Paralytic Fully Recovered After Cultivating Falun Gong Repeatedly Persecuted for Speaking the Truth

Name: Zhang Chengyou
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Miner

Date of Most Recent Arrest: April, 2003
Most recent place of detention: Taoxi Police Station
City: Qitaihe City
Province: Heilongjiang Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour, extortion, beatings, sleep deprivation, torture, hung by handcuffs, interrogation, home ransacked, brainwashing.

1. Paralytic Fully Recovered After Cultivating Falun Gong

In 1977, Mr. Zhang Chnegyou, from Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, worked in a coal mine and was severely injured in a cave-in. He suffered a fracture of his ninth thoracic vertebra, and four of his fore ribs. His pelvis was deformed, his lower limbs paralysed and there was bleeding in his chest cavity. His liver, gallbladder and kidneys were injured as well. He was diagnosed to have suffered "crush injury syndrome of head, chest, back and pelvis." Besides the above, he came down with scoliosis, deformation of the lumbar vertebra and problems from the fore rib fractures. He was unable to walk normally and often coughed up blood. He also suffered from the right pulmonary artery aneurysm, hepatitis, nephritis, cholecystitis, dizziness, stretching and blurred vision.

In May 1997, Mr. Zhang Chengyou began Falun Gong cultivation practice. From the first day of practice he no longer felt the need for medication, and within a short time he returned to good health. His experience proved the miraculous effect of Falun Gong and the beauty of cultivation.

2. Repeatedly Being Persecuted for Speaking the Truth

1) Losing Freedom

At around 3:00 a.m. on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Zhang Chengyou was awakened by several police officers who took him to Taoshan Police Station. A deputy head of the station said to Mr. Zhang, "The central government issued orders that banned Falun Gong. If you continue to practise you will be in trouble. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is very powerful and has never cuddled anyone. Since you are an ordinary citizen don't disobey this directive." Three hours later, Mr. Zhang and another practitioner were released.

In the evening, when Mr. Zhang and other practitioners learned that the Jiang Zemin clique wanted to persecute Falun Gong, they decided to go to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. They went to the provincial capital on foot and were stopped by Harbin City police officers. Several hundred practitioners were pushed onto waiting buses and taken to a school in Shuangcheng City, where Mr. Zhang saw plainclothes police beating practitioners with chairs. Several chairs were broken during the beatings.

They were released three days later. Upon returning home, they were constantly harassed and monitored by police. They had no freedom, and even had to ask for permission to leave the house.

Mr. Zhang was arrested by Li Cunhe, head of the Taoxi Police Station on December 7th, 1999, for refusing to sign a guarantee statement, promising to give up his right to appeal for Falun Gong. He was detained at the old No. 2 Detention Centre, the new No. 2 Detention Centre as well as other detention centres. Twenty-eight to twenty-nine people were detained in a cell of a dozen square metres. It was impossible to sleep. They were given two pieces of steamed corn bread per day, which was far from enough, and some soup without vegetables. They were forced to perform more than ten hours of hard labour daily, and were frequently verbally abused by the prison guards. When Mr. Zhang's elderly mother, in her eighties, was seriously ill and wanted to see him, Mr. Zhang had to sign a guarantee statement against his will before he was released. He had been detained for 53 days and the guards had extorted more than 600 yuan¹ from him for meals.

2) Beaten at Haidian Detention Centre in 2000

On June 25th, 2000, when Mr. Zhang Chengyou was unfolding a banner at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, police officers tried to take away the banner. Mr. Zhang was brutally punched and kicked by plainclothes officers. His face was injured and his lower lip had a 3 cm (1.2 in.) long cut. The chest area of his clothing was covered with blood. He was arrested and confined in an iron cage at Tiananmen Square Police Station.

As more and more practitioners were arrested, the iron cage became crowded. Mr. Zhang and some other practitioners were taken to the courtyard where they stood for more than six hours. They were not allowed to move or use the toilet. After night set in they were taken to the Shijingshan Stadium. They were forced to sit on the concrete floor for a day and a night. At night it was very cold, but the officers did not allow them to move. During the day they were exposed to the sun, but were not given any water.

During his detention, Mr. Zhang witnessed two plainclothes officers throw a woman practitioner three or four meters (10-13 ft.), where she hit the cement floor. She was motionless, and when she was taken away by a car, no movement could be seen.

On the evening of June 26th, 2000, Mr. Zhang was transferred to the Haidian District Detention Centre. The prison guards ordered inmates to strip Mr. Zhang and pour many buckets of cold water over his head, until he was shivering with cold. Only then did they stop. Inmates stole his clothes and he had to wear a red vest and white underpants.

Inmates were divided into groups of four. They worked in shifts to force Mr. Zhang to speak his name and address out loud, as well as to stop him from holding a hunger strike. Mr. Zhang refused to co-operate, so they beat, verbally abused him, and deprived him of sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes they beat him. They also ordered him to sign an arrest warrant, but he refused. They wanted to draw his blood and perform a health check-up, but he refused. Six officers later subdued him and drew his blood. He was also photographed and videotaped.

On the afternoon of June 28th, 2000, eight officers came the detention centre, among them two women wearing stethoscopes. They said that they wanted to give Mr. Zhang a health check-up, but Mr. Zhang refused. Six officers attempted to hold him down, but Mr. Zhang broke free.

On the evening of June 29th, Mr. Zhang Chengyou was released, after he reportedly had symptoms of serious kidney disease. When Mr. Zhang asked for his clothes, the guards claimed they couldn't be found, so one of the officers gave him a pair of grey shorts with red mesh, a white vest with red stripes, and a pair of worn-out slippers. Mr. Zhang, whose hair had turned grey, then travelled 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) from Beijing to his home town.

Mr. Zhang Chengyou was arrested by officials from the Public Security Bureau led by Ma Zhi, party secretary of the Labour Insurance Section, on July 17th, while working in a mountainous area. He and three fellow practitioners were detained at the Public Security Section. The practitioners' families were told to bring food. The practitioners were forced to listen to recordings that slandered Falun Gong, during a so-called study session, which was in reality a brainwashing procedure. The section head was someone with the surname of Chen. Mr. Zhang was released after a month of his pension was confiscated.

3) Arrested Again in 2001

In spring 2001, Mr. Zhang's sewage was frozen, so he went to his neighbour Ms. Yang Guizhen's to borrow a pick. At that time her two daughters, who were practitioners, were at home. He had only said a few words, when officer Xu Zhenou, who was monitoring him, rushed in. He claimed that they were having a meeting. He called two police cars and a dozen or so officers, who arrested the practitioners and took them to the Taoxi Police Station. Ms. Yang Guizhen's husband, Mr. Jin Fa, a stroke patient who needed a cane to walk, wasn't at home. Xu Zhenou also wanted to arrest him, but he failed to find Mr. Jin. When a deputy head at the police station later learned that there was no meeting, the practitioners were released.

4) Tiger Bench Torture

Mr. Zhang Chengyou was arrested by officer Xu Zhenou on March 11th, 2002, for obtaining Falun Gong recent articles. The deputy head with the surname of Liu tied Mr. Zhang to a tiger bench² for 16 hours.

Mr. Zhang Chengyou was taken to the No. 2 Detention Centre on March 12th, 2002, where he was photographed and fingerprinted.

Nineteen days later, Mr. Zhang was released after holding a hunger strike. The detention centre extorted 400 yuan from his family for meals. Xu Zhenou, who was not a police officer, was later transferred from the station to the police department for "meritorious service."

In April 2003, the city police department ordered Taoxi Police Station to arrest Mr. Zhang. Pan Qi, head of the station, ordered Wu Datao to handcuff Mr. Zhang to a tiger bench. Rope was used to pull him up and hang him from an iron pipe above the tiger bench. They placed an iron plate in front of his chest so that the he could not move, and it caused extreme pain to his arms and wrists.

Mr. Zhang's face was streaming with sweat. After a long period of time, officer Meng Qinglong opened his handcuffs. He no longer could move his arms, and his hands were numb for more than a month. Nonetheless they handcuffed his hands behind his back while taking him to the City Police Bureau.

In the interrogation room on the ground floor of the police building was a woman practitioner. The officers ordered them to admit that they were acquainted. When they said that they didn't know each other, a plainclothes police officer brutally kicked Mr. Zhang and swore at him. He was thrown against a wall and the plainclothes officer kicked him again.

The officers repeated the same scenario on the following day, but this time they wanted Mr. Zhang to admit being acquainted with another male practitioner. He said he didn't know the practitioner. Liu said, "He is Yu Qinghai and he said he knew you. How dare you say that you don't know him?" He then ordered an officer to take Mr. Zhang back to wait for further interrogation. That evening, all the detained practitioners said they didn't know Mr. Zhang, so he was released.

5) Home Ransacked Many Times

Police ransacked Mr. Zhang's home many times. Those involved included:
Zhang De, deputy leader of the Taoshan Mine Security Section, who came with six people, showing a search warrant.
Wang, head of the Taofeng Police Station, Kong Chuandong, head of the Security Section Kong Chuandong, and seven officers, showing a search warrant.
Fu Xunhuan, deputy head of the Economic and Security Section, officer Ling, and some others from the Taoshan Police Station. They did not show a search warrant.
Xu Zhen'ou and four others. They did not present a search warrant.
Xu Zhen'ou, deputy head at Taoxi Police Station, Wu Datao and several others. They did not show a search warrant.

In addition to the abuse listed above, Mr. Zhang was forced to undergo brainwashing over a dozen times. Each time it lasted half a day or a day. Mr.Zhang lost count as to how many times the officers came to his home to harass him and his family. Sometimes they came three to four times a day.

Even in November, 2009, Yan Weilin, deputy head of the Taoxi Police Station, continued to harass Mr. Zhang. Yan Weilin claimed that if Mr. Zhang promised he would renounce Falun Gong he wouldn't have to sign any more documents. If he wanted to continue with the practice he had to sign and finger-print the document. They also photographed and videotaped him.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/1/18/216473.html