Jiang Zemin's Evil Regime, as Seen Through the Suffering of a 70-Year-Old Lady

I am a seventy-year-old woman who has been forced to be homeless for close to three years, simply because I distributed leaflets that exposed the lies about Falun Gong being spread by Jiang Zemin's regime. On January 7, 2002, I went out to distribute leaflets. Everything went well until I was posting one with a New Year's greetings on a wall. A policeman grabbed me. He interrogated me and asked where I got the materials. I did not tell him. He said, "I have ways to make you tell me. I can make you die after I get the information."

I only had one thought at that point. You will never get anything out of me. Then people were sent to ransack my home. They confiscated my Falun Dafa books and some informational materials and banners. Later they brought me back and locked me up in a small cell. After about 45 minutes, a policeman with alcohol on his breath came over to me and said, "Old woman, can you see I have had a few drinks? I am capable of doing anything when I am drunk." Then he told his associates, "You guys watch her. Don't let her go to the washroom or sleep." And then he said to me, "I will take care of you when I wake up." After locking me up for 24 hours, he asked me, "Old lady, do you want to go to a brainwashing centre or a detention centre? If you want to go to a brainwashing centre, it's 60 yuan (1) per day. Ask your family to bring the money." I said, "I am not going anywhere. I don't have any money." They then threw me in the detention centre.

I was locked up in a cell where 40 people were held. I was ordered to sit on a bench, recite the rules of the jail, and wear a prison uniform. But all practitioners refused to do it. Practitioner Ms. Lu Guozhen had been interrogated several times, and each time she was tortured. As a result, her leg and back were immobilised. Due to the severity of her injuries, she was sent to the prison hospital for treatment, then sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. She appealed to the Mid-level People's Court but her appeal was rejected. She was waiting to be sent to Dabei Jail after the Lunar New Year.

At the detention centre, many inmates were interested in listening to cultivation stories and facts about the persecution of Falun Dafa.

My health deteriorated due to the horrible environment and the persecution. I coughed a lot, so I was sent with three other practitioners to the hospital, where they checked us, and a nurse forced me to take medication. I said to her, "I don't blame you since this is your job. But I am telling you that these medications do not work on me. Before I started Falun Dafa, I tried all medications and all injections that were available, but my illnesses never did improve. If you people had not abducted me here, I would not be sick. If you force me, I will go on a hunger strike." The nurse no longer forced me to take the drugs.

I stayed in the hospital for three days, where I witnessed the horrible scene of practitioners being force fed. Words cannot describe the brutality and the violence used during the force feeding. I still shiver at the thought of it.

I was released for medical reasons due to my age, my refusal to cooperate with them, and my symptoms.

Even a month after my release, I still did not have any peace and quiet. Neighbourhood personnel and the local police stations harassed me constantly. They set up surveillance of my home. Every move I made was monitored. My husband was coerced to watch me. If he was not at home, he would lock me in. The police responsible for my neighbourhood were disciplined and demoted because Falun Dafa practitioners were found in the area. Some of them were even made to go through study sessions. This is the implication policy of Jiang's regime. The purpose is to instigate hatred towards "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance" by those who do not know the truth and acknowledge the persecution of Falun Dafa.

Shortly after I got home, the local police ordered me to go to the public security station, and told me it was nothing serious. They even said they had some good words to say about me. When I got there, they asked if I was still practising. I told them that as long as I live, I will practise. He said, "Ok, go home."

A few days later, he came back to harass me again, "The procurator would like to see you." So I went. They asked me, "Are you still practising? You should think about it. As long as you write a letter of "transformation (2)," you will be fine." I told them the same thing, "You don't have to ask me any more." Then they said, "Would you like to have a lawyer?" I told them that I had no money for a lawyer. Then I asked them, "Are you going to sentence me?" He said yes. On the second day I went there, I waited until 8 o'clock and did not see anyone except for a policeman named Liu. I asked him to pass the word that I was there. He said that it was useless to tell him. I suddenly realized the reason why they wanted me there. Isn't this for persecuting me? Why should I cooperate with them? So I was forced to leave my home and my family. With the help of other practitioners, I went to other villages.

When my husband did not see me, he went to the police to look for me. So the police then learned that I had left home. They searched high and low for me. A group of police even went to the home of my relatives. They coaxed my relative, "If you know where she is, please ask her to go home. She has been homeless for three years. It's not easy for a seventy year old. Ask her to go home for the New Year. We won't get her in trouble. "But then, they searched his three-bedroom apartment, including the washroom. In the end, they said, "We will suspend her pension starting August 2003 until we see her." In order to find me, one of them pretended that he was my son-in-law and called my relatives for my whereabouts. My husband fell sick due to their constant harassment, and he died on February 12, 2003.

Isn't this a tragedy? A government uses all of their police force to persecute a group of people who believe in kindness. They would not even let a seventy-year-old woman go. Whatever happened to the freedom of belief? Tens of thousands of practitioners in China have been forced to become homeless, and some even died or became disabled.

We hope that kind-hearted people will not ignore the persecution of Falun Gong occurring in China. We kindly ask them to support justice and help stop the persecution. Doing so will give people a bright future.

Note:

(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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/3/2/96446.html