October 1, 2001
(Clearwisdom.net)
Utmost salute to the great Master!
Utmost salute to fellow practitioners who were killed by the evil while validating Dafa!
Utmost salute to fellow practitioners who were detained for spreading Dafa and clarifying the truth, as well as fellow practitioners who are clarifying the truth and spreading Dafa in China and abroad!
Now, I would like to tell my personal experiences during detention and share them with fellow practitioners and the rest of the world.
Not long after the persecution started, on September 25, 1999, I was illegally arrested and sent to a detention center. I was very determined during that time. Because I did the exercises, the guards beat me. I also suffered many other inhumane tortures. After being illegally detained for 97 days, I was released unconditionally.
On March 12, 2000, I was arrested again by local police [for collecting signatures that support Dafa]. During that time, although under the pressure of cruel torture and severe threats, I did not reveal the source of the signature sheet. I also refused to write a letter to give up practicing Falun Dafa or accept the so-called crimes of which I was accused. On April 27, 2000, after being illegally detained for 45 days, I was sent to Weizigou Labor Camp in Changchun City, Jilin Province for a one-year term.
On the first day at the labor camp, I was brutally beaten by some inmates for no reason. Starting the second day, I was forced to do intensive labor outside the camp. After getting back from work, a guard often instigated the criminals to force us to sweep and mop the floor, clean the restroom, and do other dirty jobs. They would cruelly beat us whenever they were not totally satisfied with our work. After one month, we were forced to go through the so-called "military training," which was actually all sorts of despicable ways to torture Dafa practitioners. After the "military training," we were forced to work inside the labor camp pasting paper boxes. Sometimes they kept us working until midnight. After a series of inhumane mistreatments and tortures, the labor camp officers still did not succeed in getting practitioners to give up their belief in Dafa. They then instigated criminals to torture Dafa practitioners. A system was set up within the camp where criminals, guards and officers would be rewarded if they were able to transform Dafa practitioners and would be punished if they couldn't get practitioners to renounce Dafa.
The vicious forces persecuted Dafa practitioners in two ways. On one hand, they attempted to brainwash practitioners with slanderous newspaper or TV reports, as well as using misleading words from those who had previously forsaken the practice. On the other hand, they physically tortured Dafa practitioners in the cruelest ways. It was said they had received orders from high-ranking officers, "Beat them as cruelly as you want, and those who are beaten to death will be reported as suicide." This situation reminded me of Teacher's words: "'...People only have that little bit of hardship of their own. There is only that little bit of trouble among them. They have a lot of attachments that they still can't give up! It remains a question of whether they can understand your Dafa itself while they are in the midst of confusion and tribulations.' It involves such an issue, so there will be interference and tests." ("Demonic Interference From One's Own Mind," Zhuan Falun)
One day, the criminal who kept an eye on us asked me to read a newspaper article that slandered Dafa. I refused, and he struck me hard. He then took a wooden stick and hit my head many times. Although I felt dizzy and saw stars, surprisingly, at that moment, I immediately became clearer and more determined! I cannot remember how many times I was beaten and tortured like this. Once, after torturing us, the prisoners said, "We must use brutal methods to deal with you!" They would even take for themselves the everyday supplies brought by our families.
All fellow practitioners detained in Weizigou Labor Camp were tortured extensively and brutally. During that time period, we spent our life under the torment of the evil and did not know how to stop it. Because our enlightenment quality was not good enough, we had some misunderstandings of "Forbearance." We also had fears just like ordinary people. As a result, we just endured passively, which allowed the evil to be even more reckless.
On July 12, 2000, fellow practitioners in Weizigou Labor Camp and Chaoyang Labor Camp were all sent to Fenjin Labor Camp for further persecution. The vicious officers forced us to "sit-on-board." (Seven of us were made to sit on a single bed, side by side, with one person's legs against another person's legs.) We were forced to sit everyday from 5 am until midnight, sometimes even 3 am. We were told to sit up straight, not to move or speak; otherwise, we would be beaten. The guard often enticed us that if we wrote a "letter of guarantee" to give up practicing Falun Dafa, we would be sent to the "loosely-managed classes," and could do whatever we wanted. He wanted to shake our determination. What was more difficult to endure was that we were not allowed to go to the restroom until they gave us permission. One day, I asked the guard on duty to go to the restroom. He stared at me angrily, "No way!" So I had to wait like this until later. It was so painful that I could not even sit straight. The pain was beyond description. We were listed as a "hard to reform group" in the "strictly-managed classes."
On one of the hottest days, the officer asked the guard to close all doors and windows. Twenty-eight of us sat on four beds. We were soaking wet with sweat and had difficulty breathing. Water was even dripping down from the doors and the windows. Following Teacher's words, "When it's difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it's impossible to do, you can do it," twenty-eight of us sat there one day after another, and none of us gave in. Failing to get what they wanted, the vicious forces then tried another method. We were forced to sit on a long but very narrow bench with no space between each other. After a while, our hips were in great pain. Furthermore, we were each penalized 70 points per month. (One point meant a one-day extension of our detention, and, thus we would be detained forever.) The vicious forces used all this pressure to "convert" us, but their efforts were in vain.
In Fenjin Labor Camp, our families were not allowed to visit us for as long as 9 months. Later, we realized that they were using our kindness as loopholes. After discussing the issue based on Fa principles, we gradually enlightened to the fact that we should not passively endure. If we kept accommodating the evil, we were in fact recognizing, condoning and cooperating with the evil. We concluded that we should not continue to endure this way. Once when one practitioner moved a little bit when sitting on a chair, he was brutally beaten by the prisoners on duty. At that time, a fellow practitioner immediately stood up to intervene. When the head of the labor camp heard the sound, he didn't listen to any explanations, and detained that practitioner into a small cell and openly shielded the evil people. Fellow practitioners quickly decided not to accept any harsh requirement of the evil and demanded that the confined practitioner be released immediately, and all persecution of Dafa and Dafa practitioners instantly cease. Therefore, these practitioners started a hunger strike together. Encouraged by our action, other practitioners also joined the hunger strike.
This unprecedented group hunger strike in this labor camp panicked the evil. They forcibly dispatched us to different teams in order to suppress the situation. Hence, practitioners didn't have a chance to communicate. We could only raise our fists when seeing each other. Later, I heard that one practitioner who used to stay with me day and night was cruelly tortured to death.
In February and March of 2001, I realized that I was a Dafa disciple, a good person and not a criminal. I could not allow the evil to treat me as a criminal and should refuse everything that was forced upon me, not to mention wearing the clothing of criminals. The same day I met another practitioner, and he pulled off his clothes at once. I understood right away that he was asking me to take off this shell. Since then, we refused to wear criminals' clothes, wear nametags or to have our hair cut short. The evil withdrew before our powerful righteous thoughts.
The team where I was detained only had two practitioners, another and myself. All other detainees were criminals. One day, the team leader demanded that we go to work. We agreed. By so doing, we could make use of this chance to clarify the truth of the persecution to their supervisor and ask why our detention had been extended. The same day, an official from the City Jurisdiction Bureau came to check the camp. We raised this question at once. He didn't answer our question directly. Then we asked, "Why do the criminals pull our arms when we walk?" He answered, "That is to protect you." I immediately answered, "If you need such protection, I can also protect you in the same way." He only said, "I didn't make the decision" and then left in a hurry. The next day, the camp informed us that the higher authorities didn't want us two to go to work. We then thought that it was the time to ask to practice Falun Gong exercises.
Thus we two started to practice the exercises. The prisoner on duty was afraid he would be blamed for this and his sentence would be extended, so he didn't allow us to practice. I told him, "I will practice no matter what. It is all right for you to report this to anyone. If you report to the Central government, then we don't need to go to Beijing to appeal." After learning this, the team leader came to talk to us. We told him, "Even if you handcuff or shackle us or detain us in small cells, we will still practice! If you are afraid, you can report this to the higher authorities!" Later, the team didn't interfere with our practice and the evil withdrew again.
July 16, 2001 was the day for family visits. One fellow practitioner managed to escape the labor camp with righteous thoughts. Right away, the atmosphere became tense and all family visits were cancelled. I agreed with that practitioner's action and admired his courage and wisdom. But I never thought about using such a way to get rid of the evil. I had been considering that the evil should release me unconditionally.
During this tense time, the evil tried to create disturbances again. Five evil policemen from the administrative unit took scissors and attempted to cut my hair, to make me bareheaded. I told them, "I am not a criminal, and I will never be cut bareheaded like a criminal!" They all crowded around me and pushed me to the ground. When they had just cut a few locks of hair, fellow practitioners arrived in time and shouted loudly, "Stop!" and powerfully shocked and stopped the evil. They immediately sneaked away timidly. The evil retreated once again.
On the second day, the head of the camp showed the new political commissar around to check the camp work. The political commissar saw I didn't wear the prison clothes and asked, "Why don't you wear prison clothes?" I answered, "I am a Dafa practitioner, not a criminal!" At this time, the camp head winked to the political commissar to give him a hint that, "Leave him alone. We don't interfere with him. You don't need to find trouble for yourself." The political commissar wanted to keep his face, and symbolically said, "Detain him in a small cell if he still refuses to wear prison clothes."
Then he said one sentence of swear words to me. I wanted to reason with him, but a guard rushed at me and took me away. Coming back to the cell, the guard told the other prisoner, "Put prison clothes on him." I told them to save themselves the trouble. I would take off the prison clothes even if they put them on me. They heard that and left. The evil retreated again and again.
On September 3, 2001, I unexpectedly received notification of my unconditional release. Though I had had such firm righteous thoughts, I still felt very surprised. The Labor Camp for the first time sent me back in a car to my hometown that I had left 18 months ago. It enabled me to realize my promise to openly and nobly leave the labor camp and to return to the current of Fa-rectification.