Torture Methods Used on Practitioners in Shanghai's Tilanqiao Prison

People in the East know Shanghai's Tilanqiao Prison as the place where Japanese war criminals stood trial after World War II. Because foreigners would occasionally come to visit the prison, Tilanqiao Prison would disguise itself as being "civil." Let us examine how Tilanqiao Prison tortures Falun Gong practitioners behind the mask of civility.

1. Detainment

Falun Gong practitioners are detained with death row inmates. Prison guards treat practitioners the same as these dangerous criminals except that they are not handcuffed. However, they are often treated worse than the criminals on death row. Practitioners are detained in the three-by-three-metre prison cells for 24 hours a day, year after year. There is unremitting mental torture. Withering leg muscles and sores are common for practitioners. Practitioners' bodies and minds are severely tormented.

2. Beatings

Practitioners are often beaten. In the beginning, the beatings were severe. Practitioner Hua Wei from Beijing was beaten almost every day. Several inmates would lift him up and throw him down on a board. This often resulted in Mr. Hua's face being completely bruised and swollen. Practitioner Mr. Yang Jiuqing from Shanghai City in the Pudong District was also beaten many times. Prisoner Liu tormented Practitioner Chou Shen by grabbing and pinching the skin and muscle on his thighs every day. He was also forced to sit on a small china bowl for over ten hours each day. Practitioner Mr. Tang Renya was beaten and sworn at by prisoner Yang many times and was later persecuted and beaten by another prisoner. Prisoners hit Practitioner Tao Xiangwei with shoes and slapped his face. Practitioner Mr. Zhang Qin was initially beaten, resulting in a bruised and swollen face. Mr. Mei Jianqi was a college student at Shanghai Transportation University. Prisoner Zhang smashed his head with a piece of timber. Practitioner Mr. Zhu Degui was slapped many times on the face, and practitioner Mr. He Binggang was also beaten.

In November 2003, in order to achieve the goal of transforming "100% of the Falun Gong practitioners," police once again locked up practitioner Mr. Yang Yuhui, who was about to be released, with other death row inmates. They ordered the inmates to beat Mr. Yang and show no mercy. Inmate Zhu Jidong alone, who was assisting the police to "manage" Falun Gong practitioners, beat Mr. Yang for over two hours. There are many more incidents of practitioners being beaten.

3. Humiliation

Prisoners swear at virtually every practitioner detained at Shanghai's Tilanqiao Prison. They use many lewd words. Prison regulations prohibit insults; however, prison guards encourage this as part of their "transformation education." Under police order, inmate Yu Chengbin specifically threatened and swore at practitioners.

4. Intimidation

Practitioners are constantly terrorised. For instance, prison officials create an atmosphere of dread by hinting that a practitioner could be sent to a secret location for "casual punishment." In other situations, they have told practitioners how "political criminals" have been tortured, suggesting that practitioners will get the same treatment. They collect testimonials from other inmates of other terrifying torture methods, which intensifies the horrifying atmosphere. The former police secretary of the fifth ward, Fu Kehu, used these tactics to intimidate practitioners.

5. Abuse

Most practitioners experienced physical abuse that was not visibly apparent. For more than 20 days practitioner Mr. Liu Shunming was forced to squat inside the cell for ten hours every day. Practitioner Mr. Hu Zhiming was forced to sit on a small stool with his arms behind him while facing a wall. Not sitting straight would incur the wrath of inmate Jiao. Jiao claimed that it was the team leader who told him to abuse Mr. Hu. Other practitioners experienced similar treatment. Virtually every practitioner was made to sit in front of a wall. Psychological tortures included treating practitioners as "internal affairs bags," i.e. no one was allowed to talk to them and they were not allowed to talk. Force-feeding was also applied. Some purposely used thick tubes. Practitioner Mr. Du Ting from Gansu Province had his nose injured, and practitioner Mr. Ju Yanlai developed internal bleeding in his oesophagus and stomach.

6. Handcuffs

Prison guards often looked for excuses to persecute practitioners. For several months practitioner Mr. Xiong Wenqi was tied to a bed with his arms and legs spread in four directions. The excuse given by the guards was "for security reasons." Prison guards grabbed practitioner Mr. Tao Xiangwei's hand to force him to make handprints. Mr. Tao refused and bumped into a policeman while pulling back his hand. The policeman took this as an act of "attacking the police" and handcuffed Mr. Tao for two months. (His hands were handcuffed to his waist by a 20-cm-wide belt. His head was the only part of his upper body that was able to move.)

7. Incitement

Prison authorities incited distrust among relatives, friends and practitioners. They purposely fabricated news and spread tales of horror to frighten practitioners' relatives. Because of their intense fear, the relatives would pressure practitioners to concede to the authorities' demands. Within the prison, authorities spread rumours and instigated inmates to harass practitioners.

8. Deception

Some practitioners were kept in isolation and deceived by lies, such as that many practitioners had been "transformed (1)." If a practitioner was detained for the first time, prison guards would lie to him, saying, "You are the only one that's not yet been transformed." For practitioners detained for a long time, they would lie and say that Falun Gong no longer existed in the outside world. A fake report by "Liberation Daily" claimed that practitioner Mr. Hua Wei was "awakened" through so-called "education." The report did not mention a single word about Mr. Hua being beaten every day. Practitioner Mr. Yang Yuhui was beaten and "found guilty." The prison hypocritically held a "farewell party" with a video showing some happy people, which was sent to the local cable TV station for broadcast. They would claim this was clear evidence of "realisation after education." Apart from this, prison authorities fabricated rumours, deceived inmates, and incited inmates to hate practitioners. For example, police once lied to a practitioner that they had arrested a robber who practised Falun Gong. They have also deceived practitioners using collaborators (2).

9. Indoctrination

The prison often brainwashed practitioners with fallacious information. Practitioners were often forced to watch fabricated videos. Some were forced to watch repeatedly for more than ten hours a day, for as long as twenty days or longer. They stuffed earplugs into practitioners' ears, so that all they could hear all day was propaganda. They once placed a speaker right in front of Mr. Du Ting's cell. They also placed the sound box right at the ear of practitioner Mr. Wu Weming. Many practitioners had similar experiences. Practitioners were also forced to watch films that promoted the Communist Party and "study" material written by collaborators. They were even forced to attend propaganda "seminars" and write a review after attending.

The persecution at Tilanqiao Prison still goes on. We call on all kind-hearted people and organizations around the world to pay attention to the persecution that is happening here and to help end these crimes soon.

Tilanqiao Prison Main Telephone: 86-21-35104888
The Fifth Ward: 86-21-35104888; extension 7220 will transfer to Ward Leader Ou Ligang and Deputy Leader, Xue Chun
The Youth Experiment Team: 86-321-5104888; extension 7204 will transfer to Team Leader Fei Chunlei

Note;

(1) "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

(2) "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/4/6/98989.html