The Tortures I Was Subjected to in a Lanzhou Brainwashing Centre

My name is Sun Jianfeng, I am 36 years old and work at the Yinchuang Power Supply Section of Lanzhou Railroad Bureau.

At the end of 2004, I returned to work after I was released from three years in a forced labour camp to which I had been sentenced by the Zhongning County Public Security Bureau, Ningxia Autonomous Region. From 2005 to 2006, my workplace administrators kept asking me to write a so-called Guarantee Statement to declare that I wouldn't practise Falun Gong any more. They stated that it was an order from the Lanzhou Railroad Bureau and Political Legal Committee. I refused. After my refusal, they did not let me off work for so-called "special days, "sensitive dates or holidays. They had people who slept in my dormitory monitor me and follow me when I went out. They instigated the staff at my workplace to keep a distance from me, and they generally disturbed and controlled my work and life, greatly restricting my freedom.

On January 9th, 2007, while I was lying down in my dormitory due to a stomach-ache, the discipline committee from my workplace, along with security guards and people from the Public Security Bureau, dragged me out of my bed and took me away. I was very weak because I had not been eating for days and I felt dizzy. After a car ride of several hours, we arrived at the Lanzhou City Brainwashing Centre. I went to the toilet to vomit, then the guards were angry because they thought I took too long. They jumped on me, dragging me by my hair and arms to an empty room. Later I realized this was a solitary confinement place: there was nothing in the room but a single bed made from flattened metal pipes welded together. They twisted my arms through the flat pipe and handcuffed me to the bed. I was extremely weak and my head hung low to my chest. I was in a state of semi consciousness. A group of people came at night, pulling my hair and stepping on my feet to wake me up. They looked at me for a while and left. Another group came the next day and began force-feeding me. They pulled me up by my hair and made me face up, then they tried to push a plastic feeding tube through my nose. They tried numerous times without success. I almost suffocated to death, and I began to struggle due to the agony. They stepped on my legs so I could not move. The handcuffs rubbed the flesh off my left wrist, leaving two deep red holes. Three days later, as I was handcuffed to the bed and lying flat on the bed with my arms spread out, they began to force drugs into me. They pulled my hair, pinched my nose shut, and forced open my mouth. The drug was bitter, numbing, and caused nausea. I was held in the same position for long time while my heart was thumping hard. I was short of breath and could not move at all. Like listening to crows cawing in the deep night, it was eerie and terrifying. After one week of torture, I was taken to a regular room.

One morning after a snowfall, we were forced to clear the snow away. I refused, stating that I was a Falun Gong practitioner, not a student in their "class." Guard Liu Xin dragged me out into the snow, and another guard, Sun Qiang, handcuffed me with my arms extended to the fence and did not release me until noon.

In April 2007, Qi Ruijun and Mu Jun ordered us outside and forced practitioners Ms. Miao Maoling, Liu Wanqiu, and Zhang Xiuying to clean the yard. When Ms. Miao refused, guard Qi Ruijun pulled her hair and kept slapping her face. She began a hunger strike in protest and asked to see his supervisor. We also asked to talk to this guard. The next day he took us to an office for a meeting and at the same time told guard Wang Dong to search our rooms. Guard Qi Ruijun found one of Master's lectures in Mr. Qian Shiguang's pocket and began hitting him in the hallway. I happened to be walking out of the office and yelled, "What are you doing?" Suddenly four or five guards jumped on me and knocked me to the ground. Guard Qi Ruijun attempted to strike my head several times but I warded him off with my hands. He got mad and handcuffed me behind my back. He ordered several guards to take me to solitary confinement, where they beat me mercilessly and handcuffed my hands through the flat metal bar of the bed. Guards Qi Ruijun and Sun Qiang came and slapped my face with all their strength. I was handcuffed in a way in which I could not stand straight, squat, or sit. I was bent over all day long. My back felt like it was going to break, and I felt like I was going insane. Practitioners were forced to kneel down until their knees bled. Guard Liu Xin always tightened the handcuffs to the limit, causing bleeding and infection of the wrists. I was already past the point of pain--it felt like the handcuffs were cutting directly to my bone. I still have scars on my wrists today as a result of this torture. I developed an allergic reaction to metal. Whenever my wrists came into contact with the cuffs again, it felt like long needles were penetrating my flesh. The waves of pain came and went, and I was in agony through endless days and nights.

As November approached, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was going to have two conferences, and Party members from the top down were busy preparing. Practitioner Mr. Niu Wanqiang, who had been detained for over two years, began a hunger strike requesting his immediate, unconditional release. He was held initially in solitary confinement at the brainwashing centre and later transferred to a forced labour camp where he was also held in solitary confinement. I had not been able to eat for several days due to stomach pain. I was told I was to go to a clinic, but actually I was also sent to a labour camp and put in solitary confinement. It was a quiet place located behind the workshop in the labour camp. It was a big warehouse type of room but separated into 16 small quarters with metal partitions. Each door was made of metal pipe. The guards opened the door, pulled my arms through the opening of the upper part of the door, through the hole in the flat metal pipe, and handcuffed my hands behind my back. When they shut the door, I was pushed in but standing against the door; the guards could see my hands and the back of my head. Many practitioners were held there, including Mr. Niu Wanqiang. Ms. Su Jinxiu, Ms. Wang Caixia, Ms. Song Lanping, and Ms. Zhang Chunlian. The guards had no regard for whether they were elderly or young, male or female, and handcuffed everyone to a door. Ms. Zhang was very petite, and after she was handcuffed, she could barely touch the ground. The guards used small handcuffs on her and made them so tight that they cut deep into her flesh.

We were all handcuffed to a door and could not move. Our wrists were covered with injuries, and we could not even hold a spoon. Two guards watched us. When I first got there, they placed a feeding tube down into my stomach. Then guards periodically came to inject water and a thick fluid that caused nausea, but I could not vomit. Shortly after that, I swelled up. First my feet were so swollen that I could not wear shoes. Later my lower legs became as big as my upper legs, then my thighs stretched my trousers to the limit. The guards limited our food intake and toilet breaks. If you did not finish eating within a designated time, you were not allowed to continue; if you could not finish using the toilet within a certain time, you were in terrible trouble. Most of us had trouble squatting down or getting up due to our swollen bodies and injured wrists. When we had to relieve ourselves, no matter how urgent the need, the guards would not release us. Some practitioners ended up soiling their trousers, and of course there were no sanitary supplies for female practitioners when they had their periods. The smell in the room was terrible. The guards wore thick coats and sat near the heater but still complained of the cold. I just felt extremely tired. I could hear my heart thumping hard and was very short of breath. Every morning I was drenched with sweat. When I had a high fever and requested water, the guards refused, saying that we could only have water with "medicine." Day and night, I was extremely weak and delirious, with nightmares and all sorts of hallucinations. At times I could not tell whether I was alive or dead. The guards sometimes handcuffed our hands higher so that we barely touched the ground. When someone passed out or fell asleep, you could hear the thumping noise when they hit the door.

After more than three weeks, they released Ms. Su Jinxiu and Ms. Wang Caixia. Later they released Mr. Niu Wanqiang and me after 70 to 80 days, and Ms. Song Lanping and Ms. Zhang Chunlian after 40 to 50 days. My feet were covered with thick calluses, my toes were deformed, and I could not walk. Each step was like stepping on countless needles. I was bedridden for two months before I was able to touch the ground again. My knees and feet still hurt many months later.