Zhang Cuiying's Letter to German Chancellor

Dear Mr. chancellor Schroeder,

My name is Zhang Cuiying, an Australian artist. I have been arrested four times and detained for eight months in Chinese prison just because of peaceful appeal for Falun Gong in China. I was brutally tortured and abused. In November 2000, thanks to the help from the Australian government and the international communities, I was able to get back to Australia. Now I am holding several art exhibitions in different cities in Germany. As Chinese president Jiang Zemin is coming to visit Germany and the United Nation is holding its 58th session on human rights in Geneva, I would take the opportunity to expose the Chinese government’s human right violations towards innocent Falun Gong people and urgently call upon your support to end this modern tragedy.

I cannot bear to look back on the eight months of my life in the Chinese prison, where I would have rather died than lived. In the dimly lit jail untouched by sunlight, I was forced to labour over ten hours a day to make products for export. The Chinese police ordered me to sleep on the frozen concrete floor, and whenever they saw me practicing the Falun Gong exercise, they beat me, cursed me and splashed water on me. My body became bruised because of the beating, and I felt too much pain to sleep at night. They also cruelly shackled me, I was not even allowed to come out. My skin was completely decayed.

Because I did not give up my belief in Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance, the guards encouraged the prisoners to beat me and locked me up in a male prisoners’ cell, which was dark and damp and had no sunlight at all. I was forcibly stripped off my clothes, and compelled me to face the closed-circuit television, which was under the surveillance of male police officers. I tried to shield my body. Their indecent behaviour made me boil with anger.

These prolonged inhumane treatments made me miss my family members deeply, especially my daughter. But I was not allowed to write to my family members or give them a call. The Chinese police took my pen away by force; they also confiscated a letter I wrote to my husband. In the endless nights I had been longing for my daughter. My long detainment had hurt her badly. She was too young to take so much pain. During the eight-month imprisonment, my parents, whom now are still under the persecution in China, were not allowed to visit me, even send a word.

If it were not for my personal experience, I would never have imagined that today, in the 21st century in China, there are no human rights, no morality, no justice, and no laws. Tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are illegally detained, brutally tortured and even killed in prison. Many people were forced to leave their homes. Families were broken apart. Female practitioners were stripped naked and thrown into the cells of male prisoners. Pregnant women were forced to have abortions or driven to miscarriages. Normal and healthy people were forced into mental hospitals. From the news reports, there are more than 390 died of ill-treatment. Recent reports about the escalating persecution campaign against Falun Gong in China said that, in Changchun City, where Falun Gong began, the orders from the top are to "kill without mercy" Falun Gong people, and that police have been ordered to "shoot on sight" anyone posting or handing out Falun Gong materials.

Since my new freedom, I have been traveling around the world and holding my painting exhibitions in order to tell people the beauty of inner peace obtained from practicing Falun Gong and its contrast, the vicious and ugly persecution happening in China. I have travelled over 20 countries, mainly in Europe. I have received tremendous support in different countries from the top government officials, media circles to kindhearted ordinary people. Mr. Martin Lessenthin, spokesperson for the International Association for Human Rights (IGFM) in Germany, states recently that Jiang Zemin must stand trial and face charges at the International Tribunal in The Hague/Holland for his crimes of suppression and human rights violations.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said that an abuse of human right anywhere is an attack on your right everywhere. China under the leadership of Jiang Zemin is not only attacking basic human rights but is also attacking the very essence of peace: Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. The peace that Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) can bring is everlasting because it is in people’s mind and hearts. As Jiang Zemin is going to visit Germany and the UN 58th session of the Commission on Human Rights is going on, I believe we can stand up and take solid actions to end this brutal human rights violation against Falun Gong people in China and say no to China’s state terrorism. Your words of justice could help save the lives of many innocent people in China and could help end this three–year long inhuman persecution. This world needs peace not violence, needs honesty and compassion, and the world needs tolerance and understanding.

Thank you very much.

Enclosed please find a collection of my paintings and a CD. May the sound of inner peace and beauty dance softly in your heart.

Yours faithfully,

Zhang Cuiying