Persecution Experiences of a Teenage Girl

My name is Zhao Xingwei. I’m from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. I’ve been harassed and persecuted by the officers of public safety, the judicial police, and the national security many times because I practise Falun Gong and refuse to give up my belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." The following is a description of a mere fraction of the brutal torture I have had to endure.

In March 2000, police officers from Yong’an Police Station and Qianjin Police Station in the Qianjin District of Jiamusi City arrested my mother, Ms. Song Yuzhi, on false charges. They asked my mother if she practised Falun Gong, and she admitted that she did. The police took my mother to a detention centre. Later the criminals came to our home. They took Dafa books, videos, tapes, and pictures. My father and I went to Qianjin Police Station to get my mother out. The police demanded 3000 yuan¹ before they would release her. Other family members gave officer Yang a box of cigarettes that cost 150 yuan and 1000 yuan in cash. My mother was released after 34 days of imprisonment. This was the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of my family. From then on the police from Yong’an Police Station harassed my family.

In May 2000, my mother and I went to a neighbour’s house. Officer Li Yanwei from the Qianjin District Yong’an Police Station saw us and followed. Li beat on the door after we went into the house. My neighbour was very frightened and wouldn’t open the door. Li realized that he couldn’t open the door, so he borrowed a ladder and got into the house from the second floor balcony.

My mother and I were so shocked to see a policeman display such horrifying behavior. In order to keep our neighbor from getting into trouble, my mother and I left the house with the policeman. Li took us to the police station and separated us. The police threatened me, "I don’t care if you commit murder or arson, but you can’t practise Falun Gong. I have to take care of you!"

The police kept us there for five hours. They confiscated my identification so I couldn’t find a job, and I had no freedom. I couldn’t go anywhere without my ID. I was 17 at the time.

On June 5th, 2000, three practitioners and I went to Beijing to appeal to the government. There were no legal channels through which we could appeal, so we went to Tiananmen Square to hold up banners. Immediately, several plainclothes police officers besieged us and took away our banners. The police took us by force to the Tiananmen District Public Safety Bureau, where we were subjected to interrogations. We were there for six hours. There were dozens of practitioners from all over the country detained there, and one of them was only 12 years old.

At 4 p.m. on June 5th, my mother and I were transferred to the Jiamusi Office in Beijing and then to the Jiamusi Qianjin Public Safety Bureau. Officer Li Yanwei fromthe Qianjin District Yong’an Police Station demanded 800 yuan but we couldn’t afford it, so we were sent to a detention centre.

I had just turned 17 and finished school. I arrived at the detention centre terrified and in despair. I refused to give up the practice of Falun Gong and was sentenced to 15 days of "administrative detention." Dozens of people were cramped into a 140 square-foot house. It was summertime, and the house was damp and dark. Many people were infected with scabies. Practitioner Mr. Huo Jinping went on a hunger strike to protest the imprisonment. The police put a 48-pound chain on Mr. Huo and force-fed him twice a day for about two weeks.

On June 27th my family took me home. I was infected with scabies from the detention centre and spread it to my entire family. It took us 18 months to cure it. My family became even poorer after that. Fortunately, other practitioners helped us through the crisis.

On the afternoon of April 8th, 2002, the authorities in Jiamusi City began a large-scale arrest of practitioners. The director of the Qianjin District Yong’an Police Station came knocking on our door with several police officers, but they left when no one answered. My mother and I left home soon after. I came back the next day and the police found me and took me to the police station. They again sentenced me 15 days of administrative detention. At that time they told me that they would release me if I gave up Falun Gong. I refused. Fourteen days later I was sentenced to two years of forced labour and sent to a forced labour camp.

On April 23rd the forced labour camp started "strict management." We had to sit in a confined position all day long. At night the temperature dropped to just a few degrees above 0 °C (32 °F). The doors and windows were cracked open and the icy wind blew in. Everyone was about to freeze in the metal beds. Since everyone had been abducted by the police before being sent to the forced labour camp and hadn’t had time to pack, everyone was wearing only thin clothes for several cold nights. Later, the guards in the camp gave us some musty duvets. We ate spoiled, dark rice cakes with mould and drank vegetable broth with just a few cabbage leaves. We lived in these conditions for a month before I was transferred to the brainwashing centre.

I was forced to watch videos that slandered Dafa and had to keep a journal of my thoughts. Every time I watched the videos I had to write down what I thought about them. It caused me great mental anguish every time until I became numb to it. My mind was trembling under the intense pressure, and I had to pretend I was happy to avoid more persecution.

In November 2002, we moved into a new building that was built specifically for persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. There were about 100 male practitioners and 100 female practitioners. We were forced to pick more than 100 pounds of beans, one by one, from sunrise until sunset.

My family took me home on August 21st, 2003. My numb heart came back to life and I was happy again.

In April 2005, I received a call at work telling me that I couldn’t go home because there was a policeman waiting for me at home. After I got off work I saw about five police officers drag my mother out of the house and manhandle her into a police car. Officers from arrested my mother and took more than 1000 yuan in cash, a stereo, a DVD player, two paper cutters, and several Dafa books. My mother was detained. Twenty days later officer Chen Wanyou from the Jiamusi City Police Station took my mother to a forced labour camp. Three months later my mother’s life was in danger and they sent her home.

Note

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

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/8/24/136331.html