Ms. Huang Zhiqin, over 40 years old, is a practitioner from Baise City. When she was held at the Education Division of Guangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp, guards ordered two inmates to monitor her. They forbid her to speak, laugh or use the toilet, unless special permission was given. Moreover, she had to perform slave labour for 16 hours daily. She was treated cruelly and became disabled. She could no longer walk because her legs were so badly swollen. This did not stop the cruelties. Xu Sufang, who monitored Ms. Huan Zhiqin abused her verbally. One day during the roll call Ms. Huang Zhiqin stood next to a practitioner. The inmates who supervised her dragged her backwards. After Ms. Huang stood up and left, inmate Li Yong ran after her and beat her up. Ms. Huang questioned her about who gave her the right to beat other people. Li Yong answered, "The government officials (the inmates call the guards government officials) gave me the right to beat you."
Besides being monitored quite openly, inmates also monitor practitioners covertly during the night. Prison authorities did not even trust practitioners who had written the three statements. Those who were classified as not reliable would still be monitored and were not allowed to talk to or contact steadfast practitioners.
The Guangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp brutally persecuted practitioners. Practitioners were even tortured to death, injured, became mentally traumatised or disoriented, or their families were broken up. Below are some of the facts of the persecution.
There is a wooded area near the drill-ground of the No. 3 Women's Division. Practitioners were tied to the trees, one practitioner per tree, for practising the Falun Gong exercises. With more and more practitioners practising the exercises, there were not enough trees to tie up that many practitioners, so they were tied to iron poles at the nearby workshop. Those who were tied to the trees were bitten by mosquitoes and those who were tied to the iron poles were exposed to the scorching sun. They became severely dehydrated, their lips becoming chapped because they were not allowed to drink water. Many practitioners' hands were swollen. It took a long time to recover after being tied to the tree for too long. Some of the practitioners' hands festered and even today one can see the scars. The practitioners suffered extreme pain, because they were tied to the trees for a very long time and they had to stand on their toes. Some practitioners lost consciousness and others suffered urinary incontinence.
Ms. Tang Anni suffered the most. She was hung on the tree and was often beaten by the inmates who monitored her. Later, to cover up their crimes and separate practitioners, guards changed their tactics. They tied the practitioners in the shape of a star to the bed frame in their cells, with only their toes touching the ground. Some of the practitioners had been tied up in that position for many nights. The pain was excruciating, so they could not close their eyes. Twenty to thirty practitioners had been tied up like that for practising the exercises.
For a period of time, the practitioners were forced to work during the day and were tied up in the evening. Ms. Tang Anni from the Heshi area was hung in the No. 3 Division's workshop. She was hung on a beam for several months and during the day she was forced to work. One day she could not bear the suffering any more so she tried to commit suicide by biting her tongue. Her sad and shrill cries shocked the whole No. 3 Division. Almost everyone heard it. Only after this happened did the guards let her go.
A practitioner with the surname of Lu was locked up in an iron cage in which she could not stand up nor sit down. She could only squat.
There was not a single person in the labour camp who hadn't heard of the persecution suffered by practitioner Ms. Zhang Jingman. She was over 30 years old, short and fragile. She was from Shaping Township, Lingshan County, Qinzhou City. She had been sentenced to forced labour three times. She went on hunger strike three times. The third time, her hunger strike lasted more than 6 months before she was released. During her three times in the labour camp she was tied up most of the time and suffered inhuman torture. She was tied to trees, bed frames and iron poles in the on-duty room, No. 2 Division and the Prison Hospital. She had also been cuffed from behind to the window lattice. Sometimes she would be tied up or hung up for several months and sometimes she would be tied up 24 hours a day. When the perpetrators tied Ms. Zhang up they would pull her arms sideways forcefully and make her stand on a small stool. After tying her up the perpetrators would take the stool away, leaving Ms. Zhang hanging there with only one toe touching the ground. This was extremely painful.
Ms. Zhang Jingman was first sentenced to one year of forced labour, but after her term expired her sentence was extended for another 6 months. She was again detained two months after being released. The second time she was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labour. Ms. Zhang went on hunger strike for two months and her weight dropped to 20 kg. She was released when the prison doctor could no longer draw blood. She stayed in the labour camp for about half a year. The third time she was sentenced to three years of forced labour. She went on hunger strike for 6 months and they extorted 3,000 yuan1 for so-called "medical expenses." By then she suffered from muscular atrophy of her hands and feet and her stomach also became very small. She was only released during the second and third terms of forced labour because the prison hospital thought she was close to death. After she was released from her second term of forced labour, the guards spread rumours in the labour camp saying that Ms. Zhang was dead. The perpetrators intended to poison the atmosphere so other detained practitioners would renounce the practice of Falun Gong. During her hunger strike she suffered barbaric force-feeding. Every day she was force fed two or three times. Each time, four or five big men force-fed her. Some pressed Ms. Zhang down and others would insert a tube down her nose. Her nose and stomach were both bleeding and she felt excruciating pain. Ms. Zhang Jingman was taken to Maoqiao Prison Hospital twice. She was hospitalised for more than a month each time. During that time she was tied to the bed in a star shape. Only when inmates who were assigned to monitor her could no longer take her suffering did they beg the guards to untie her. There were always 2 to 3 inmates monitoring her.
During her first term of detention, Ms. Zhang Jingman was put in solitary confinement two days before the Chinese New Year. She was locked up there for ten days. The winter of 2000 was very cold and the temperature dropped down to 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. She was not allowed to wear warm clothes and on the stone slab bed there was only a worn-out quilt. She was too cold to sleep. During the first half of her first labour detention, she was put in isolation seven times. A guard said that she set a record in the labour camp. One day the 30-year old guard Wu of the First Division slapped Ms. Zhang Jingman's face in public for sitting cross-legged while working at No. 1 Division. Also during her first forced labour, the on-duty guard tied her up and stuffed a dirty towel into her mouth simply because she recited the Fa quietly. At roll call one morning, during her second labour term, the guards slandered Dafa when Ms. Zhang practised the exercises in the evening. Ms. Zhang stood up and explained the true situation of Falun Dafa. The on-duty guards and the inmates who were assigned to monitor her pushed her to the floor, handcuffed her and tied her up with ropes. During her third forced labour term, a new guard stuffed a dirty towel into Ms. Zhang Jingman's mouth and taped it to her face after losing a debate on certain issues to Ms. Zhang. Then she was tied up. In the evening the on-duty guard beat her from time to time. When Ms. Zhang Jingman questioned the guards if they were allowed to beat people, the guard on duty gave unspoken consent. A tall guard from the No. 2 Division would order inmates to hang up Ms. Zhang Jingman every time when she was on duty. Another young tall government official ordered the guards on duty and the inmates to beat, tie and hang up Ms. Zhang. Ms. Zhang suffered a big lump on her forehead. She was beaten up because she requested to practise the exercises. Some times she might make a gesture quite innocently but she would be falsely reported as practising the exercises, so she would be placed into an isolation cell. One afternoon Ms. Zhang Jingman was beaten up by the inmates and her head and back were injured.
Ms. Liang Biyan is a practitioner from Nanning City. She is over 40 years old. She was held at the Guangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp from May 2000 to June 2002. She was originally sentenced to one year of forced labour, which was extended for another year for refusing to renounce her belief. Team leader Liang Suzhen said it was stated in the documents and Ms. Liang was only released after going on hunger strike. Ms. Liang Biyan was tied up, hung up and beaten up day and night, and she was deprived of sleep. Once she was tied to a tree from early morning until midnight for an entire month. When the perpetrators tied her up, they pulled her arms backwards to embrace the trunk. Quite a few practitioners were tied up to the trees with her. Some of them lost consciousness. However, the perpetrators described their unconsciousness as falling asleep. At the very beginning, whoever intended to mention or show any sign of practising the exercises would be tied up. However, later on all the practitioners were tied up from 12 o'clock midnight until the next morning. It did not matter if one practised the exercises or not. They were untied before breakfast. After breakfast, they would do slave labour under the supervision of inmates. These inmates watched the practitioners closely and did not let them sleep. Whenever a practitioner closed her eyes she would be beaten. One afternoon, Ms. Liang Biyan did not eat her lunch and just wanted to close her eyes for a while. She was tied up and the perpetrators said that they would not let Ms. Liang feel comfortable. Therefore, whenever she closed her eyes two inmates who monitored her would pull her hair and beat her. The guards asked the inmates to tie the rope tight. If they found any inmate who did not tie the rope tight, their terms of imprisonment would be extended ten days. Later on the inmates tied the rope tighter and tighter. The rope cut into the flesh and the practitioners found it too painful to even close their eyes. Every morning when they were untied, their hands and feet were numb and the ropes would leave a deep dark mark, red and swollen.
From time to time the prison began a new round of persecution. Before bed-time they asked Ms. Liang Biyan if she still practised the Falun Gong exercises. It did not matter if she said yes or no, she would be tied up anyway for three nights. After tying her up for three days the perpetrators would ask her again if she still wanted to practise the exercises. They told her that if she answered yes or if she chose not to answer the question she would still be tied up for one week. Ms. Liang would be spared only when she answered no. Ms. Liang Biyan ignored them and prepared to go to sleep. The perpetrators pulled her out of the bed and tied her up for ten days. Every day after work she would be tied up and the rope was getting tighter. She was half hanging there with only toes touching the ground. She would be allowed to sleep a few days later, but she was not allowed to get up before they did. However, one day Ms. Liang Biyan got up earlier than these perpetrators and was folding the bedspread. She was beaten up right away. One day because she began to talk, the on-duty guard and the inmates who monitored Ms. Liang stuffed a dirty cloth into her mouth and sealed her mouth with tape. Then these perpetrators slapped her face, which became purple and swollen. One guard also threw shoes at her head.
Sometimes Ms. Liang was tied up day and night, and some times she was hung up. One evening, after watching a slanderous TV programme, she was forced to write her impression of the programmes and she refused. She said, "I will practise the Falun Gong exercises tomorrow morning." The division head said if she practised the exercises she would be definitely tied up. The division head ordered the on-duty guard to force Ms. Liang to stand on a chair, tie her to a beam of the workshop and then remove the chair. Several other practitioners were hung up too. Some had been hung up for one week. Several times Ms. Liang was forced to get down on her knees and the perpetrators pressed the soles of her feet flat and tied them to the iron poles. Her hands were also tied up.
Ms. Liang Biyan was placed in solitary confinement twice. The first time when she was placed in solitary confinement was because she told a practitioner that the so-called "transformation2".. Therefore, she was held in solitary confinement for more than ten days. One day the guards brought a meal without chopsticks. Ms. Liang refused to eat. Then the on-duty guard asked her to throw her meal into the toilet. She refused. Then, he asked the guard to take the meal to feed the pigs. On the following day the inmates filled a very dirty bowl with rice for Ms. Liang. They used to use the bowl to feed a cat. The second time when she was placed in solitary confinement for practising the Falun Gong exercises, the division head abused her with very dirty words and several collaborators3 came and tried to "reform" Ms. Liang. When they saw her wearing very thin clothes although it was very cold, they asked the division head to allow them to send her some clothes. But, the division head refused the request. The division head did not even give a quilt to Ms. Liang, so she felt too cold to sleep or even stand. She suffered the biting cold for a few days before she requested a quilt. They finally gave her a worn out quilt.
At the guards' suggestion and under their protection, the inmates who monitored Ms. Liang assaulted her in an indecent manner. They stripped off her clothes, pulled her hands sideways and tied her up. Then they placed a stool between her legs before they tied her legs up. The two inmates fondled her body while swearing and beating her. They said, "You want to fight the Communist Party. Do you think you are able to? Can you walk out of here? We will fondle you until you write the Guarantee Statement4. If you don't write it today there will be tomorrow. We plan not to sleep tonight." They even invited other people to come and watch. However, only one inmate came to beat her. Ms. Liang felt that it was too much to bear, so she kept silent after asking them not to continue because it would not be good for them. However, these perpetrators did not listen. She called for the guards, requesting to talk to them. It took a very long time before they came and released her.
Since Ms. Liang was not allowed to go to the toilet she suffered incontinence. Sometimes she was not allowed to take a shower. The inmates who monitored her could search her bag and pockets whenever they wanted, so sometimes her money would be stolen. These inmates also used Ms. Liang's personal articles for themselves. Ms. Liang did not have much money. When others gave her articles for everyday use, the guards would not let her accept them.
Ms. Liang Biyan went on hunger strike to protest the persecution, however, the guards carried out barbaric force-feeding. Sometimes when the perpetrators were unable to put the tube down her nose it would take an entire morning to get in into place. After Ms. Liang was released from the labour camp, she was immediately taken to Nanning City's "education centre" where she was detained for another 8 months. She was released only after she had been on a hunger strike for 61 days. Guards force-fed her from the 18th day of her hunger strike. She was force-fed about ten times. The perpetrators also called in people from the labour camp and the Political and Judiciary Committee to help them do the force-feeding. In carrying out the force-feeding they would force Ms. Liang to lie on the table, press her four limbs firmly down, and then pinch her nose, so that she could not breathe. When they put the tube down her nose they would repeatedly insert it and pull it up. The pain was excruciating. During one force-feeding, the insertion of the tube caused bleeding. After finishing the force-feeding, the guards said to Ms. Liang while washing the tube, "We saved your life. You should thank us." They almost killed her but said that they saved her life. After the force-feeding, Ms. Liang had difficulty speaking for many days and felt much pain. Her urine was full of blood.
However, before she recovered from the previous force-feeding, she was force-fed again. The male warden of the labour camp put the tube down Ms. Liang's nose. At that time she still felt the pain in her oesophagus and stomach. When the warden pulled the tube out, there was blood on it. He knew there were old wounds so he told her about the blood and the old wounds, and asked her to eat food. Ms. Liang looked at the tube and said, "Since my oesophagus and stomach have been injured you must release me, otherwise you will be held responsible if anything happens to me." However, he ignored her and began to insert the tube again. As a result Ms. Liang bled profusely. Blood soaked her clothes and trousers. There was blood on the table as well. One inmate who witnessed the force-feeding shed tears and begged the head of the labour camp to stop force-feeding her. Ms. Liang lost a lot of blood in five of her force-feedings. One male prison doctor verbally abused Ms. Liang while force-feeding her.
Ms. Ma Fenglan, about 50 years old, was a practitioner from Beihai City. She was stripped to her underpants and left standing in the corridor during a biting cold winter night. She complained strongly and the guards let her put on her clothes.
Ms. Lin Min was dragged from the drill-ground and then tied up.
One day a division head beat a practitioner. The division head asked in front of about two hundred people, "Did you see me beating her?" Witnessing the abuse, however, the drug addicts said, "No, we did not see anything." An on-duty guard who weighed around one hundred kilogrammes stepped on her legs. At that time the practitioner was skin and bones weighing only about 35 kilogrammes.
Ms. Chen Xiao, 32 years old, is a practitioner from Beihai City. She had been sentenced to forced labour twice and is still held at the Guangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Chen was first sentenced to one year of forced labour. During the detention she was forced to squat for 8 days for persistently practising and later was placed in solitary confinement for 13 days during the biting cold weather in December of 1999. She was forced to sleep on the stone slab with an unlined garment and barefooted. Every day she would only be given a very thin worn out quilt at midnight. Once she was not allowed to take a shower for 21 days. After being released from solitary confinement she was forced to go around the drill-ground from 7 a.m. until 1 a.m. the next morning. This was repeated for three days in a row. Another practitioner from Beihai City, Ms. Zhang Xu, was also placed in solitary confinement and forced to go around the drill-ground together with Ms. Chen. A drug addict was punished to walk on the drill-ground. However, she could not bear it any more and went to the third floor and jumped out of the window. Only then did the guards allow Ms. Chen Xiao and Ms. Zhang Xu stop this activity. Ms. Chen Xiao was often forced to do extra heavy jobs and worked as long as 20 hours a day. Drug addicts monitored her around the clock. Every time when she was placed in solitary confinement she would be fined 1,000 demerit points, which meant 10 additional days of imprisonment. The division head with the surname of Li and Liang Suzhen are responsible for the persecution.
Ms. Chen Xiao's mother Ms. Tan Zezhen and husband Mr. Lin Hongbin were all sentenced to forced labour for practising Falun Gong. Ms. Tan Zezhen, about 50 years old, was sentenced to one year of forced labour and her term was later extended for another year. During the two years of forced labour she suffered humiliation, beatings, verbal abuse, manual labour and psychological torture. When Ms. Chen's husband came to visit her, he was often denied visiting privileges. One day, Ms. Tan Zezhen was severely beaten in the cell by inmate Lei Qingsheng who monitored her. Ms. Tan Zezhen did not admit to being a criminal so she refused to answer the roll call and squat down when talking to the division head. During that time she was often tied to the bed frame after roll call. Because of the physical abuse she began to vomit profusely. Only then was she untied. The perpetrators hypocritically boiled dried longan pulp soup with sugar for her but she refused to eat it. Many practitioners followed her example and no longer answered the roll call. Lu Dengfei was very angry and said, "Can't you change your methods?" The labour camp authorities said Ms. Tan Zezhen would be released the next day if she would answer the roll call. However, Ms. Tan rejected the offer. Therefore she was detained for seven months before she was released.
Ms. Meng Gui, over 60 years old, is from Lingshan County, Qinzhou City. She was sentenced to forced labour twice and now she is still held at the Guangxi Women's Force Labour Camp. She was held in the "strictly controlled group" that was specifically designed for whose who steadfastly believe in Dafa. The guards ordered two inmates to monitor her. These two inmates slapped her face. Her arms and wrists often bled from being tied up. Ms. Meng was also placed in solitary confinement twice and at the same time handcuffed and forced to wear shackles. She was also forced to "confess" at the on-duty platform. She stood there day and night, was exposed to the sun and rain and was not allowed to doze off. Whenever she dozed off they would wake her up. She was only allowed to sleep two hours a day. She was healthy when she arrived at the labour camp, but after the torture she lost much of her weight. After some time, she could barely walk any longer. Only then would the guards ask inmates to help her to move about and "learn to walk." The perpetrators sent Ms. Meng home only when she was on the verge of death.
When Ms. Meng Gui was sentenced to forced labour for the second time she again suffered brutal persecution. Since she refused to have a photograph taken she was thrown to the ground and her limbs were firmly pressed down. The perpetrators took her photograph by force. At that time she appeared to suffer from heart disease, but the prison authorities still ordered her to do labour intensive work. She was then transferred to the No. 3 Division, which is notorious for its ruthlessness and viciousness. The inmates in this division would wet their pants as soon as they heard the name of the division head Wu. Meal time there was only a few minutes. One could only finish two-thirds of a bowl of rice so they often felt hungry.
Ms. Kong Daiyou from Nanning City is nearly 60 years old. One evening at a study group shortly after her arrival at the labour camp, the guards sealed her mouth with sticky tape, tied her hands behind her back and forced her to be in a horse-riding step. The torture went on until 2 o'clock the next morning.
Her husband Mr. Pang Xuehai was arrested together with her. Mr. Pang was held at the Nanning City Penitentiary for a long period of time. As a result, Ms. Kong Daiyou's mother, who was 78 years old, had no family members to support her financially and take care of her. Mr. Pang Xuehai's workplace bought a box of instant noodles for the old lady. Since there was no hot water, she could only soak the instant noodles in cold water. She struggled for half a year this way and died in July 2001. (There were reports published at the Minghui website) Existing regulations allow Ms. Kong Daiyou and her husband Pang Xuehai to go home for 15 days to handle the funeral affairs. However, since both of them firmly believed in Falun Dafa, only one was allowed to take care of the arrangements. The Guangxi Women's Forced Labour Camp only gave Ms. Kong Daiyou two days to arrange the funeral.
Ms. Huang Xianglan is a practitioner from Baihai City. She was not allowed to go home to visit her husband when he was severely ill. Only when she was needed to sign the paper for her husband's operation for terminal cancer would the prison authorities allow her to go home. However, she was escorted to the hospital by two policewomen and was required to return to the labour camp immediately after she signed the documents. Ms. Huang requested to go back to the labour camp after her husband's operation. However, the policewomen forced her to return to the camp right after she signed the paper, because the labour camp wanted her to be back before the evening roll call at 7 p.m. Ms. Huang's family mailed her the notice of her husband's terminal illness; however, the guards withheld it. Later when Ms. Huang's family questioned the guards they said that they forgot to hand it over. Ms. Huang's husband had had stomach trouble. Since July 20th, the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong he became very scared of the repeated detention and ransacking of his house, especially the horror caused by the ransacking of the house by police at midnight. He was deeply hurt physically and mentally. It was just too much for him to bear, and his condition deteriorated rapidly. The sentence of his wife to forced labour was another heavy blow for him.
One day the police sub-station informed him of his wife's impending release the following day. The news made him very happy. However, it turned out that the police made a mistake and informed the wrong person. The one who was released was not his wife but his wife's colleague. This dramatic change hurt him once again. When he was in critical condition and his wife came back to sign the paper for his operation, two policewomen also turned up at his bedside. He was again deeply upset. He said he was very scared and asked why the two policewomen were there. He hoped that his wife could take care of him and their family requested for Ms. Huang Xianglan to be let out on bail. Lu Dengyun required a series of documents from the family for the release, including writing a report, getting the signature of some authorities, and having it sealed by the related Beihai authorities. Ms. Huang's family managed to get all this done but the labour camp still did not let Ms. Huang return home to take care of her husband. Liang Suzhen said to Ms. Huang that her release would depend on her actions. She attempted to use this to press Ms. Huang Xianglan to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Huang Xianglan said, "My husband is very sick I want to ask for leave." Liang Suzhen said, "Don't you think that you can leave whenever you ask for it?" Ms. Huang said, "As a wife I have the right to ask for leave to take care of my husband. This is the right of a wife." However, the labour camp still refused her request. Instead they vilified Ms. Huang saying that Falun Gong practitioners don't want to take care of their loved ones. Ultimately, her husband who was fighting serious illness and longed for his wife, passed away. During his hospital stay, Ms. Huang's husband requested for his wife to take care of him. When he was dying, he repeatedly called his wife's name and asked why his wife did not come back to see him. Ms. Huang Xianglan's husband died on the fifth day of the 2002 Chinese New Year. On learning the news Ms. Huang Xianglan requested to go back home, but the labour camp still did not allow her to go. She insisted and finally the labour camp gave her three days to handle the funeral affairs.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "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")
3. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.
4. "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/2006/2/1/119915.html
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
more ...