientific researcher and scholar, I was turned into a prisoner and mental patient.

I lived in the hospital for over two months. My family could not afford the high medical expenses and the cost of staying in a hospital. They went everywhere to ask for people in charge to let me out. The doctor said that they needed permission from the public security bureau, while the lower level public security bureau said that they needed the higher authorities' permission; the higher authorities told them to report to the city. They made my family go around everywhere asking for help. Finally, because my family established a good relationship with them, they let me go. The day when I left the hospital, many people saw me off in the hallway. They all said, "You have been so kind to us here. We feel really sorry to see you leave. You really are a good person!"

Soon after I went home, I was forced into a brainwashing class. After I refused to write a "Guarantee Statement" (1), they once again forced me into a mental hospital. When I appeared again before those familiar medical staff, they felt very bad for me. They had already come into contact with many Falun Dafa practitioners, and they knew that they are good people. They were angry but dared not say anything. I clarified the truth to them. Most medical staff understood in their hearts. They told me, "We are not those who believe whatever the TV programmes say. We are also thinking for ourselves."

I endured the tribulations with great difficulty as the Spring Festival arrived. That was the time when most of the patients and medical staff had gone home to their families, yet I was still imprisoned there. On the early morning of Lunar New Year's Day, my wife came to the hospital to see me. Some doctors felt sorry to see me suffer so much and quietly reduced the drug dosage during that period.

I silently recited Falun Dafa teachings in the hospital every day. Gradually I also began practising the exercises. Some doctors threatened to give me the injections once more and to increase the drug dosage. I was not moved in my heart; what could they do to me? Every day when inspecting the wards, the doctor asked me, "How about you? Have you written a guarantee?" Then he cooked up a set of arguments. As time passed, everyone in the wards knew that I practised Falun Gong. Some patients controlled by the authorities attacked me. One person watched me and did not allow me to do the exercises, throwing my quilt, clothes and so on, to the ground. Another patient swore at me, and others kicked me while I was asleep. I was not moved in my heart. I persisted in sitting in meditation.

Over half a year passed. The doctors called the police and wanted to help me leave the hospital. But later, they told me, "The police still won't agree to let you go home." They were extremely sympathetic. Many patients' family members also came to some realization and wondered how I could be imprisoned here as a normal person. I made use of the opportunity to tell them the facts about Falun Gong. After they learned what had happened, they said, "They are indeed too cruel to Falun Gong." Some said angrily, "Doing this violates the law!"

For more than one year, from the cold winter to the scorching summer, despite wind, rain, and heavy snow, my family suffered hardships by my side. They came to the mental hospital almost every day. I felt very uncomfortable in my heart whenever I saw that my wife could hardly walk, with an ill body and heavy legs. My relatives came from far away to see me. They saw that I was imprisoned and was not able to see sunshine for a long time. They saw that my face was becoming pale and thin. They wiped their tears away behind my back while leaving the hospital room.

Once, a doctor revealed to me that I had hope of getting out; however, one day while inspecting the ward, a medical staff member told me, "It seems that you cannot leave now because the CCP's 16th Conference is going to be held." I said, "What does their meeting have to do with me?" Two days right before the start of the 16th Conference, I discovered that I had been prescribed another drug called "FNJP, Perphenazine."

I was imprisoned there for three years altogether. Group after group of patients came and went, but I was still imprisoned in this place to suffer. Many family members of patients thought that this was too much. They did not understand how such a persecution could take place in this modern era.

Doctors said to me, "We know you are a good person. We will try to find a way to get you out." One doctor told me, "I called the public security again. What's the use of keeping you here!" After some time, I was told, "Our leaders have had a discussion. If they do not let you go home this time, we will let you go." I was very moved by their actions.

At last, through the help and appeals of many upright people, I stepped out of the cage in which I had been imprisoned for so long. Many fellow practitioners are still imprisoned there, suffering hardship and torture. I have heard that there are over a dozen practitioners being held there.

Having practised Falun Gong for nine years, I was in good health, yet I was thrown into a mental hospital and suffered brutal persecution. It cost me, as well as my workplace tens of thousands of Yuan (2) in medical expenses on top of the time lost and pain and suffering. This has worsened my family's already poor financial situation and put us in serious debt. When I left the hospital, in order to cover up the damage and shameful persecution, the authorities did not dare to give me any of my medical history, diagnostic information or other relevant data.

Note:

(1) "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

(2) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/2/1/94661.html