Ms. Chang Shuxia, 52, Imprisoned Three Times at the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Jilin Province

Ms. Chang Shuxia, 52, is a retired worker from the Yushu City Grain Warehouse in Jilin Province. She has been imprisoned three times because she practises Falun Gong and explains the facts about Falun Gong and the persecution to people. Below is her own account of her experiences during the past ten years.

I began my Falun Gong cultivation practice in 1998. Prior to my cultivation, I suffered from numerous illnesses, including a heart problem, arthritis, and hepatitis. I lived in constant pain and had lost hope. However, three months into my cultivation, all of my health problems disappeared, and I regained a new life.

Peaceful Appeal Results in Detention

When the persecution began on July 20th, 1999, I decided to go to Beijing to appeal. The local police intercepted me on my way there and held me in custody at the local detention facility. The guards there gave detainees only meagre portions of food at mealtimes. We had to sleep on wooden planks and relieve ourselves right in the cell. I was released after being held for one month.

First Term in a Forced Labour Camp

One day in December 2000, about eight people from the Yushu City 610 Office [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] and the Domestic Security Division broke into my home and turned it upside down. They photographed and intimidated my husband, who developed an eye problem and temporarily lost his ability to talk as a result of being terrified and harassed. The persecutors then took me to the local detention centre, which frightened my mother-in-law so much that she had a stroke.

After holding me at the local detention centre for a brief time, the police transferred me to the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp in Changchun City, without informing my family, to serve a one-year term.

Upon my arrival at the forced labour camp, the guards immediately body-searched me and checked my bedding. They made detained practitioners stand in the hallway all day long. We were forbidden from talking, sleeping, using the toilet, and washing ourselves. After practitioner Gao Fengxin's repeated requests to use the toilet were refused, she was forced to relieve herself into her clothing. Similar incidents happened to her several times. The guards only gave us 30 minutes to wash our clothes once every two weeks. Moreover, they made us work 14-15 hours every day, but allowed us only one cold shower every two months. Afraid of unannounced inspections from higher-ups, they ordered us to work in our cells at night.

Most of the raw materials we had to work with were toxic. One thing we made were toy birds with chicken feathers that were wet and dyed in various colors. We had to whip the feathers with broom handles to dry them, while keeping the windows shut so the feathers didn't become airborne and fly outside. The smell was sickening, and down and dust were everywhere, making it hard to breathe. Even so, we were forbidden to take showers.

When practitioner Li Yongjun refused to do her assigned job, guards Zhang Guimei and Feng Xiaochun shocked her with electric batons. She shouted, "Falun Gong is good! The Guards are beating people!"

After I returned home from the labor camp one year later, the local police still harassed me all the time. One day Xiao Hongjun from the Peiying Police Station broke into my home in the middle of the night. Out of fear, my mother-in-law and son held onto me tightly and cried.

Second Forced Labour Camp Term

To get a 2,000 yuan¹ reward, Li Xiangyang from the Yushu City Development Office reported me to the police after he spotted me posting leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong on May 3rd, 2003. I was again sent to the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp and held until May 3rd, 2004.

Third Forced Labour Camp Term

I went to visit my aunt on September 9th, 2005. Less than ten minutes after I arrived at her home, officers Li Mingchao and Jiang Wei from the Peiying Police Station arrived after following me there. They pushed me into their vehicle and promised to take me back in just a little while, but instead drove me straight to the local detention facility. Several days later, at around 4:00 a.m., they sent me to the Heizuizi Women's Forced Labour Camp.

Under duress, I wrote a guarantee statement renouncing Falun Gong, against my will. Two days later I realized my mistake and soon wrote solemn statements nullifying my earlier statements.

Guards Zhang Guimei, Han, and Feng Xiaochun took me to a dark room specifically used to torture practitioners. They pushed me to the ground and handcuffed my hands behind my back, with one hand pulled over my shoulder to meet the other hand twisted up from the back. A tall and sturdy man named Feng Xiaochun then stomped on the handcuffs with his leather shoes. They also shocked me with three electric batons simultaneously. The handcuffs cut deep into my flesh, and I was bleeding badly. My hands became very swollen. Even after I returned home the scars were still visible on my hands. I couldn't do any physical work for more than a year.

Police Harassment Infuriates Awakened People

Li Mingchao led several agents from the Peiying Police Station to break into my home on May 15th, 2009. When I told them facts about Falun Gong and the persecution, they refused to listen, and one of them called in more police. They turned my home upside down and confiscated my Falun Gong books. When they tried to drag me out I struggled hard not to cooperate with them. At that moment my husband returned home and said, "Her numerous illnesses disappeared after she began practising Falun Gong, and our family became harmonious. But look what you've done to my family these years. If you want to arrest her, try to take me away first!"

More than 20 onlookers arrived, and one woman said, "You guys are really inhuman by arresting good people. You don't care a bit about corruption! You are only harming yourselves."

Other awakened non-practitioners also condemned the police. In the end the police left defeated.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/8/1/227805.html