A Farmer's Account of a Decade of Persecution

Ms. Peng Wangqin is a 46-year-old farmer from Wangjiahe Town, Huangpi District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. She was arrested on January 13th, 2010, when speaking to people about Falun Gong and was taken to the Wuhan No. 1 Detention Centre on January 25th, 2010.

Gross abuse under persecution nearly killed her. She vomited blood every night for more than a month, spanning from right before the Chinese New Year until March 25th, 2010. Forced feeding injured her stomach. Following her release, Ms. Peng vomited immediately after eating anything. Her throat and tongue were swollen, and her teeth were loose from the torture. A guard threatened to take her to the toilet and force-feed her there, at noon, on the day of her release.

The following is Ms. Peng's account:

I obtained a copy of the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun from an acquaintance in October 1997 and learned the exercises at home. I conducted myself according to the principles of Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance, and all of my illnesses soon disappeared. My husband saw the physical changes in me when he came home from being out of town for work during the Chinese New Year. He began Falun Gong practice in the spring 1998, as did my two children, who never had a single hospital visit afterward. My husband previously suffered from serious stomach disease, but was healed through Falun Gong practice. Everyone in my village knows about these miracles.

The Chinese Communist regime began slandering and persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999. My husband was working in another town and stopped practising out of fear. He also pressured me to no longer speak up for Falun Gong. I thought, "I can't betray my conscience or give up the standard of being a good person under pressure." So I went ahead and talked to people about Falun Gong.

I wrote a letter to the local government and police department in the spring of 2001, signed with my real name. Several officers from the Changyan Police Station subsequently came to my home and threatened me. They confiscated my tape recorder, exercise tapes, as well as a printed copy and a handwritten copy of Zhuan Falun.

Officials from the same police station ransacked my home on July 20th, 2001, when I was returning from working in the fields. My children and husband were terrified. The officials didn't find anything Falun Gong-related, but they still took me to the Changyan Police Station and held me for three hours, after which they interrogated me.

My husband verbally and physically attacked me when I got home. He pretended to drink pesticide in order to stop me from appealing for Falun Gong. He had poured out the chemicals, but I didn't know he was pretending at the time and was scared witless.

Detention and Persecution in Beijing

I took my younger son with me on a trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on May 10th, 2002. I was arrested in Tiananmen Square. A police officer kicked me in the abdomen with his boots and struck me with electric batons. They held us at the Tiananmen Police Department until that night, when they transferred us to the Yanqing Police Department.

My son and I were held in separate rooms for interrogation. My son, who was 11 years old, was threatened by the police. He was frightened and told them his name and address. Officials from the Hubei Province Liaison Office in Beijing subsequently picked us up and took us back.

Officials from the Huangpi 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] and Wangjiahe Town took us to the Wangjiahe Police Department the next day. They first locked me in a metal cage with my hands cuffed behind my back. Official Yang Haiqing later took me to the interrogation room and instructed the police to stomp on my feet, twist my arms and burn my palms with cigarettes.
I was taken to a detention centre on May 13th, 2002, and held there for 34 days.

I was then transferred to the Hewan Forced Labour Camp Women's Division and immediately sent into solitary confinement, where I stayed for the next five months. Two drug addicts watched my every move, including when I used the toilet and ate. I did not sleep until past midnight, and sometimes not until 2:00 a.m. They brought groups of people to attack me in an effort to make me renounce Falun Gong. They also played lewd songs and forced me to watch slanderous TV programmes.

I returned home on June 13th, 2003 after one year at the labour camp.

My husband forbade my sons from practising Falun Gong while I was at the labour camp. In addition, my younger son was severely abused in Beijing and never recovered from it. He became so ill that he had to drop out of school. After I came home, I decided to act like a true cultivator according to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and never again bring shame to Falun Gong. My husband left us to avoid persecution by implication, and I had to take care of our two sons on my own.

The local police drove to my aunt's home on October 1st, 2007, looking for me. My relatives were so scared that they dared not have me around during mealtimes. Officials from Wangjiahe Town, the police station, and from Tangbaoshe Township drove to the homes of my sisters in town and in Wuhan City during the 2008 Olympic Games and intimidated them. As a result, all of my relatives severed ties with me to avoid being persecuted.

I was speaking to someone about Falun Gong in the Qingshan Workers Village on March 25th, 2009, when official Liu Guihua from the Residential Committee and officers from the police station arrested me and sent me to Erzhigou Detention Centre in Wuhan City. I was detained there for ten days until Zhang Zujun from the Qingshan District Domestic Security Division and officials from the Huangpi 610 Office sent me to the Wuhan City No. 1 Detention Centre. I did the exercises and shouted "Falun Gong is good." The inmates beat me, and I told them about Falun Gong. I went on a hunger strike. The female detention centre head led six inmates and drug addicts to knock out three of my teeth and force-feed me. Blood soaked my collar, and some of my teeth came loose. My throat and mouth were swollen and later ulcerated. I was on the brink of death.

I was later sent to the Yangyuan Brainwashing Centre, and still refused to cooperate with the officials by going on a hunger strike. I vomited pus and blood. Officials from the Huangpi 610 Office and Wangjiahe Town took me to the emergency room at the Huangpi Chinese Medicine Hospital. Seeing that medical treatment did not work, they sent me to my sister's home. I returned home in Wuhan later that same day.
The government agencies and officials involved included the Qingshan Workers Police Station, Zhang Zujun from the Qingshan District Domestic Security Division, Huangpi 610 Office agent Yang Haiqing, Wangjiahe Town heads Han and Peng Xuanhua, detention centre head Wang, inmate Wei Xiaoyu and five other inmates.

Near Death from Torture

I was arrested again on January 13th, 2010, in Qingshan Park, as I went about exposing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lies to passersby. Officers from the Honggangcheng Police Station held me in a detention centre for 15 days and transferred me to the Wuhan No. 1 Detention Centre on the sixteenth day. The guards there said, "We let you go last time. This time we'll make sure you die here."
I vomited blood every night for more than a month starting before the Chinese New Year until my release. They later took me to Tongji Hospital and claimed that I was weak and suffering from inflammation. They gave me injections despite my protests and caused swelling and bruising in my arms. They later transferred me to another cell, and I continued to vomit blood.

I did the sitting meditation to replenish my energy, and they took me to Tongji Hospital for an examination. The doctor said that I was too weak for a gastroscopy. One night my heartbeat raced up to 113 beats per minute, and I broke out in a cold sweat. In order to detain me long-term, they force-fed me with a bamboo spoon about two inches wide. I became further weakened after this brutal mistreatment and nearly choked to death on several occasions. My tongue and throat bled, and I was unconscious for three days. A guard threatened me at noon on March 25th, 2010, the day of my release, that he would drag me to the toilet and force-feed me again.

I could not walk on the day of my release, and a kind guard held me. As stated above, due to severe stomach injuries sustained during forced-feedings, I vomited whatever I ate at home. My throat and tongue were swollen and my teeth were loose.

The following government agencies and individuals are responsible for my persecution: Gongren Village Police Station, Honggangcheng Police Station, detention centre heads Lu, Wu, Wang, Zhang Ci and Li Yang.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/11/30/90383.html