Name: Cao Yixiang
Gender: 56
Age: Female
Address: Qingdao City, Shandong Province
Occupation: Retired Worker
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 27, 2008
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shandong No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp
City: Zibo
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour, solitary confinement, brainwashing, denial of shower, denial of toilet use, beatings, insults, water deprivation, sleep deprivation, forced to stand still for a long period of time, torture
Key Persecutors: Zhao Wenhui, Sun Zhenhong, Song Min
Ms. Cao Yixiang is retired from the Beihai Paint Plant. She started to practise Falun Gong in May 1998, and her health greatly improved. To help people see through the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies, she distributed Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. Malicious people fabricated stories about her and reported her. On October 17th, 2008, she was sentenced to one year in Squad 2 of the Shandong Province No. 2 Women's Forced Labour Camp located at Wangcun, Zibo. She suffered unimaginable torture. The following, by Ms. Cao, is about what happened to her in the forced labour camp.
The tortures that I suffered the first time I was "closely monitored"
When I arrived at the forced labour camp, I firmly refused to submit to the physical exam, so they put me in Squad 2, the worst squad. I was separately locked up in the squad head's office. Liu Jingjun used to be a Falun Gong practitioner but is now a collaborator (a former practitioner, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners). She kept talking to me about her distorted "understandings" and read to me articles written by people that had been "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. I didn't pay any attention to her. Guard Song Min ordered me to write down my thoughts. I wrote, "Falun Gong is good. Truth-Compassion-Forbearance is good."
The brainwashing continued for a week. Since they did not get any results, they started to torture me towards the end of October. It was getting cold, but they locked up my luggage so I couldn't put on more clothes. They didn't even let me stand in sunlight near windows. Liu Jingjun deducted food from what I was supposed to have, so I was always hungry. They didn't allow me to wash my face or brush my teeth, let alone wash my hair or take a shower. They even didn't let me go to the toilet when I needed to.
One day when I needed to go, guard Liu Guizhen was on duty. She didn't let me go to the toilet. I got so full that I held my belly and painfully paced around the room. I sweat so much from the pain that my clothes were soaked. Liu Guizhen didn't let me go until I almost collapsed. The second day guard Zhao Wenhui was on duty. Again, she didn't let me go to the toilet when I needed to. Eventually I had to urinate on the floor. Liu Baoye was another collaborator. She reported me to guard Zhao Wenhui. Zhao Wenhui cursed me and ordered Liu to pull out my bed sheet and use it to mop up the urine on the ground. When I needed to have a bowel movement, Zhao Wenhui got angry and said, "You have so much pee and poop. Make her eat her lunch on the toilet." Liu held me down on the toilet and forced me to eat my lunch there. It was so humiliating. Because I had to hold back for a long time when I needed to go, I started to have many symptoms. I had sharp pains within my bladder and urethra. I often felt that I needed to go to the toilet. Sometimes I was incontinent. Even so, they didn't succeed in "transforming" me.
They again escalated the persecution on November 4th. They replaced those collaborators with two drug abusers, Jiang Lixia and Lin Dandan. They removed the board I slept on and took away my cups, tissues, and all my other daily necessities. Around 8 p.m. that night, I asked to go to the toilet. They refused to let me go. Eventually I couldn't hold it any longer and I had to urinate in my trousers. Jiang Lixia and Lin Dandan ran up to me and hit me so hard that I fell down. They kicked me and stomped all over me. After beating me, one pulled my feet and the other pulled my arms to drag me around and throw me on the floor. They used my body to mop the floor. On the morning of November 9th, the same thing happened again. Jiang Lixia stripped off my shirt. She cursed me and used my shirt to mop up the urine. Then they forced me to put on the wet shirt. After that, they used the head of a mop to punch my eyes and face. When I tried to escape their punches, they beat me down to the ground and stomped on my hands. My hands were all bruised. They beat me rolling all over the floor. At that time, guard Bi was on duty. She was in her 40s. She saw the whole thing. At one time, I was beaten down at her feet. Yet she slammed the door and left.
As for food, they gave me just enough so that I would not starve to death. Every meal for me was a small hard bun thrown at my feet. They didn't give me water for seven days. I was so thirsty that I had to drink my own urine. Even worse, I wasn't allowed to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, they'd punch me and kick me. To make sure I didn't doze off, guard Song Min made me sit towards the wall with my back straight up and my hands on my knees. They put a table against my back. After a long time sitting in that position, my feet and legs became swollen. There was no heat in the room. They didn't allow me to put on more clothes. Jiang Lixia even poured cold water over me several times and then opened windows so that I would freeze. At that time, I was having my period. Blood and urine together with cold water rushed down. When my clothes eventually dried, they poured water on me again. They did this for seven days. Every time they beat me, I'd shout, "They are beating me up! They are torturing a Falun Gong practitioner!" Sometimes a guard would open the door a little bit and said, "Beat you up? Who saw them beating you?" Then she'd close the door and leave.
One night when they tortured me again, I cried and shouted loudly. Guard Zhao Lili, who was the vice head of the squad; Sun Zhenhong; and Song Min came in. Zhao said, "Why did they beat you up? You are more stupid than a three-year-old since you peed in your pants. Why wouldn't they punch you?" I reported that they beat me and poured cold water on me. Sun Zhenhong looked at my wet clothes and said, "Who poured water on you? Nobody saw that!" Then she picked up a wet piece of cloth and threatened me, "If you shout again, we'll stuff this into your mouth and tape your mouth shut and bind you to the heaters." Song Min said to the criminals that were monitoring me, "Cao Yixiang is very healthy. She doesn't have any illnesses." It was a hint to them that they could continue torturing me. One day I shouted for water. Guard Zheng Jinxia, who was in her 30s, said harshly to me, "No water if you don't 'transform.' Just wait!" Another day I shouted that I was cold and needed my coat. Guard Xia Li said, "Ask your Teacher Teacher [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong] to give you a coat."
Due to the long term inhuman torture, I started to lose consciousness. Sometimes I even didn't know where I was. On November 11th, against my own will, I was "transformed" and did the most humiliating thing for a Falun Gong practitioner, to write a statement renouncing practising Falun Gong.
The tortures that I suffered the second time when I was "closely monitored"
I was transferred to the shower room inside the separated cell. They replaced the criminals again with the collaborator Liu Jingjun to "help educate" me. I was ordered to write the so-called "repentance statements" to curse Falun Gong and to read it out at meetings. Those statements were reviewed by guards Sun Zhenhong and Song Min. They'd approve it only if the most malicious words were used. I was also forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. After watching those videos, I was forced to write reports on my thoughts. Again, the reports had to be reviewed by Sun Zhenhong and Song Min. They disapproved what I wrote again and again and ordered me to rewrite it. Sun told collaborator Liu Baoye to monitor what I said and did and even my expressions. After the separation ended, I was assigned to Team Four. Collaborators in Team Four were the eyes and ears of the guards. They decided where I should sleep or sit. I had to write reports every week. They had to be approved by the collaborators and then submitted. All the reports had to contain the most vicious words and propaganda. They had to end in "I firmly separate myself from XXX." After that, I was forced to attend the so-called "rolling education," i.e. entrance education, patriotism education, basic laws education, etc. They called it "education." In fact, it was brainwashing with the Chinese Communist Party culture. Every day there was homework, discussions, exams, and summaries. I was constantly monitored, blamed, and criticised.
The mental torture was beyond words. It was even more painful because of the guilt and regret that I had in my heart since I had acted against my own conscience. I decided that I shouldn't continue down the wrong path. Eventually I decided that I'd write a Solemn Statement voiding what I had done.
On April 9th, 2009, I wrote letters to Zhao Wenhui; Chen Suping, the head of the Management Office; Wang Jun, the chair of the squad; and Liu Chang, the head of the forced labour camp. I exposed the brutal persecution that I suffered when I was closely monitored. I used what I had learned in Basic Law Education to point out that it was illegal to persecute me and the conflicting things in their own propaganda. I used my personal experience to prove that the forced labour camp propaganda was sheer lies. I stated that all the "transformations" were against my own will and therefore were invalid. On April 14th, inspectors came to check on room hygiene. I took the opportunity to dash out of the cell and handed a letter to Wang Jun. I threw another letter in the mailbox of the head of the forced labour camp.
Once the inspectors left, guard Song Min dragged me to her office. Sun Zhenhong, Song Min, and others surrounded me. They searched me, found the other letter, and read it. Sun shouted, "Stand over there." They forced me to stand for two days. My feet were all swollen. Shoes cut into my flesh. It hurt so much that I took off my shoes. Sun saw me and forced me to put them back on. They gave me a half bun twice a day at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. There was no breakfast or dinner for me. I was so hungry and tired. I fainted and fell down. I appeared to have symptoms of heart disease. The two drug abusers dragged me to the clinic. However, I was shaking so badly that they couldn't examine me. That was it. No further medical exams for me after that.
After I came back, I was forced to sit up for 20 days. They didn't allow me to move or sleep. Besides, I had to make 100 coils. One day, policewoman Zhao Lili even threw 190 difficult coils to me and forced me to work on them. I was so sleepy that I didn't even know where the wires were supposed to go. Liu Wenrong closely monitored me and cursed me every time I dozed off. I once again fainted because of the inhuman persecution. The doctor of the forced labour camp came, but he just gave me a few pills. Guard Zhao Wenhui once again didn't allow me to use the toilet when I needed to. I could only use the toilet every 12 hours. One day I didn't finish using the toilet when she saw me. She said to Liu Wenrong, "What did you do?" From then on, Liu Wenrong refused to bring me the toilet. When they used the toilet, they'd intentionally put the toilet next to me but not allow me to use it. I had to hold back for a long time. Once again I started to have symptoms, including sharp pains in my bladder and urethra. I often felt that I needed to go to the toilet. Sometimes I was incontinent. When the doctor came, I asked to be treated but Zhao Wenhui didn't allow it. Liu Wenrong often cursed me.
When it got warmer, I still had to wear the same clothes. In the heat of June, I sweated profusely and itched terribly. I scratched myself until I bled. For almost two months, they didn't allow me to wash my face, brush my teeth, wash my hair, take a shower, or change clothes. I smelled. Each time I bit into a bun, I left a row of blood left on the bun. I had a lot of white skin flakes. I was dirty and had a horrible smell. My legs and feet were so swollen that they'd almost burst. I felt as if countless of ants were biting me. It really hurt. My shoes smelled so bad that if I took them off, countless mosquitoes and bugs would gather right away. Liu Wenrong then forced me to keep my shoes on. One night when a guard was on duty, a girl who was one of the criminals monitoring me, asked permission to let me use the toilet. She approved. I took the opportunity to wash myself a little. When guard Song Min heard this, she cursed the girl and forced her to write a repentance report. And she deducted points from the girl and extended her imprisonment term.
Twenty days later, guards allowed me to sleep a while between midnight and 4 a.m. on a board about one square metre. There was no mattress. I had to use my own quilt as a mattress as well as a blanket.
My legs and feet became more and more swollen. I even had difficulty walking. I had to lean against the wall to walk. To reduce the swelling, Zhao Wenhui put my feet up on a bench and gave me diuretics. Still they restricted the times that I could use the toilet. To make sure others would not find out about my health issues, one night Zhao Wenhui and Sun Zhenhong secretly moved me to a big walk-in cupboard. Whenever people came in, they forced me to drop my head and face the wall. On June 8th, they transferred me to Team One and continued to have drug abusers closely monitor me. My legs and feet were still swollen when I was finally released.
While I was being closely monitored, guard Sun Zhenhong also persecuted my family. She called my husband, who was almost 60 years old. She threatened him and tried to get him to "transform" me. Because of the anxiety, my husband's heart disease got worse right away. Later they kept the letters that my husband wrote to me. They didn't give me the letters till I was about to leave. It turned out that all the letters that didn't curse Falun Gong were kept from me. If the letters did have such content, they'd take them to the squad and read them out loud.
Here is the information on the people who were actively involved in persecution at the forced labour camp.
Zhao Wenhui is the head of the Second Squad. She is in her 50s. Her police number is 3734049. She is very cruel and cold. She always cursed practitioners. She planned all the tortures and persecutions. Sometimes she personally carried out those plans.
Sun Zhenhong is the director. She is in her 40s. Her police number is 3734155. She actively assisted Zhao in persecuting practitioners. She used both carrots and sticks. First she'd give you a carrot. For example, she'd help you get underwear and daily necessities. She pretended to be kind and nice. However, if she didn't see any results, she'd immediately order drug abusers and other criminals to torture practitioners. Sometimes she personally participated in the persecution, too.
Policewoman Song Min is in her 40s. She often smiled, yet she was very vicious. She closely followed Zhao and Sun. She went all out when torturing and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners.
Here is a related article:
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2008/11/6/102037.html
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/11/30/233114.html
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