Falun Gong Practitioner Ms. Cai Rong Recounts Brutal Persecution

Ms. Cai Rong from Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province, was persecuted many times during the past ten years. She was grossly abused and mistreated in the Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp during her two terms. The following is her personal account:

I am Cai Rong and am 44 years old this year. I lived in Jiamusi City. I used to be selfish and aggressive, but I was fortunate to learn Falun Gong in 1996. Falun Gong purified my polluted mind, making me strive to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and changing me into an open-minded person who can forgive others.

After Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime began to publicly persecute Falun Gong in 1999, agents sent by my employer and the community committee harassed me constantly. They came to my home to harass me almost daily, and for certain on each and every one of the “sensitive dates.” Sometimes Security Department agents from the Jiamusi Flax Mill where I worked would track my whereabouts, creating great pressure for my family and me. I was taken away by the police several times for persisting in my belief. That is how I ended up in the labour camp twice.

1. Detained in Beijing

I travelled to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in October 1999. Staff from Jiamusi Liaison Office in Beijing arrested me outside the entrance to the Office of Letters and Appeals and held me overnight.

Liaison Office officers transported me to the Yonghong District Police Department the following day and imprisoned me in the Jiamusi Detention Centre. My cell was about ten meters square, gloomy and damp, and had a toilet inside, causing a foul odour. The bed board was crowded with people, and we had to lie on our sides to all fit. We were given only cornbread and water.

I was imprisoned for 43 days. Officer Shi Xiuwen from the Yonghong Police Department extorted 5,000 yuan¹ from my family for my freedom.

2. The suburban Jiamusi Police Station confiscated my family's property

One month in 2001, I took my daughter and my older sister's four children with me to hand out leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in the countryside. When we were about to leave we were reported. The five children and I were put into a police vehicle and taken to the suburban Jiamusi Police Station. They threatened my daughter, "Your mother will be shot to death if you don't tell us the source of these materials." My daughter was very strong and said nothing. At last, my sister's children, feeling threatened, told them our home phone number. My husband brought our youngest daughter, only a few months old, to the suburban Jiamusi Police Station. Since I was still breast-feeding they released me.

Led by Li Wanyi, many suburban Jiamusi Police Station agents broke into our home in 2002. They stepped on my bed in their shoes and confiscated recording tapes from the night stand. They turned everything upside down and left a mess. They took Falun Gong audio and videotapes and books.

My older daughter was about to go to school. They snatched her school bag. She was so frightened that she shook like a leaf. She no longer dared to go to school. My youngest daughter was 17 months old and watched with panic in her eyes. A police officer inhumanly took her away from me. Even today my daughter gets frightened when she sees someone in uniform.

Two officers pulled me up and shoved me into a police vehicle. I didn't even have time to put on my shoes. They took me to the suburban police station.

I did not cooperate when asked the source of the materials. They tied me to a metal chair and kicked my legs hard. It was unbearable. Every second was suffering.

3. Gross abuse and mistreatment in Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp

That same afternoon I was transported to the Jiamusi Detention Centre. I went on an 11-day hunger strike to protest the persecution. On the 12th day I was admitted to the Jiamusi Xigemu Labour Camp for a two-year sentence.

The guards ordered us to write a weekly report. They would not let us rest during a 24-hour period. They played videos that slandered Falun Gong's founder, Teacher Li, and used speakers to defame Falun Gong. The time allowed to use the toilet was fixed. If one exceeded the fixed time, the guards would curse loudly. The time allotted for personal hygiene was also fixed. The guards would throw our wash-bowl if any of us were slow. They would likewise snatch the rice container and throw on the ground if anyone appeared displeased with the poor quality food.

Several practitioners and I used to tear down slogans that slandered Falun Gong's founder. The guards were aggressive about abusing and mistreating practitioners. Zhu Tiehong banged my head against a wall. I was dizzy and saw stars. Guards Li Xiujin and Jiang Jianan hit me ferociously, slapping my cheeks and kicking me with their leather boots. I was beaten black and blue all over my body. Even after few months, I was still covered with dark bruises.

Shortly after they handcuffed several practitioners and me. They handcuffed us behind our backs to a bed and we had to sit on the ground. I was forbidden to go to the toilet. They brought a chamber pot and only loosened one of my handcuffs. In the evening we were still handcuffed to the bed and sat on the ice-cold ground.

I was forced to walk daily. Practitioners were also ordered to call out their camp-assigned number loudly in the cafeteria. The guards would slap the practitioner in the face if she refused to comply. Then they would curse.

Division head He Qiang put the signboard up again that slandered Falun Gong. Several practitioners managed to take it down. A few practitioners and I were again handcuffed backward to a bed and had to sit on the ground for several days and nights.

Torture re-enactment	Torture re-enactment

Camp officials had sent two of the guards to other camps specifically to learn vicious techniques to use on practitioners.

All practitioners were assembled on the camp's fourth floor and forced to sit on a small stool; no movement was allowed. All had to look straight ahead to watch TV videos that slandered Falun Gong. Some had to sit for several months, from 5:00 a.m. to after midnight, or 2:00 a.m. Their buttocks developed sores. They were still forced to watch the videos. Beatings and berating were more of the routine.

Torture re-enactment

Guard Zhang Xiaodan took me to one of the collaborators (former practitioners, brainwashed against Falun Gong, made to assist in brainwashing and torturing practitioners) and told her to persecute me. After a while when Zhang Xiaodan came back, the collaborator told her, “I could not 'reform' [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] her. She is too stubborn!” Zhang Xiaodan handcuffed me backward to a bed. The pain was enough to rip out my heart. I was handcuffed like that for nearly an hour.

Zhang Xiaodan forced me to sign the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong that the collaborator wrote. I wrote a solemn statement later on saying that I firmly practise Falun Gong, and all my previously signed, forced statements did not count. I handed my written resolve to Zhang Xiaodan. She once again handcuffed me backwards to a bed.

I held a seven-day hunger strike and was held in a small, dark room. To prevent others from seeing me, the windows were covered with newspapers. I was forbidden to go to the toilet. I was handcuffed behind my back to a metal bed and had to sit on the ice-cold ground.

Several days later I was taken to the Strictly Monitored Team on the first floor. I was again handcuffed backward to a metal bed and had to sit on the ice-cold ground.

Guard Li Xiujin ordered us to write “homework.” We refused. She incited a criminal inmate to beat me. My face was black and blue from the beating. Several practitioners and I were detained in a small dark room. The windows were covered with newspapers. I was backward handcuffed to a metal bed and had to sit on the ice-cold ground, with my legs straight out. This is an extremely painful position. Ten days later guard Yu Wenbin pinched my hands while yelling at me. My hands turned blue and purple and swelled like steamed buns. This torture lasted 25 days.

I was abused and mistreated for two years. I gained my freedom in April 2004.

My health deteriorated due to the excruciating abuse I was subjected to in the labour camp. I could not lift my arms. Even now the pain in my lower back when I get up in the morning is difficult to endure. When I manage to almost get up, the pain makes me lay down again. I have to struggle again and again. It usually takes me more than 40 minutes to get up.

4. Authorities extort a huge amount of money from my family

I went to a practitioner's home in December 2007. As soon as I entered the room, two Xiangyang Police Department agents seized me. The practitioner's daughter, who did not practice Falun Gong, was also arrested. All of us were taken to the Xiangyang Police Department. I was imprisoned in a detention centre for one and a half months. My family were forced to pay almost ten thousand yuan before I was released.

I went to Jiamusi Hospital in 2008 and was captured by 610 Office agents (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong). Several practitioners and I were taken to the Jiamusi Police Department. I was forcibly carried to the Jiamusi Detention Centre in the evening and sentenced to a one-year term of forced labour.

After being detained in the Jiamusi Labour Camp for five months, my family was forced to pay more than 10,000 yuan for my release.

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://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/1/10/234715.html