Ms. Yang Chunxiu, 56, Who Has Had to Live Away from Home for Years, Arrested Again

Name: Yang Chunxiu
Gender: Female
Age: 56
Address: Building No. 9, Xishimen, Baiziwang Rd., Chaoyang District, Beijing
Occupation: Retired in October 1999 from Beijing Building Materials Terrazzo Factory
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 25th-30th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Nanmofang Police Station in Chaoyang District
City: Beijing
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, torture, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use

Forced to live away from home for several years, Ms. Yang Chunxiu was arrested between December 25th and 30th, 2009. Not until shortly before the New Year did officers from the Nanmofang Police Station in the Chaoyang District go to her relatives to take down a written statement. Her family knew that she had been arrested. The New Year came, but the family couldn't have a get-together and were miserable.

Benefiting from practising Falun Gong

Ms. Yang retired in October 1999 from Beijing Building Materials Terrazzo Factory. Her parents passed away when she was very young, and she lived with her older brother and his wife, who always regarded her as a burden and treated her very badly. She didn't have a happy childhood. When she grew up and got married, life was still hard, and she soon got divorced, barely scraping by with her children. At that time, she started to practise Falun Gong and benefited in both body and mind. Life changed from that time on, and she then understood the meaning and purpose of life and what real happiness is.

Holding firm to her faith despite being persecuted

On July 20th, 1999, the communist regime started to suppress Falun Gong publicly. She wept bitterly. She knew that the regime was falsely accusing and slandering Falun Gong. In order to speak out for justice for Falun Gong, she went out to tell the truth about Falun Gong despite the pressure. In November 2000, she, like many other practitioners, went to Tiananmen Square. She was arrested and detained at the Chaoyang Detention Centre in Beijing for a month. After that, she was taken away by the deputy director from the Nanmofang Police Station in Chaoyang District and sent to Shibalidian Brainwashing Centre.

Subjected to forced labour and tortured ruthlessly

On April 2nd, 2002, Ms. Yang was arrested by two security staff members when she distributed Falun Gong informational materials in public and was taken to Donghuashi Police Station. At that time, the two that had arrested her said gleefully, "We will get a one thousand six hundred yuan¹-bonus for catching you." She was detained in the basement of the police station for one night and transferred to the Jiaomen Detention Centre in the Chongwenmen District. She was then sentenced to forced labour and ill-treated for one and a half years, from February 2nd, 2002, to October 1st, 2003, in the Seventh Division of the Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp.

Li Shoufen, the deputy head of the Seventh Division, and other guards tried to make her give up her faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They used different tactics, including forcing her to stand perfectly still; depriving her of sleep, toilet use, and taking a bath; have a group of people attack her; injecting her with harmful drugs; and forbidding her family members from visiting her. They wanted to force her to denounce her faith.

Sometimes they only allowed her to sleep for one to two hours per day for four months in a row in an attempt to break her will. But nothing could not change her firm faith. Another time they took her to the office and isolated her from the detention area so that nobody could hear or see what happened. Armed to the teeth with electric prods and lethal weapons, they threatened her and used ballpoint pens to stab her hands. They grasped her hand and tried to force her to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. They also wrote things that attacked Falun Gong on small slips of paper and pasted them all over her, even putting them in her shoes. She spoke sternly and forcefully to them, "Don't you dare film what you are doing now and let people see it on TV! Today I have personally experienced how you persecute good people and Falun Gong. All the facts described in our informational materials are true!"

They also tried to tell her that she was ill and that she had high blood pressure and that she should take medicine, and often forced her to check her blood pressure.

They used unknown drugs on her in the labour camp. In December 2002, Li Shoufen and Shen Meiling, in her 60s, tried to force Ms. Yang to take an unknown drug. When she refused, they pried open her mouth and then tried with great effort to separate her teeth. In the process, they loosened two of her teeth, which almost fell out. At that time, Sheng Meiling trembled with fear and dared not force Ms. Yang to take the unknown drug. But Li Shoufen snarled, "Make her take it. Quick! I will be responsible for anything that happens." They forced her every day to take an unknown yellow drug. It made her suffer very much, and both her body and mind were harmed greatly. Her whole body swelled up, and one of her legs was also swollen badly. She couldn't bend her leg, which caused her extreme pain. Besides not letting her go to sleep, they also forced her to stand still for a long time. In December 2002, she was forced to stand still in a small room in the library. She lost consciousness and fell down, the right side of her head hitting the tile floor. The crash and ensuing pain woke her up.

Being forced to leave home and live elsewhere

After she returned home from the labour camp, the local regime staff continued to harass her and her family. On sensitive days, Mai Xudong, a police officer from the Nanmofang District, and Yuan Sue, the head of the local community office, called her family or harassed them at home frequently, which made life all but impossible for her family.

In February 2002, Ms. Yang travelled to Hong Kong for a visit. When she returned, the police arrested her again. Many practitioners were arrested after they returned from Hong Kong around that time.

On about February 23rd, about ten police officers from the Beijing Security Department, the Chaoyang District Police Station, and the Nanmofang Police Station broke into Ms. Yang's home to arrest her. Since she was not at home, they were not successful.

They still made great efforts to look for her and also assigned someone to wait outside of her home or on the street near her home. As a result, Ms. Yang was forced to leave home and live elsewhere until recently. During the Beijing Olympics last year, they garnished her pension and tried to break up her family. Ms. Yang worked over 30 years and should get a 1300-yuan per month pension, but the regime officials have garnished it since last June without giving a reason.

Just before this New Year, Ms. Yang was arrested again when she sent Falun Gong information materials to a fellow practitioner.

Mai Xudong, from the Nanmofang Police Station: 86-13701012387 (Mobile)
Nanmofang Police Station: 86-10-67314124, 67312979
Xie Ziyou, head of Xishimen Street Community Office: 86-13311469116 (Mobile)
Feng Jian, head of the 610 Office at Nanmofang Township Government: 86-13366306692 (Mobile)
Beijing Terrazzo Construction Material Plant: 86-10-67719955

Note

1. "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/2010/1/5/215689.html