I Personally Witnessed the Brutal Persecution of My Mother

My mother Xu Shuqin is a Falun Gong practitioner. In October 2001, she went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. Since then she has been detained by the Zunhua City Public Security Department of Hebei Province three times, and each time she has been forced into brainwashing centres. I have personally witnessed some of the cruel treatment my mother was subjected to while being detained and brainwashed.

On October 14, 2001, my mother was detained at the Zunhua City Detention Centre. Due to injuries she sustained while being tortured in the centre, my mother was unable to walk without assistance. The centre charged my family five thousand yuan (1) before they would let us take my mother home. Later I learned that she had been severely beaten while being held in the detention centre.

In January 2002, my mother planned to visit her mother, who was in her 90s and ill at the time. However, she was abducted by officials whilst she was on her way to the visit. They forcibly took my mother back to the Detention Centre. A month or so later, my mother was taken to a brainwashing school, where she was detained for several months before she was finally released. While she was detained, my grandmother died, and my mother wasn't able to attend the funeral. I went to visit my mother several times during her detention. When I saw her the first time, I found that she had a new scar below her lower lip, and a patch of hair was missing from her scalp. When she saw me, she burst into tears and cried out loud.

Another time when I went to see my mother, I found that she was in the middle of enduring a barbaric brainwashing session. A staff member was screaming at my mother and shaking his fist in her face. In my presence they handcuffed my mother in a room that was so draughty, it was as though the wind was blowing right through it. One of my mother's hands was secured high above her, and she had to stand to keep from hanging by her wrist. The room was very cold. Several staff members worked in shifts, forcing my mother to stand for several days and nights without sleep in order to make her change her mind and renounce Falun Gong. Eventually, my mother's legs became swollen, and she again lost the ability to walk by herself. Later she was sent to a hospital for treatment.

My mother grew weaker and weaker, and the persecutors decided to extort some money from my family again before finally setting her free.

In September 2002, several government officials came to my house to harass my mother. They demanded that she write the so-called guarantee statement (2), but she refused. As a consequence, they forced her into a car and took her back to the detention centre.

In November 2004, my mother was once again arrested while she was distributing materials exposing the persecution. They took her to a brainwashing school. While she was there, she went on a 21 day hunger strike in protest of the persecution. Later my family was required to pay 600 yuan for my mother's living expenses while she was being held in the school, and only then was she released.

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/3/6/96738.html