Individual Accounts

  • Police Officers Blind a Falun Gong Practitioner by Intentionally Rubbing Mustard Oil into His Eyes

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Huang Peidong was arrested by local police in September 2009. Police tortured him at Wanghua District Police Department. They blinded him by rubbing mustard oil into his eyes. Mr. Huang recounts: "Guards tied me onto a torture device called the Tiger Bench. After pouring mustard oil into my eyes, nose, and mouth, they rubbed these areas with dirty towels. I was in extreme pain and it was beyond tolerance. The torture continued for two days and my eyesight gradually worsened. In the end, I was blind, and remain so to this day."
  • “I Still Tremble When I Think About It – I Was Locked Up In a Men's Cell at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp”

    I will never forget the day: April 19th, 2001. On that date, the guards at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp took nine of us – women who refused to give up our belief in Falun Gong, into nine separate rooms. I was put into the first room where four male inmates were waiting. I saw another big room holding more than 30 men when I went to the toilet.
  • Ms. Zhang Guilan Recounts 14 Years of Brutal Persecution

    Ms. Zhang Guilan has suffered brutal persecution since the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999. She has been arrested several times, sentenced to five and a half years in prison, and incarcerated in Heilongjiang Women's Prison. Ms. Zhang was brutally tortured in the prison. The torture and abuse included being exposed to extreme cold, being shocked with electric batons, violently beaten, handcuffed with her arms behind her back, forced to sit on a small stool for long periods of time, and forced to perform hard labour.
  • Outstanding Teacher Taken To a Brainwashing Centre in Laizhou City, Shandong Province

    Mr. Zang Kuidong, an outstanding teacher from Laizhou City, Shandong Province, was arrested on May 28th, 2013, for distributing materials explaining the facts about Falun Gong and was detained for 15 days. Upon returning home he was no longer allowed to teach his classes and was taken to a brainwashing centre by the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) and police on July 2nd.
  • The Brutal Torture I Endured at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    I was arrested in 2005 for posting materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in public areas. I was later taken to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Liaoning Province. I refused to do slave labour and was thus frequently tortured by the guards, who were very brutal. I began a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Guards pressed hard on my hands, which were shackled to the bed, and forced a tube into me every day. I was in excruciating pain. After a while, my nose, eyes, and face became swollen and they could not push the tube into my nose. Instead they inserted the tube directly into my throat. After force-feeding, I was hung up in a slanted position.
  • Witnessing Prison Guards Persecute Practitioners to Insanity

    I was shocked to learn on the Minghui website about a talented Qinghua University student named Ms. Liu Zhimei. She was persecuted to insanity in a prison under the Chinese communist regime. I witnessed other practitioners being persecuted while I was imprisoned over the last few years. One was 60-year-old Ms. Chen Xiaoyue. Due to the intense persecution, Ms. Chen was “reformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] by the communist regime and gave up her faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The police then forced her to help reform other practitioners and torture them if they refused to cooperate. Ms. Chen was later diagnosed with "manic psychosis."
  • The Torture and Abuse Endured by Falun Gong Practitioner Sun Lijun

    Ms. Sun Lijun went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully protest the persecution. She recounts her experience: "Several fellow practitioners and I were sent to a police station in Beijing. Because I refused to tell them my address, three policemen stripped off my clothes, leaving me in only my underwear. They hung me up by my hands. Four officer shocked me with electric batons at the same time. They shocked my head, teeth, nipples, private area, hands, and legs. Since I would not give in, they dragged me to the yard and hung me from a pole, with my feet not touching the ground. They hung me outside for a long time in the cold. Then they took me back to the room and hung me up again. They tortured me nonstop."
  • Ms. Hu Yanmin Recounts How Police in Liaoning Province Have Persecuted Her

    Ms. Hu Yanmin is a 55-year-old factory owner from Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. She never hesitates to help those in need and is well regarded by her family, friends, and employees. Like millions of others in China, Ms. Hu has been persecuted for her belief in Falun Gong. She recounts: "I was tending to my elderly mother in my second-floor apartment, located in my factory building, when police pried open a window and jumped inside on September 28th, 2012. They turned my home upside down and confiscated my computer, printer, more than 1,000 yuan in cash, and my Falun Gong books. Despite my mother's pleas, they took me away. The police drove me to the local detention centre. Because my blood pressure was dangerously high they released me but the police demanded 30,000 yuan from my family. They did not give them any receipt."
  • Ms. Shen Wenling, 58, Recounts Brutal Beatings and Torture at Liaoning Province Women's Prison

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shen Wenling was arrested on February 25th, 2008 and was sent to the city detention centre. She was subjected to many forms of abuse and torture, including beatings, the “tiger bench” and force-feeding during the three-month detention. She was then sentenced to five years imprisonment and was sent to Liaoning Women's Prison on May 27th, 2008. In prison, she was beaten and subjected to brainwashing and other tortures.
  • Witnessing the Death of Ms. Li Baojie at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    Many years ago, I was arrested by the Chinese police for talking to people about Falun Gong. I was sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, where I was forced to do slave labour. In 2005, I witnessed another Falun Gong practitioner – 33-year-old Ms. Li Baojie from Panjin City – being tortured to death at the forced labour camp. Ms. Li Baojie had been on hunger stike to protest the prsecution. Guards and inmates sat on top of Ms. Li and stepped on her arms, legs and feet with leather boots. While pinching Ms. Li's nose to prevent her from breathing, a doctor force-fed Ms. Li. Under the stress of the guards' abuse, her whole body turned purple and she died shortly after.
  • Two Years of Forced Labour in a Living Hell: My Suffering in Jilin Province Heizuizhi Forced Labour Camp

    Xu Xiuhui, 64, suffered unimaginable torture in Hezuizhi Forced Labour Camp due to practising Falun Gong. She recounts: "On the second day after I entered the labour camp, and for the next three days, guard Wui Dan ordered the inmates to bring me to the classroom in the morning. They shocked me with an electric baton throughout the morning, sometimes with three electric batons together. As I lay on the ground semi-conscious, Li Lianying shocked the centres of the bottoms of my feet. They shocked me until my entire body shook and quivered and I wasn't able to stand up. Afterwards I lay on the cold concrete floor for several hours in the cold winter."
  • Successful TV Station Host Arrested, Fired, and Harassed for Practising Falun Gong

    My name is Luo Hui and I am 45 years old. I was the host of CCTV's former Sanjiang Food Company of the Agriculture Bureau of Heilongjiang Province for 13 years. However, due to Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] jealousy, he launched a comprehensive persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999. I was laid off from my position at the TV station. To let people know the truth about the persecution, my husband and I went to Beijing to appeal and was arrested. Since then my husband and I have suffered repeated persecution at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  • Mr. Hong Chang Repeatedly Tortured in Zhejiang Province No. 4 Prison

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Hong Chang from Hangzhou City started practising in April 1998, and has been repeatedly persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because he refused to renounce his faith. He was sent to Zhejiang Province No. 4 Prison, where he was tortured and nearly died. He recounts: "The guards employed many torture methods to abuse me, including lifting me up by my arms and running me around in circles before suddenly stopping, which caused me to dizzily fall over. They lifted me up by clamping my ears and swaying me back and forth, holding me on the ground and scribbling on my face with a marker and holding my heels from the back and forcing me to crawl on my hands, which also evoked their laughter."
  • The Torture I Endured in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp

    I was arrested and subjected to forced labour three times from 2000 to 2009. Each time I was detained in Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. In 2000, I was sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp for the first time. In order to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] practitioners, the most vicious methods of torture were used. For newcomers, the guards first play propaganda videos full of lies that slandered Falun Gong. If that didn't work, the torture started: beatings, verbal abuse, electric shock, solitary confinement, handcuffing, and term extensions--all to make them give up their belief.
  • A Childhood of Suffering: Both My Parents Imprisoned for Practising Falun Gong

    My mother was arrested in late October 1999, when she went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. When our entire family went to see her at the police station, hoping to bring her home, the police told me that she was not allowed to go home unless she signed a statement saying she would stop practising Falun Gong. Instead of being released she would be sent to Jiamusi Forced Labour Camp. I was young and very scared. I cried for a few hours until I passed out. My heart has since been weak, and I have had to avoid strong emotions. My father was sentenced to forced labour six months later. I was only ten years old. My elder brother and I lost parental care and were left at home without our parents.