I am Zhang Lifang, fifty years old. I am from Pengan County, Sichuan Province. Previously I worked in the Pengan County Medicine Company. On July 11th, 1998, I began to practise Falun Gong.
In 1999 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong. My work unit fired me because they were afraid of being involved. I had to find another job.
1. Going to Beijing to appeal for Dafa
Since July 20th, 1999, the CCP has persecuted Dafa and slandered Dafa's good name. On March 11th, 2000, my younger sister Zhang Lihong and I went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong.
On the train to Beijing, I had heard that the Beijing government was enforcing martial law and arresting Falun Gong practitioners. At that time the CCP was holding the two national conferences. On the surface it appeared calm at Tiananmen Square, and there were dozens of police cars moving around slowly. I did not find any indication of people being arrested. I told my sister that we should not worry and could go to the Tiananmen Gate to have a look, so my sister went first. From 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. she had not returned. Therefore, I went to the Tiananmen Gate to look for her. I checked my bag in, and at that time the personnel asked me if I had ever practised Falun Gong, and I thought and then replied that I had practised. The personnel continued to ask me, "Do you still practise now?" I replied, "Yes." The personnel phoned and called in plainclothes officers to detain me in a nearby room. They forced me to register, and while registering I found my sister's name, so I realised that my sister was arrested. Afterwards, I was taken to the Tiananmen Police Station by the patrolling van of Tiananmen Square. I was forced to register and then was incarcerated in an iron-fenced area. There were still a lot of practitioners in the van, and I heard that the police had already arrested hundreds of practitioners. Through my personal experience of two years of forced labour and three years of incarceration, I have witnessed firsthand the CCP's brutality and wickedness.
An hour after I was detained in the Tiananmen Police Station, someone from the Nanchong City Liaison Office in Beijing came to take me away. He said that if I had not acknowledged I was a Falun Gong practitioner, they would not have arrested me, and that before me they had already arrested more than seventy practitioners. In addition, he said that I was so stupid and that they would sentence me.
On March 15th, 2000, Chen Zhuo and Tang Shude from the Pengan County National Security Bureau, as well as accountant Zhu Yingping from my former work unit, took me back. As a result, I was detained at the Detention Centre for 45 days. After I was released, I went to my previous work unit and consulted with manager Tang Aiguo. I decided to go to work the next day, but I was charged with a fee for them to take me back. They deceived my family into paying over seven hundred yuan1, and they asked me to pay more than nine hundred yuan. When I went to work the next day, I was dismissed and they confiscated more than 20,000 yuan from me.
Tang Aiguo and Tang Wenlong went to the Politics and Law Committee and requested to remove my name from the payroll forcibly. The Bureau of Health also signed off on my dismissal.
2. Sent to a forced labour camp
From June 29th, 2000 to June 2nd, 2002, I was detained at Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp in Zizhong County, Sichuan Province.
Because I distributed leaflets exposing the persecution, Tang Aiguo took some of the material and reported me to the National Security Bureau. On the afternoon of June 29th, the head of the National Security Team Pan Yunhao ransacked my house and arrested me and another three practitioners: Wang Shuwen, Hu Ran and Duan Dengdian. Later, Wang Shuwen, Hu Ran and I were sentenced to two years of forced labour each. When we were taken to the Police Department, policeman Chen Zhuo threw us to the ground from the car. They handcuffed Hu Ran so tightly that she was bleeding from her wrists.
At around 7 p.m. on July 11th, 2000, the policemen took me to the National Security Team. After I went into the room, Pan Yunhao, Chen Zhauo, Tang Shude, Liu Pengcheng, Li Yong and Yuan Jiqiang tortured me with the "Carrying a Sword on the Back2" position, which was so painful that I nearly fell to the ground.
Moreover, Chen Zhuo kneed me in the chest violently. They interrogated me and subjected me to further physical abuse. For six months my internal organs were in pain from the beatings. At that time, a policewoman from the National Security Team was present, as well.
When I was detained at Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp, I suffered and witnessed personally the persecution of practitioners. They used all kinds of means to persecute the practitioners. On August 15th, when I was just detained in the Fifth Team, the officers searched my belongings and found Dafa articles. They forced me to strip to my underwear and "repent" while facing the wall. In addition, they forced me to study the slander against Dafa. The section head Li called in former practitioners who had gone astray to deceive us. Many steadfast practitioners were thus fooled into giving up their beliefs.
When I was transferred to the Seventh Team, I witnessed how steadfast practitioners were detained in the solitary confinement cell for long periods of time. Practitioner Zhang Fengqing was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time and forced to read materials slandering Dafa. The guards punched and kicked the practitioners, shocked them with electric batons, and forced them to remain standing in the same position for long stretches of time. They also subjected the practitioners to sleep deprivation and assaulted them. Anyone who was close to the steadfast practitioners would be punished and physically abused along with them. I often saw how practitioners Tong Guiqin, Luo Xiaoyu and Zhu Yuehui were handcuffed to the toilet, and Zhang Shiqing was beaten violently. Gao Yan was left out in the elements for long periods of time and was only allowed to go back inside after midnight. Gao Yan went on a long-term hunger strike and was tortured as punishment. I could see some of the physical abuse that she endured from the corridor. Some guards would beat the practitioners brutally, including striking them in the face with their shoes so hard that the sand from the shoes stuck in the practitioners' flesh. They handcuffed the practitioners' hands and feet to two separate beds. In the summer, they did not allow the practitioners to wash, so that their bodies smelled very badly. Most practitioners had severe itching. In addition to physical abuse, they forced the practitioners to listen to tapes or read literature that slandered Dafa.
The head guard Zhang Xiaofang often slapped my face. Guard Zhang from Mianyang Prison punched me in the face to the point where I could not turn my neck. In addition, she used a metal baton to hit me repeatedly in the lower back. I was in severe pain for a week and could barely walk after the beating. They also forced me to remain standing in a military posture and exposed to the elements from dawn to night. This punishment lasted until I was transferred to the Ninth Team. Guard Zhang from Mianyang Prison said that she was in charge of beating male criminals when the criminals entered the prison, but she was assigned to assault me this time. Team leader Qin shocked my mouth with electric batons and struck me repeatedly with a metal baton.
The guards incited drug-addict criminals to beat us. Four or five of these criminals took me to a solitary confinement cell and beat me brutally. Many Dafa practitioners have suffered this kind of torture.
The guards often took practitioners to the guards' office to assault them. Team leaders Cao Nian, Hu, and Lan beat me in their office. Hu jabbed my ribs repeatedly, causing them to be in pain for a week thereafter.
There have been numerous cases of practitioners being persecuted at Nanmusi Forced Labour Camp. Practitioner Zhu Yuehui was not allowed to sleep for three whole days, and the guards whipped her with steel strips to the point where the strips bent 90 degrees. As a result, her ribs were broken and her buttocks were injured and later festered.
Because practitioner Yu Bin did not cooperate with the guards, the eight criminals incited by the guard Li Qi kneed her in her ribs and peppered her with punches.
On January 6th, 2003, I informed people about the true nature of Falun Gong at the County Cinema Square and was turned in to the police. Li Yong and Tang Quande from the National Security Team arrested me. I was detained at Pengan County Detention Centre for 45 days.
3. Incarcerated in prison
From May 22nd, 2003 to May 21st, 2006, I was sentenced to three years of prison and detained in Chuanxi Women's Prison.
At noon on May 22nd, 2003, policeman Tang Shude broke into my house. He confiscated all of my Dafa books, and savings. Afterwards, National Security Team leader Pan brought dozens of officers to take pictures all around my house.
On June 2nd, 2003, I was taken to the police department for interrogation. Pan Yunhao of the National Security Team forced me to kneel on the ground and tortured me with the "Carrying a Sword on the Back" position. He tortured me for one hour, and then Tang Shude kicked me in the stomach violently.
When they ransacked my house, the policemen found a Falun Dafa book, hand-copied by my ex-husband. He was then detained at the National Security Bureau for three days, and then Chen Zhuo extorted 30,000 yuan from me, which amounted to our life savings.
From May 22nd, 2003 to December 10th, 2003, I was detained in Pengan County. At the same time I was charged by the Pengan County Procuratorate. Subsequently, the Nanchong City Procuratorate sentenced me to three years of prison.
When I entered the prison, cell head Chen Ying reported to the guards that I was doing the Falun Gong exercises, so one of the prison wardens Wang and two guards took me to a dark room. They forced me to write down an account of what happened and to put my fingerprint on it.
The practitioners have suffered long-term detention in the Chuanxi Women's Prison. They did not allow the practitioners to buy food, meet with anybody, make a phone call, write letters or read books. The articles that I was reading were confiscated several times.
Chuanxi Women's Prison forced the practitioners and the criminals to do overtime forced labour. When they heard about an inspection, they brought the practitioners and criminals to the ward to conceal the facts. Many people were driven to exhaustion and developed health problems.
I have experienced two years of forced labour, three years of illegal imprisonment and numerous detentions. Nonetheless, I am cultivating in Falun Dafa more resolutely than before. Although I have lost all my possessions and become homeless, I feel that nothing is more precious than being a cultivator of Falun Gong.
Note
1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
2. "Carrying a Sword on the Back": The practitioner's hands are tied behind his back with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The hands are then pulled toward one another and handcuffed together.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/5/29/155849.html
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