An Older Lady Tells of the Persecution She Suffered in Sichuan Province

In 1998, I was lucky enough to learn Falun Dafa. At that time, I had just had an operation for gallstones, and I was very weak. An elderly woman gave me a Falun Dafa book to read. As I was not able to read, I just opened the book and looked at the characters every day. I had a job at that time. Sometimes when we did not have much to do, I asked my manager to read the book to me.

Later, I started going to the practice site every night to study the Falun Dafa teachings and do the exercises with other practitioners. I felt more comfortable day by day.

Because of my job, I could not go to the group practice every Sunday. I made a decision and asked for a half day off to join the group practice in a park. After I had done the standing exercises, I felt totally relaxed. I had a wound left by the gallstone operation that had been stitched more than ten times. The scar was as big as a fist, and the wound always festered. After practising Falun Gong, the wound recovered. I felt it was really miraculous. After that, I kept going to the group practice. In time my symptoms of Cockayne-Neil syndrome, cervical disease, gastritis, enteritis, and cystitis all disappeared. My gratitude to Dafa was heartfelt.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) brainwashing

After the Chinese Communist Party started to persecute Dafa, we were not allowed to practise together. My husband did not allow me to practise at home either. I could not understand. Why would such a wonderful practice be forbidden? I decided to speak out for justice for Dafa in Beijing. At the West Beijing Train Station, a policeman arrested us and took us to a police station. The police station was full. Later we were taken to a riot team. We refused to tell where we had come from. We were detained until twelve o’clock and were not given any food. When they heard our Sichuan accent, they said "OK. It must be hard for you to travel so far here to Beijing. I can take you sightseeing at Tiananmen Square. Then we will take you to the train station. Tomorrow you can go home." Actually, they just took us to Tiananmen and then the car drove to Sichuan Province regional office in Beijing.

In the regional office, the police asked again where we came from. We did not say anything. Then they started to beat us. I still refused to tell, and then they took off my clothes. At last I only had on an undershirt. It was a cold winter day. They asked me to hold a stone lion up. One policeman said, "If you can hold it up, you will be released." Another officer, tall and mean said, "What do you say?" Then he slapped me. It felt like my eyeball had fallen out from the beating. I slowly pushed it back into place. My whole face was swollen, but I did not feel any pain. The next day my eye felt better. After staying there for three days, we were sent directly to a brainwashing centre in Sichuan.

In the brainwashing centre, I was persecuted, like being forced to stand for long hours and having to stand against a wall. They drew a circle on the ground and I was only allowed to sit in the circle. If I sat outside the circle, they’d beat me with metal sticks. They also made me stand on a piece of ice. It was winter and my feet turned red. At night, I was not allowed to sleep. They wanted me to run and sign the Three Statements. If I refused, they’d make me stand and squat many times. Every day I was only given 50 grams of porridge. There was no rice, just water. I was not allowed to take a shower or wash my face either. I was persecuted for 50 or 60 days. They told me to pay 1,100 yuan¹ and then released me.

After I came back home, the neighbourhood community threatened my husband that if he could not control me and if he didn't report me if he saw me practising Falun Gong, then his retirement pay would be stopped. At that time, his retirement pay was our only income, so he was scared. I insisted on keeping up my practice in Dafa, so he always beat me or swore at me. I was always full of wounds and swollen. He also threw rubbish on me, urinated on me, and put a toilet seat around my neck. He told my brother and sister to burn Dafa books. My husband reported me to the neighbourhood community. They called the police station and then I was arrested and taken to the police station. I was detained for one day. I said, "Falun Dafa is good. 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance' is good. Restore my Teacher's reputation!" At 6:30 p.m., they said I could go home. When I came back, my husband was surprised. I said to him that Dafa had saved me. The neighbourhood community representative was surprised, too. My husband, under the pressure from the CCP, started to swear at Dafa. He refused to eat anything I cooked. He did not let me eat or cook either. This lasted for a year. Later, I went to someone else’s house and helped to cook there. Nine days later, my husband got ill. He told our son and daughter that he wanted me to come back. His illness got even more serious later. No hospital could find a reason for his illness. After ten days in the hospital, he died. After that, the police often came to harass me and tried to stop me from practising the exercises.

In August 2002, I was listening to Teacher’s lectures at home. Several police officers crashed the door open and came in. They took away my recorder, tapes, Dafa books, and Dafa materials. I was arrested and taken to a detention centre. There, I kept studying the teachings and doing the exercises. After 20 days, they transferred me to another detention centre. I was detained for 15 days more.

On April 19th, 2003, several police arrested me at my home. I was taken to a brainwashing centre. They wanted us to watch a video of the self-immolation² incident. I then exposed the truth: "Burn patients are not covered with gauze. If Wang Jindong’s whole body was burned, then why wasn’t the plastic bottle burned?" The guards did not want me to say any more and told me to stand against the wall. They didn't know what to do, so they called the National Security department. One of the National Security officers came and asked me, "Does the Communist Party treat you well?" I said, "It’s persecuting us. Sometimes CCP agents take me to a detention centre, sometimes to a police station, sometimes to a brainwashing centre. They are depriving me of my civil rights. What kind of 'good treatment' is this? There’s nothing wrong with cultivating and following 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.' Our Teacher teaches people to have good hearts. Why is it wrong to raise our morality? This is truly treating people well."

During the seven years of the persecution of Falun Gong, I have been constantly persecuted and detained by the local police. But I will keep righteous thoughts and righteous actions and do well on my cultivation path.

Note

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

2. The "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" [an incident on Tiananmen Square in January 2001 whereby four people set themselves alight and the Chinese Communist claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners, yet there was video evidence to strongly disprove this claim]

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/2/6/148425.html