Extreme Brutality at the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre

The Zhaoyuan City Brainwashing Centre in Shandong Province is officially called the Zhaoyuan City Lingnan Legal Education Centre. It was established in the spring of 2001, for the sole purpose of using coercion, torture and violence to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief.

Since it was established, the people in the brainwashing centre have used many brutal and horrific ways to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. It is is the manifestation of Jiang Zemin's genocide policy against Falun Gong. Those who are ruthless and harsh get promoted to important positions. For example, Song Shuqi was successful in persecuting practitioners and was promoted from the director of the brainwashing centre to the director of the 610 Office¹. As Song's power grew, his capability and range in persecuting practitioners also grew. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made this brainwashing centre a model facility.

Cases of Torture That Took Place in the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre

Ms. Liu Yaohua, in her 40s, is a practitioner from Laodian Village, Zhaoyuan City. In Oct 2005, Wen Xiaoxia, from the town government, brought four armed officers and broke into Ms. Liu's home, arrested her and brought her to the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre. The minute Ms. Liu got to the centre, some guards dragged her into a windowless dark house that was specifically set up to torture Falun Dafa practitioners. They put handcuffs and leg shackles on her. They also put an iron chain that was fixed to an iron chair around her neck. Ms. Liu could not move. Though Ms. Liu was tortured for the next several days, she refused to renounce Falun Dafa. The guards from the centre, including Sun Qiquan, director Xu and director Zhao, used various ways to torture her. They used shoes and books to slap her face until it was swollen and her mouth was bleeding. The guards wouldn't stop until they got tired of beating her. Director Xu used a hard object to smash Ms. Liu's head and blood streamed out and covered her face. Xu used his fingers to poke her eyes. He then stomped down heavily on her toes with the heel of his shoe and ground them into the floor. Ms. Liu fainted due to the excruciating pain. She was fixed to an iron chair and not allowed to sleep, eat, drink, or use a toilet. Sun Qiquan led a group of people to take turns kicking her in the face. After they got tired, they would cuff her hands behind her back and hang her up in the air from her handcuffs with a rope for 4 or 5 hours. They then took her down and put her back in the iron chair. This was repeated every day for more than ten days.

The Zhaoyuan City 610 Office sentenced Ms. Yang Wenjie, in her 40s, to three years in a forced labour camp because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. In Feb 2005, Ms. Yang was sent to the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre for another eight months. She was not allowed to go home to visit her father, who was terminally ill, before he passed away. In the eight-month period, Ms. Yang was brutally tortured. Several guards tied her up and used belts, ropes, and rods to beat her. Ms. Yang was all black and purple after that. Many times the guards cuffed her hands behind her back and hung her up in the air. The flesh on her wrists was cut open and bled a lot. Later the cuts became purple scars. She was once cuffed onto an iron chair for three days without food, water or sleep. Several times, a few guards straightened her arms horizontally and tied her up with a rope, forcing her to stand close against the wall for several days. Before Ms. Liu left the centre, a guard ordered a former Falun Gong practitioner, Liu Yujiu, to find a local bully and get him drunk. They let the drunken bully into her room and incited him to beat her. The beating was violent and brutal. Ms. Yang couldn't get up for three days and she almost died. On Oct 10th, 2005, she was sentenced to another three years in a forced labour camp and her whereabouts at this point are unknown.

Ms. Wang Shuhua, in her 40s, was taken to the brainwashing centre in Nov 2005. Ms. Wang refused to renounce Falun Gong and went on a hunger strike to protest her being handcuffed, hung in the air and tortured in other ways. At the time of this report, it had been over 20 days since she had eaten. Insiders have told us that she was completely deformed and her physical condition was very bad. She was not allowed to leave the brainwashing centre to receive treatment.

Ms. Chen Shuhua was handcuffed to an iron chair for three days. Practitioners Li Dezhen, Zhang Shuxiang, Wang Songwu and many others were all tortured by being handcuffed to an iron chair, and being hung up in the air with their hands cuffed behind their backs. The guards did not even spare a female practitioner who was in her 70s.

The persecution was more severe for the practitioners sent there from adjacent areas. Most of the brainwashing centres in adjacent areas are gone, so practitioners from other areas are constantly being sent to the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre. These practitioners are tortured immediately if they refuse to renounce Falun Gong. The following is only one example.

Mr. Wang Dejiang is from Mouping city. He was taken to the brainwashing centre in August 2005. Ms. Wang was injured during the arrest and couldn't stand up. When he got out of the car, a guard had to carry him. The guard kicked him with every step and threatened him, "If you do not renounce Falun Gong, you will soon be unable to get up." The director of the brainwashing centre stomped on Mr. Wang's lower body and used his feet to lift his head and slam it to the ground many times. Then the he kicked Mr. Wang's upper body. After that torture, he was taken to a torture room. Though Mr. Wang couldn't even stand up by himself, he was still tied to an iron chair with an iron chain wrapped around him. Mr. Wang wore handcuffs and leg shackles. He would not give up his belief and went on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment and the persecution. Several days later, a few people held his head and force-fed him. Mr. Wang vomited blood during the process. The director stood near him and asked whether he would renounce Falun Gong. When Mr. Wang refused, the director said, "In this brainwashing centre, you will not be released if you don't renounce Falun Gong. We have plenty of ways to make you do it." The guards cuffed Mr. Wang onto a heating pipe with his toes barely touching the floor. The handcuffs were so tight that they cut deeply into his wrists, causing his blood to keep streaming out. To prevent him from talking, the guards used electrical wire to tie up his jaw so his mouth couldn't move. The excruciating pain caused Mr. Wang to lose consciousness. (At the time of this report, Mr. Wang's mouth had not yet recovered. His saliva comes out of his mouth when he talks.) After Mr. Wang regained consciousness, he found his right leg had turned purple. His left leg was twice as big as his right leg. Even so, the guards still tied up his right leg with a shackle and handcuffed him. The doctor in the centre saw the situation was bad and had the guards send Mr. Wang to a hospital. The doctor there said that Mr. Wang's life was in danger and they had to remove his leg. Then he was sent to the Yuhuangding Hospital in Yantai City for several days. Mr. Wang's family couldn't afford the expensive medical treatment, so the local authorities ordered his family to take him home. His physical condition was so bad due to the persecution that he couldn't take care of himself. His mother, who was in her 80s, had to take care of him. At the time of this report, Mr. Wang's health was still bad; his legs were disabled and so swollen that he couldn't put his shoes on.

In summary, those practitioners who were sent to the Zhaoyuan Brainwashing Centre were tortured if they refused to write statements renouncing Falun Gong. The TV and media celebrate and propagate the success of the brainwashing centre's magnificent results in transforming practitioners. Torture is how the brainwashing centre gains its "success".

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/12/2/115631.html