The Seven Year Long Tragedy and Suffering of My Family

I'm recounting below the persecution that my family of five has suffered over the past six years plus by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We hope people everywhere will see clearly the CCP's true face! Let the world hear the truth, and redress all injustices against Falun Gong!

1. Overview

My name is Ms. Zhou Shufen. I am 64 years old and I live in Xing Shan Village, Anqiu City in Shandong Province. My 65-year-old husband, is Su Jiaoyou. My eldest daughter's name is Su Baolan. She lived to be 42 years old, and was a resident of Shirenpo Village, of Anqiu City. She passed away in 2001 as the result of persecution and torture. My second daughter, Su Baoyun, is a resident of Jingyang Village, Anqiu City. My third daughter, Su Baoli, is a resident of Lijiagucheng Village in Anqiu City.

All of my three daughters married and have their own families. Starting in 1997, the five of us began to practise Falun Dafa one after another. We all cultivate, and have benefited greatly in mind and body. I used to suffer severe cataracts and was unable to see clearly from six feet away. I had chronic pain from childbirth and no medication or treatment helped. I had bone spurs under both of my heels, which felt like needles piercing my feet. I found it difficult to walk. After I practised Falun Dafa, I was completely cured.

Prior to practising Falun Gong, my husband had a bone spur in his spine, which pressed on his nerves. He had back and leg pain for many years, and walking was difficult for him. He was unable to work in the field or at home. After practising Falun Gong, he returned to full health; even his facial wrinkles went away. He does not look like someone who is almost seventy years old.

Prior to practising Falun Gong, my eldest daughter had nasosinusitis, and even an operation did not help. After she practised Dafa, she was miraculously cured. We deeply felt the goodness that Falun Dafa brought to us. However, since July 20th, 1999, the CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong. We have all been pressured to renounce our beliefs. All five of us were detained many times, imprisoned, taken to forced labour camps, tortured brutally, fined, and so on. My eldest daughter passed away due to the persecution after suffering indescribably brutal tortures.

2. Inhuman Persecution Began on July 20th, 1999

On October 11th, 1999, my husband, our three daughters, our five-year-old granddaughter and I, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. We were all arrested and taken to Anqiu City Detention Centre.

At the detention centre, the police forced Dafa practitioners to watch fabricated videos and read articles slandering Dafa. Practitioners who refused to read the articles were handcuffed. The police tortured my three daughters and me brutally because we persisted in practising Falun Gong. My eldest daughter's neck, mouth and ears were shocked with electric batons. Myself, my second and youngest daughter, and other practitioners were dragged outside into the cold. The police forced us into a sitting position on the ground with our legs extended straight in front of us, and our arms sticking straight out, parallel to our legs. We were not allowed to lower our arms. Whoever did not stay in that position was shocked with electric batons and beaten. After the torture, he/she would be forced to raise his/her arms again. My youngest daughter was forced to wear only an undershirt and a pair of trousers. It was late autumn, and sitting motionless on the ice-cold ground made everyone suffer deeply from the pain of the coldness, soreness and numbness. We had to sit in this position for more than six hours. Our arms became stiff and we were unable to put them down after.

After being detained for fifteen days, we were transferred to a detention centre. We were forced to perform forced labour, tortured mentally, and pressured to "renounce" Falun Dafa. Since we persisted in reciting the Falun Dafa teachings and practising the exercise movements, we were brutally beaten and dragged outside into the cold night many times. One time, my second daughter and two other practitioners fainted from the extreme cold. One day, around 4 a.m., my eldest daughter was dragged into an interrogation room and brutally beaten. She was beaten with hard plastic tubing. We could hear the sound of the beating. The sound was so loud that it woke up everyone in the area. The prisoners were scared and lowered their heads, afraid to make a sound. My eldest daughter's back was beaten into a pulp. Her entire body was numb from the beating, but she did not make a sound. She displayed the firm righteous behaviour of a Dafa practitioner, which shook up many prisoners and policemen who gained a good impression of practitioners from this.

After we returned home, my husband and I were detained for five more days by the Xingshan Village Community Office. My youngest daughter was detained for three days by the town administrative office. When we arrived home we discovered that the authorities had curtained off our home and changed the locks. Witnesses said that the second day after we went to Beijing, Xingshan village party branch clerk Su Zhaosheng and seven or eight communist party members broke into our home. They confiscated almost everything. They even wanted to cut down our trees and take away our rations. Luckily, a good person convinced them otherwise.

During the time we were detained, the town administrative office employees, and the police from the town's police station ransacked our home many times. They stole the food that the party branch clerk had not confiscated, and everything else that was worth any money. Our home was completely empty, and even our electricity was cut off.

In the end of 1999, my son came home for New Years and was forced to pay 1,000 yuan¹ to reconnect the electricity for us. In June 2000, since my husband went to Beijing to appeal again, village clerk Su Zhaosheng cut off our electricity again, and still has not reconnected it.

3. CCP Increases its Persecution on So-Called "Sensitive Days"

Before April 25th, 2000, the local police head Han Fuben and Li Jingbo broke into our home unexpectedly. Without any explanation or warrant, they took my husband and I to the police station and detained us for 25 days. That day, there were two other Dafa practitioners in town. It was also time for planting new crops. We requested to be released so that we could work in the field. Chairman Han Fuben could not be reasoned with. He said, "I am the CCP's dog! I bite whoever it tells me to bite, and arrest whoever it calls me to arrest."

4. Facing the CCP's Persecution We Remained Firm

In June 2000, my youngest daughter took her not yet two-year-old child and went to Beijing to appeal again with my husband. On their way to Beijing, there were policemen everywhere blocking people from going to appeal in Beijing. The police stopped my husband and daughter at Tainjin Train Station, and their appeal letter was confiscated. The right to appeal to the government is granted by the Chinese Constitution, but they were still charged with "disturbing social order."

My husband went on a hunger strike at the detention centre. He was released after five days. The next day, my husband was arrested again and detained at the town's police station. I did not escape either, and was arrested with my husband. Seeing no other choice, we went on a group hunger strike. The police tortured us through force feeding. After more than ten days, my husband and my youngest daughter were transferred and detained at Anqiu Detention Centre. My youngest daughter continued her hunger strike, and the police brutally force fed her. They put the tube into her trachea, and she almost suffocated to death on the spot. She vomited blood, and her face went dark, yet the police continued to force-feed her until she lost consciousness. I was detained at the police station for 28 days.

Prior to July 20th, 2000, to prevent Falun Gong practitioners from going to appeal in Beijing, Anqiu City officials arrested many Dafa practitioners. There were many Dafa practitioners detained at detention centres and police station in the township and villages. At the detention centre, my youngest daughter continued to study and perform the exercises with other practitioners. She suffered torture from electric shocks and was sprayed with water, among other forms of brutality she was forced to endure. Her firm belief in Dafa was not shaken. My youngest daughter was not released until the beginning of August. This time, she was detained for more than a month. My husband and I were also released. My husband was detained for more than one month and I was detained for 28 days.

5. Prior to October 1st, 2000, Our Family was Persecuted Again by the CCP

At the end of September 2000, during the autumn harvesting and planting time, when we were busy harvesting corn in the field, Wangjiazhuangzi Township Political and Law clerk Zhou Wenhe, local police officers Li Jingbo and Xiao Zhang, and several others handcuffed us, and took us by police car to the police station. After a month, my husband was taken to Anqiu City 610² Brainwashing Centre for another month. They did not achieve what they wanted, so they sentenced my husband to three years of forced labour. They took him to Changle Forced Labour Camp and continued with the persecution.

5. Inhumanly Tortured at Changle Forced Labour Camp

On November 17th, 2000, my husband was arrested and taken to Changle Forced Labour Camp. The persecution and torture perpetrated in this camp is inhuman. My husband was tortured cruelly and almost lost his life. He will never forget December 1st, 2000, and still suffers nightmares about that day. That day was the day when my husband was "transformed³." It is the day that my husband suffered the worst tortures. He was close to death, and experienced his worst humiliation.

That day, all Dafa practitioners at the camp, including those that had been "transformed-" approximately 40 practitioners in total - were taken to Groups No. 2 and 3. Group No. 2, the so-called "Hades" group, consisted of four non-practitioner inmates. The non-practitioner inmates beat the "not-yet-transformed" Dafa practitioners. They were given free reign to use any methods they wished, as long as the practitioner got "transformed." Prison terms are reduced for inmates who "transform" practitioners, therefore, the inmates stopped at no cruelty and inhuman method. My husband was taken to Squad No. 2. His torturers were eight prisoners. They stripped my husband naked and pressed his face down to the floor. Some pressed his head, some pressed his legs and some pressed his arms. The others took turns to cruelly beat my husband with home-made whips (attached to a piece of wood with wire) and belts.

They began at the knees, whipping upward until they reached the neck and shoulders. Belt buckles were used to beat my husband's back. He was soaked in blood and sweat and his flesh was raw. The pain was unimaginable. He closed his eyes, bit his teeth and did not make a sound. They beat him for a while. Then they asked, "Do you still say you cultivate?" My husband answered "yes." Then, they continued to beat him brutally. They beat him like this for a very long time. My husband's entire back, buttocks, and thighs were one bloody mess. All flesh was exposed, and his entire body was covered with blood. He lay in a puddle of blood. A prisoner asked my husband, "Do you still cultivate?" My husband clenched his teeth and said, "Such a good practice. How could I not cultivate?" The prisoner got upset and kicked my husband's left side very hard. There was a dull sound of "pu" and my husband's rib broke. The intolerable pain almost suffocated my husband. His head suddenly dropped and the severe pain made it difficult to breathe. The pain had passed the level he could tolerate. He had no other choice left and against his will, he said in a low voice, "Will not cultivate." His cultivation path is marked in shame. What's worse! The person in charge of Changle Forced Labour Camp had ordered Dafa practitioners to sit on a little plastic stool and watch the entire humiliating and horrifying scene. All practitioners lowered their heads and did not want to see this horrifying scene. If anyone said anything and asked to stop the beating, he/she would have been tortured in the same way.

This is the truth of "transformation," which the CCP says take place like "spring wind and drizzle." Most Falun Gong practitioners were "transformed" under this kind of extreme brutality at Changle Forced Labour Camp.

6. My Eldest Daughter was Tortured to Death

My eldest daughter, Su Baolan, was of gentle temperament, had a loving heart, and was a hard worker. After the CCP banned and began to persecute Falun Gong, she went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Dafa. She was arrested and detained without due cause many times.

In the evening of July 2000, my eldest and youngest daughters went to a village to spread leaflets exposing the persecution. They were arrested and taken to the local police station. They separated my daughters, held them in different interrogation rooms and put them on trial separately without any legal cause. A policeman in his 50's cuffed one of my youngest daughter's hands to a metal ring on the floor, so she could only squat on the floor. He pulled her hair with one hand, and used the other hand to slap and beat her face. He also stepped hard on her feet. Therefore, she was unable to walk for a long time. He also used electric batons to shock her neck and hands, and her hair was spread around her on the floor. During those hours of brutal torture, my youngest daughter could not bare the pain, and moaned frequently. My eldest daughter was in the other room. She was beaten even harder. However, she bit her teeth together and did not make a sound. One could only hear the sound of the beatings, the sound of policemen catching their breath from tiredness and the policemen's loud curses. The policemen constantly pulled my youngest daughter's hair and slammed her head against the wall. One heard the sound of "bang, bang." She had buzzing sounds in her head from the hitting, and the entire room was spinning. She was dizzy and could not see things clearly. "Pa, Pa, Pa" the sounds of slapping and kicking were heard from the direction of that room continuously.

At noon the next day, my eldest daughter escaped while cleaning. After that, the police kept an even tighter guard on my youngest daughter. They locked her up in a small room; handcuffed her, and assigned a guard to watch the room. At one point, the guard fell asleep. Then, all of a sudden, her handcuff opened so she escaped through the window.

At the end of September 2000, my eldest daughter, just like us, was also persecuted by the CCP. She was arrested and sent to the Anqiu City 610 Re-education Centre (also a brainwashing centre) and was subjected to brainwashing for 25 days. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution by the CCP minions. After about ten days, the 610 Office staff transferred her to a detention centre, and intended to sentence her to forced labour. She continued her hunger strike and resisted the persecution. She was not released until her life was in critical condition.

On October 16th, 2001, my eldest daughter returned home to visit her husband, child and in-laws. She also clarified the truth of the persecution to them. Within a few days, her husband contacted the 610 Office, and they took her to the 610 re-education centre.

At the re-education centre, they used all means they could think off, civilised and violent, to torture her brutally. They could not move my eldest daughter's heart, and she remained firm in her cultivation. The only way to protest this persecution was another hunger strike, so she refused food and water. Staff from the 610 Office brutally force-fed her.

After about ten days, staff from the Anqiu City 610 Office called my eldest daughter's husband and told him "Your wife escaped!" Two months later, in a small river at Sanhe Village, Jinzhongzi Township, 6 kilometres from downtown Anqiu, two children discovered a female body while fishing. According to eye witnesses, the body was on the bottom of the very shallow river. After the body was taken on shore, people from the village called the police. The police came, took some pictures and examined the body. They said that she died of drowning, and then they left without doing anything else. The body was left next to the river. There was no guard and no one claimed the body. After three days, the village committee staff from Sanhe Village could not bear this situation any longer and buried her. Later, my eldest daughter's husband and family went to Sanhe Village to identify the body. The body was dug up. Based on the clothing and facial outline, they identified her as my eldest daughter. Her husband noticed right away that half of her face, the corner of her mouth and one nostril were tilted upwards. There was a wound on her head that still had stitches in it. An eye-witness said that when the police looked at the body, one policeman whispered to another policeman, "A Falun Gong practitioner."

The persecution we suffered during the past six years is beyond imagination and more than what one can bear. Given my limited writing abilities, I only recorded part of what we have suffered. This is only a fraction of what any persecuted family has experienced.

From this article, I hope everyone will come to realise that the CCP is responsible for breaking tens of thousands of families apart; damaging the welfare of the society, threatening the safety of our nation, and making the Chinese civilisation suffer a truly horrifying calamity.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "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.

3. "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")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/4/27/126208.html