The 41-Day Journey of a 65-year-old Female Practitioner, after going to Tiananmen Square

By a Beijing Dafa practitioner
as told to the writer by the practitioner

February 4, 2002 was "Falun Dafa Day" in Beijing. I decided to go to Tiananmen Square to unfurl a Falun Dafa banner to tell people, "Falun Dafa is good". When the square was open at noon, many fellow practitioners had already unfurled their banners, since that day had been announced as "Falun Dafa Day" in more than a dozen provinces and cities. The police officers and the armed police forces were terribly busy. I unfurled the banner at the north-west corner by the national flag and shouted out "Falun Dafa is good!" "Restore the good name of Dafa!" "Restore the good name of my Teacher!" I kept shouting. Then an armed police officer ran to me and grabbed the banner. I thought that because this was a Dafa banner I should not let him have it. I tried to get the banner back while I kept shouting. The armed police officer forcefully pushed me into the underground tunnel. He dared not to beat me because there were many people in the Square. Then he called the police vehicle in, pushed me into it and drove to the Qianmen Police Station.

When we got there a policeman recognised me, because I had been arrested before when I was at Tiananmen Square on New Year's Day. That time they didn't release me until I went on a hunger strike without even drinking water for one week. This time when the police recognised me, they became infuriated. They dragged me by my hair all the way from their vehicle until we were into their most inner office. There were also several policemen inside who attacked me immediately and beat me up. Several vicious police officers simultaneously beat me, a woman of almost 70 years old. My face, body, arms and legs were all beaten black and blue, and I still had visible injuries, even 41 days after I was released. There was a cruel policeman who stomped on my feet with his hard leather shoes, kicked and beat me. Finally they grabbed my hair again and put me into an iron cage with other practitioners. We shouted together, "Falun Dafa is good!" As a result, they gagged me with the banner, grabbed my hair again and slammed me to the floor. My teeth are loose to this day due to this beating! There were many fellow practitioners detained inside the iron cage. When I was beaten, these practitioners Fa Zheng Nian and shouted loudly together, "Don't beat people!" Whenever a practitioner was about to be interrogated, we held onto each other. The police would beat fellow practitioners who were at the edges of the group, protecting the ones on the inside, with electrical batons. The whole day we Fa Zheng Nian and recited Hongyin [Teacher's poem collection] and Teacher's new articles together. Later, the iron cage became full and could hold no more practitioners. At dark, the police sent us separately to different detention centres.

More than 20 of us practitioners were pushed into the police vehicle. We kept shouting, "Falun Dafa is good!" "Falun Dafa is the righteous Fa," along the way. We opened the window and shouted together. Together, our voices reached a far distance. All of us had very strong righteous thoughts along the way. The shouting from 20 or more of us practitioners was synchronised and quite loud. Many pedestrians and cars stopped to take a look. At that time, a fellow practitioner put the banner on the police vehicle. This strong field of righteous thoughts powerfully shocked the evil. I was interrogated immediately that night. They beat me because I refused to tell my name and address. They even beat my face with a paper that had Teacher's photo on it and swore at me. Very late, I was sent to a cell. There was a female fellow practitioner whose legs seemed to have been fractured from the beating. She could not move. On February 9, the police came again, together with a detention centre chief. They promised me, "If you tell your name and address, we will release you back home immediately and will never notify your local police station." Because I was longing for home, they took advantage. Thus, I didn't recognise their lies.

On February 10, the local police station picked me up and detained me for a day. They sent me to a detention centre on February 11. Because I had been on a hunger strike without taking food and water for several days, I was very weak. The detention centre refused to accept me and requested to give me a full physical examination. During the examination, police officers took away all the money I had in my possession, which was 60 Yuan. Afterwards they demanded another 100Yuan from my son. The following day they sent me to the police hospital. Because they were afraid that the police hospital wouldn't accept me, a policeman tried to find a way out with the hospital and bribed the doctor. Thus I was detained in the police hospital for a month.

It seems that they all claimed that everything they had done was good for me. In reality, all they had done was to further persecute me. In the hospital, my feet were cuffed to the bed with an iron chain. I was force-fed with food four to five times a day and water numerous times. I was not allowed to use the toilet, wash my face or take a shower. Everyday I was forcibly injected with large amounts of intravenous drips, and once the tube was inserted into my nose, they wouldn't take it off. Because I didn't co-operate with the evil people, sometimes I was able to spit the tube out. Every time the chief nurse came to insert the tube into my nose, she stabbed very hard and I was hurt badly each time. When taking the intravenous drip, because my hands were cuffed and I wouldn't co-operate I could only try my best to move. Once I moved the injection tube away while the needle was still on my arm. I was bleeding constantly because of the remaining needle, but the nurses and policemen ignored this although they had seen it, and went for dinner, talking and laughing. Later it was a fellow practitioner who tried very hard to come over and pull out the needle. That person also had one hand and one foot cuffed to the bed. After applying pressure for a while, it stopped bleeding. Because I didn't co-operate with them, the thugs cuffed my left arm upward and right arm downward, and my feet to the bed. I could not clean my face, brush my teeth, move, go to the restroom, or change into clean clothes. They didn't allow me to use the quilt, even turning on the ventilating fan and leave it running. Sometimes I had no choice but to defecate on the bed. It is hard to believe they would treat 65-year-old lady in this way! Even after a long time on a hunger strike with no water, I was still continuously abused and persecuted. Once they tried to take an electro-cardiogram. As I didn't co-operate him, the criminal policeman lost his temper. He tried very hard to twist my arm towards my back, even when I was forcibly being injected with an intravenous drip. After several days of intravenous drips, my arm, hands and fingers had already become badly swollen, but he ignored my situation and still held my hands to the back and twisted my fingers. It hurt so badly that I cried out. The policewomen and nurses all dared not to watch this scene and ran out of the room. I didn't compromise. They then brought a kind of neck stretching device. Several people pushed on my body at the same time and pushed my head under the bed. I tried hard to avoid them putting the neck ring [an iron collar, used to hold and stretch the neck] on my neck. It took several people quite a while to forcibly put the neck ring on me.
Three days later, my face, ears and whole head were all deformed. The other two Dafa practitioners in the same room were forced to wear a neck ring too. However, the female practitioner on bed No. 21 was able to take off the neck ring and handcuffs by herself everyday. Later, a kind-hearted nurse took it off for me. Once a police officer cuffed my hands very tight and I pleaded with him to loosen the cuffs. He responded angrily and scolded me. I realised later that I was a righteous Dafa practitioner. How could I plead with him? I asked Teacher to help me. In the meantime, I recited the verse for Fa Zheng Nian. The cuff was loosened up after I finished. I was very thankful to Teacher and knew what Teacher wanted was just my righteous heart. In such an evil environment, several of us female practitioners persisted in reciting Teacher's new articles, Hongyin [Teacher's poems], and Lunyu [the foreword in Zhuan Falun] everyday. We never co-operated with them. Finally, they were at their wits' end, let me out of the police hospital and sent me to the Qinghe Detention Centre, and sentenced me to 1-1/2 years. I refused to accept that sentence and refused to sign the paperwork. Later I was sent to the Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp but they refused to accept me. By that time I had been on a hunger strike without drinking water for more than 40 days. Then they sent me to Wenquan Hospital for further persecution. I refused to answer any questions there.

Thus, on the night of March 14 (41 days since I was arrested), personnel from the local police station came to take me out. When they came to pick me up, I refused to sign their paperwork also. A policeman said, "See here, you have to listen to me! No signing of paperwork, no getting out." I still refused. He was so angry that he let me stand in the hallway. I thought that I must not compromise with them for getting out. So I just placed the luggage on the floor and lay down. After a while when they saw this, they came over and said hypocritically, "Old lady, get up now, you are free to go back home!" I said, "Didn't you say you wouldn't release me?" They replied quickly, "No, no, you are released, get up quickly!" At that time they called my son. They deceived my son to sign the papers without my consent. On the way back home, the police asked me to get out and take a taxi by myself. I told them, "It was you who arrested me. You should take me back home."

So, after being on a hunger strike, without drinking water, for 41 days, the police took me home in their vehicle. During that period, whenever I felt hungry or thirsty, I felt better as soon as I Fa Zheng Nian. I knew it was our benevolent and great Teacher who was taking care of me and strengthening me. Thank you, Teacher, for helping me pass this obstacle.