The Savage Persecution of Ms. Tang Tianmin at the Nanmusi Women's Labour Camp in Sichuan Province

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Tang Tianmin, 52 years old, lived in Naxi, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province. She had been ill since childhood, suffering from congenital heart disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis that caused pain and swelling in her right hand for many years. Further health problems included a uterine tumour, gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), enteritis (inflammation of the intestine), colpitis (inflammation of the vagina), and other difficult-to-treat conditions such as genital retraction syndrome (GRS), a rare condition that triggers panic attacks and severe pain.

Fortunately, Tang Tianmin started practising Falun Dafa in 1998. She said, "The days of Dafa cultivation are the happiest of my life. I studied the Falun Dafa teachings, did the exercises and shared experiences with fellow practitioners. We improved ourselves, and I felt I had stumbled into an incomparably wonderful world and was immersed in boundless compassion. Several months into Dafa practice, all of my illnesses disappeared. It was a true miracle! I knew from then on that Falun Dafa is not just any qigong but saves people from an ocean of suffering."

The Communist Party and Jiang Zemin began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. Ms. Tang firmly believed in the righteousness of Falun Dafa and persisted in her belief in Dafa. She was brutally persecuted.

Persecution at the hands of guards and inmates at a women's labour camp

Ms. Tang Tianmin was taken to Group 7 at the Nanmusi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong City. The day of her arrival the guards forced her to squat on the floor. Guard Liao handcuffed her and forced her to squat until past 10:00 p.m. The inmates handcuffed her to the railing on an upper bunk bed and did not let her sleep until 2:00 a.m. They made her sleep in that position.

The following day, female head Zhang Xiaofang of Group 7 said that Tang Tianmin had not made "an honest confession." She kicked Tang Tianmin and ordered the inmates to attack her 24 hours a day and "reform¹" her through violence.

The inmates let her use the toilet only twice a day. They kept her handcuffed all the time; sometimes standing up, sometimes squatting on the floor. They let her sleep for only two hours a day, handcuffed to a railing.

This torture lasted more than ten days. The inmates also beat her on a daily basis at all hours of the day. She was under enormous pressure and could not eat. She vomited anything she put in her mouth.

The labour camp merged Group 7 and Group 8 where Falun Gong practitioners were held. The new group head, Li Qi, bombarded Tang Tianmin with brainwashing propaganda, which Ms. Tang firmly resisted. Li Qi saw Ms. Tang covering her ears, so she told the inmates to intensify the physical torture. The beatings worsened. Inmate Yang Xiaohong grabbed Tang Tianmin's hair and twirled her thin body around. She also hit and kicked Tang Tianmin, who cried for help.

Li Qi was afraid the people downstairs would hear the beating, so she ordered the inmates to take Tang Tianmin from the second floor to the fourth floor. Li Qi violently kicked Ms. Tang in the abdomen and slapped her face. Tang Tianmin's nose bled immediately and dripped on her shirt. Li Qi told the inmates to wash her shirt to cover up traces of the crime. Then she ordered inmates Yang Yanyan and Deng Qin to force Tang Tianmin to stand on a 15.7 inch square ceramic tile. She was forbidden to move or sit on the tile. She could not sleep or use the toilet. The inmates beat her randomly, claiming she did not stand upright. This was chilly October weather. Tang Tianmin was forced to relieve herself in her trousers and on the floor. The inmates did not let her change her trousers and instead found Tang Tianmin's clean clothes, bed sheets and quilts and used them to wipe away the excrement. Tang Tianmin stood on the tile for three days and two nights. She was forbidden to change her soiled underwear until one month later and could not wash her bedding until after four months.

The persecution continued. One day, seven inmates stood around her and savagely beat her again. She said, "I just stood several days straight without sleep, and now you are beating me. My head is feeling heavy." They called Tang Tianmin a "traitor" while hitting her. They then tied her up, with her head forced backward. A guard surnamed Tang went over and untied her after about an hour. Ms. Tang overheard the inmates saying, "This type of rope tie cannot be used for too long or it will cause death." Ms. Tang Tianmin said, "Although I was exhausted and anguished from the torture, I knew very well in my heart that I was not a bad person." Inmates Yu Tingting, Deng Qin, and Yang Yanyan administered this torture.

Solitary confinement

Because Tang Tianmin refused to "reform," Li Qi had her locked in a solitary confinement room on the second floor. She would sleep for two hours each day and stand facing the wall for more than 20 hours. The inmates hit her with wooden sticks, brooms, and bamboo sticks. They pushed her back against the wall and punched her chest and then turned her around to punch her back. Inmates Rong Xia, Hou Tingting, and Song Yimei were the culprits in the solitary confinement room. They said, "Don't hit her when someone is here; don't let anyone see the beating."

One day at noon, criminal inmate Song Yimei struck Tang Tianmin's head with a metal hanger more than 30 times because she refused to "reform." Song Yimei could not complete the "assignment" the guards had given. Other inmates transferred Ms. Tang to the fourth floor per the order of camp officials. She had diarrhoea, but the inmates refused to let her use the toilet. She ended up soiling her trousers. The inmates did not let her change clothes.

Later in the afternoon inmates Li Jing, Zhang Yiqun, Hou Tingting, and Zeng Xiaofang returned from torturing practitioners in Group 5 and immediately tied Tang Tianmin up. They tore used bed sheets into long strips, forced her to sit on a small stool, and bound her body and head with the strips. She was tied for five hours.

Right after 8:00 p.m., Group 7 political head Yue Xiuquan arrived. She looked at Ms. Tang and told inmate Li Jing to bring a mirror and hold it in front of her. Ms. Tang had been beaten with metal hangers, was wearing filthy trousers, and had been tied into a ball for five hours, sitting on a small stool. She saw that her eyes were swollen and her face was disfigured. Yue Xiuquan scolded Tang Tianmin, saying, "Look at yourself, why are you so stubborn?"

The guards then attempted to coerce her to curse Dafa and renounce her belief by writing a guarantee statement². She said, "Why should I write such a thing? No one cared about me when I was dying from numerous illnesses, and no one cared about me when I was unemployed, when life was extremely difficult. Dafa gave me a second life. I cannot betray my conscience by insulting Dafa. Besides, what are you 'reforming' me into? I know how to be a good person and am trying my best to be a good person. Jiang Zemin issued the policy to bankrupt Falun Gong practitioners financially, ruin our reputations, and physically annihilate us. If I obeyed the Communist Party and Jiang Zemin by 'reforming,' I would be an accomplice to these crimes. No, I absolutely will not betray 'Truth-Compassion-Forbearance,' the law of the universe, and I absolutely will not betray Dafa!"

The heads and guards at Group 7 saw that she was truly determined so they threatened, "We will lock you in a dark room and extend your sentence. We'll send you to a mental hospital, because you are crazy."

Coercion and violence cannot affect righteous belief

Physical and mental torture not only failed to affect Tang Tianmin's righteous belief-- instead it allowed her to see through the Party's evil nature. The guards and inmates could not comprehend her indestructible willpower and were amazed. The guards falsely claimed that determined practitioners had mental problems and forced those practitioners to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Ms. Tang told the doctor about the tremendous changes that she had experienced through Dafa practice and also exposed the persecution at the labour camp. The doctor concluded the practitioners were rational, articulate, and clear thinking, and none of them had any mental problems.

The guards resorted to other torture methods. The inmates forced Tang Tianmin to put her arms forward, level with her shoulders, and then lift one leg. They also made her half-squat with her arms raised straight up. When they hit her she would shout, "Falun Dafa is good." They then shoved dirty socks in her mouth and taped her mouth shut to prevent her from shouting. They repeatedly banged her head against a wall. They gave her toilet privileges only twice a day and forced her to sleep on the floor. Inmate Li Jing threatened, "We'll give you a few days, and if you still won't 'reform,' we'll throw you in the dungeon!"

Several days later the inmates resumed beating her. Tang Tianmin removed her clothes in front of the female inmates, who were shocked at her skeletal frame and layers of scars. They gasped, turned around, and reported to the guards.

Another form of abuse followed. Tang Tianmin was made to do slave labour. At first she was made to sew flowers on cloth for more than 20 hours a day and could sleep for only one or two hours. She was forbidden to rest if she did not complete her assigned workload. The only exception was when visitors or groups of inspectors came to the camp. Then the detainees could go to sleep earlier. After two months of toil, the earliest Tang Tianmin could go to bed was past midnight, and she had to get up at 5:00 a.m.

Awakening conscience in the midst of persecution

Once a group of visitors came to the camp, and guard Li Qi arranged for Tang Tianmin to be interviewed. She warned her to only talk about herself and never discuss anything about the camp. During the interview, Ms. Tang told the visitors the facts about how she benefited from Dafa. Li Qi became upset and gave her a savage beating. On another occasion practitioners Gao Huifang and Luo Meng told some foreign investigators about the persecution of practitioners at the labour camp. They were brutally beaten in the evening and hung up overnight.

After Tang Tianmin's interview Li Qi ordered inmate Mai Zhonglian to beat Ms. Tang. Inmate Mai Zhonglian received the order and took her to an empty room across from the dorm room. She pummelled her chest while holding her back against a wall. She had terrible chest pains the following day. Another inmate asked her, "Why do you hurt?" Tang Tianmin said, "Because you guys hit me." The inmates said, "No one touched you!" Guard Liao took Tang Tianmin to a doctor who had agreed to collaborate with the camp authorities to document a false diagnosis. She had severe pain in the upper left quadrant during the exam, but the doctor wrote tracheitis, although she did not have symptoms of coughing or rapid breathing. When undergoing a B-type ultrasound, the doctor paused the equipment briefly on her chest and quickly slid down toward her lower right abdomen. Tang Tianmin reminded the doctor, "The left half of my chest hurts." The doctor ignored her and concluded that she had gallstones.

Guard Li Qi brandished the diagnosis document in Group 7 where Falun Gong practitioners are held, saying, "Look, she has tracheitis and gall stones and she is claiming someone beat her. She doesn't believe in science!"

Because Tang Tianmin refused to "reform," the officials refused four times to let her family meet with her although they travelled a long distance and spent lots of money and energy to make the trip. Her daughter and son-in-law were angry and said, "My mother (mother-in-law) is a good person. She did nothing wrong!"

Officials from the Naxi District government went to the labour camp and tried to "reform" the practitioners. They said to Tang Tianmin, "If you don't 'reform,' you can't go home and you can't fulfil your responsibilities to your family." She told him, "You brought me here illegally, and that is the reason why I cannot take care of my family. I did nothing wrong! You are the guilty party."

Two years later, Party officials and police picked up Tang Tianmin and took her home. She told them about the persecution inside the camp. The officials were silent.

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. "Guarantee Statement": A statement to declare that one is remorseful for practising Falun Gong and guarantees not to practise Falun Gong again, not to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and never again associate with any Falun Dafa practitioners.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/28/155777.html