Part 1 - http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200704/38794.html
Ms. Sun Shuqin is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province. Because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong, she was arrested many times, imprisoned, put into a mental hospital and a brainwashing centre, and laid off from work.
The following is a continuation of Ms. Sun Shuqin's account about how she was tortured and put into a brainwashing centre.
Appendix A: Torture That I Experienced at Zhangshi Brainwashing Centre
On September 27th, 2002, the manager of the branch told me that the executives of the Provincial Bank wanted to talk to me. I was taken to Shenyang City by minivan. But the van stopped at the Shenyang City Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp. I refused to get out. Then several people carried me out. They were very experienced in carrying people, two held my feet, two held my shoulders and one carried my head. I was carried through the iron gate to the second floor of a small building.
The second floor was locked and guarded at all times. It was separated from other floors. On this floor they imprisoned the “transformed1” Falun Gong practitioners who had been forced to give up cultivation at the forced labour camp. These practitioners were used as “collaborators2” to help the forced labour camp to “transform” steadfast Dafa practitioners. Lead Guard Shi Fengyou repeatedly assured the managers of my bank that the Zhangshi Brainwashing Centre used only “inspiration,” but in reality they also used physical torture to “transform” practitioners. Accounts of the torture carried out at this brainwashing centre have been reported on the Clearwisdom website. Later, I was told that the “inspiration” here would make a person so desperate that he would rather die than live. The Branch Bank manager was asked to search my body and take back all my belongings, including money, watch and bag. Later the guards took my belt. I completely lost my personal freedom there. Even though I had not been formally sentenced, my freedom was less than the collaborators who were sentenced to forced labour. I was put in a single room and monitored by collaborators around the clock. I could not contact other practitioners. I was allowed to leave the room only to use the toilet, but was still watched by two personal cangues (formerly an instrument of torture, this term now also refers to those who supervise Falun Dafa practitioners in detention). I was even monitored when I was sleeping. The door was kept open and I had to face it while sleeping.
Extortion
Zhangshi Brainwashing Centre charged every practitioner two hundred yuan3 each day. I was charged five thousand yuan after a discount, and was told that the money would be deducted from my salary. I was surprised that the charge was so high. Wasn't this extortion? I told them that I had been lied to in order to get me there and therefore I should be released right away. I did not eat or drink at Zhangshi Brainwashing Centre, nor did I take any “training classes,” so there was no reason for me to pay the fees. I told them I would not pay.
After about a month, Shi Fengyou told me, “Your bank has sent us the money for your second term.” He told me that normally after a month, people who refused to be “transformed” would either be sentenced to forced labour or taken to other places. But I was special and would be kept there to “study” indefinitely. After I left the brainwashing centre, my bank asked me to pay the fees. I did not give them the money. Just think about it, five thousand yuan per person per month! There were one hundred million people practising Falun Gong, how much would it be if the brainwashing centre took five thousand yuan for each practitioner? Even if the cost was indeed this high, wouldn't it create a disaster when society, companies or individuals had to pay?
Force-Fed and Subjected to Brainwashing
I asked Shi Fengyou, “You have imprisoned me. Have I violated the law or committed a crime against society?” He said, “We do not care whether you have violated the law or were just put here by someone. Our responsibility is to carry out the order to 'transform' Falun Gong practitioners.” He also said, “We do not accept practitioners from Jinzhou City. Your manager asked the Jinzhou City 610 Office4 to bribe the Shenyang City 610 Office to get you in. Your manager held a 'thank you' dinner after getting you in.” I then requested to see my managers or call them. Shi Fengyou said, “What's the use of talking to your managers? You should talk to Jiang Zemin.” He then asked me, “Why did you go on a hunger strike?” I told him, “We cultivators also have our human rights protected by the constitution. I demand unconditional release. Is there something wrong with using a hunger strike to protest the violation of my human rights?” He said, “Forget about it. No one has been released from the forced labour camp using a hunger strike. We have many methods to deal with hunger strikes.”
Three days later, I was subjected to the brutal torture of having a feeding tube forcibly inserted into my stomach. The guards carried an old sofa into a room and held me down on the sofa. My hands and legs were held by guards and my head was pushed down on the back of the sofa. A short middle-aged doctor, whom the collaborators said was the best at inserting feeding tubes, inserted a tube into my stomach through my nose, oesophagus and chest. He repeatedly inserted and then took out the tube and rotated the tube in my stomach. My stomach felt as if it was stirred upside down and I started vomiting. He did not stop until my nose and mouth were bleeding. Shi Fengyou blamed the bleeding on my not cooperating. Actually what they did was just to torture me, not to feed me. They did not even prepare food for the forced-feeding. And the tube they used was a thick and hard plastic tube (later they used a thinner and softer tube to feed me).
The collaborators then came to persuade me to eat. Some even cried, saying that my cries of pain reminded them of their experience being force-fed. They asked me to stop the hunger strike so that the bad memories would not come back to them. I refused to yield. Then I was tortured more. Shi Fengyou said that it was bad if I did not eat or was not force-fed for three days. So they forced a feeding tube into my stomach again. This time they brought corn paste with them and force-fed that. Once the corn paste entered my stomach, I suddenly felt cold, and a tightening in my chest, then my heart started beating crazily and my body became very hot. I could barely breathe. I lay next to the window thinking, “How nice it would be if I could breathe some fresh air.” But the door and windows were all locked tight. I felt as if I was suffocating to death. After a few hours, I was shaking and could not control myself. Then all of sudden I returned to normal and was able to breathe. Obviously, they had added something to the corn paste that caused these symptoms. My internal organs were badly injured and I was in great pain. I was so weak that I felt sick and dizzy when I smelled skin lotion. That night my upper body could not stand any pressure, and I could not lie down to sleep. I had to sit or stand. Later, I heard the guards threatening other practitioners, “Whoever tries a hunger strike will be hungry for three days, then we will exhaust him further.” I then realised that this was their method, part of their systematic torture. I do not know what substance they fed me.
The collaborators then tried to “inspire” or “influence” me. They told me that they could not bear to see me going through the pain, and offered to feed me themselves. They bought milk power with their own money and made milk. Then they used a spoon to pry my teeth open, held my nose so that I had to open my mouth, and then fed me. I refused their “kindness” and clamped my teeth tightly. Seeing that the “inspiration” did not work, they decided to use more force. They brought a mouth opener. Then they held me down on the bed. A male collaborator held my hands tightly and another male laid his upper body on my legs so that I could not move. A third male held my head down on his leg. The third male pried my teeth slightly open to insert the mouth opener. Then he rotated the screw and the mouth opener jacked my mouth open wider. A female used a spoon to put the milk into my mouth and then held my nose to force me to swallow it. One male said that he had never served other people this kindly except for his own child. Many people stopped by to watch, whispering and giving me dirty looks. The collaborators then discussed whether they should close the door. This humiliation was more painful than being force-fed. I told them, “Don't lie on my legs. Get up. Be respectful.” Then they changed a little bit. They held my head down on a pillow while force-feeding me. I was repeatedly tortured by the force-feeding with the mouth opener and the tube.
I asked the inmate who prepared the corn paste what other things he added to the paste. He said that he was only responsible for making the paste and that Shi Youfeng was the only person who decided what to add and then added it. Clearly they hid their torture methods carefully. One time it became a little chaotic at the forced labour camp when many practitioners were admitted. Many collaborators from Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp and Shenyang City's Longshan Forced Labour Camp came. Someone by accident tasted the corn paste used for force-feeding. He exclaimed, “What is this? I can't imagine what's going to happen once it gets into someone's body.”
Actually the collaborators did not have much freedom either. They were also monitored. Most of them did not know the torture details but followed the guards' orders. They monitored Dafa practitioners' every movement, reported back to the guards, and then took directions to carry out the torture.
I went through some extraordinary force-feeding torture. Once, on the day prior to the force-feeding, the labour camp doctor came to me and took out his stethoscope to listen to my heart. The next day, many people came to watch me being force-fed. The force-feeding sofa was moved closer to the door. I asked why but got no answer. That force-feeding session took a long time. First, I was fed with corn paste. When the room and even corridors were packed with visitors, I was force-fed with some unknown substance. My heart started beating quickly. I became very excited and had uncontrollable shouting while breathing. They videotaped this forced-feeding session. Later the collaborators mimicked my “excited shouting” and showed me the videotape. I did not know whether they were testing some new torture method on me or teaching visitors how to torture.
Once, I was force-fed with salt. I could tell it was the table salt crystal because the doctor kept shaking the feeding tube to get it off the tube and some even came into my mouth. The salt reacted with the previous unknown materials in my stomach. All of sudden, I felt extremely cold and I collapsed. My breath was so weak that I could not feel it at all. I also could not feel my body. After two hours, they force-fed me again with the regular material. I kept vomiting that time. That actually helped me to come back to life.
Later, Shi Youfeng told me that I could sleep whenever I wanted. Prior to that I was only allowed to sleep during the set time period. I then slept almost all the time. No one came to “brainwash” me any longer. The collaborators just kept watching me and recording my sleeping habit.
Besides force-feeding and brainwashing, the most common torture was physical punishment and threats. The collaborators dumped all kinds of “brainwashing theories” on firm Dafa practitioners. The collaborators were divided into smaller groups and each group was responsible for one “brainwashing theory.” If the steadfast Dafa practitioners refused to take their theory, they were threatened or physically abused. I heard a senior female practitioner crying and shouting for Teacher to help, as she was forced to squat for a long time.
I believe that my cultivation is a human right given by Heaven and no one has the right to take it from me. So I refused any form of brainwashing or “transforming.” From the very beginning, I refused to sit on a small stool. If I was forced to sit on it, I would use all my strength to get off of it. Even though several collaborators collectively held me down on the stool, I could always find the strength to break away and stand up. I kept doing this until one day there was a loud cracking sound in my neck when they held me down. Then they tried to force me to stand up instead. I refused to obey. They kept dragging me, but I would move around. Eventually they were exhausted. They put Dafa books where I was going to sit. Then I moved to a different place to sit. They tried in vain for a whole day to force me to accept the punishment. That evening I had a great pain in my stomach for I had not had a bowel movement for ten days after the force-feeding. Shi Youfeng said that they could give me an intravenous drip. I told him, “I will never let you do that to me. I have been cultivating for six years. I have always been healthy and I have not taken any medical treatment.” I understood their torture methods by then. Force-feeding could torture me so terribly, who knows what problem the intravenous drip would create?
On my fourth day at the forced labour camp, after I was first force-fed, the collaborators asked me to eat, but I refused. One collaborator used a soft drink bottle to knock on my head, threatening me that I would be punished and sent to forced labour or put into prison. They also threatened that if I refused to be “transformed,” I would be sent to the desert by myself and left to die gradually. Sometimes collaborators scolded me for no reason. Sometimes all the collaborators in the room verbally abused me together. Sometimes they sexually harassed me. Sometimes they tried soft approaches or deceit on me. They could use any methods in their attempts to “transform” me.
“The Same Song” -- the Mark of Being “Transformed”
Whenever a practitioner was “transformed” and released from the brainwashing centre, everyone gathered in the corridor for a ceremony. They sang the song, “The Same Song” and videotaped it. Because I always firmly refused to attend these “ceremonies,” they just left me alone.
They also brought someone to sing popular songs and modern Peking Opera for me and invited me to dance. I asked, “You are doing pseudo-military management here, is dancing permitted?” They said that I was special. I told them that I had no interest in these things. I only liked to sit in meditation and do my exercises. The “personal cangues” exercised Tai chi every morning and read to me modern fitness and health theories. I told them that as a cultivator, I did not need any of that. For me, whether they were nice or rude to me, I was not moved. I was just nice to them. I was sympathetic to their situation, but I would not give up my belief in Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. I wanted to wake them up, but I felt that they were afraid to be awakened because they would feel a lot of guilt and pain if they were awakened. What a pity for those once-good people to be “transformed” like this!
In the later stages, I was sleeping almost all the time. Then one day I felt great pain in my head, as if the blood cells in my head were splitting. On November 3rd, 2002, my bank hired a doctor from Jinzhou City and sent him to the brainwashing centre to take me home.
My body was severely injured by the torture. I lost a lot of hair, and it started turning white. I became incontinent when running or jumping, had muscle spasms in my legs, and my nerves became insensitive. After I started cultivated Falun Gong, I could memorise a short article after reading it just a few times, but since being in the brainwashing centre, my memory had significantly worsened. My bones were also in bad shape. Two of my teeth died and my neck bones kept cracking, and my left shoulder went numb and was painful.
I have written my experiences to help people see the nature of evil and to stay away from it. As the old saying goes, “There are deities a yard above your head,” “What is done by night appears by day.” I believe that more torture details will be exposed in the upcoming days. All people, from the top to the bottom, who are involved actively or passively, directly or indirectly, in the torture against Falun Gong practitioners are witnesses of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution.
Note
1. "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")
2. "Collaborators": Former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.
3. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
4. "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.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/3/8/150248.html
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