Zhang Demin's Personal Account of the Persecution He Suffered in Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province

My name is Zhang Deming. I work at Qitaihe City Coal Washing Plant in Heilongjiang Province. I have practised Falun Gong since 1996. Before that I had various illnesses that were cured once I practised Falun Gong. The practice made me healthy, and my family also lived in harmony. Seeing my changes, many people say, "Falun Gong is good." Falun Gong can change a person. Whoever practises Falun Gong will become a good person.

In 1999 Jiang Zemin's [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime began to persecute Falun Gong. Gao Song and a few other agents from the Yaodong Police Station forcibly took me to the station on July 17th, 1999, from the group practice location. I was terrified and my body shook, not knowing what was going to happen. Gao took me inside a small empty room. He said that the regime wanted to persecute Falun Gong practitioners who stirred up troubles. I replied that I did not mind if they wanted to strike bad people; however, our practitioners were all good citizens; it would be wrong for them to persecute us. More than an hour later he let me go home.

Such a good practice - Falun Gong - can only bring benefits to China and the society; however, I do not understand why the regime banned it? It might be because the officials did not know the truth of Falun Gong. I should go to tell them. On July 20th, 1999 I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Since then, police frequently came to my residence to harass and threaten me. Furthermore, they forced me to hand in all of my Falun Gong books. Besides, they requested that I report to the police station every day. Qitaihe City Coal Washing Plant Party Secretary Cui Shuxian, Security Section head Wang Yongjiang and his assistant Zhang Dongbo prohibited practitioners Yan Kecheng and Guo Gang and me from going home, but put us into a brainwashing centre. Seven days later, Guo Gang's workplace laid him off because he refused to renounce his belief.

To protect our jobs and families, under pressure, Yan Kecheng and I wrote statements promising we would stop practising Falun Gong. After that we were released, but still needed to report daily to the Security Section office.

In October 1999, another around of persecution started. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials tried to force me to denounce Falun Gong. They even threatened - if I did not do what they wanted, they would not let me go home but put me into a detention centre. They transferred me to the Security Division of the coal mine. I was eventually escorted back to the plant where I was detained and persecuted. The head of the plant, Wang Xifu, conversed with me for an entire morning. Under that pressure I once again did something that was against Falun Gong.

On June 24th, 2000, my parents, wife and I went to Tienanmen Square to tell people the truth about Falun Gong. We were once again arrested and detained, this time in the Qianmen Police Station. Because a large number of practitioners were arrested that day, we were later transferred to the Shijingshan Stadium and detained there.

We were held in the stadium in 40 0 Celsius (104 0F) heat that day, but we forbidden to use the toilet or drink water. In the evening we were locked up in a cramped, dark room. A policeman asked me where I was from. I did not answer him. Then they punched and scolded me. The other practitioners were treated the same way.

The next day, about 20 practitioners were transferred to the Mentougou Detention Centre where we were tortured. The criminals who were detained there beat us as soon as we arrived. The guards pretended not to see it. A guard took me to an empty room in the evening and asked me where I was from. He scolded and punched me, and also said that he would torture me to death. Under the huge pressure, I told him where I was from and the reason I went to Beijing - to tell people that Falun Gong is good.

The next day I was escorted to the Qitaihe City Liaison Office in Beijing where I was locked up in the basement with 20 to 30 other practitioners. Two days later, deputy heads Zhang Dongbo and Chen Qing from my work place's Security Section escorted practitioner Yan Kecheng and me back to Qitaihe. We were detained at the detention centre of the coal mine security division. The cells where the practitioners were held used to be where they locked up pigs and dogs - damp and filthy. More than thirty practitioners were incarcerated together.

Security Division head Zhang Ke and deputy head Dong Zhanlin joined the guards to grossly abuse and mistreat us. Because we refused to shout out slogans as they told us to, they tortured us with a method they called "flying the airplane." Guard Wang Yuansong brutally beat me simply because I did not reply to his question. He forced two spoonfuls of salt into my mouth. On top of that, agents from the 610 Office¹ of the city police department and those from the domestic security division frequently harassed, threatened and interrogated me.

Several of our family members practise Falun Gong; hence we also suffer the most severe persecution: our residence was ransacked; we were extorted of more than 10,000 Yuan² ; our work place has also withheld 1,600 Yuan and three months of our salaries. We lost our income.

My father Zhang Shouxin was detained three times because he practised Falun Gong. He was harassed, and threatened. He died because the illnesses he had suffered from the time prior to practice returned. My mother Tang Shaorong had been detained twice because she refused to denounce her belief. The harassment terrified her to the extent that she cannot walk now. My wife was also detained for four months.

In 2003 many practitioners in the city where I live were arrested. My wife and I decided to go into exile to avoid further persecution and arrest. Police came to my residence to harass and threaten our family. They also had policemen monitor our residence 24 hours a day. Our mother, who was over 70 years old, was too afraid to stay home. They also went to our sons' workplace to threaten them, wanted to find out our whereabouts from our sons. They threatened our sons that if they did not tell them our whereabouts they would be detained.

Kind hearted people; please offer your help for those innocent people who are being ruthlessly persecuted. Please, help stop the inhuman persecution.

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/5/1/200028.html