My Experiences in the Haikou Brainwashing Centre, Hainan Province

My name is Huang Yanqing. On the afternoon of June 25th, 2008, I was abducted by two policemen who forced me into a squad car and then took me to the Haikou Brainwashing Centre in Haikou City, Hainan Province.

There I met the collaborators¹ that I had known when I was in the forced labour camp the first time. They said that they had been looking for me for many years. The place was very dark and gloomy. The windows were all shut, incense was burning, and Buddhist songs were playing. As soon as I entered, they all gathered around me and called me names. They badmouthed Falun Gong, and my practising Falun Gong. One person was muttering things next to me and had a strange expression when I turned around to look at her. I immediately heard things roaring in my ears and my head felt like I was wearing a hat. They said that I was possessed by spirits, and they had to get rid of it for me. Some of them hit my back violently. I knew they were playing tricks on me.

I had been "transformed²" against my will when I was previously in the forced labour camp and under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution. I did not want to be "transformed" again. To try and force me to give up my cultivation, they burned incense that filled the room with dark smoke, they yelled in my ear through a megaphone, and they hit my head with Falun Gong books. They asked a "transformed" person from my home town to try and persuade me to renounce Falun Gong. The person said that I would not be able to get out if I did not give up my belief, and that they would beat me to death and I had no chance of winning the fight.

I privately told the fellow that he should not practise the false Buddhist stuff there and should give it up as soon as possible. "They do not let you sleep and they beat you every day and bruise your whole body. They hit you when they ask you questions and beat you whether you respond to them or not. It is extremely evil. How can this be the true Buddhism. Could true Buddhism be like this?"

Besides this pressure, I was handcuffed to the window in the toilet overnight many times. The worst thing was that after 10:00 p.m. when I got tired, they would beat me as soon as I closed my eyes to stop me from falling asleep. They forced me to circle around the Buddha statue in the room, while also chanting to try and force me to "transform". When I refused to comply, they called in a newly "transformed", thirty-year-old man to hit me. Several times he used his hands to choke me and hit my head against the wall. Sometimes I was forced to stand all night with my hands and legs stretched straight and I was not allowed to move. When I made the slightest move due to a mosquito bite, he would punch me on my body, head, or back.

They forced me to first stand straight, then with one hand holding the ear on the opposite side, I had to bend at the waist and have the other hand touch the ground on the opposite side. I then had to keep turning in circles while holding this position. It was unbearable -- as time went on, my hands and legs would get tired and they began to tremble. I would eventually fall when I was unable to hold the position any longer.

Because the persecution was too hard to stand, I thought I might as well be put in prison. I did not think of removing the evil substance behind the persecutors. They said that I had to be trained for a few days there. I wanted to go to the prison. That night, two forty-year-old men came in. They forced me to sit on a bench, and hit me on my head, ears, and eyes with Falun Gong books. They broke six to seven Falun Gong books while beating me, and left paper shredded all over the floor. My nose, eyes, and head all hurt. I lost my hearing and my head was dizzy. They violently hit the back of my hands and caused them to swell and hurt for many days. They also stepped on me while I was on the floor.

A couple of days later, five to six people surrounded me, some holding my head, some hitting my back, to force me to "transform". I was beaten so hard that I truly could not stand any more and I finally complied. This was how the CCP forced me to "transform". They also wrote articles defaming Falun Gong, and held my head down to force me to read them. They forced me to copy the articles three times. When I finished copying them the second time, with my head being held, I had a headache. I should not have copied the articles, but I truly could not stand the beatings.

The next day, they said that I had "transformed" voluntarily, although I was forced to do so by the CCP. Because I could not stand their continued torture and persecution, I was forced to write the three statements³. Afterwards, I was very angry with myself. At the lunch break I had a dream, in which I saw that I was holding a very pretty lotus flower, but I had broken it myself. When I woke up, I tore up the draft that I had written. When they found out, they tortured me for another week using all sorts of means, in order to force me to write another one. They deprived me of sleep for a week and forced me to badmouth Falun Gong, and tore the pictures of Teacher Li [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong] from Falun Gong books to force me step on them. They often trampled on Teacher's pictures, and claimed that they were not afraid of retribution. They said that they were not afraid to die.

They kept intensifying their persecution of me. They forced me to turn in circles in the room from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. and listen to Buddhist songs from a tape. They forced me to follow the tape and sing along while circling, and would hit me if I stopped singing or walking. After two days my feet were swollen and I could not walk any more. Some said that they wanted to drive me crazy. Some applied the torture methods that they learned in the past on me. They used all sorts of derogatory language. Every day, they would come to my room to recite incantations that made me uncomfortable. Both my ears and head were so painful that I could not bear it. My whole body was so weak.

They also tempted me with all sorts of interests. They played unsightly DVDs to disturb me so that I would not succeed in my cultivation. I was persecuted by them for over two months this time. The last time I was tortured in the forced labour camp, they handcuffed me, used electric batons to shock me, and my health was severely damaged. This time they tortured me and injured me again. My injuries and hearing loss did not recover until long after I was released from the brainwashing centre.

Note

1. "Collaborators": former practitioners who have turned against Falun Gong under brainwashing and torture. They are then made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners.

2. "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")

3. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/1/29/194450.html