During the Beijing Olympic Games, officials from the National Security Ministry and the Hebei Provincial 610 Office1 came to Zhangjiakou City in person to check on how the persecution of Falun Gong was going. For the so-called security of the Olympics, they ordered the Zhangjiakou Municipal Committee, Municipal Government, Municipal 610 Office and Municipal Judicial Bureau to set up brainwashing centres inside of the Zhangjiakou City Forced Labour Camp (Drug Rehabilitation Centre) located in Yubaodun Village in Yaojiazhuang Town of Gaoxin District of Zhangjiakou City, on July 15th, 2008. They arrested more than seventy Falun Gong practitioners from eleven districts and counties throughout the city. They sent the practitioners to the brainwashing centres and persecuted them for over two months. The majority of districts and towns participated in this persecution. The seventy-plus Falun Gong practitioners were not released until October 7th.
The brainwashing centre was set up in the forced labour camp. Practitioners were bodily searched, and all their belongings were checked-in when they first entered the centre. The prison gate was locked during the two hours for lunch break and from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every day. A few guards and officials from the Zhangjiakou Municipal Judicial Bureau and the Zhangjiako Forced Labour Camp, along with officials from the brainwashing centre, were on duty every day. They berated practitioners and repeated slanderous propaganda.
On July 23rd, the brainwashing centre personnel forced the practitioners to undergo brainwashing. Ten practitioners refused and held a protest. Yang Jianfeng, head of the brainwashing centre, beat the practitioners. Most of the practitioners were slapped. Ms. Liu Ying, a practitioner from Zhangjiakou, and Ms. Cao Cuimei, a practitioner from Zhuolu, were struck in the face. Liu Ying was also dragged from her bed along the corridor and swore at. They also swore at Falun Gong. On the same morning they locked every room because they were afraid that practitioners would gather in protest of the abuse. The next day they transferred some of the practitioners on the second floor to the third floor so as to keep practitioners isolated from one another, create a terrifying atmosphere, and intensify the persecution. The next day Yang Jianfeng swore at Liu Ying and beat her on the head twice because Liu Ying practised the Falun Gong exercises. He also threatened her, saying, "I will beat you to death." Yang Jianfeng often swore at practitioners. Ms. Ma Runlian, a practitioner from Yangyuan was sent to the brainwashing centre by police who climbed over the wall of her house at 3:00 a.m. and dragged her from her bed, then took her to the brainwashing class. Upon seeing the practitioners being beaten, she was so traumatized that her stomach disease relapsed. She couldn't eat due to the pain in her stomach, but the doctor in the forced labour camp said that she was only pretending to have the stomach ache. One or two days later her symptoms intensified, but they still didn't release her. They instead gave her two tablets and tried to force her to swallow them. They swore at her when she didn't take them and also tried to force-feed her.
Liu Bao, a practitioner from Yangyuan, went to visit another practitioner in his room. Policeman Wang Zhaohui ordered him to go back to his own room. He said to the officer that he would do so in a short while. Wang then threw the melon he was eating at Liu Bao's face, but he missed and the melon hit the wall instead. Other officer then forcibly dragged him out. Wang Zhaohui also threatened to handcuff Liu Bao.
Practitioner Shi Jujun from Zhangbei was taken away from the brainwashing centre in mid August and sentenced to two and a half years in the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp.
Li Tongsheng, a female staff member at the brainwashing centre, forcibly broke into practitioners' rooms and took photos while they were practising the exercises. She threatened that she would find ways to use the photos to make practitioners look bad and post them on her blog. The next morning a practitioner went to see her and told her that she violated a copyright when she took photos of practitioners without their consent, and demanded that she erase the pictures from her camera. She said some nasty words and refused to admit that she took photos the previous night. At that time many practitioners were standing in the corridor. Policeman Liang Fuli came and pushed that practitioner, saying to him, "Even if I hit you and took photos of you, how could you possible do anything to me?"
In mid-July officers from the police station in Yaojiafang Town arrested practitioner Zhao Jinlian, from Ertaizi Village in Yaojiafang Town of Gaoxin District in Zhang City. At the time Zhao Jinlian refused to open the door for the police. The officers then climbed over the wall and broke through the door. Zhao's son and daughter tried to reason with the police but the police handcuffed her son and beat him until his vest was covered with blood. Her daughter was also persecuted until she passed out. Luckily the neighbour discovered her and revived her. Her son was detained for ten days. She herself was first detained for fifteen days and then sent to the Zhangjiakou Brainwashing Centre where she continued to suffer abuse. Her family members went to the detention centre fifteen days later in hopes of taking her home but they didn't see her and thought she had been tortured to death. They cried for four or five days, but later on learned that she had been sent to the Zhangjiakou Brainwashing Centre.
On July 24th, police from the Zhangbei County Domestic Security Division and officials from the 610 Office hired a locksmith to damage the security lock on the door of practitioner Wang Dengfang's house and broke in. Six or eight police officers carried her from the fourth floor to the police car parked downstairs and took her to the brainwashing centre. Ms. Wang had a teenage daughter and a seven-year-old son left at home with no one to look after them. On July 26th, a hospital examination revealed that she had a uterine tumour, but brainwashing centre officers Wu Jinmei and Yang Jianfeng didn't let her go home until August 3rd, when her uterus was bleeding and she was in a critical condition.
Practitioner Mr. Li Fuxian was from Xicheng in Yangyuan County. On July 31st, police from Yangyuan County drove to his daughter's home and forced him to leave there under false pretences. Li Fuxian was taking care of his daughter in Shijiazhuang, who had just given birth. The police told him that they would drive him to the police station and have a short talk. Instead, the police drove him to Yangyuan and then took him to the brainwashing centre, where he was detained for two months.
Practitioner Ms. Zhang Fengzhi, who is 64 years old, from Yangyuan, was not released, even though she was suffering from high blood pressure. Finally, on August 4th she fainted when she was in the dining hall. Her blood pressure had reached 220, so they had to send her home.
On August 13th, policemen Yu Enxiang, Zhang Xiaolei, Zhang Xinbin and Han Xiuzhen found out that practitioners were doing the exercises. Policeman Zhang Xiaolei shocked practitioner Fan Jianying from Gaoxin District in Zhangjiakou with an electric baton.
In 2004, practitioner Ms. Ma Xiuqing from Yangyuan left home and stayed in Baotou to avoid further persecution. Police from the Yaojiazhuang Police Station in Yangyuan County stayed in a Baotou hotel for two weeks and arrested Ma Xiuqing. At 3:00 a.m. on August 14th, she was taken to the Yaojiazhuang Police Station in Yangyuan County. The officer who caught Ma Xiuqing received flowers from her boss, who also set off firecrackers to celebrate her achievement. In the afternoon Ma Xiuqing was taken to the Zhangjiakou Brainwashing Centre. It was said that the cost incurred for arresting Ma Xiuqing was thirty or forty thousand yuan2.
At 4:00 p.m. on August 19th, people from outside came to visit the brainwashing centre. The brainwashing centre officials made practitioners hide in the audiovisual room in the basement of the one-story building. According to the police, they were afraid that the people visiting would ask why so many elderly practitioners were in the forced labour camp.
On September 2nd, a medical examination indicated that practitioner Yang Yuelan from Zhangbei suffered from a uterine tumour. She was not released until September 5th, after her family members tried hard to use their connections to obtain her release.
On September 8th, policeman Zhang Xiaolei slapped practitioner Han Xiurong from Wei County on her face when she was walking up and down the corridor to relax her body. Her glasses, which had strong prescription to correct her vision, were broken, causing a considerable inconvenience for her. The police then locked her alone in a room. Zhang Xiaolei, a guard at the forced labour camp, beat and shocked practitioners Han Xiurong and Fan Jianying with electric batons.
The police arrested practitioner Wang Yuemei from Zhangbei when she took her son to see the doctor in Kangbao, and took her directly to the brainwashing centre. On September 13th, she was suffering from symptoms of heart disease and was not able to get out of bed. She was not allowed to leave the brainwashing centre until September 21st, the day she was sentenced to one and a half years in the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp. She was still very weak when she was sent to the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp.
Four practitioners, two male and two female, from a private clinic in Wei County, were taken to the brainwashing centre. It was learned that the local people signed petitions and went to the county government, demanding their release. On September 4th, one male and three female officials from the provincial 610 Office came to the brainwashing centre and threatened these four practitioners seven to twelve year jail sentences if they didn't write the "four statements3". After one week of high pressure, three of them wrote the "four statements" but were not released until September 17th. The fourth practitioner was still very determined in her belief and refused to renounce Falun Gong. She was released ten days later than the other three practitioners.
Twenty-nine year-old Mr. Bian Xiaoming from Zhangbei Town had practised Falun Gong for only fifteen days, in November 1998. On the afternoon of August 7th, he was made to go to the brainwashing centre under false pretences, and was detained there because police regarded him as a practitioner. On July 31st, 2008, Wei Quan, Party secretary of the Wayaowan Village in Zhangbei Town, along with Zhao Haichai, an accountant for the local village government, jointly deceived Bian Xiaoming and made him leave the restaurant where he worked. He was detained at the Zhangbei Town Middle School in Zhangbei County for seven days, and was then taken to the Zhangjiakou City Brainwashing Centre (Zhangjiakou Forced Labour Camp) and detained there for almost fifty days. During his detention he frequently suffered from stomach aches and couldn't eat, but the brainwashing centre only allowed Bian Xiaoming to see the doctor once. The Zhangbei Town Government spent ten thousand yuan persecuting Bian Xiaoming. He was on medication for several days and was not given any other treatment. He had to put up with the stomach aches. The brainwashing centre tried to force Bian Xiaoming to write the "four statements." He said, "I only practised Falun Gong for two weeks, prior to 1999, but I will not swear at Falun Gong. I know Falun Gong is good. Though I don't practise Falun Gong now, I will not write the so-called statements or sign anything." He was not released until September 22nd.
It was said that five practitioners from Zhuolu were released one or two weeks later than their original release dates. People in the brainwashing centre said that Zhao Xuan from the 610 Office was a vicious and unreasonable person. The brainwashing centre ordered officials in each county to take back practitioners to their local counties. Only Zhao Xuan didn't go to take back practitioners in her county. She forced practitioners to write statements before she released them.
Police from the Qiaoxi District Security Department were involved in persecuting fourteen practitioners from Qiaoxi District in Zhangjiakou City. The practitioners were detained on the fourth floor of the brainwashing centre building. They were not released until September 20th.
Wei, director of the Zhangjiakou Municipal Bureau of Justice, made a speech in the brainwashing centre and came to the centre several times to check up on the centre's progress. Every practitioner detained there had to submit ten thousand yuan, while those who were assigned to monitor and persecute practitioners had their local town government or work unit submit three thousand yuan for them. (It was said that the six hundred thousand yuan collected was for building a new building for the brainwashing centre to persecute practitioners.) One practitioner from Yangyuan County was monitored and persecuted by three assigned personnel, one of which was a deputy township head. Those who were assigned to monitor and persecute practitioners had to stay in the brainwashing centre and eat the same food that was served to practitioners. They complained and groaned a lot.
The Olympic Games were supposed to be a grand occasion, but under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) control it turned into a bloodstained Olympics. Officials from top levels in the CCP government lied to officials in the Zhangjiakou Municipal Government as well as government personnel in the country, township and village levels, by telling them that one hundred thousand practitioners would gather in Beijing on August 1st, 2008. The order from the top was that wherever there were practitioners who went to Beijing, officials from those areas would be fired. Behind the Olympic Games, numerous practitioners were sentenced, detained, sent to forced labour camps and to brainwashing centres, and were deprived of their freedom. Numerous practitioners' families were persecuted and torn apart. Numerous practitioners were monitored and followed by personnel from local security departments and were placed under house arrest. A large amount of money was used to persecute practitioners. It was said that one district spent ten million yuan to ensure the "safety" of the Olympic Games.
Officials in Zhangjiakou primarily responsible for persecuting practitioners:
Xu Ning, Party secretary of the Zhangjiakou Municipal Committee
Zheng Xuebi, mayor of Zhangjiaokou City
Gao Tian, director of Zhangjiakou Municipal Bureau of Justice
Yang Min, director of Zhangjiakou City 610 Office
Gong Zengming, from Zhangjiaokou City Political and Legal Committee
Yang Jianfeng, head of Zhangjiakou City Brainwashing Centre
Phone: 86-313-8330875 (Mobile), 86-13231365901 (Mobile)
Note
1. "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.
2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
3. "Four Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write the "four statements" as proof that they have given up their belief. Created by the 610 Office, they consist of "a letter of repentance," "a guarantee" to never again practise Falun Gong, a "Dissociation Statement" to declare a dissociation with Falun Gong and promise not go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and a list of names and addresses of all family members, friends and acquaintances who are practitioners.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/10/28/188651.html
* * *
You are welcome to print and circulate all articles published on Clearharmony and their content, but please quote the source.
more ...