Walking Out of the Living Hell--Baoding City Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp

Hebei Province

I am a Falun Gong practitioner from a city in Hebei Province. I have been to Beijing to appeal four times and have been brutally persecuted by the local government. They not only carried on violent personal attacks but also searched my house and imposed a fine on my family. They illegally confiscated my property.

On December 28, 2000, I went to Beijing to validate the Fa [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance]. At about 2 p.m. December 30, five other practitioners and I watched numerous police and local ruffians hired by them arrest Falun Gong practitioners on Tiananmen Square. Some practitioners’ unfurled banners, some shouted out "Falun Dafa is good." The waves of sound rose higher and higher. Six of us shouted out "Falun Dafa is good. Restore Teacher's reputation," but before we were able to unfurl the banner, a gang of ferocious police rushed over. Five were arrested, and the other disappeared in the commotion.

I was detained at Chaoyang District Detention Centre. During my 12 days there, I experienced endless torture. They pulled my hair and threw me onto a bed from the floor, and from the bed back onto the floor. I don't how much of my hair was pulled out. They also stripped off my clothes and forced me to squat. In the evening, they forced me to sleep on the ice-cold cement floor with no covers. Furthermore, they used a brutal punishment, aeroplane flying [Stand with one's head dropped forward, with one's back against the wall, and both hands pulled up from behind] to torture me.

At 1:00 a.m. on January 10, 2000, three practitioners and I were illegally escorted back to our town, where we were tortured for the whole night. The next day we were sent to the county detention centre.

After I was escorted back to my township, I found out that my house had already been illegally searched. They carried away a full truckload of furniture and electric appliances, valued at over 7000 Yuan [average monthly income in rural China is about $500 Yuan]. They also took away a 3500-Yuan bank certificate of deposit. They almost took everything away from my house and cut off my phone line as well. I was detained in the county detention centre for two months and 11 days. At the end of March, eight practitioners and I were sent to No. 5 Team of Baoding City Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp to serve three years of forced labour. I was imprisoned in Class 6 of No. 6 Team. On the first day in Gaoyang Labour Camp, I was forced to stand still for 6 to 7 hours. In the next day's interrogation, I was asked to write the "four pledges." I firmly refused, and was dragged out and beaten severely. They used two electric batons to shock my whole body. When my feet were burned so severely that the flesh and socks were stuck together, they poured water on me. After that, I was tied onto an iron pipe and forced to stand for a whole day. Afterwards, they hypocritically induced me to sing, recite the detention centre rules, dance and play basketball. Since I did not co-operate with them, they beat and cursed me almost every day.

On May 2, 2001, they started the forced brainwashing class. Those in charge of the brainwashing classes were the most powerful, high-ranking labour camp officials. They were also the most vicious people. I was picked as a candidate for the first session. The first session was divided into four classes with 12 practitioners in each class. During the forced brainwashing process, they forced us to watch videos defaming Dafa [the practice of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] every day. They forced us to read defamatory materials and to slander Dafa. They also asked us to write down our understanding. I then wrote my cultivation experience to validate Dafa. I once again suffered from their beating. They often punished us by forcing us to stand for a long time, not letting us sleep, or beating us with electric batons.

The first session of the brainwashing class lasted for half a month. They virtually exhausted the dirtiest and most evil means to persecute us. Under the extremely brutal and high-pressure persecution, some practitioners were compelled to write written "repentance." At the end, only 10 practitioners in the 4 classes remained steadfast. At 10:00 p.m. that evening, we were locked up in a damp, dark cell, which had not been used for a long time. There were over 20 pillars nailed down on the floor. Being tied to these pillars, we could neither stand nor sit, but only squat. We were not allowed to close our eyes. If we closed our eyes, the guard in charge would beat us with an electric baton. At mealtime, they set one hand free and cuffed it back once we finished eating. They kept us in the squatting position for a total of four days and nights. When they finally realized that we could not be scared at all, they sent us back to the labour camp.

Soon after this, the second, third and fourth (the last session) sessions of the brainwashing class began. Since I did not comply with them throughout the four sessions, they used all kinds of means to torture me. They forced me to do the heaviest labour and used the most brutal punishment to torture me. Every day, I had to take out the chamber pots for all the classes. Being tortured severely, I was already very weak and slim. My four limbs were powerless. But they forced me to fetch water. I was required to carry two buckets at one time. If I walked a little slowly, they would either beat or scold me. Once, they wrote sayings on the black board to publicly slander Dafa and Teacher Li [the founder of Falun Gong]. I erased it all. They went into rage. They used their boots and clubs to beat me until my mouth was full of blood.

In the midsummer days when it was extremely hot, I had to carry dirt to fill pits on roads. Every practitioner had to carry about 70 to 80 Jin [about 77-88 lbs] of dirt. We had to carry it for a whole day. The dirt was heavy, and the weather was hot. Our sweat soaked our clothes and mixed with the dirt, making us look just like clay men. In the evening, we were forced to squat in the grass to be bitten by mosquitoes.

The evil persecution of Dafa practitioners at Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp let us realize that we should not passively bear this. Therefore, another practitioner and I started a hunger strike. Many practitioners joined the hunger strike to protect Dafa with our lives and protest the evil persecution. After 52 days of hunger strike they eventually had to give in to us. They had to release us. We walked out of the labour camp with dignity.

Fellow practitioners please hurry up and take action. Step forward to clarify the truth and expose the persecution of Dafa and Dafa practitioners.

February 16, 2002

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/2/26/19244.html