I was illegally detained in Masanjia Labor Camp, Liaoning province, in the end of October 1999. Everything was secret, I didn't know where I went, and my family didn't know my whereabouts. I always bore in my mind that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, innocent and solemn. I encouraged myself to behave well.

Second Female Station (a three-storied building) of Masanjia Labor Camp is where I was detained. Our practitioners were held on the second and third floor. At the beginning, when we had group practice and recited the Fa (The law and principle of Falun Dafa), the guard and prison head were surprised. They didn't know very well what we were doing and thought we were emitting "energy" to do harm to them. They observed us silently and found nothing bad, everything was quiet and peaceful, so they didn't take any action. Later on when they came to know that we were practicing and studying Dafa and sharing experiences, they began to interfere by all means. One night, I practiced when others were sleeping. The prison head dragged me out into the hallway. I stood until early morning, promoting Dafa and telling her about the truth of how Falun Gong benefits both the country and the people; then I was allowed to go back. The next morning, all the members of the room undertook group practice. The team leader forced everyone to squat down. One would only be allowed to stand up when she acknowledged her fault. In the end only another practitioner and I stayed in the position. Then I was taken out into the hallway again. "Four defenders" (prisoners) began to punch and kick me; I was forced to bend forward with my hands touching my feet. I didn't cooperate with her, so she pressed herself on me and kicked my mouth. I said, "No matter how you treat me, I don't hate you." She was shocked and stopped her brutality, she said didn't feel interested because I didn't fight back. I wasn't allowed to go back until noon. The next day that practitioner and I still practiced; at that moment some leaders came to visit the labor camp. I took this advantage to promote Dafa to them. The team leaders were very angry, one of the policemen punched me several times before he forced me to a room. There I was stripped of my coat and shocked several times with electric batons on my neck and back . Three batons shocked me in turn, but I steadfastly endured. I kept in mind that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner. Afterwards, I was punished by having to wipe the floor of the water house. The team leader kept guard over me, but I still promoted Dafa to her. So she believed my conduct was very bad and sent me to First Station for even more brutal torture.

At First Station, we had to work from the time we woke up until 9:00-10:00pm, sometimes even to midnight, 1:00am, or 2:00am. I was put with ordinary prisoners. Two of them kept a close eye on me and I was clamped between them when I slept. If I practiced, their terms would be extended. Due to the false reports from the propaganda, the prisoners at first were afraid of us; they thought of us as terrorists. When our practitioners practiced, some of them were even frightened to the point of crying. After a long time of being in contact with them, I could get along with them very well. Those who used to be hostile to others stopped making trouble for us any more. They were surprised to find we are all such kind and just people. Gradually they stopped cursing and beating and became happy to stay with us. What I did was the most exhausting job, which they all admitted. These prisoners said I was too skinny and small to handle the heavy workload. But I couldn't treat myself with the thoughts of an ordinary person. I am a disciple of our teacher, a disciple of the most great and benevolent teacher. A miracle happened to me. I worked very happily, even had extra time to help others. The very bad meals plus the heavy workload for a long time everyday made the prisoners here complain a lot; they called this place the hell of the human world. But I considered the hardships as joy; nothing could trouble me. The skin of my hands became chapped after a long time of working. The chapped portions felt numb, itchy and painful until eventually the whole back of my hands turned black, hard, and irregular. My palms were also chapped in many places; many people couldn't stand to look at them. Sometimes my hands bled on the white cotton (from the translator: she may have been picking cotton).

Whenever I had time, I would teach them to recite Hong Yin (the poetry of our teacher) and tell them about the stories and principles in Zhuan Falun. Some of them quit smoking, some stopped swearing and beating, some even extended their help on their own, and some said they would learn Falun Gong after their release.

It was near the new year of 2000, as those malignant tumors (this refers to some former practitioners who were transformed and began to sabotage Dafa --- translator) hidden among our practitioners were exposing themselves, and since the attachments of some practitioners were not given up, the number of the "transformed" practitioners grew. The First Station began a new adjustment as well. They separated the practitioners from the prisoners and collected us into a sub team, then started their evil and intense performance one by one. Those who were once my close friends without any secrets among us, now suddenly became spies to betray me. They knew I had Jingwen (the articles written by our teacher) and forced me to turn them in, but I refused, so they asked the team leader to beat me up and search me. Each time after watching the video played to the team, they murmured those understandings to me again and again, which were all enlightened by them along the evil path and were deformed and metamorphosed. I was extremely shocked by their expression just like in a dream. I didn't know when their hostility and resentment to Dafa was buried deeply in their hearts, and why they didn't burst out of them until now ...

All others slept at night except that those practitioners who held on to their righteous minds were deprived of such rights; they were only allowed to squat. Sometimes this lasted until midnight or even the entire night. When the practitioners couldn't hold the position any longer and sat on the ground, they were believed by those monitors to be lazy, crafty, and not obeying their commands. There was a "smart" cell head who ordered the untransformed practitioner to lay down for sleep; then she coughed and said as she stood on the ground that the transforming job didn't go well, so she was punished instead of the practitioner. This way she fabricated a scene that a group of people were censuring a practitioner. They also played other schemes to create conflicts to attack the Dafa practitioners. For instance, they didn't allow the practitioners to work and impressed upon other ignorant people that the practitioners didn't like to work and had others work for them instead. Then they could find reasons to rebuke us loudly with selfishness. If our teacher published any new article, the labor camp let those "transformed" practitioners read them first. The latter confused right and wrong in interpreting the articles. When I pointed out their faults, they were irritated and didn't allow me to read the articles any more. However, how would such child-played tricks deceive people? I knew better not to permit their black stuff to fill my ears, so all I wanted was to distance myself from them as far as possible.

They went forward toward hell's gate, and they dragged others with them. They would unleash their ferocity when their methods failed to work. One day they gathered all the untransformed practitioners in a room, and then three or four people slapped us in the face. They became confused in a mess and even beat themselves up. When people lose constraint and standards for their morality, in this state they will demonstrate their demonic natures just like this. I wept upon seeing their clown like performance. I heard an ordinary prisoner question them, "If you knew earlier that you would become like this today, why choose at the beginning? The small tricks in the labor camp can even frighten you?" The prisoner told me that it was better not to be transformed, otherwise they were even worse than the ordinary prisoners, and they were so bad now.

Because I was considered stubborn and difficult to transform, I was transferred to the large team. Upon my arrival, they took care of me in every aspect of my life, and told me there everything was very relaxed and free. I could share with others at will, nobody took charge of this except myself. There was no heavy work to do, we could work as we played along, and nobody would push us. Then 4 or 5 people (the transformed former practitioners) began to pass their wrong understandings around me. I resisted them but they were very angry, "This is a labor camp, that is the basis for transformation. Not being transformed, you will be forced to be transformed, you have to listen." I became exhausted, but they still played the video (which slandered Dafa and our teacher), read newspapers and the slanderous books, and also forced me to read and listen to them. I kneeled down and shouted, "Teacher, I am too incapable to prevent you from being insulted!" At noon, they forced me to introspect when they went to sleep. They threatened me by saying, "Being transformed is a matter that will happen sooner or later; nobody can resist it!"

Whenever there were new arrivals, it was the busiest time for them. They formulated methods to deal with the practitioners after discussion. They came up with some experiences, such as how to deal with the practitioners according to different means, how to deceive them, and then the cell head arranged different groups to take turns pitching into the transforming work. The time for each such group was pre-determined. The usual routine was that they sent another group in to talk when the previous group had finished and went to sleep. They would exchange their opinions after talking with the practitioner, and then they would change their tactics at any time. Those practitioners who underwent this process often felt painful and frowned severely. I knew they were suffering yet still persisting. When such ridiculous speeches couldn't deceive our practitioners, they then turned to torturing the practitioners both mentally and physically in order to break down their strong will.

I once compromised under the mental and physical abuses and did the most painful thing I have ever done in my whole life. I feel sorry to have let Dafa down due to my agreeing with the evil force at that time. Thus they sang loudly to show their happiness, some even went into tears. After research, the team leaders came up with five means to transform the practitioners thoroughly. After that, the crime of transforming the practitioners escalated.

I cannot forgive myself. I stated constantly to the team leader that my transformation was forced under oppression and the actual situation was not like that, however I was deprived of any right to speak out. My sentence was extended, but my attitude remained as usual, unchanged and steadfast to Falun Dafa. Some team leaders said I had mental problems and took me to the mental disorder section of a hospital for heavy dosages of medication. These medicines strongly depressed my mind and made my drowsy. Though I refused, it was forced on me. They even claimed, "We'll make you take these until you understand." However, I did not give up. The extensive term imposed on me also elapsed. The team leader asked about my attitude. I declared that I was determined about Dafa, I was a particle of Dafa, and would do everything for Dafa. A miracle happened to me later on, and I got out of this dark den.

After release, when I watched the reports about Masanjia Labor Camp in CCTV (China Central TV, the state-owned TV station) news, I found what they have told everyone are absolute lies, which turns facts upside down with evil intent.

A practitioner in China

March 8, 2001