Ms. Huang Yixiu, a Peasant Farmer, Detained Many Times

Name: Huang Yixiu
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Group 6, Fengquan Village, Aoping Town, Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province
Occupation: Peasant

Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 30th, 2002
Most recent place of detention: Pengzhou City Detention Centre
City: Pengzhou
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Detention, beatings, forced labour, food deprivation, extortion, brainwashing, force-feedings.

Ms. Huang Yixiu has been detained four times, totalling 761 days, simply because she practises Falun Gong. The following is her own account of the persecution she suffered during these years.

I began practising Falun Gong in March 1998. I had suffered from low back pain for many years, but it completely disappeared after I practised Falun Gong for about ten days. After I began cultivating, I knew how to improve my character and to be a nice person. On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution], began the severe persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. I was subjected to all kinds of persecution and tribulations, but held a deep faith in Falun Gong.

More than a dozen practitioners, including myself, were arrested and detained when we were sharing our experiences at the Square in Pengzhou City on July 18th, 2000. Chen Liang, an officer from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), violently beat practitioners. During our detention, we were forced to work slavishly during the day, and at night the police took turns watching us. If any of the practitioners did the Falun Gong exercises, they were beaten black and blue with electric batons. After we were maltreated for 19 days, we were taken back by local police and government officers, and tortured by Xia Chengshu and Li Ke, officers from the Aoping Police Station, as well as by Chen Liang, Zhong Lihua, and Li Guoqi, from the township government. They exposed us to the burning sun, forced us to squat for long periods of time, and bound us together for display to the public. We were also forced to wash cars, do cleaning, and do 1-metre-deep weeding with our hands. Despite the forced labour, we were often deprived of food. In addition, agents from the 610 Office extorted money from our families.

My son and I were arrested on the evening of January 14th, 2001, by people who were hiding in the bushes. The arrest was arranged by the CCP secretary, because we wrote "Falun Gong is Good" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is Good" on a lamp pole. We were taken to the police station by 610 Office agents. Immediately upon getting out of the car, we were severely beaten, and then sent to a detention centre for 62 days. My family spent the New Year in terror.

On November 7th, 2001, Zhong Lihua and Chen Liang, from the township government, and Bai Jihe, the village head, broke into my house, while I was farming in the field. They saw a map of China on the table and were afraid that I would go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. A dozen policemen later came and ransacked my home. They confiscated my video player, twenty tapes, including a tape of Falun Gong demonstration of the exercises. I was able to escape over the backyard fence. They looked for me everywhere. When they couldn't find me, they beat my husband severely and broke his collarbone. He was later taken to the police station and forced to wash cars for them. He was not released until he almost froze to death, 24 hours later. My husband couldn't take care of himself, but was forced to pay 200 yuan for the transportation fare they spent looking for me. I ran around homeless for 35 days.

The authorities were afraid that practitioners would distribute Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution, and arrested many and held them in a detention centre on December 28th, 2001. On January 12th, 2002, Cheng Liang and Zhong Lihua, officers from the 610 Office in Aoping Town, held me and four other practitioners at the Aoping Township Government. During our 39-day detention, we were forced to write the three statements against our will, and forced to clean up, weed, and plant trees.

On the evening of July 30th, 2002, I was forcibly taken to the brainwashing centre in Pengzhou City by officers from the 610 Office. Most of the detained practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Therefore, the guards gave no food to those practitioners who did not hunger strike. We were forced to have blood drawn, and given no feedback later. Some practitioners were force-fed while being tied up with ropes. Ms. Dong Wuxia's teeth were knocked out when she was being forced-fed and the food was spilled all over her body. The persecutors also inserted hoses into practitioners' noses, down into the stomach, when they were force-fed. Inmates Wang Dong, Luo Ke, and Yang Yibin were ordered by 610 Office agents to violently beat practitioners whenever they saw them doing exercises. Yang Yibin hit the practitioners on their heads with a bicycle inner tube which was loaded with metal objects. That time I was held for 638 days. Altogether, I was detained four times, totalling 761 days, and was homeless for 35 days.

Whenever holidays or festivals approach, Yang Shaoqi, an officer from the Aoping Township 610 Office, goes to practitioners' homes to harass them.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/2/21/218537.html