From a Bully and a Thief to a Kind Person, But Still Persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party

Name: Zhou Zhaoxiang
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Address: Dongshan District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Former Electric Motor Maintenance Employee of Xinyi Mine, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 13th, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi Prison
City: Jiamusi
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, extortion, physical restraint, home ransacked, detention

The deputy head of Xinyi Police Station in Dongshan District, Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province (surnamed Wei) and two officials from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) broke into Mr. Zhou Zhaoxiang's home at around 2:00 p.m. on May 26th, 2011. They tried to take Mr. Zhou to the Hegang District Brainwashing Centre, but he refused to go with them. Then, they called for back up and more than a dozen police officers and an office worker showed up. They surrounded Mr. Zhou's house, forcing him to climb onto the rooftop.

Many neighbours witnessed the incident. At around 5:00 p.m., Mr. Zhou's younger sister arrived at his house and asked, “Why do you want to arrest my brother?”

The police and the officials from the 610 Office eventually gave up their attempt to arrest Mr. Zhou at around 6:00 p.m. Since this incident, Mr. Zhou has been unable to return home or go to work.

Going from a Bully and a Thief to a Kind Person

Before Mr. Zhou began practising Falun Gong, he performed poorly at his job and sometimes even went out to drink while at work. He also broke the window at his workplace. When he became angry, he cursed at anyone, no matter who they were. As a result, no one at work dared to offend him.

At one point, he only earned a little over 30 yuan¹ a month. Still, he brought home a group of people of questionable character to drink alcohol and steal his neighbour's ducks. They also stole coal and timber from his workplace. His parents were upset about it, but could do nothing. When he didn't have money to buy alcohol, he would borrow it from people and never pay it back. His neighbours knew of his character and bad deeds, but were afraid to offend him. When his father tried to teach him a lesson, Mr. Zhou fought back and even tried to stab his father with a kitchen knife, but his mother stopped him.

His parents felt ashamed of him around other people and made concerted efforts to try to guide him to become a better person. However, he continued on the same path of drinking, fighting and cursing.

So what changed Mr. Zhou into a more thoughtful and kinder person? His mother knew that Falun Gong was a practice of high virtue and asked him to read the book, Zhuan Falun. However, it wasn't until 1996 that he decided to read the book. Once he began reading it, he couldn't put it down. He felt the book was very unique and precious. After he finished reading it the second time, he began to learn the exercises. From that moment, he began on the path of cultivation and changed deeply within his heart.

He severed his relations with the people of questionable character, and began to work hard and stopped going out to drink while at work. He also stopped stealing from his workplace. In the past, whenever someone criticized him, he would beat that person up. Since practising Falun Gong, he used the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as the standard of his conduct. Thus, he became more tolerant and kinder toward others. Afterwards, Mr. Zhou was chosen as an outstanding employee at work. Everyone at work mentioned that he changed from being a bad person to a kindhearted person. He attributed all of it to the power of Falun Gong.

Detained and Sentenced to Forced Labour Several Times

Mr. Zhou went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong after the persecution began on July 20th, 1999. However, he was arrested and taken back to his work unit by the deputy head of the security section of the mine (surnamed Bai) and four other people from the union. He was detained for 24 hours before being transferred to the security section and held for another four or five days. During that time, personnel from the security section forced his family to slander Falun Gong. They also put pressure on Mr. Zhou.

Pang Guitian, Wang Cai and others took Mr. Zhou to a detention centre on August 15th, 1999 and held him for 24 hours. Pang Guitian said, “We are attack dogs of the Communist Party and we will bite whoever the party asks us to.” Wang Cai then slapped Mr. Zhou in the face over a dozen times.

Fan Zhongsheng, another deputy head of the Xinyi Police Station, and his men detained Mr. Zhou in October 1999. While at the Hegang Detention Centre, the warden of the centre, a 50-year-old man, beat Mr. Zhou.

Pang Guitian went to Mr. Zhou's home again on the evening of October 12th to harass and take him into custody. At the No. 2 Detention Centre, Instructor Huang incited other inmates to punch and kick Mr. Zhou several times.

Mr. Zhou was later transferred to the No. 1 Division of Hegang Forced Labour Camp, where he was forced to do forced labour. The head of the division, surnamed Xiao, incited guard Wang Yong to torture Mr. Zhou. Wang punched Mr. Zhou until he passed out. Practitioner Mr. Sun Wenli was also tortured. The guards also incited inmates to beat and insult them. Their daily meal consisted of partially cooked food. A layer of sand could be seen at the bottom of the bowl after they finished their soup broth with Chinese cabbage or potatoes. Mr. Zhou's family also had 460 yuan extorted from them.

Mr. Zhou went back home in 2001 and was arrested again by a deputy head surnamed Zhang from the Gongrencun Police Station. Mr. Zhou was held at the No. 2 Detention Centre for more than ten days before he was transferred to the Suihua Forced Labour Camp. There, he was detained for three years and two days.

Following the Principle of Kindness Even When Tortured

During his imprisonment in Suihua Forced Labour Camp in 2001, Mr. Zhou went on a hunger strike and was cruelly forced-fed for 20 days. The guards who forced-fed him gave him porridge mixed with an unknown drug. After the force-feedings, his stomach felt hot and painful, and he felt fatigued. Deputy Director Gao Zhonghai was also involved in the forced-feedings.

In September of 2003, guard Liu Wei tied two cable wires together into knots bigger than the size of his fists and used it to whip Mr. Zhou on his back and legs for over two hours, leaving dark, purple bruises. Guard Gao Zhonghai then kicked him many times, causing him to roll back and forth in pain on the floor. Another guard surnamed Wang slapped Mr. Zhou in the face. Liu Wei also hit him in the chest with a stainless steel cup, causing more injuries.

Even while he was being tortured, Mr. Zhou still followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and didn't retaliate or hold a grudge against anyone.

On January 13th, 2005, over ten officers including Xie from the Dongshan Police Division, Wang from the Domestic Security Team and the deputy director of Gongren Village Police Station broke into Mr. Zhou's home and arrested him. They also ransacked his home and confiscated Falun Gong books, a DVD player, a tape recorder and other personal belongings. They sent him to the Second Detention Centre and interrogated him. The officers from Gongrencun Police Station tied his arms together—one arm from above his shoulder and the other from behind—a torture method called “Qin Qiong Carrying a Sword”. Next, they tied his legs to his hands. Xie, Wang and Liu then hung him up with only his toes touching the floor. Xie hit him until his ear drum ruptured. Meanwhile Mr. Zhou shouted, “Falun Gong is good!” for several hours.

The guard at the detention centre told other inmates to prevent Mr. Zhou from shouting, “Falun Gong is good,” by covering up his mouth, and beating and cursing him. One time, he was handcuffed and a group of inmates beat him simultaneously. Both of his hands were cuffed to a ring on the floor for two straight months. At another time, his legs were separated with a metal stick 1.2 metres long and one of his hands was cuffed to one of his feet so that he couldn't stand up or lay down. This “iron stick” torture lasted 18 days. He was later handcuffed to a metal chair for over ten days.

After he was transferred to Jiamusi Prison, Mr. Zhou went on a hunger strike in hopes of awakening the guards' conscience and to protest the persecution. However, Dr. Zhang at the prison and Xiao Ma brutally forced-fed him while several inmates held his legs down or sat on them. They inserted a tube into his trachea that almost suffocated him. Then, they fed him food with a large amount of salt in it, causing excruciating pain in his stomach.

Five Years of Imprisonment

Soon after, officials at Dongshan Court, the Procuratorate and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) secretly sentenced Mr. Zhou to five years in prison.

Mr. Zhou was transferred to Xianglan Prison in April 2005. Two to three months later, he was transferred again to Jiamusi Prison. There, he went on a hunger strike to protest the inhumane torture and was forced-fed. As a result, his front teeth became loose and fell out. Mr. Zhou was cursed by the prison doctor, Zhang Xuesong, and tortured by director Guo and an instructor of the fifth division. One guard (of average size with a square face and a beard) stomped on his feet while the inmates sat on him. When he was put in solitary confinement, Mr. Zhou's ankles were shackled to a ring on the floor. An inmate named Liu intentionally pushed down on the ring to cause severe pain on his ankle. After Guo left for another position, another instructor took over. He incited inmates to beat Mr. Zhou. As a result, his eyes were injured and swollen, and he couldn't see for two weeks from his right eye. The fifth division was later split into two teams, one of which was the eighth team. An assistant instructor, who was the former director of the education office, slapped Mr. Zhou in the face, kicked practitioner Bi Linhai (from Hegang city) and tortured Meng Xianguo (from Linling area of Heilongjiang Province). He also prohibited practitioners from buying daily necessities. Mr. Zhou went on a hunger strike twice to protest the persecution of practitioners.

In the summer of 2006, after he had been on a hunger strike for six days, he was put in solitary confinement. More of his teeth were knocked out when guards tried to pry his mouth open. The solitary confinement chamber in Jiamusi Prison (made up of the former Lianjiangkou Prison and Jiamusi Prison) was humid and dimly lit. It was three metres long and two metres wide with a surveillance monitor installed above. On the wall facing the north side, there was a window that was so high that no one could reach it. There was a heating pipe, but it was never turned on, even in the winter. When Mr. Zhou refused to wear the prison uniform, he was handcuffed and chained for six consecutive days.

The Sufferings of His Family

Mr. Zhou was only 28 or 29 years old when he was first persecuted. He was the breadwinner of his family. During his detainment, his family was under tremendous pressure from the discrimination of society and the misunderstandings of their neighbours. In addition, they were repeatedly harassed by the police. His mother used to suffer from high blood pressure, heart disease and dizziness. After she practised Falun Gong, all of her diseases were cured. However, she stopped practising out of fear when the persecution began. As a result, her diseases recurred and she became paralyzed. Mr. Zhou's sister needed to care for their mother all the time, so her relationship with her husband became tense and they eventually divorced.

In May of 2011, officers from the local police station harassed his family again. Mr. Zhou's family have suffered pain and misery as a result of the persecution of Falun Gong.

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/2011/6/21/242769.html